In the current market, it is almost impossible in most cases to buy a home contingent on the sale of another property. In order to avoid such a contingency, you must be able to show that you could carry both houses for a period of time, even if it would require some sort of interim financing or bridge loan. If you can't or unwilling to carry both houses then the only choice, other than trying to use a sale of home contingency, is to put your home on the market and obtain a contract on it before making an offer on a new place. Then the settlements of both properties could occur on the same day in sequence.