Sell First or Buy First? How Downsizers in BC Decide

If you own a house and want a smaller home, one choice comes before the others: sell the house first, or buy the smaller home first. Selling first gives you an exact budget. Buying first lets you move once. This guide explains what each order risks, what the Fraser Valley market in September 2026 means for the choice, and which contract terms and loans lower each risk.

What are the two orders, and what does each one risk?

Downsizing is two deals: a sale and a purchase. Each deal has two dates. BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA), the provincial regulator of real estate, says the completion date is the day legal ownership transfers to the buyer in exchange for the price. The possession date is the day the buyer can move in. The two can be different days.

The order you choose decides which completion date comes first.

Sell first

You sell the house, and then you look for the smaller home. You know the exact amount you can spend, because the sale price is in a signed contract. You pay for one home at a time.

The risk is time. If the sale completes before you have a new home, you need a place to live for some weeks. That can mean a short rental or a stay with family, storage for your furniture, and two moves.

Buy first

You buy the smaller home, move in, and then sell the house. You move once, when you are ready, and the house is empty when buyers visit it.

The risk is money. You pay for two homes until the house sells: property tax, insurance and heat for the house, plus the costs of the new home. If you need the sale money to pay for the purchase, you also need a loan for those weeks. And you set your budget from an estimate of the sale price. If the house sells for less than the estimate, you pay the difference from your savings.

Source: FRIVE team summary of the two orders.

What does the September 2026 market mean for your choice?

A downsizer is a seller and a buyer in the same market. In September 2026 that market had many properties for sale and few sales.

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) covers Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford, Mission, White Rock and North Delta. It counted 9,763 active listings of all property types in September 2026. An active listing is a property that is for sale right now. That count is 31% above the 10-year average for the season. The board recorded 922 sales in the same month.

The board also said the Fraser Valley "has spent most of the last two years in a buyer's market", with no change in September. A buyer's market is a market with many properties for sale compared with the number of sales. The board measures it with a ratio of sales to active listings, and says a balanced market is typically defined by a ratio between 12 and 20 per cent. Here is our own arithmetic from the board's two totals: 922 sales divided by 9,763 listings is 9.4%.

The same release gives the numbers for each type of home.

Source: Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, September 2026 statistics package. The fourth column is our own arithmetic: sales divided by active listings, multiplied by 100.

Read those numbers twice, once as a seller and once as a buyer.

As a seller, you are one of many. The board counted 3,261 detached houses for sale, and 337 detached houses sold in the month. The houses that sold took 45 days on average, and an average means some took longer. Add the weeks before the listing, while you get an older house ready to sell. Add the weeks between an accepted offer and the completion date as well. Our post on how long it takes to sell a house in the Fraser Valley adds those stages together.

As a buyer, you have a wide choice. The board counted 1,630 townhomes and 2,153 condos for sale across its area. You decide the day you make an offer on one of them. The buyer for your house decides the day of the other offer, and you have no control over it.

That is why we call the house the slower part of the move. Our general advice in this market is to sell first, or at least to have a firm sale before you commit to a purchase. By "firm" we mean that your buyer has removed every condition in writing and can no longer cancel. This is our opinion. The sections below cover the cases where a different order fits better.

One of those cases shows in the table. Townhomes sold at the fastest rate of the three types. By our arithmetic, townhomes at 13.8 are inside the board's range of 12 to 20, and detached houses and condos are below it. If you want a townhome, the one you like may sell to another buyer while your house is still for sale. A long completion date and an offer that depends on selling your house are two ways to handle that, and both are explained below.

A note on geography: Chilliwack and Maple Ridge report to other real estate boards, which publish their own figures.

How can you sell first and still move only once?

The risk of selling first is the weeks between leaving the house and getting the new home. Two contract terms can shorten those weeks or remove them. You negotiate both with your buyer, and both belong in the written contract.

Ask for a long completion date

The completion date is a term of your sale contract. BCFSA says the Contract of Purchase and Sale states the completion day for the sale. You and your buyer agree on that day before you sign.

Here is an example with dates you would replace with your own. You accept an offer in October and set the completion date three months later. Once the sale is firm, you know your exact budget, and you have those months to find and buy the smaller home. You then set the purchase to complete on a day close to the sale. If the purchase completes a few days before the sale, a bridge loan can pay for those days. We explain that loan below.

A buyer may want an earlier date. Your real estate agent can tell you which dates buyers in your area are asking for. Ask your lawyer or notary how many days to leave between the two completion dates, because the money from the sale has to arrive before it can pay for the purchase. Our post on a notary or a lawyer for a BC home sale explains what each one does.

Ask to stay in the house after the sale completes

A second option is to complete the sale and stay in the house for a period afterward. The buyer owns the house, and you remain in it until the possession date.

BCFSA publishes sample contract wording for this, written for licensed real estate agents. One version is for a seller who needs "a very short period (i.e. a few additional days)" to leave. A second version is for a longer stay. Both versions say the stay does not create a tenancy agreement under the Residential Tenancy Act, the BC law for renters and landlords. For the longer stay, BCFSA tells agents to consider how the buyer may seek compensation or a deposit. It also tells them to advise both sides to get legal advice if the arrangement is long-term.

A seller can also ask to rent the house from the buyer for a set time. People call this a "rent back". BCFSA's tenancy guidelines tell agents that the arrangement must be accurately reflected in the contract of purchase and sale, and that a later agreement, such as a tenancy agreement (a rental contract), must follow.

A buyer may refuse either request. If the buyer agrees, have your lawyer read the wording before you sign. If you plan to rent your next home, read selling and renting as a downsizer before you choose.

Can your offer on the new home depend on selling your house?

Yes, if the seller agrees. An offer can include a condition: something that must happen before the purchase is completed. In BC a condition is called a "subject", because the offer is "subject to" it. An offer that depends on selling your present home is called "subject to sale".

BCFSA's guide to offers to sellers lists "the sale of your present home" among the conditions a buyer might include. The same page explains how conditions work:

• The contract is legally binding as soon as the buyer and the seller have signed it, with the conditions in it.
• You must use every reasonable effort to see that each condition is satisfied.
• If you are unable to meet a condition after that effort, the contract ends and you have no legal obligation to complete the purchase.
• Once a condition is met, you give the seller written notice that you are removing it.

The seller has choices as well. BCFSA says a seller may accept your offer with its conditions and still consider other offers. The seller may ask for a clause that requires you to remove all conditions within a set time if another offer arrives. If you cannot remove them in that time, your contract ends. In the sample wording BCFSA gives agents, that time is 2 business days after the seller's written notice. The time in your own contract is the one you and the seller agree to.

BCFSA also says that the fewer conditions you put into an offer, the better the chance that the seller accepts it. A seller who accepts a subject to sale offer is waiting for a sale that has not happened yet, so the seller may refuse. Ask your agent how sellers in the complex or area you want have answered this condition, or ask us.

Two more points help here. Suppose your contract ends because a condition was not met, and a brokerage holds your deposit. A brokerage is the company a real estate agent works for. BCFSA says you and the seller must both sign a release form before the deposit is returned to you. And the same condition can appear in an offer on your house. Your buyer may need to sell a home first. Your sale then depends on a sale you have no control over, and it becomes firm only when that condition is removed.

How does a bridge loan work when you buy before your sale completes?

A bridge loan is a short loan that pays for your new home during the days or weeks before the money from your sale arrives. You repay it from the sale. RBC calls it "a temporary financing option". The loan uses your equity, which is the part of your home's value that you own after any mortgage is subtracted.

Two banks publish their terms.

Source: RBC Royal Bank and TD Canada Trust bridge financing pages, read on October 10, 2026.

TD gives an example. Your purchase completes in 30 days and your sale completes in 90 days, so the loan covers the 60 days between. If your current home is worth $300,000 and you owe $200,000 on the mortgage, you may be eligible for a $100,000 bridge loan. TD reduces that amount by an estimate for closing costs, which are the costs of completing the deal. For a long-time owner with no mortgage, the amount owed in that sum is zero.

Look again at TD's requirement for a TD mortgage or a TD Home Equity FlexLine on the new property. If you plan to pay for the smaller home in full from the sale, with no new mortgage, ask your lender early what it requires for a bridge loan.

What is the risk of a bridge loan?

Both banks name it. RBC says a bridge loan "can be a higher risk", with "no guarantee that your home will sell during the term". TD says that if your sale agreement fails, "you may have to pay two mortgages until a new sale is finalized."

This is why RBC's word "firm" matters to you. Before you rely on a bridge loan, ask your lender exactly what it means by a firm sale. Our earlier post on bridge loans for buyers moving to a larger home has more detail on how to apply for one.

What do two homes at once cost?

Work this out before you buy first. The largest input is the interest rate your lender quotes, so we show the method and leave the rate for you to fill in.

Interest on the loan = amount borrowed × yearly rate × days ÷ 365.

Here is an example with inputs you replace with your own. You borrow the full price of the new home, $745,300, which was the FVREB benchmark price of a townhome in September 2026. A benchmark price is the board's price for a typical home of one type. The loan runs 60 days, the length in TD's example. For each 1 percentage point of yearly interest, the cost is $745,300 × 0.01 × 60 ÷ 365 = $1,225.15, or $1,225 to the nearest dollar. Multiply $1,225 by the rate your lender quotes. This is a simple estimate. A lender may lend part of the amount as a bridge loan and part as a mortgage. In that case, apply the formula to each part with its own rate. Your lender gives you the exact interest, and any fee, in writing.

Then add the other costs of owning two homes. One row in the table below is a strata fee. A strata is the owners' group that runs a condo or townhouse complex, and each owner pays it a monthly fee. Our post on strata fees on a fixed income explains how to read that fee.

Source: property transfer tax rates from the Province of BC. Benchmark price from FVREB, September 2026. The other rows are your own bills.

The last row uses the Province's property transfer tax rates: 1% of the first $200,000 and 2% from $200,000 to $2,000,000. On $745,300, that is 1% × $200,000 = $2,000, plus 2% × $545,300 = $10,906, for a total of $12,906. Unless an exemption applies, you owe this tax in either order. When you buy first, you pay it before the sale money arrives.

Which BC rules change your dates and your budget?

Two BC rules can change your dates and your budget. One gives a buyer a short period to cancel. The other applies to owners who deferred their property tax.

A buyer has three business days to cancel

BC gives a home buyer a short period to cancel an accepted offer. It is called the Home Buyer Rescission Period. To rescind an offer means to cancel it. BCFSA says a buyer has up to three business days after the offer is accepted, and the count leaves out weekends and holidays. The buyer does not have to give the seller a reason.

BCFSA sets out the rules:

• The buyer must notify the seller in writing before the period ends.
• The buyer pays the seller a fee of 0.25% of the offer price. On an offer of $745,300, the fee is $1,863.25.
• The buyer and the seller cannot agree to give up this right.
• The rule covers a detached house, a semi-detached house, a townhouse, an apartment in a duplex or other multi-unit building, a residential strata lot, a manufactured home that is fixed to land, and a co-op interest that includes the right to live in a home.
• The rule excludes homes on leased land, a leasehold interest in a home, homes sold at auction, and homes sold under a court order or the supervision of a court.

The law adds one more exclusion. Section 42 of the Property Law Act says the three business day rule does not apply to a contract covered by section 21 of the Real Estate Development Marketing Act. That section has its own rule for a buyer of a unit from a developer: the buyer may cancel by written notice to the developer within 7 days, counted from dates the section sets out. Ask your agent which rule applies if you buy a new home from a developer.

The rule applies to both of your deals. When you buy, you have three business days to cancel for a known fee. Use them as a last check of your numbers, and do your main checking before you make the offer. When you sell, your buyer has the same three business days. Count your sale as firm once that period has ended and every condition is removed.

Deferred property tax is repaid when you sell

Owners aged 55 or older can use the Province's property tax deferment program. The Province pays your property tax for you and places a lien on the property. A lien is a legal claim that stays on the property until the debt is paid.

The Province says you must repay the loan in full when you sell. Three details on that page affect your dates:

• Interest is added to the balance on the 23rd of each month, so the amount you owe changes each month.
• A payout letter shows the balance on the day the letter is issued. Asking for one freezes your account, and the Province says a renewal that is still in progress will be cancelled.
• Payment by non-guaranteed funds, such as a personal cheque, takes at least 30 days to clear. After the loan is paid in full, the lien may take several weeks to be removed. The Province suggests guaranteed funds, such as a bank draft or a trust cheque.

For your choice of order, the effect is simple. The deferred tax and its interest are paid from your sale money, so subtract the balance before you set a budget for the smaller home. Tell your lawyer or notary about the loan when you list the house. Our post on property tax deferment and the seniors grant explains the program and its interest rates.

Which order do we suggest for your situation?

The table below is the FRIVE team's opinion. It is general. Your own lender, lawyer and agent know facts about you that this page cannot.

Source: FRIVE team opinion. General guidance for Fraser Valley downsizers in the market of September 2026.

In either order, write down three numbers before you sign a contract: the lowest price you would accept for the house, the highest price you would pay for the smaller home, and the number of months you could pay for both homes. Those three numbers tell you how much risk you can accept. Our downsizing checklist puts the full list of steps in order.

This guide is general information about published rules and market figures. It cannot replace advice on your own contract, loan or tax return. Confirm legal questions with your own lawyer or notary, and tax questions with your own accountant, before you sign.

Next step

Both orders start from one number: what your house would sell for today. Ask us for a free home value, and a BC-licensed REALTOR® will email you a price range based on recent sales of homes like yours. Then enter that price in the downsizing calculator, along with the price of the home you want. You do not have to sell with us. The rest of our downsizing guide covers tax, strata fees and six Fraser Valley cities.