20/09/2026
There's a conundrum a lot of sellers face, whether they're trading up or trading down.
Sell first, and you risk a gap with nowhere to live. Buy first, and you're doing it subject to sale — which is one of the harder ways to make a move.
If you're competing for a property while still needing to sell your own, you're at the back of the queue. Your timeframe is the least attractive one on the table. A seller with other offers isn't going to wait four, six, eight weeks or more for your place to sell. And even if an offer subject to sale does get accepted, it's rarely the end of the story — an escape clause usually comes with it, letting the seller take a better offer if one turns up. Which means the buyer can get rolled out after all that waiting.
The good news is that selling first doesn't have to mean rushing into a gap. Timing and terms can do a lot of the work.
A long settlement gives you room to find the next place without needing to move out in the meantime. And selling into the right window matters too — listings tend to spike around October–November and again in March–April, so timing your sale to land in one of those windows means more choice on the other side, right when you need it.
The vendors we're currently working with have been through this before. A couple of years back, they looked at buying subject to sale and found out firsthand how that plays out. Since then, we've stayed in touch — talking through timing, market movement, and how to get into the strongest position when the right property comes along.
This time, they've made the call to sell first.
Their home in Burwood is going to auction on the 10th of October. Three bedrooms, fully insulated, a double garage, a separate standalone room suited to a home office, and a freehold, fully fenced 596m² section with a deck and garden to enjoy in the meantime.
Selling first isn't the easy option. But timed well, with the right terms in place, it can be the smoother one.
📍 50 Yellowstone Crescent, Burwood
