Illustration of an older couple moving from a large two-story house to a smaller single-story home, with boxes between them

One question settles the order, and it is not about the market. Do you need the equity out of the old house to buy the new one? If you do, you sell first — every other sequence is a way of borrowing that equity early and paying interest for the privilege. If you do not, buying first is calmer, and what it costs you is carrying two houses for a while. Everything else in this post is detail hanging off that one answer.

The good news for a Central Ohio downsizer is that the gap you have to bridge is short. Columbus REALTORS reported a median sales price of $350,000 and an average of 29 days on market for May 2026, on 2.0 months of supply — a market where a well-priced house does not sit, but where 2.0 months of inventory also means you are competing for the smaller ranch you want. Figures current as of that May 2026 report; check the current month before you plan around them.

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Downsizing usually fails on timing, not on price — a firm closing date you choose lets you write a clean offer on the smaller house instead of a contingent one. No obligation, no fee, and we will tell you honestly if listing would net you more. Get a cash offer on your Ohio home.

Sell First: What It Costs and What It Buys

Selling first converts a guess into a number. You know your net proceeds, you know what you can put down, and you can write a non-contingent offer on the next house — which is the whole point, because a clean offer from a buyer with cash in hand competes with anyone.

What it costs is a gap: the days or weeks between handing over the keys and getting new ones. There are three normal ways to cover it. Ask the buyer for a post-closing occupancy agreement so you stay put for a few weeks after closing. Take a short-term rental or a furnished lease. Or stack the closings on the same day and accept the coordination risk below. None is free, but all three are cheaper than a bridge loan, and all three are reversible if the purchase falls through.

Buy First: The Two Ways People Actually Fund It

Buying first is the emotionally easier route and the more expensive one. You need to be approved carrying both payments, or you need short-term money.

The two instruments are a bridge loan and a home equity line on the house you are leaving. The order matters more than the product: a lender will generally not open a new line of credit against a house that is already listed, so if a HELOC is your plan, it has to be in place before the sign goes in the yard. Ask your lender, in writing, what happens to the line when the house sells and how the payoff is handled at closing. And price both options against the alternative — a few weeks of rent, or a rent-back from your buyer, is often cheaper than months of interest on borrowed equity.

The Same-Day Double Closing, and Where It Breaks

Closing the sale in the morning and the purchase in the afternoon looks elegant and mostly works, but it is a chain, and chains break at the weakest link. Two things cause most of the failures.

The first is funds timing: the wire from your sale has to land and clear before your purchase can fund, and a title company will not disburse money it has not received. The second is that your closing now depends on someone else's lender, someone else's underwriter and someone else's payoff statement. Build slack into it. If the two closings must be same-day, ask both closers to talk to each other directly before the week of, and have a plan for where your furniture sleeps if the afternoon slips to the morning after.

Why a Sale Contingency Is Weak Right Now

An offer contingent on selling your current house asks a seller to take their home off the market on your promise. On 2.0 months of supply, with an average of 29 days on market in the May 2026 Columbus REALTORS report, that seller usually has another option. Contingent offers do get accepted in Central Ohio, but they are typically accepted at a worse price, with a kick-out clause that lets the seller keep marketing and give you 48 or 72 hours to remove the contingency if a better offer arrives.

That is worth knowing before you assume a contingency is the safe play. It is the option that most often leaves a downsizer paying more for the new house and still under time pressure on the old one.

Your Homestead Exemption Does Not Follow You

This is the Ohio-specific trap, and it costs real money. If you are 65 or older, permanently disabled, a qualifying disabled veteran or a qualifying surviving spouse, the homestead exemption reduces the taxes on part of your home's value — ORC 323.152(A) sets the base at $25,000 of true value for the general category and $50,000 for disabled veterans and certain surviving spouses, with the tax commissioner adjusting those figures each September for inflation and rounding to the nearest $100.

It does not ride along with you. Under ORC 323.153, your original application is a continuing application for as long as that dwelling is your homestead, so you never reapply while you stay put — but when the property transfers, a new application is required for the new home. The county auditor furnishes applications in February to the new owners of transferred property, and the filing deadline for real property is December 31 of the year for which you want the reduction. Miss that December 31 and you lose the reduction for that year. If you buy in Franklin County in November, file the DTE 105A immediately; do not let it become a January errand.

The Fee You Will Be Charged, and the Tax Most Downsizers Never Owe

Two tax items come up at every downsizing closing and they pull in opposite directions.

The first is the conveyance fee, charged when the deed is transferred. ORC 319.54(G)(3) sets the state fee at ten cents per $100 of value, and ORC 322.02 lets a county add a permissive tax "at a rate not to exceed thirty cents per hundred dollars" — so up to forty cents per $100, or $4 per $1,000, depending on the county. On a $350,000 sale that is up to $1,400. Who pays it is a term of your contract, not a rule of law, so read that line.

The second is the one people fear and usually do not owe. Under Internal Revenue Code section 121, described in IRS Topic no. 701, you can exclude up to $250,000 of gain on the sale of a main home, or up to $500,000 on a joint return, if you owned and used the home as a residence for at least 24 months out of the five years before the sale, and you have not excluded gain on another home sale in the two years before this one. Note what the test is not about: it turns on ownership and use, not on your age, and it does not require you to buy a replacement home. If your whole gain is excluded and you get no Form 1099-S, there may be nothing to report at all — but if any gain is not excluded, or a 1099-S is issued, the sale gets reported. Run your actual numbers past a CPA, especially if the house was ever a rental.

The Costs That Are Not the Price Difference

Downsizers budget the gap between $350,000 and $260,000 and then get surprised by everything else. Build the list before you commit to a date: the conveyance fee and prorated taxes at closing, movers, a storage unit if the sequence has a gap, the cost of emptying forty years of a house, repairs the inspector on the sale side will find, and the fact that a smaller house is not automatically a cheaper one to run once you add a condo or HOA fee.

The other overlooked item is the old house's condition. A home you have lived in for decades is priced by buyers against renovated comparables, and the choice is usually to fix it, discount it, or sell it as-is to someone who will. All three are legitimate. What is not legitimate is assuming a house you love is worth what the neighbors' updated one sold for.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I sell my Central Ohio house before I buy the next one?

If you need the equity from the sale to make the down payment, yes, sell first — the alternatives are all forms of borrowing that equity early. If you can qualify carrying both payments and you do not need the proceeds, buying first is less stressful and the cost is the carry. The deciding question is the money, not the market.

Does my Ohio homestead exemption transfer to my new house?

No. Under ORC 323.153 your original application continues only while that dwelling is your homestead. When the property transfers, a new application is required for the new home; the county auditor furnishes applications in February to new owners of transferred property, and for real property the filing deadline is December 31 of the year you want the reduction.

How much is the Ohio conveyance fee on a sale?

ORC 319.54(G)(3) sets the state fee at ten cents per $100 of value, and under ORC 322.02 a county may add a permissive tax of up to thirty cents per $100. That is a maximum of forty cents per $100, or $4 per $1,000 — up to $1,400 on a $350,000 sale, depending on your county. Which party pays it is set by your purchase contract.

Will I owe capital gains tax when I downsize?

Often not. IRS Topic no. 701 allows exclusion of up to $250,000 of gain, or $500,000 on a joint return, where you owned and used the home as a residence for at least 24 months of the five years before the sale and have not excluded gain on another sale in the prior two years. The test is ownership and use, not age, and buying a replacement home is not required.

Is a home sale contingency a realistic way to buy first?

It is realistic but expensive. With central Ohio at 2.0 months of supply and an average 29 days on market in the May 2026 Columbus REALTORS report, sellers with other offers rarely take a contingency at full price, and the ones who do usually attach a kick-out clause letting them keep marketing and give you a short window to remove it.

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This article is general information about Ohio real estate and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Foreclosure, probate, bankruptcy and title matters are fact-specific - consult a licensed Ohio attorney or CPA about your situation. We are a licensed Ohio real estate brokerage, not a law firm.