Sell/buy in what order?

[Tyler Rodgers]

My wife and I want to start our investment career by selling our current sfh and moving into a 2-4 unit multi family. Our reasons for this are twofold.

First, the roughly $50k in equity we have would give us money for down payment, closing costs, and cash reserves without having to deplete our emergency fund or spend the next couple years saving before we can invest.

Second, we want to take advantage of owners occupant financing such as FHA on this deal to get the low interest rate and down payment as this seems like the easiest way to get started.

My question is what order of operations do you folks recommend? Do we put our place on the market first and sell with a contingency of us purchasing a new place first? Or get pre approved for a loan and start making offers to buy with a contingency that we must sell our house before we can close? The third option, as I see it, would be to sell, close, and move with my wife and two kids into a rental or with family while we look for a new place, but I would prefer not to move them twice unless absolutely necessary. 

I am confident that my house will sell fast in my market, as they all seem to sell within a week lately, but the inventory of multis is fairly low, so it might take a while to find the right deal to buy. 

Thank you for taking the time to read and help a newbie!