Sell-then-buy or Buy-then-sell?

[Ming Tsai]

Hi BP experts,

Me and my wife are currently living in Bay Area, north Cali. Our primary residence, a 2br/2ba condo is appraised at about 800k, with less then 100k mortgage remaining.  We found a 4br/4ba townhome close-by and have gone into contract to purchase the place. It's a new construction that'll be ready later this year. The price for the new place is 1.5m. 

Currently, we have about 350k cash, that we could use as down payment for the 1.2m (about 1.5m - 350k) loan in order to purchase the new place. Other than cash, we both have close to 150k in 401k, ira, stocks. Combined household income strong enough to secure the loan.

Question: Should we sell our current place first (assuming we don't move, therefore selling with no staging/open house), then apply for the loan with the proceeds from the sale?

Or should we apply for the 1.1m loan, sell our current place (with open house), then refi the new loan afterwards? 

What are the pros and cons if this is for primary residence purpose? 

Would staging the place for open-house help higher selling price?

Thanks!