<prompt> Human: Main question: Assuming existing debt is paid off, is it better to pay down existing mortgage the sell the home for a significant down payment for the next home or continue to pay current rate on mortgage and horde money for a down payment?Some Background,My wife and I have 2 car payments about 750 combined, student loans about 500 combined, and due to some unforeseen expenses with our child and a newly replaced ac and furnace, we are about 13k in credit card debt.Our current home is valued at 150k of which we have 133k left to pay off on a fha loan.Ultimately, we would like to move within 2-4 years-ish to a home closer to 250 or 300k. Reasons include my mother moving in, better layout, better locationschools, etc.Back to the original question: Is it better to payoff my existing home, sell it, then use the for a downpayment; or continue normal payments, save money, then when ready sell home, then buy the next?Im open to other ideas as wellEdit: Fixed paid off to left to pay off... That was very backwards. Also since it somewhat came up. Combined income is roughly 120k. We are both young and did not have a emergency fund when we had our daughter and about 7k of medical bills insurance did not cover went onto a credit card. Shortly after we had to replace our ac and furnace for 5k.  <response>: So after you pay down the credit card debt and car payments, when youre looking at upgrading house think about the market youre in.In my market, all-cash offers are the ones snatching up houses. You can barely get a finance contingency offer to be accepted. You absolutely will not get your sell-my-house-first offer accepted.If youre in one of these situations, I would suggest actually setting aside the cash not by paying down the mortgage but putting it into a savings account and buying your next home as a 2nd house, while your current house is on the market. Absolutely also make sure you have 3-6 months mortgage payments on both houses set aside so you can handle this situation while youre waiting for a sale.Talk to a realtor to find out whats going on in your area so youre best positioned to handle the market. Its totally dependent on whats going on in your area. 