<prompt> Human: Thanks everyone for answering! I think all questions are settled now and I appreciate it very much! Good day all, We are thinking of paying off our house, looking and then purchasing a new one, once moved do some small fix ups to our old house and then sell it... Wed purchase a house for approx 290k and sell our old house for something along the lines of 170k.Im worried about capital gains and taxes because of the hopefull profit well make on the house 120k left to pay as of now... Would doing it the way were thinking be fine or is there a much better way of proceeding? Not interested in 401kRoth investments etc... Example: Is it better to get a second mortgage and pay for two mortgages until we sell it off instead of paying it off first? Ninja Edit: We would use the profits of the first house and either deposit it into a savings or wed put it on the principal of the new house thats still in discussion with spouse so unsure which avenue we can come to agreement with.Thoughts would be appreciated... Thanks! Assistant: If you have lived in that home for at least 2 of the last 5 years when you sell it, you dont have to pay taxes on the first 500k of gains so I think youre fine there Human: I will repeat what I wrote below.. but the document you linked, it states that wed be exempt for primary residence selling... but if were moved into another house and it takes a while to sell the old one.. would the new house be the primary and therefore us selling the secondary house make us non-exempt?  <response>: Youre eligible for the exclusion if you have owned and used your home as your main home for a period aggregating at least two years out of the five years prior to its date of sale.You dont need to be currently living in it when it sells that would be somewhat awkward if you had to live in it as your primary residence right up until the day of sale, it just needs to have been your primary residence in the recent past. 