Buying A House While Selling One

[metalskins]

So, my wife and I are getting ready to put our house on the market. I have never been in the situation where I find a house I want to put an offer in even before the current house is officially on the market, but lo' and behold, we did just that yesterday. Of course, I think our contingency offer had very little chance of getting accepted since there were multiple offers put in for the same house.

That being said, has anybody here been in the situation where they haven't yet quite sold their current home, but put a bid on a new home? Or, did you make sure your first home was completely sold before even entertaining ideas of putting offers in on the next home?