Thanks, but isn't it possible that the deal to purchase the new house
may fall thru during inspection or attorney review?

You will say in the contract covering the sale of your old house something
like:
"This sale is contingent upon seller's closing of the house at such and such
address by such and such date."
If anything goes wrong with your purchase, you don't have to sell your present
home.
Unless you have a lot of money, no lender will let you buy a house until you
have a firm contract on the old house because most people can't afford to be
paying two mortgages at the same time and most people need money from the sale
to purchase the new one.
Whatever you decide, have a realtor or attorney handle the transaction. I think
you need a realtor badly.
However, I have the feeling you will do it the way you want to so I'm probably
wasting my time.

Pat