You can contact my mortgage guy, Frank Scorsone at 610-287-7451 to get an idea of what you qualify for, then start looking! When are you putting your home on the market? I would love to help you on both ends. Are you in the military or a veteran? There are tons of benefits out there that you may qualify for. Call me anytime at 610-812-6575 to discuss. I am available to view your home this week to give my opinion on pricing your home. I look forward to talking with you!

Cheryl Supplee
Coldwell Banker Preferred
610-812-6575

Hi Rich,

RE: Lenders - I'd recommend you at least ring up the folks at Wells Fargo. They provided me the best rate of anyone, with a longer lock period and instant pre-qual while I was on the phone.

Rich,
You have a very good point, what do you do first! First have a Realtor run comps for your house and also call your mortgage person who you have worked with in the past and see what you can get approved for.
If you have any questions I would be happy to serve you!

Kimberly Collins

Realtor, ABR
Keller Williams Realty Group
O: 610-792-5900
C: 610-476-7519

Hi Rich

Here is what we think the process shoul be:
•Evaluate your situation… sit down with your significant other or a trusted friend or relative and decide the relative merits of staying versus moving
•Review your finances…talk to your accountant, consider your budget. Remember it isn’t just how much mortgage you can qualify for but how much you are willing to spend. Sometimes a change in housing comes with a change in your cost of living.
•Talk to your mortgage broker to determine how much debt you can comfortably afford to carry. Get a preliminary GFE (good faith estimate) of your monthly housing costs using a pro forma (what if) hoseing purchase. Do Not forget to included insurance and any homeowners association fees in the monthly amount.
•Find a buyers agent in area that you want to move to. Determine if suitable homes are available in your desired price range. If yes then ask the agent to forward listings for your review. If you are not familiar with the area ask the agent for an area tour.
•Interview for a listing agent for your existing home. As at least 3 agents to prepare a CMA( comparative marketing analysis ) on your home. Ask that they come prepared to explain their marketing plans and pricing strategy.
•Select an agent and begin marketing your home
•Remember the final choice to buy or sell remains with you and ultimately you will live with the decisions not the Realtors, not the Lenders and not any other advisors so be sure to ask questions until you are satisfied.
If you decide on Bucks County give us a call.
Good Luck

Hi Rich,

If you are interested in putting your home on the market, You need to find a listing agent who will be honest with you. What I mean by that is that Realtors are desperate for business and will do anything to get your listing. You need to be realistic with your listing price. Many Realtors will tell you they can sell your home for whatever price you want to sell for and all that winds up doing is getting you frustrated and makes your home sit on the market which winds up hurting you. Your home will wind up selling for under market value and nobody wins in that situation.

You can find Realtors here on Trulia or from a referral from a friend or family member.

You should also make sure that your Realtor does not practice dual agency. If you hire a Realtor that does practice dual agency, I can gurantee that you will get hurt in the long run. If you are not familiar with dual agency, you can read about it on my blog at http://www.reneeporsia.com or I'd be happy to explain buyer, seller and dual agency to you in more detail.

As far as finding a home, you can use the Realtor who you hire to sell your home to also find you a home and be your buyer agent. You shouldn't use two different Realtors. Your buyer agent will help you with the entire process and protect you.

No matter what though, your Realtor should be an expert negotiator and be aggressive. If you hire a Realtor who is not an expert negoiator you could wind up paying to, to much for a home.

I'd love to speak with you further about your situation. Feel free to e-mail me or call me at (215) 669-0589.

Renee Porsia
Associate Broker
RE/MAX ACTION REALTY
(215) 669-0589 Direct
(215) 358-1100 Office Ask for Renee
http://www.reneeporsia.com

Rich,
It is best to work with a real estate agent to see what your home will sell fo using comparable sales in your area. After you do that, I would work with a Lender to see what your financing options are. i would be happy to work with you on the financing part of the equation. I am sure that one of the agents listed below would be happy to work with you as well.
Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
The very best of luck to you!
Michael

Michael D Delp
Mortgage Pro
4802 Old Bethlehem Pike,
Telford Pa. 18969
Ph- 215-453-1025
Fax- 215-453-1012
Cell- 610-762-0318
michaelddelp@aol.com
michaelddelp@verizon.net
http://www.mortgagepro.instantlender.com

Hi Rich,

In thinking more about this, I really can't support the notion that you should go to contract on your next place until you are already under contract in your current place. Even if the banks will let you do so and you have the means - then you'd be running an extra monthly of $1500-2500 - it doesn't take very long for that simple equation to wipe out the benefits of switching if your home doesn't sell really fast - quite a gamble right now. And it's unlikely that someone will agree to a home sale contingency right now.

What I would recommend to do is start staging your home right now - and interviewing to find the right sellers agent. The better you stage it, the more you'll get and the faster it will sell.

My "quick list" of staging follows:

1. Rent a storage unit and get Everything unneeded out of your house - giving it a bigger appearance. This is a good opportunity to throw loads of stuff out, and donate other stuff also. This also means packing up all clothing that you won't need for a few months - it'll make those closets nice and roomy!
2. Eliminate ALL clutter and Clean everything - make your house spotless
3. Paint all rooms that need painting. If you have rooms that are not neutral, consider re-painting them as such (this also can mean painting ceilings a nice flat white if they are not already. And don't leave the cans in some closet afterwards - as evidence that you just did it - put them in storage too or hidden in boxes. If you have a room with nasty stained carpet - replace the carpet. If your basement is unfinished, paint all walls white - preferably with dry-lock or similar. Please pay a lot of attention to the kitchen and bathrooms - even the grout needs to be fresh and clean.
4. Do any and all simple repairs (outside trim for example)
5. Make sure you have really good "front door appeal" - if needed, repaint all trim, the entire front door, and polish the door knob.

In short - avoid any "possible objection" that a potential buyer might have to buying your home. You never know what little thing will set someone off - to either not buy - or ... offer you LESS. Make it easier for your agent, whomever he/she is - give them a very good product to sell.

I've been looking at properties since last July and just went to contract yesterday. You might be shocked at the number of sellers that don't bother to properly stage - and by doing so - leave thousands of dollars on the table - and lengthen their sales cycle.

House staging isn't rocket science - everything you need to do is free info on the 'net - my list above will keep you busy enough anyway. You shouldn't need "a pro" to help with it - but a good realtor will help with honest feedback.

Hi Rich. You've already gotten some great answers to your question.

As my colleagues alluded to, every homeseller/homebuyer situation is different. There are times when it makes sense to put your home on the market before looking to buy; however, there certainly are times when it's possible to buy before listing your home. In order to make the best decision for you, I believe you need to hire a Realtor (after interviewing 2-3 of them and getting a feel for them as far as experience, knowledge, integrity, work ethic, etc.) as well as to consult with a Mortgage Representative or Broker. I regularly use 2 mortgage people -- and each of them is FABULOUS. I'd be happy to give you their contact information.....if you'd like this information, please call me at (610) 324-5240. (By the way, it costs you nothing to contact them...and, of course, there's no obligation either.)

Having a Realtor -- as a listing agent (to help with the sale of your home) and a buyer's representative (to help with your home purchase) -- that knows the business and looks out for YOUR best interest is of primary importance. In this market, homes DO sell; however, they must be priced right and appropriately prepared for sale (both inside and out). And, of course, as we're currently in a buyers' market, you have LOTS of homes to choose from.

If you haven't yet hired a Realtor to assist you, I'd appreciate the opportunity to earn your business. (You can learn more about me, my experience, the way I do business (and how I differ from other Realtors), etc. by visiting my website at http://www.JudysFineHomes.com.) Feel free to call me at (610) 324-5240 to arrange an appointment, if you like. It would be my pleasure to assist you in any way that I can.

Bottom line: you've chosen a GREAT time to buy -- and sell! If you're interested, you may want to check out my FREE Special Reports for Buyers & Sellers at http://www.JudysFineHomes.com/meet/reports.htm.

Also, in case you haven't checked it out yet, you may ALWAYS search the MLS online at http://www.CollegevilleAreaHomes.com. It's a great site, very easy to navigate, and you can save all your searches, too!

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have. Good luck!

Warmly,
Judy

Judy May, Esquire, REALTOR
"A Refreshingly Different Real Estate Experience" http://www.JudysFineHomes.com http://www.CollegevilleAreaHomes.com
judy@JudysFineHomes.com
O: (610) 489-7700
C: (610) 324-5240 (preferred)

Search the MLS! http://www.CollegevilleAreaHomes.com

Talk to an agent to get an idea of the price you will get for your house. Do not list it at this point. Talk to a loan officer and tell them what you expect to net and the funds you will have available and get pre qualified.
If you think you have enough for down payment and closing costs, then you should first list your home as it is taking longer to sell, and you can talk to the agent how to have contingencies in place when you want to sell and buy.

Hi Rich,
Beside from contacting a Realtor, it's important to be in contact with a mortgage officer to put all the numbers together, and issue you a pre-approval non contigent on the sale of your home if you can afford it, you have to be comfortable swinging both payments at the same time for the time it takes to sell your home. contact a realtor as soon as you decide to put your house on the market. Is your house ready to sell?. how much do you think it's worth? ( comparative market analysis). what's your time frame?, these are some of the issues you can discuss with an agent.

Contact a realtor. If you can buy without selling your present home, you can get preapproved and buy your next home first. If you are unable to buy without selling first, put your home on the market. Once you have an offer on your present home, get preapproved then start looking. Discuss your situation with your realtor so that you can decide which scenario will best meet your needs.

Hey Rich,

Just a thought - some municipalities have earned income tax in that area, and some don't. So, you if you don't pay this now, and get hit with 1% when you don't know about it, that might be upsetting. Or ... maybe you can leave the 1% behind if you have it in your current town. I'm heading to lower Bucks from NJ and avoiding the wage tax and cutting my state tax by more than half - exciting!

Best of luck to you!

Hi Rich,

I would like to offer my services to help you accomplish your plans of selling and buying. The first thing we would need to do is determine if selling your home will allow you to buy what you want. I can help you with this by creating a comparative marketing analysis of your property, which is a tool that gives you an idea of a likely selling price. Once you have an idea of what you might net from selling, you can speak with a lender about being approved...and most importantly, for how much. If you are satisfied with how things play out to this point, then we would list your home for sale and begin looking for your next home.

As an added bonus, I am currently working with two sets of buyers looking to buy in Norristown. I don't know if your home fits their requirements, but who knows, we may get lucky! Also, I have a listing in Norristown right now - it is a short sale and under agreement - so I know the area well (not to mention I lived their for a few years). Anyway, please feel free to call me (215-69-3518) if you want to discuss matters and hear about my ideas for marketing your home. I would be very happy to get you on your way to your next home!

Susan Meyers
Weichert Realtors
Fort Washington
215-646-1700 x121
215-692-3518

Rich,

First thing you want to do is talk to a Realtor to start the process of getting your home on the market. Once the home is on the market you will want to talk with a local lender and get pre-approved for a loan for the next house. In today's market most sellers wont be interested in offers that contain contingencies based on the sale of your current home, especially if it is not yet listed for sale. It is best to get the process going with the sale of your home and then as you start to get some activity on your home you can start to look at the specific properties that your interested in. I'm more than happy to discuss any and all options with you. Feel free to give me a call or send an email. I'm right around the corner in Collegeville and would love to help.

Andrew Himes