Buying a new house before selling your current home can be a tricky process. In this video, the Pettitt Group’s Andrea Pettitt and Chris Fuhrman share strategies to help you achieve your goals.
Andrea Pettitt: Hi, I’m Andrea Pettitt with the Pettitt Group, and this is Chris Fuhrman with a Pettitt Group, and we are here to talk to you today about selling a house and buying a house. What is the first piece of advice that you would give somebody who has a house to sell and a house to buy?
Chris Fuhrman: Andrea, I wish more people would call us when they’re first thinking about it. Early on.
Early on, while they’re in those planning stages, because we can help them with that planning.
Andrea Pettitt: And the strategy. Reaching out right away when people are thinking about buying and selling is important, so what are some of the reasons why that’s so important?
Chris Fuhrman: It’s complicated, but maybe most important is that it’s different for every person. There’s so many elements and factors that are involved that when you can talk to somebody who’s going to consult with you, with your particular needs, goals, in mind, they can give you really good advice that will save you a lot of time in the long run and make it simpler, easier.
Andrea Pettitt: One of the reasons why it’s so important to reach out to us early in the process is because this whole buying and selling at the same time thing can get kind of complicated. Yes, absolutely.
Chris Fuhrman: Very.
Andrea Pettitt: And so, when we get that young family maybe that has outgrown their once-perfect 1200 square foot house and they are completely out of space, it seems sometimes like they might start thinking about selling and want to move up maybe a year before they actually make that decision. Don’t you think?
Chris Fuhrman: Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm. I think that’s very true. I have people reach out to me when they’re thinking about that. Maybe they’ve seen that dream home on the internet and they’re wondering how to make this happen. But there are so many pieces to that process. For instance, the lending part.
Andrea Pettitt: Yeah, the money. Where’s the money going to come from?
Chris Fuhrman: Exactly. Exactly. And some people may have enough equity in their property or they might have other assets that they can actually stay put in that tiny little house until they have the place to leap to. I mean, it’s not a leap, they know exactly where they’re going. Somebody else might need to make it close at the same time, their purchase close at the same time that the sale on their house closes. If they’re contacting me first, I immediately think I’ve got to bring you into it and we can help them with a plan and a strategy that’s perfect for them.
Andrea Pettitt: Because everyone’s a little different, so we really have to customize a plan for that specific situation. One area that is so important, to your point, sometimes the first time somebody reaches out to you is because they’ve been looking for a house to buy and they haven’t talked to us yet. What can happen when they do that?
Chris Fuhrman: They lose that house.
Andrea Pettitt: Why do they lose it?
Chris Fuhrman: Because they’re not really ready. They’re ready up here, but they don’t have all the pieces and parts that they need to have for the process to unfold for them.
Andrea Pettitt: And to be ready to say to that home seller, “Hey, I’m ready, willing, and able to buy this house right now today.”
Chris Fuhrman: Exactly.
Andrea Pettitt: Yeah. Another thing that I noticed sometimes when somebody is getting the cart before the horse a little bit with looking at homes to buy is that it distracts them from getting their house ready for the market. We’d like to work out a plan, if you truly need funds from selling your house before you can buy a house, then we love to be able to talk to you so that we can get all of those variables lined up in the right order, because it makes a difference how you approach the process. We can help with that.
Chris Fuhrman: Yeah. Andrea, one thing I that comes to mind immediately is people get really excited about that house and forget that they have to sell in order to buy. And their next question is, “How much is our house worth?” That’s so key to the kind of purchase that they could make. Especially if they’ve lived in their house for a really long time, or even a short period of time, the market is different every time they buy and sell. Again, when they start to think about it, that’s when they need to call. Right?
Andrea Pettitt: Yeah. They need to call right away. Yeah, exactly. And sometimes in this market, because we’re in such a strong market, it could actually be kind of fun. Sometimes that person’s house is worth a little more than they thought it was and they’re able to really leverage that to get into the exact right next house, which is a fun process to be a part of.
Chris Fuhrman: Right. Right.
Andrea Pettitt: In conclusion today, I would just like to reiterate that when people are buying and selling a house, that they can reach out and call us right away. We’re uniquely equipped to work with people who are buying and selling. We work as a great team and we have a whole additional team behind us, right?
Chris Fuhrman: Right. To support them.
Andrea Pettitt: Helping the sellers to sell, or buyers to buy, and acting as a true partner and consultant in the process to make it as easy as possible. Thank you for being here today. I’m Andrea Pettitt with a Pettitt Group.
Chris Fuhrman: Chris Fuhrman with the Pettitt Group.
Andrea Pettitt: Do reach out. Our number and contact information are there in your screen. Thank you.
Contact the Pettitt Group at Group One Sotheby’s International Realty at (208) 917-3330, or email us at info@buyandsellboise.com