Well, timing AND location, right?!

We live in north suburban Chicago, 60035, and want to move to the Asheville, NC *area* - still narrowing that down. We got sidetracked with a family crisis on our way to market preparation of our house. It not only changed timing but will change our financial picture, too, as we have now eaten into our HELoC that was untouched before. The picture is not horrible by any means (we have significant equity) but different than before. There are more expenses coming over the next few months but LtV is still going to be We don't anticipate listing our home until mid Feb at the earliest. That allows us time to prepare the house and hopefully make a small dent in the HELoC balance.

As to timing.... at what point do we begin contacting realtors and interviewing? Is it too early? Certainly suggestions for market price could fluctuate over the next 8 - 10 months, especially considering the coming election. But I do want feedback on things we plan to do and suggestions for things they see and we don't. Having 8+ months to prepare would be nice in our minds but will a realtor think we're jumping the gun? I've bookmarked the Good way to find a realtor thread and will utilize the suggestions there on what to ask in an interview. We have a close, trusted acquaintance who will likely get our business but do want to interview others as due diligence. Not certain how to determining WHO to interview, though.

Our intention was to pay cash for the new home. We will have less to work with so will scale back our search price limit or possibly consider a small mortgage. Last year, our current lender told us we'd have flexibility in buying if we had not yet sold our current home and found what we wanted in NC but again, the finances have changed so there is going to be less flexibility. Should we be contacting lenders in NC to see how they view us in case we do decide to take out a small mortgage? I'm really uncertain how to go about this - we have always lived here and done financing locally with our homes.

Lastly (for the moment!), talk to me about pre-inspections, please. Do buyers really trust an inspection arranged by the seller? This is a new event since our last purchase. My DH is in the home business - residential engineering, repair, remodeling. He does inspections for friends and family and mini-inspections at house showings for his clients to tell them whether or not they should even proceed with an offer on a house and a full inspection or walk away if he spots something big. Obviously we'd have to hire an inspector to do a seller's pre-inspection. I must be missing something but if a seller's agent handed me a pre-inspection report, I certainly wouldn't put a lot of weight on the information so what purpose does it really serve? Or am I less trusting than other buyers? And when is this inspection performed?

I'm ready to start this ball rolling in earnest so thanks in advance for your input. I'm sure to have a LOT more questions!!