Sometimes it is impossible to avoid certain stressful situations when selling your home, but there are a number of things you can do though to reduce the amount of stress you are under as it can often be created, totally unintentionally, by you. You can fix this with some careful thought and planning.
If you have the opportunity to plan your move in advance as opposed to suddenly being relocated through work, then the following should help you avoid a number of pitfalls:
- Get all those annoying little odd jobs you’ve been putting off for months, if not years, done. Give the house a good spring clean and spruce up, get your carpets cleaned and ensure the kitchen and bathroom(s) are looking spotless. The better your house looks, the more you will enjoy showing people round and the less stressed you will become not having to try and avoid the water stain on the ceiling in the living room!
- If you are moving because you have found somewhere new you want to live, don’t make an offer on that property until you are in a position to do so, in other words when you have a buyer for your own property. Firstly, if you are not in a position to proceed with the purchase you are in a weak position when it comes to negotiating the price and, in addition, that leaves you unable to be more flexible on your own asking price. Our advice is to register your firm interest in the property, ask the owners that you be kept in touch with and that once you have a buyer for your property you will be making a firm offer. As a result, if you get an offer that is lower than you had hoped for your own property, you can explain this to the agents handling the sale of the property you want to buy and ask them if the owners would be interested in a lower offer themselves on the basis you are in a position to proceed. Depending on the circumstances of the owners of that property, you may just be surprised at the outcome.
- Even if you have a particular property in mind when you put your own property up for sale, don’t stop looking around. There could be other properties that come on the market that you hadn’t previously considered. This can help avoid the stressful situation where you spend all your time worrying that the property you’re interested in may get sold before you sell your own. If you have two or three properties that would be suitable the chances are that when you do find a buyer you will be able to move to one of them rather than panicking that you haven’t found somewhere to move to.
- Be positive and plan for the move. When you place your house on the market there are a certain number of things you have to do straightaway, including having an energy report prepared for your property. However, there are certain things which can cause additional stress and create delays once you have found a buyer and often these will involve your solicitor. To avoid this, if you have not got one in mind, shop around and instruct one to be ready for when you do have a buyer. Solicitors need to get hold of your deeds and with any contract there will be what are called pre-contract enquiries. There is no reason why these cannot be answered in advance so that your solicitor can save time. In addition, as your move is urgent and providing you are prepared to cover the cost, it does no harm to get a local search carried out on your property on behalf of a would-be purchaser. This can avoid an unnecessary delay and is often a smart move if you are likely to be selling your property to a first-time buyer.
- Without making it too obvious to a would-be purchaser that you are ‘desperate’ to sell, start getting ready to move by packing non-essentials. Moving is also a good time to de-clutter and it gives you the opportunity to present your home in a better light, so anything you are unlikely to be taking with you, get rid of it sooner rather than later.
- Now is also a good time to create a list of everybody who will need to be contacted and advised that you are moving when the time comes. Think about any deliveries that may need cancelling, insurance companies that need notifying, basically anybody and everybody who should be informed so that when it comes time for the actual move you don’t need to be racking your brains when your head is so full of everything else involved in the move.
Here at Moovahome in Swindon it is our responsibility to minimise the stress for you when it comes to selling your home. If you have yet to choose an estate agent to sell your home or have currently been unsuccessful why not give us a call, invite us round and let us see what we can do to help you move.