3 Ways to Ease The Stress of Selling Your Home
Selling a home looks simple from the outside, doesn’t it? Clean it up, take a few pictures, write a listing, host a few viewings and sit back and wait for the offers to flood in. Sadly, anyone who has ever sold a house will tell you it’s not that simple, and if it is, this isn’t the rule, more the exception.
When you decide to sell up, delays, phone calls that never come, low-ball offers, and viewings that feel promising but never come to anything are all par for the course.
Still, it’s not all dramatic stress, and there are ways you can keep your head when selling. It’s not about being patient; it helps, of course, but it’s being practical, and these tips can help with exactly that.
Focus on What Helps
So here’s the thing: not everything you do will help you sell your home. Many sellers overthink presentation – replacing features and full home repairs when actually this isn’t always needed. You don’t need to stage your home to look like a show flat. It just needs to look maintained. Fix the obvious things buyers will spot, like peeling paint or wallpaper, and damages like broken lightbulbs, handles, etc. A clean, well-maintained home reads better than one that’s been painted in a panic.
If you’re not sure what you need to do, your estate agent can help you to make the most of the property and tell you what you need to avoid to turn buyers off. By focusing primarily on light, space and mess, you’re already winning.
Expect Bumps
Even well-organised sales wobble. Surveys raises issues, buyers pull out, and lenders slow everything down. And the more you expect this to factor in the journey, the easier it will be to deal with them when they occur.
A good agent keeps things moving in the background so you don’t have to chase, but they can’t stop these issues all the time. The old saying “hope for the best, plan for the worst” comes in handy here. Sure, you want things to go right and to move along quickly, but that isn’t always the case, so expecting problems and delays from the outset can minimise disappointment.
Keep A Tidy, But Liveable House
Again, you don’t need to have a showhome, but you do need to be ready for a stream of strangers coming in and out at all hours. It’s not reasonable to expect a photo-ready home 24/7, but you can make it quick to reset.
One laundry basket, one cupboard to put things into in a hurry, clear surfaces at all times, and open windows before a viewing are all small habits you can put in place to help you manage the stresses of viewings and show the property in its best light.
Viewers decide fast, usually within seconds, if they want to see more of the property or not, and if you can make sure it’s making the right impression where it matters in those first seconds, that’s what will help you out the most.
