You’ll know when it’s time to move on, when your living space no longer comfortably seats you. Plus children and assorted pets or when working from home feels like the walls are closing in.
Then it’s time to pack up and upscale your living quarters.

Buying a new house is a healthy mixture of excitement and fear. Excitement in climbing the next rung on the property ladder. One step closer to your dream home, but fear of everything that comes with that. Money, time, complicated legal paperwork to name but a few house moving anxieties.

The process often begins relaxed enough. Browsing a few home sale sites and daring to dream about some of the properties you come across. Reality can set in pretty quickly when you’re negotiating down prices. Wondering if your dream home is, in fact a nightmare of rising damp and crumbling walls.

To avoid new move dramas, we’ve scoured the best of the web for handy hints and top tips to help make your next big move smooth sailing.

Preparation Is Everything

Perhaps you’re the kind of person who keeps everything neatly filed from the get go. All your plans and documentation are color-coded and it’s easy to lay your hands on just the right piece of paper. Or perhaps you find juggling school runs, work and home quite enough and wouldn’t even know where to find that mortgage statement or dental appointment letter.

If you’re the latter, now’s the time to get one file started: your moving file. In that, you’re going to need bank statements, mortgage statements, forms of identification and everything you’ll need to make the process of moving house as hassle free as possible. All these documents can be stored online as an extra precaution.

But hold everything, before you press play on buying your dream house you’re going to have to overcome one big hurdle: selling your own.

Here’s where it starts getting really complicated. Having the two processes running simultaneously in your head at the same time is enough to drive you crazy. That’s why, at this stage, you need to put the dream house on hold and get your house sold.

Getting Sale Ready

Before you even reach for the phone to call your realtor, start getting your property in sale shape. The best place to start is with a thorough decluttering. This can be the longest and toughest part of the process but be tough, be ruthless; when it’s gone, it’s gone for good.

Every room, every cupboard, every drawer in your property should be gone through with a fine tooth comb and anything that no longer fits, that is no longer played with or remembered needs to go to the seconds shop, or to the trash.

If you struggle to let go of objects for sentimental reasons consider gifting them to friends and family instead.

All done? You’re ready for the next step:

Be The Buyer

It’s time to look at your property through the eyes of a potential buyer. Begin at the beginning, go outside and take a good long look at the exterior of your property. What do you see? Crumbling paintwork, windows that have seen better days? If you’ve got the money to patch up some of this work, then consider getting it done. You don’t have to spend a fortune and anything you spend out should come back to you and more when it comes to your sales figure.

Employ contractors you trust for painting and professionals such as Renewal by Andersen window replacement for windows and external doors. Shop around and get a quote that sounds reasonable and fair and that can be done to a timescale that suits you.

Next, head inside. How welcoming is your hallway? What are the first impressions of this home? Perhaps you have coats strewn across the floor or gloves and hats hanging off the radiators, tell family members there are new rules now.

Take your time and slowly work your way around the house trying to imagine what each room tells your viewer. If you struggle to separate yourself from your house, then have a friend walk around with you and give you the honest truth.
All those little DIY jobs that you’ve been meaning to do, your friend’s going to tell you all about them.

Set Up Viewings

When you’re sale ready, it’s time to get in the professionals. There are plenty of options for selling your house yourself and setting up your own sales viewings but unless you know exactly what you’re doing, handing over the responsibility to a third party is often the best option.

While it’s tempting to watch over the viewings and chip in with advice and information, it rarely helps a sale and letting your realtor guide people through your home will speed the process along. Besides how would you feel if you heard viewers criticizing your bespoke furniture or favorite rug?

Not every viewing is going to lead to an offer and likewise, not every offer is going to lead a sale. There may be several false starts along the way. These aren’t your fault or your problem; they’re very much a part of the process.

Then the day comes when you get an offer, you accept and your house sale starts slowly edging its way forward. Now’s the time to get your logistics going with the selling/buying chain.

Many people opt to take the pressure off the chain by moving into temporary accommodation and placing their goods in storage for a month or so, but with a smaller budget this might not be an option for everyone.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Get Packing

Whether you move yourself or have a removals company do it for you. Make sure your goods are handled with care and attention to making unpacking easier the other side.

Look forward to that first cup of coffee in your new home, and start planning how you’re going to redecorate your perfect new abode.