The 5 signs you are ready to move home..
As you can imagine, we meet a lot of people who have reached the point when they realise they are ready to move home.
Being ready to move is not the same as needing to move – we have met couples who love where they live so much they’ve hung on as long as possible! Being ready to move comes in two forms – knowing you need to and finally finding the emotional space to do so (this is often the case with people downsizing) and just a sudden realisation that your home isn’t working for you any more; your feet start to itch and you find yourself browsing all the estate agency sites as more than just a guilty pleasure.
Before you bring in an estate agent to value your home, it’s wise to do a sense check with yourself – are you ready, really ready, to move on?
So, what are the five signs you’re ready to move house?
Storage space frustrations
There comes a point when, no matter how ruthless you are with decluttering, you simply have no more room to store the stuff you want to keep. This often happens when one becomes two (a couple move in together) or two become three (the amount of stuff a baby needs is staggering – and where on earth shall we put this pushchair?!)
Family expansion
Following on from the first point – when a new child arrives, the need for an extra bedroom is often the driver to start looking for a new home. Children can, and do, share a room, of course – but as they get older this becomes more problematic, so the question is move now, or move later? Which leads us neatly to point 3…
School catchment
We all want the best schools for our children, but it’s rarely something we think about till one of said children arrives on the scene. Suddenly it’s all about Ofsted reports, and can we walk to school? Also…
We need a garden
Again, it’s often the arrival of children that trigger the desire for more outdoor space, but equally, for many people there just comes a time in one’s life when sitting on one’s own patio sipping an ice-cool beer holds more appeal than a night out on the town. Yes, you’re at ‘that’ lifestage!
Bored, bored, bored
Remember the excitement of moving into your first home – bought or rented? Once the opposite becomes true, and you really simply fall out of love with where you live, it’s time to make a fresh start. There are several symptoms of home-boredom. The first is that you stop being so fussy about the housekeeping (which is something you’ll need to fix if you want to sell!). Whether it’s fixing chipped paintwork, repairing a wobbly door handle or even dusting into every corner, when you’re not house proud any longer, you need to find somewhere else to be proud of.
Needing to move and being ready to move don’t always coincide, so you need to be very sure you’re ready before you start the ball rolling. Putting your home up for sale, doing all the little jobs you need to do to make it viewer-friendly, inviting people in to judge your home – it’s a lot, and if you’re not absolutely sure now’s the time, you may find yourself subconsciously sabotaging the process. It definitely happens, trust us! The flipside of course is that you simply can’t find anywhere you want to move to – none of the houses you view feel ‘right.’ Again, this is likely to be more an emotional response than a practical one. How do you overcome this? Positive visualisation – imagine the freedom you will feel when all the niggling frustrations of your current home are lifted away. Picture all that marvellous storage space. Imagine having friends round to dinner. Plan a new bedroom décor, pick new paint colours, open your mind…and your heart will follow.
Call the Chorlton & Didsbury team on 0161 882 2233.
Friday 4th November 2022 – Eddie (Picture used from Cranbourne Road, Old Trafford).
