Dealing With the Stress of Selling A Home

Dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars? Ensuring you have a place to live? Not wanting to lose thousands in a poor sale? Yeah, it makes sense why selling a house is no cakewalk.

The stress of selling a home is very real, especially if your home isn’t selling. We’ve covered how to make your home as “sellable” as possible, but now we just want to make sure you and your moving anxiety are doing OK. Try these tips if things start to feel overwhelming.

Get to the root of the fear.

Facing our fears is very scary and vulnerable, but it’s the only way we can work through them. Ask yourself what is scaring you or making you nervous. Once you answer that question, keep asking “why” until you get to the bottom of things. When you arrive at the root of the fear, you can finally start working towards a solution.

Here’s an example of this line of questioning:

  • What am I afraid of? I’m afraid the house won’t sell.
  • Why is that scaring me? If it doesn’t sell we’ll have to pay two mortgages (including our new house).
  • Why is that scaring me? That’s a lot of money and I don’t want to have to pay that much. I’m worried it will be an unmanageable financial burden.
  • Why is that scaring me? I don’t want to run out of money and be in a bad situation.

At this point, we know that the seller is worried about financial security and what life is like if that security isn’t there. Luckily, there are plenty of backup plans that can serve as a solution to the selling stress (try saying that five times fast).

Selling while simultaneously buying a house? Get some help.

It takes a village to raise a child and sometimes, that child is moving from one house to the next. The point is, you should absolutely rely on others to help with this transition. 

Skip the FSBO route if it’s causing you grief. Spend money on a Realtor(s). Look into time-limited events. Above all else, remember this: Spending money on things that make your life easier and less stressful is money well spent. You will actually lose money if you try a DIY home sale and your house ends up sitting on the market for months.

Map everything out, but be flexible.

Moving stress only magnifies when you’re on a deadline. Make sure you give yourself enough time to not only get everything done, but to plan everything out. For instance, if you have to move across the country for a new job, tell your employers how much time you need — and don’t be afraid to ask for an extra week to settle in. The worst they can say is no.

When you have a move-out date in place, it’s time to divide and conquer. Set a goal each week of what needs to be done before moving day, but don’t freak out if something goes awry. People get sick, jobs get busy, sometimes you need to get some sleep instead of packing in late-night zombie mode. And leading into our next point, hire people to help you out.

Consider hiring movers.

Most people who hire a moving company end up hiring them for all future moves — it makes life so much simpler and once you know, you can never go back. You don’t need an excuse to hire movers, but especially if you’re feeling stressed, consider paying movers an investment in your mental health.

Weigh out all your options.

We started to touch on this earlier on, but it’s always a good strategy to have some backup plans in place — well before you list your home. Come up with some alternatives in the event that your house isn’t selling. Here are some things to keep in mind in case that happens:

  • Save up money in case you need to pay for more than one down payment.
  • Budget for a seller’s agent.
  • Find other listing strategies (such as time-limited events).
  • Think about turning your existing home into a rental property.
  • Assess whether selling is a need or a want — in other words, if your house doesn’t sell, can you still stay there?

Remember to take care of yourself.

Stress worsens when we shove our physical and mental well-being to the sidelines. Keep drinking water (it sounds simple but it’s easy to forget when stressed), get enough sleep, eat healthy (though packing-night pizza is a must), meditate, journal, take a 10-minute reading break — you do not need permission to retain your sanity, even when selling your house.

One of the easiest ways to take care of yourself during a home sale is to let the pros take over. Use RealtyHive as a resource for selling or finding an agent (or buying a new dream home). We are happy to take that stress off your plate and help you successfully sell.

Emily Wottreng
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