Should You Sell Your House or Stay?

Selling your house is a big move that involves a lot of stress and costs you a lot of money so you need to be absolutely sure that it’s the right thing to do before you do it. Often, people move because their family is getting larger and they just need more space. That’s a fairly clear-cut decision because you won’t have much choice in the matter. You could always consider an extension instead of moving but it’s usually just easier to find a new place. But if you’re thinking about moving because you don’t like the house or because you’ve got a lot of problems that are costing you loads of money in repairs, moving out isn’t always the best choice. If you’re considering a move but you aren’t sure whether it’s the right thing to do, consider these questions.

How Fixable Are The Problems?

This is important because there’s no need to go through the hassle of moving if you can sort out the issues in the house. If it’s just cosmetic issues that you’ve got, just spend a bit of money decorating the house and see whether that makes any difference. You might find that you just needed to give the house a bit of a makeover and you’ll be a lot happier. If you’ve got smaller problems like a couple of leaking taps or a broken step, you can usually fix that fairly easily. If you can’t do it yourself, it won’t cost you that much to get somebody in. Even some larger problems like pests can be sorted out if you get people like ABC pest control in to help you out. There was a reason you moved into the house in the first place so if you can sort out the problems with it and get it back into good condition, you might find that you don’t really want to move.

However, some problems that are constantly coming back can make the house unlivable. If you’ve got structural damage, for example, it’s going to cost you a lot of money to fix and the problem may come back. Mould is another one that you need to watch out for; you can clean it off the walls but if the walls aren’t sealed properly or you’ve got poor ventilation in the house, it’s just going to keep coming back again. That’ll be incredibly expensive to fix as well so you’re often better off just moving into a new place. Think about the problems that you’ve got with the house and consider whether you actually need to move or whether you can solve the issues.

Can You Sell Your House?

If you can’t sell the house, you’re not going to be able to move anyway so it’s worth putting some feelers out and seeing what similar places in the area are going for. If you’ve tried to sell the house and you aren’t getting any interest, it might be because of something that you’re doing. Bad decor or a dirty house can make it difficult to sell but in some cases, it might not be your fault. If your neighborhood isn’t that popular and nobody is willing to pay a good price for the house, you’ll struggle to shift it. It might also just be that the market isn’t that active at the minute. If that’s the case, you should probably stay put and make changes around the house instead of selling, otherwise, you’ll end up taking a lot less than you wanted to for it.

Not being able to sell the house at the moment doesn’t mean that you’ll never be able to. Maybe you need some professional help from a real estate professional in your area – for example, if you live in Tennessee you can find a seller’s agent in Knoxville, TN  that can give you some advice.  While you are waiting for the ideal time to sell your home, you may decide you need to wait a year or two for things might pick up again. In the meantime, you can make repairs to your existing house and decorate it a bit.

Do You Still Like The Neighborhood?

In real estate, they say that location is the most important thing so you need to think about it. You might not be too keen on the house or maybe you’re running out of space but if it’s in a good neighborhood where the house prices have gone up, you’re going to struggle to get another place nearby. If there are good amenities nearby, it’s a safe place to live it would be a shame to move away to somewhere that isn’t as nice. The problem is with the house, not the location so you’re better off trying to repair and renovate the house, and maybe build an extension if you want more space, rather than moving somewhere else entirely.

However, if the opposite is true and you don’t like the neighborhood anymore, there’s nothing you can do to the house that will improve things. Sometimes it happens and a lot of people start moving out of the area and it falls out of fashion. If that happens, the crime rate can rise and a lot of the local businesses might shut down. The nice neighborhood with plenty of amenities that attracted you in the first place can quickly turn into a bad place to live. In that situation, you should move elsewhere.

Can You Afford It?

This is a big consideration to make because if you don’t crunch the numbers properly, you might find yourself in a bit of a sticky situation. Most of the time, people are moving to a larger house and that means more of a financial burden every month from increased mortgage payments. Work out a budget and see whether you can afford to move into a bigger house and make all of your payments comfortably. If you’re just going to scrape by, it might not be sensible to move because any change in your circumstances (like a job loss, for example) could cause you some serious problems. You should only be moving if you’ve got the extra money to pay your mortgage off without trouble.

If you’re already in that position and you’re struggling to make payments every month, you could think about moving into a smaller place. If your kids have left home and you don’t need all of that extra space anymore, you can save yourself a lot of cash every month.

As well as the cost of the house itself, you have to consider all of the other costs involved with moving house. You’ll have to pay out a load of money in real estate agent’s fees etc. You also have to consider the cost of Killeen movers and relocating.  You can find out estimates for the cost of packing and moving at  https://www.atlantahomemovers.com/ so that you can factor those costs into your budget.  It all adds up quite quickly and if you aren’t prepared for it, you can end up in financial trouble if you move house. Make sure that you’ve added up all of the costs before you make a decision.

Current house prices are a big factor as well. If they’re pretty high at the moment, you could probably save a bit of money if you waited a while until they move again. The best way to decide is to speak with a real estate agent and ask about the prices in the area that you’re interested in. They’ll be able to give you a good idea of whether they’re likely to drop or not in the future. If they are, you’re better off waiting. If not, act now before they increase again.

Before you make any rash decisions, you need to think about what your motivations are. If you’re thinking about a move because there are a couple of small things that you don’t like about the house, you should try to fix them first before moving out.

Are you thinking of selling your house?

Have any advice for someone thinking about selling?