Are you still living in the same house you bought shortly after you got your first job?
Maybe you were tired of renting and have recently decided to actually purchase something with your partner?
Perhaps you knew you had outgrown your home and realized that it’s time to move on and actually sell your home?
Whatever the reason may have been for you to relocate earlier in life, once you’re a homeowner, things get a bit trickier to decide when to sell your home!
And at what point do you know you’ve arrived at that decision?
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that life changes tend to be the leading causes of bringing up the issue of selling your home!
Here are 4 telltale signs that it’s time to sell your home:
1. Change in lifestyle
This one seems to be the ‘duh’ of reasons as to why you know it’s time to sell your home!
You used to work 9-5 at some big corporate downtown but have been working from home for the past handful of years. That ‘casual’ home office has now become a fully-fledged operations center!
Maybe it was just your husband and yourself at first, but over the years, the family has steadily grown and there’s been an extra cat, another dog, a few parakeets on the side, and as of a few months ago, a little mini-you!
The original reason you bought this home a number of years ago is now clearly not applicable anymore, and it’s clear that your family needs a bigger home as this one is just getting too small!
Do you have the option to extend a room or two? Perhaps convert a basement area or attic into more livable space?
Obviously, most of us won’t have that choice and will be forced to start looking for something new.
2. House is getting too big
The trend nowadays seems to be one of ‘empty nesters’ where all the kids are in college or have moved out of the house and the realization that the family home has actually become too big for just the two of them!
Maybe the upkeep of the property is getting too much, the financial implications too high, or just too much house for what you need the next coming years (decade).
Wouldn’t it make sense to look into downsizing?
3. Issue of overcapitalizing
You’ve lived in the same house for decades and now believe it’s time to upgrade the kitchen, bathrooms and perhaps do something ‘open plan’ with the living areas.
However, you had a few quotes done and were surprised to see what it would actually cost you to get the above done!
Instead of getting all excited about the upcoming spendy renovations, it might be worth having a valuation done of your property in its current state.
When you add up the numbers of the ‘facelift’ and see what your property would then be worth, it might be that it’s obvious that your property will be way above the level where comparable properties in the neighbourhood are selling for!
Time to start considering to sell your home instead and start afresh somewhere else?
4. Out of love with the neighbourhood
You bought into your neighbhourhood as a youngster and truly enjoyed raising your children there.
However, over time, the neighbourhood dynamics have drastically changed (not necessarily for the worse) but not in line anymore with where you are in life.
Your youngest child is attending a private school completely ‘out of the way’. Your older children might live on the other side of town? You’ve changed jobs and now have a solid hour commute ahead of you every day?
Whatever it is, it’s enough for you to acknowledge that you’re not in love with the neighbourhood anymore as you used to be and that it’s time to sell your home.
Closing thoughts
While some of these reasons might be obvious that it’s time to sell your home, others aren’t as in your face!
You don’t mind change at all, but over the years, it’s slowly but surely been creeping up and looking back now, there have been so many changes from what you originally wanted.
Luckily for you, these (annoying) monthly bond repayments all these years are starting to pay off as you’ve managed to build up some equity, plus the property appreciation is helping quite a bit as well!
Keep in mind that once you sell, you’ve now become a buyer, which comes with its own bag of challenges!
