5 things I learnt from selling our family home

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We sold our family home earlier this year and the whole experience was a lot to process. It had been over 17 years since my husband had bought our home so to say the experience was a learning curve was an understatement. From unreliable estate agents to unresponsive solicitors, we have learnt a lot of what to do and what worked well for us, here’s 5 things that might help you if you decide to sell your family home. 

Do your research 

Before we put our house up for sale, we did extensive research into what we believed our house was worth. We looked at online house prices in our local area and a little further afield. We took a realistic look at our property and knew there was a ceiling price attached to our home due to it’s number of bedrooms and lack of off-road parking. We also knew our home was in excellent condition with beautiful Engineered Wood Flooring throughout the downstairs, a buyer could move straight in and not need to do anything but could also make DIY improvements should they wish to. This research definitely helped us during the initial stages of applying for our mortgage and placing our house on the market. 

Get at least 3 house valuations  

We asked 3 different estate agents to give us their valuation about what our home was worth on the current housing market. We asked 2 local estate agents and an online estate agent to give us their valuations and we were surprised at their responses. Their valuations were very different, a whopping 20k difference between the lowest and the highest valuation. We decided to go with the estate agent who we felt we could trust even though their valuation was the lowest we received. We asked them to market our home at a price we felt our home was worth and they agreed with it. Thankfully, our house sold with an offer over our asking price.  

Get recommendations for solicitors 

Ask around. Ask family and friends for recommendations of who they have used for conveyancing previously and what their experiences were. We went with a local firm as we thought it would be a quicker process if we needed to pop in to the offices to sign paperwork and verify ID. Unfortunately for us, we chose a poor solicitors firm who didn’t reply to our emails or phone calls, ignored requests from other involved solicitors and estate agents, and made the whole house buying and selling experience very stressful indeed. 

Protect your family’s future 

As with all financial investments, it’s worth ensuring that you research life insurance too. You never know when a policy may be needed, especially if you have a young family. We looked into term life insurance quotes with our mortgage broker and she was able to give us the best advice based on our financial situation. It’s always wise to research different options and policies to ensure your family’s best interests are considered. 

Book your home removals in advance 

Moving all your worldly possessions is a lot to endure. You probably won’t realise how much stuff you have until you see it all stacked up on a truck ready to move. Make sure you book your home removals in advance as saving it until the last minute will be expensive and is very risky if you don’t have access to a truck or large van. Removal companies may be able to save the date for you or reschedule moves should you need to but it’s definitely worth booking in with them as soon as you can. 

Good luck if you’re selling your home, it’s definitely a rollercoaster.