Dithering about downsizing?
If you have been thinking about selling your house and moving to a smaller property for a while, but you haven’t done it yet, the chances are you might have some of the following thoughts:
The market’s not good at the moment.
The housing market is rarely stable in Ireland. House prices tend to be either rising or falling. This means that property owners are often keen to “time the market” eg. to sell at the peak , while buyers are keen to buy at the lowest point in the market. This is all understandable. However it’s worth remembering that house prices rise and fall relative to each other so when you’re downsizing, even if you are afraid you won’t get the absolute highest price on record for your property, you will in turn, not have to pay the highest price on record for the property you propose to buy. To put figures on it. Let’s say you sell a house for €1.4m at the peak of the market, and wish to buy a property for €800,000, this means you will have a surplus of €600k. Now let’s say you sell the same house in a falling market for €1m, the property that you wish to buy will also have fallen,very possibly to €400,000 or €500,000 so while you are getting less for the property you are selling, you will also be paying less for the property you are buying.
There’s nowhere for me to buy
In all of my years acting as a buyer’s agent, it has never happened that my clients and I do not manage to find a home they wish to buy. This is probably because my clients and I get our thinking as clear as possible eg. We know why we are buying a home right now, we are clear what neighbourhood/s will suit us, we know the minimum number of bedrooms we need and we know our maximum budget. When we have all these pieces of information in place, the search becomes clearer. It means we can rule out certain areas and certain property types. When searching for a new home, it really speeds things up if you can narrow your search criteria at the start. This allows you to focus your energy and your search on one or two neighbourhoods, which in turn speeds up the search and makes you feel more confident that you have a good feel for this new community/ village / area that you are thinking of moving into. If you need to sell in order to buy, the chances are you’ll have a 2 - 4 month window for your search. Eg. you’ll have your home on the market / going through the legal conveyance process at the same time as you search . In my experience, 3 months is the maximum length of time it takes to find and go sale agreed on a property once you have started to search in earnest.
What if I sell and my new purchase isn’t through yet?
It is possible that you’ll be able to make a seamless move from the home you sell to the home you buy. However , given the vagaries of the conveyancing process, this is more the exception than the rule. So what happens if you have sold your home but don’t yet have the keys to the new home you’ve bought? Here are a few ways I’ve seen people deal with this “gap”. They have moved into a short term rental property. These are available to rent via websites such as DAFT.ie or www.dasl.ie ( Dial a shortlet). Other clients have gone to a second home that they or a friend might own until their purchase has closed. Other clients have taken a trip or stayed with a family member till the purchase has closed. Although you might feel very resistant to any of these ideas right now, remember you’ll be in a totally different mindset once you have found and agreed terms on your new home. By the time you’ve been through the selling and the buying process, you’ll be in a different headspace eg. you’ll have done a lot of physical clearing of your current home and emotionally, your centre of gravity will have moved towards your new home and your new neighbourhood.
What will I do with all my stuff?
It goes without saying that if you’re moving from a bigger space to a smaller one, you’ll need to edit your furniture and your “stuff” in general. This can feel like an overwhelming task. After all it’s possible you’ve lived in this house for a lifetime and perhaps others have lived there too with all the associated goods. My thinking is that whether you stay in your house or sell it and move to a smaller one, you’ll definitely feel the benefit of clearing your clutter and editing your “stuff” . Like all big tasks, it’s daunting to consider tackling it all at once. My suggestion is that you take a slow and methodical approach to the clearing of things. You could start by reducing or clearing your clutter ( take five minutes a day) and gradually move onto the bigger items.
Once you have cleared your excess items, you may well find that you feel more settled in your home. Equally you may find that your thinking becomes clearer, which in turn will help you make a better decision about whether you stay or go.