Top 10 Signs It's Time to List Your Home
Are you thinking about listing your home?
It’s natural for homeowners to consider the idea of listing their home, moving someplace new and starting fresh. If you’re thinking about selling your home more often than not, it’s may be time to speak with a real estate agent to explore your options.
Here are the top 10 signs it’s time to list your home!
1. It’s Time to Downsize
As your family grows, so does your need for a bigger home. Your home can accommodate a larger family in a number of ways, from having enough bedrooms and bathrooms, to an additional living space, larger dining area and more.
But, once the kids have moved out and retirement is in your near future, you may feel the need to downsize your home. We completely understand, it can be taxing and exhausting to clean, maintain and truly make the most of your larger, family-sized home.
If you’re spending more time maintaining your home than enjoying it, then it may be time to downsize.
2. It’s Time to Upsize
If you are finding your current home limiting or your family is growing, it may be time to upsize!
For many young families, ensuring that all family members have their own rooms and lots of space to play, spend time together and grow is very important. This can look different from one family to the next, but often requires an additional living space and/or decently-sized backyard.
If it’s time for a larger space, get in touch with our team of real estate professionals today! We can help you find your first home or put your current house on the market as you begin the transition to a larger space!
3. Your Finances Have Changed
Changes in your financial situation can absolutely warrant a change in your living arrangements. You may find yourself in a position where you need to sell your home and downsize, or where you can enter the market with your very-first home.
If your finances have changed and you are considering buying a new home, we suggest meeting with the experts first to explore the options available to you and create a long-term plan. This can include your real estate agent, mortgage broker, bank, and/or financial planner.
4. It’s a Seller’s Market
As we earlier mentioned, it’s common for homeowners to play with the idea of selling their home. This intrigue can quickly grow if it’s currently a seller’s market.
A seller’s market can be described as many things and are a result of many factors. Essentially, a seller’s market is when it’s favourable for homeowners to list their home on the market, as they are high in demand due to low inventory. Among many other factors, as stated before.
This means that homes will most often sell quicker and for more money than at other times.
5. The Maintenance is Too Much
Do you spend your weekends tending to the overgrown garden, mowing the lawn and pulling endless weeds? Or perhaps lugging the vacuum up and down the stairs to keep carpets clean is becoming a difficult task. No matter the home maintenance endeavour, if it is becoming overwhelming for you, it may be time to list.
Downsizing to a bungalow or condo can be the perfect solution to what feels like endless maintenance! Not to mention that when downsizing a large home to something a little smaller, you might find yourself with a little nest egg - perfect for investing, retirement and more!
6. You’re Emotionally Ready
Your family home is filled with wonderful memories.
For many, it’s where newborns have grown into children. It’s where homework was completed at the kitchen table. It’s where the best news was celebrated, and grief was navigated together, as a family.
With so many memories, it’s completely understandable that selling your home would be a difficult process or even topic to approach. But, once you are emotionally ready for something new, it may be time to list.
Because after all, at the end of the day, the memories will go with you to wherever you call home. And new memories are longing to be made!
7. You Have a Long-Term Plan
With any significant life change or transaction, a long-term plan is absolutely essential.
Whether you’re currently renting with a goal of purchasing your first home, or a current homeowner who is looking for a change of pace, the planning process cannot begin soon enough.
Once you have a long-term plan in place, it may be time to begin planning the purchase of your first home, sale of your current home or a transition that includes both!
8. You’re Ready to Relocate
For some, selling a home may not have anything to do with the house itself. You could be perfectly content with the home you currently own, with the space meeting your each and every need.
But for some homeowners, the house itself isn’t everything. The location itself can have a significant impact on your happiness and overall quality of life.
Whether you would like to be closer to work, have your children attend a certain school, spend more time with family, or simply have your eye on a different neighbourhood, it may be time to list and find a new home in your desired location!
9. Trouble With the Neighbours
Many of us aspire to have the ideal relationship with our neighbours. Whether that is smiling and waving hello while fetching the mail, or attending a backyard BBQ right across the street, there are many ways to connect with and enjoy your neighbours.
Unfortunately, this is far from the truth for some homeowners. Just like family, you can’t choose your neighbours. While it’s understandable that not everyone is going to get along, there are some relationships that are less than neighbourly, to say the least.
If you aren’t having any luck navigating issues with your neighbour, it may be time to consider listing. We strongly urge you to keep in mind that this should be a last resort, as some forms of conflict resolution may help to resolve the issue.
10. Significant Renovations
Does your home require a significant renovation? If the renovation is not only costly, but also may take time to completely resolve, or disturb your quality of life, listing the home may be on your radar.
Sometimes, it’s simply easier to relocate to a different home that doesn’t require significant renovations. We do suggest that you not only weigh the pros and cons between completing the repairs and staying in your current home, or listing and moving, that you also take some time to crunch the numbers.
Is it more cost effective to simply complete the repairs and stay in your home? Or will it cost more to transform it into your dream home, than it will to list, sell and move into a new space?
These are all important factors that must be taken into consideration!
List Your Home with Kathy Long and Luanne Hancey
Are you feeling motivated to sell your home? So are we!
To get started, contact our real estate team today. We proudly serve Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo with real estate services, from buying and selling, to investing and everything in between, we are here to help.
In the meantime, why not enjoy other articles in our blog? We’re here to keep you updated on the latest news, trends and information in local real estate!
