Many family homes end up sitting vacant because of emotions. There are so many memories associated with the home that the family does not want to sell. Selling is too final of a cost…emotionally.
What are those emotions costing you?
Let’s break it down monthly with the national average for real estate expenses.
- Property Taxes: $198
- Homeowner’s insurance: $101 (and will be more if the home is vacant)
- Utilities (Electric, gas, water, etc.): $375
- Lawn Care: $132
That’s a total of $806 per month or almost $10,000 annually.
This total does not include routine maintenance and unanticipated costs associated with broken-down furnaces, hot water heaters, frozen busted pipes that lead to flooding and mold. The list goes on.
With a vacant home, no one is living there to notice when issues arise and the longer they are ignored, the more expensive the repair.
Knowing all these disadvantages is a start to overriding emotions, but what else can we do to get our emotions in check?
- Focus on what’s ahead.
Maybe it’s time to give another family an opportunity to enjoy the home and begin making new memories. In the meantime, you will be saving thousands of dollars in carrying costs, giving you more financial freedom and less worry about the unknown of a vacant property. Reflect on how the house has served its purpose for you, and now it will for someone else.
- The hardest part is to jump.
Emotions create so much weight on our hearts that it seems impossible to take the first step. Memories circle about the mind in visions that are keeping us stuck in the past, unable to look ahead. Start with visualizations like mentioned in #1. Create a new vision with all the positive reasons for selling. Let this be your new focus and then JUST DO IT.
- Create a memory book.
Take pictures throughout the house and create a photo album. Then, incorporate past family pictures showing the rooms in use. This will give you something tangible to hold on to when revisiting the memories.
- Instead of a house-warming party, have a house-warming parting.
Have a gathering of friends and family where everyone can share in the goodbye together, sharing years and decades of memories. Add photos from this gathering to the memory book.
- Reach out to a real estate professional you can trust.
If you do not know where to begin and are feeling overwhelmed, a professional can help guide you through the process, discuss options, and offer resources. This will save you time and difficulties and will help you decide which selling strategy works best for you.
Let us help you decide. You have many options to make this process go smoothly and we can help take some stress away. Congratulations on taking this first step.
Call us today for a free consultation.
