We have sold our house, now the real challenge begins.

horseless carriage

horseless carriage

Well-known Member
It's thirty years since we sold our previous property, it's going to be a big challenge. Our potential buyer came within a few thousand of our asking price, so we accepted. At our time of life I have heard it called, downsizing. We need a single story bingalow, my wife's health is paramount and the stairs have become a challenge. It's exciting yet scary.
Has anyone else had the upheaval of selling their real estate of late? Please, share your experiences.
 

We did the same about 7 years ago.

Best advice I can give is to be ruthless in getting rid of things that will not fit in with your new lifestyle.

We told the kids that none of their things that were still in the old house will be moved to the new house.
We got rid of things we were holding onto "just in case". (much of this was clothing, oddly enough).
We donated so much, and took so much to the dump.
We purged things from hobbies not longer enjoyed and pursuits no longer indulged.
Etc.

Be ruthless.
The more you eliminate, the less you have to move.
 
First, congratulations on getting so close to your asking price, that’s fantastic! It really is an exciting (and a little scary) time.

As you start looking for a new place, have you considered renting in the area first before buying? That could give you a chance to get a feel for the neighborhood and community. Depending on where you decide to go, be sure to look into HOA fees and restrictions, property taxes, and any other local costs.

It’s also worth thinking about proximity to family, the climate, and access to quality healthcare when choosing your next home.
 
Don't cut costs by packing furniture, mirrors etc yourself. If the removers pack your furniture then they are more likely to be responsible for any damage than if you pack it yourself. When they come to do the packing, make sure you take photos of the furniture so, any damage, you have proof that it was not damaged prior to the move.

Congratulations on getting a near asking price offer and good luck with the sale and purchase. :)
 
Gardenlover said:
First, congratulations on getting so close to your asking price, that’s fantastic! It really is an exciting (and a little scary) time.

As you start looking for a new place, have you considered renting in the area first before buying? That could give you a chance to get a feel for the neighborhood and community. Depending on where you decide to go, be sure to look into HOA fees and restrictions, property taxes, and any other local costs.

It’s also worth thinking about proximity to family, the climate, and access to quality healthcare when choosing your next home.
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that's by far the best idea.... I have always said that if I were to buy another house abroad, I would this time rent for a period of 3 to 6 months to get a feel of the area ... and that way it's not a huge challenge if I find it's not exactly suited to me, and I can move onto somewhere else easily. Somewhere that you might love in summer can be a very different place in winter....or... somewhere nice during the day might not be so nice at night...or at weekends
 
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horseless carriage said:
It's thirty years since we sold our previous property, it's going to be a big challenge. Our potential buyer came within a few thousand of our asking price, so we accepted. At our time of life I have heard it called, downsizing. We need a single story bingalow, my wife's health is paramount and the stairs have become a challenge. It's exciting yet scary.
Has anyone else had the upheaval of selling their real estate of late? Please, share your experiences.
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Congrats HC..I know it's taken a little longer than you'd hoped, and I'm sure you've already got the area in mind as to where you want to be next...

If I ever get out of this house, and find a new one...then I'm going to be in a position like you with decades of stuff...46 years worth to be precise... and on my own, so it will be a huge undertaking...
 
That Lady in PA said:
Be ruthless.
The more you eliminate, the less you have to move.
Click to expand...

We are preparing to sell our house and we've begun the decluttering, so this advice strikes a chord with me.
We need to declutter and be well prepared to move before we put the house on the market, local conditions are making it a seller's market. We need to be ready to move quickly.
 
Congrats on the sale of your current place! That's exciting and a bit intimidating at the same time knowing your life is about to dramatically change

1st of all, finding the right new house is Job #1 and hopefully you can match closing dates both for convenience of the physical move & particularly for the financial aspect. In my opinion renting a place short term will be expensive because either you're going to pay for moving your stuff twice or all your stuff will need to go into storage until you find a place you want to buy. Either way it's a big expense!

Starting yesterday, begin going through everything you own in your current house. Cull the stuff you no longer need and/or won't fit in a smaller abode - be ruthless! There's no room for sentimentality when making your decisions here. This is critical and more time consuming than you think it will be. Be sure to get lots of good quality and varied size boxes for this purpose & a tape gun plus rolls of tape and a few black markers for marking boxes. You'll have three categories of boxes; junk, donate & new house - bedroom, kitchen etc.

Hire someone reliable with a small van-truck to do the lugging of stuff you're donating or junking. That physical work will be too taxing on you & your wife I;m sure. Also be sure to hire a reputable mover as soon as you know the move date. Do your homework there in advance. There's plenty of shady operators in that business - get recent references!

No question about it you'll be juggling many balls from now till you move but it can be exciting to know you're doing all this for an improved lifestyle in the end.
 
Gardenlover said:
In regards to decluttering, you can make a bit of the money you've spent back, it you have an estate sale.
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That was not the case for my mother when she sold her house. And that definitely was not the case for us when we downsized seven years ago.

Estate sales are not what they used to be. People do not want your china, heavy furniture, collectibles, etc.
 
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Gardenlover said:
First, congratulations on getting so close to your asking price, that’s fantastic! It really is an exciting (and a little scary) time.

As you start looking for a new place, have you considered renting in the area first before buying? That could give you a chance to get a feel for the neighborhood and community. Depending on where you decide to go, be sure to look into HOA fees and restrictions, property taxes, and any other local costs.

It’s also worth thinking about proximity to family, the climate, and access to quality healthcare when choosing your next home.
Click to expand...
Grateful thanks to you all, your input is really helpful. The rental idea is helpful, we did it previously when we were in the market before buying our current home. The benefit of rental allows us to evaluate the area of choice, it also breaks the purchase chain of a number of properties that all become inter-dependent on a successful sale.
The advice of being brutal when offloading thirty years of life's possessions has been duly noted. What is worth selling we plan to donate to charity shops and in order to give us time to evaluate, what we keep and what has to go, we will rent a storage container.

Re-reading everyone's comments I can't help but wonder what the stress levels are going to reach. Still, cross that bridge when we get there.
 
Gardenlover said:
In regards to decluttering, you can make a bit of the money you've spent back, it you have an estate sale.
Click to expand...
In the better weather, sometimes people do that here. One day last summer, I went out to buy some fresh bread and came home with bread and a very sweet Lloyd Loom laundry basket :) Someone was moving and was having a garage sale.

If there's a neighbourhood WhatsApp people often put stuff on there but, I think you get quite a few timewasters.

I guess if HC doesn't want strangers coming to his house, he could let his neighbours know and invite them to have a look to see if there is anything they are interested in. I think that is what we will do when we decide to move, if we have stuff we want to sell. (y)
 
My wife and I were in this situation. We started decluttering about a year beforehand, mainly with clothes. Later, my books were added (according to my wife, I should have thrown away a lot more books), and finally all the furniture, garden tools, and other tools that we didn't want to take with us.
Ask yourself one question: Which of these things have I not worn or used in the past year?

We sold the house through an estate agent. But we thought the price he quoted us was far too high to get a quick sale. So we decided to reduce the price considerably by ourselves. This proved successful, as we had a buyer after the very first viewing.

Then everything happened very quickly. As we had already found our new house in another country, both contracts were signed within a week. We just signed the purchase agreement for our new house, and exactly one week later we signed the agreement to sell our house.
We then had exactly two months before our move to throw away or give away everything we didn't want to or couldn't take with us. That's a lot of stress. That's why it's so important to start clearing out early.

At our move in July 2025 I was 65 years old and my wife two years younger, but both of us have chronic diseases. Thus we thought, better to move now than later. All the rooms in our new house are at ground level, this means no stairs. If we buy food or other things we drive with our car to the patio and bring them through our back door into the house, since this is much more convenient.
 
horseless carriage said:
Grateful thanks to you all, your input is really helpful. The rental idea is helpful, we did it previously when we were in the market before buying our current home. The benefit of rental allows us to evaluate the area of choice, it also breaks the purchase chain of a number of properties that all become inter-dependent on a successful sale.
The advice of being brutal when offloading thirty years of life's possessions has been duly noted. What is worth selling we plan to donate to charity shops and in order to give us time to evaluate, what we keep and what has to go, we will rent a storage container.

Re-reading everyone's comments I can't help but wonder what the stress levels are going to reach. Still, cross that bridge when we get there.
Click to expand...
Congratulations HC! Think of it as good stress while embracing your new life. 🤗
 
I don't know how they're held in the US , but Estate sales here are sales carried out in your home on your behalf by a dedicated company.. who proceed to sell most of your belongings..furniture etc...within your home to buyers...

Differ completely of course to yard sales, and boot sales... where you genrally sell trivial items you no longer want to hoard
 

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