Tag Archives: motivation

There are many reasons why your house may not be selling: it could be the fault of your estate agent, a lack of market activity or maybe your house isn’t presented as well as it might be. These are all practical issues, and ones which we at HomeTruths help sellers to solve, every day.

However, there are other issues, which are much harder to spot. Maybe, for example, one party doesn’t actually want to sell. If the husband is very attached to the lovely family home that he has enjoyed for a decade or two, he may be rather hoping it WON’T sell. In fairness to him, he may not even realize that he is sabotaging the sale; perhaps by not remembering to tidy up after himself, might not pass on messages from the estate agent, or maybe he’ll decide to cook a curry the night before a viewing. This may be totally subconscious, of course, but no less effective at deterring a potential buyer for that.

Divorces are also very efficient at putting buyers off; even if the agent doesn’t know, or has been sworn to secrecy, somehow a buyer can sense the disharmony. It may be the physical signs: the separate bedrooms, the conflicting styles, the piles of paperwork; or there may be less tangible clues: muttered remarks, pregnant pauses, the odd sniff perhaps. There’s something about the atmosphere in a house being sold by about-to-be-divorced couples that is just plain sad.

If you’re trying to sell and it’s just not happening, maybe it’s time to have a big clear-out – not just literally, but emotionally – to make sure nothing is consciously, or unconsciously, sabotaging your sale.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Why are you selling your home? Are you leaving from a situation, or going to somewhere in particular, or both? Everyone’s motivation for selling is different, and whilst many of HomeTruths’ clients are downsizing, there are also many of our sellers who are chasing a dream and starting a new chapter of their lives.

Where is your motivation? Is it strong enough to overcome the obstacles and challenges of selling your house? There are difficult hurdles to negotiate at each step, and you need to be absolutely determined to succeed. So what is your reason, and is it a ‘push’ or a ‘pull’? An example of a ‘push’ could be that your house is now too big for you, that you can’t manage the stairs or the garden anymore, or perhaps it’s just that it’s now the wrong house for your current lifestyle. If it’s a ‘pull’ you’re facing, it might be you want to be closer to family, moving to that dream home on the coast, or you just have your eye on that perfect cottage that fits you better, whilst leaving you some pennies in your pocket to enjoy it!

What we have noticed at HomeTruths, is that our clients who are the most successful at selling their home, are the ones who are fully committed to the process, and that starts with some push and also some pull. It’s sometimes helpful to make two lists, one for each of your push reasons, and your pull reasons. What are you trying to leave, and what are you striving towards? Keep your lists close so that you don’t lose sight of your goal when the going gets tough, and share them with the HomeTruths’ team so we can help you to achieve your dream.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

A friend of mine has her house on the market. It’s a beautiful home, a true Grand Design; all glass and chrome, with stylish touches and contemporary gadgets. It’s been for sale for a few months now, in an area where properties usually fly off the shelves, but hers hasn’t attracted any offers yet. Surprising, not least because my friend is actually an estate agent. But it’s not the house that’s the issue. Let me explain:

When you’re selling your home, you need to be fully motivated to move. After all, there are a lot of hoops to jump through, and challenges to face, along the way. From preparing your home for each viewing, to dealing with disappointing feedback, low offers and harsh surveyors’ reports, to putting your life on hold for months, and sometimes longer, until you finally get the keys to your new home.

To have the energy to rise to these challenges, you really have to be determined to sell your house. Over the years I’ve met with hundreds of sellers, and I’ve identified two elements that have to be present in order to sell effectively: they are, pain and desire.

Pain – to sell your home, there must be a really strong reason why your house – once perhaps your dream home – is no longer right for you. It could be that you have six children and only two bedrooms, or that your partner can’t manage the stairs any more. Perhaps the garden has become too much of a worry, or simply that the house isn’t in the right location for a new job or school. Whatever the reason, it has to be tangible, and you need to be able to express it. Without the pain of your current home, it’s very difficult to separate yourself emotionally from it enough to make the break and sell it.

Desire – where are you moving to? And why are you moving? Is it to be closer to family? Or to release some capital so that you can fulfill a lifetime dream of travelling, or buying a boat? Perhaps you have an amazing job offer, one that will offer you a better standard of living in your new home. Or maybe you are longing for space; more bedrooms, walk-in wardrobe, ensuite bathroom and large garden. Your desire has to be achievable, and something to really get excited about for you to keep your eye on the prize.

I asked my friend, the estate agent, why she is selling her beautiful home. “Oh I just fancied a change,” she explained.

And where were they moving to? “We haven’t decided yet, nothing has really grabbed me,” she replied.

Until my friend digs deep enough to find the pain in her current home, and then finds a dream home she can desire with all her heart, she’s going to find that buyers for her current home are scarce. Once she finds her pain, and her desire, I’m certain that a buyer will magically appear. After all, her home is someone else’s dream home. Just as her next dream home is out there waiting for her.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.