Selling a house is always a significant moment in a person’s life.
Thousands of people across the UK make this decision every year.
But what exactly are the main reasons for doing it?
Believe it or not, there are dozens of explanations for someone taking this big step.
We’ve covered some of the most common reasons below.
1. Financial needs
Financial motivations drive most house sales.
Offloading a property allows you to unlock all the equity tied up in it. This includes your initial deposit and how much of your mortgage you’ve saved up over the years.
You might want to access the equity in your house for many reasons. This includes:
- Freeing up money for retirement
- Paying for your children’s education
- Funding a ‘dream’ purchase, like a new car
- Investing your money elsewhere
- Moving into a rental property for a while.
Paying off debt is another common reason. This might be mortgage arrears to a bank or even gambling debt that you’ve accrued over time.
Negotiation matters!
It’s thus no surprise that most people negotiate very seriously about the selling price of their house.
Every extra thousand pounds can have an enormous difference in their living circumstances. And when there’s so much money on the line, you want to get the best price possible.
2. Changes in relationship
Changes in relationships regularly cause people to change their living situation.
This might be because they want to move in with someone new or are separating from their housemates.
Divorce is one of the most common examples. If a married couple has a joint mortgage, they may need to sell the house to go their separate ways.
This is mainly true if neither party has enough money to buy out the other.
The start of a new relationship might prompt house sales as well.
Two people who are moving in together may need to sell their existing homes.
If siblings have chosen to live together, or an elderly parent needs a child to live with them full-time, then this can explain it, too.
3. A desire to live in a new area
There are plenty of reasons why you may no longer be happy with the area you currently live in.
Perhaps new developments have obstructed your road. Or the local population has significantly increased since you first moved in.
Selling your house enables you to move to another part of the UK or
overseas.
4. Changes in your job
The decision to sell your house is not always in your control. If the company you work for relocates you, you may have no choice but to sell your existing property.
You often don’t have the money to move elsewhere without selling your current house first.
Your workplace might relocate you to a new location for a long-term project. This could be somewhere in the UK or overseas.
Or you might no longer be required to work in-person at your current workplace. This move towards ‘virtual’ working could allow you to relocate somewhere more remote.
5. Property market conditions
Some people wait for the perfect housing market conditions before selling their house. These might be national or regional market conditions.
This might involve years of waiting, or it could force you to push a sale through as quickly as possible.
A ‘seller’s market’ means there are more buyers than sellers. Competition for each house is thus more significant, meaning that properties tend to sell for more.
You might wait until this occurs before listing your house on the market.
In rare cases, waiting until it’s a ‘buyer’s market’ could make sense.
If you’ve already got a buyer lined up for your property, but competition for your next dream house might be steep, a buyer’s market could work in your favour.
These external conditions impact the attractiveness of selling your house at any given time.
6. Upsizing
Moving into a larger house is necessary in several instances.
The most common explanation is that your family is growing. This often happens with young couples who are having a child.
Their current property (for example, a flat) might need to be big enough for the three.
Upsizing is also attractive if you need extra space in your house. Perhaps you’ve inherited keepsake items from a deceased relative, which you need to store.
Or maybe you’re growing a business and thus need your own office space to help with this.
7. Downsizing
Downsizing involves moving into a house that is smaller than your current one. There are several reasons you might do this.
Children moving out of the house is a common explanation for downsizing.
The parents of a family may no longer need so much space in their property. Moving into a smaller house can often make the living situation more enjoyable.
More significant properties take more time and effort to maintain. Cleaning these houses is thoroughly tricky and costs more money if you pay someone else to do it.
You might also have more maintenance challenges in a larger house. Examples might include:
- Mould
- Faulty appliances
- Peeling wallpaper.
Downsizing often brings financial benefits. Your monthly mortgage payments tend to decrease.
You’ll also have reduced bills in a smaller house. This is because more significant properties cost more in electricity, gas and water bills.
Some people even downsize because they feel it brings a family ‘closer together’.
8. Inherited a property you don’t want
You might sell a property because you have inherited it but don’t want to live in or maintain it.
The house may be far away from where you live, and thus difficult to maintain. Or it might be in terrible condition, and restoring it takes too much hassle.
Some people pass on a house in their Will, requesting the new owners sell it.
9. It’s no longer habitable
There are many reasons why a house can become uninhabitable. And this often prompts you to sell it.
A pest infestation that you cannot fix might become too much to bear (this can range from woodlice to rats issues). Or maybe there is asbestos in the property that you can’t get rid of.
Subsidence that makes the property unsafe is another reason to move out.
Sometimes, you’ll fall out with your neighbours to the extent you want to leave. This negative relationship can become deeply personal, making living there a drag.
Cash buyers are often necessary when a house is in terrible condition. You won’t find too many people on the open market who want to buy a property they can’t live in.
Cash buyers can be exceptionally useful in this scenario. Do your research on trustworthy companies near you that could purchase your house.
