Selling a house during lockdown

You made the momentous decision to move house and put your house on the market, then Coronavirus struck. What should you do?

• Don’t make a snap decision

Coronavirus, lockdown and everything that has happened in the last few weeks, has all happened very quickly and the government guidance¹ makes it very clear that physical viewings of properties that are for sale should not take place. So whilst it would be very natural for you to feel like giving up the idea of moving altogether, there really is no reason for you to do that. You probably didn’t make the decision to move lightly in the first place, so don’t back down without really considering if that’s what you want in the longer term. However overwhelming this situation feels today, there is every reason to believe that things will be back to normal in time. Therefore, since you’ve already done a lot of the hard work by choosing an agent, agreeing to a valuation and getting your house on the market, you might as well use this time to….

• Get ready for when the market picks up again

There are plenty people at home now thinking about moving, looking at properties on the portals and requesting more information about them. In fact many of them may not have been thinking about moving prior to the current situation! On your-move.co.uk there were more than 50,000 people looking at property in the last week of March – with 65% of them new visitors to the site. Here are our three top activities that will see you ready for the market when it picks up again:

1. Add some extra value to your property if you can, whilst you are in lockdown. Hardware stores are considered to be essential by the government and as of 2^nd April were still open and if not open, still delivering. A lick of paint, sprucing up the garden, fixing a broken shelf or garden fence, replacing a cracked tile and mending the doorbell are all valuable details which can make viewers warm to your property, when the time comes. More ambitious projects like adding a patio, or replacing the bathroom can actually sometimes add to the value of your property.
    
2. Spend some time looking for the property that YOU want to buy. You may have set specific criteria but now there is time to re-consider. Look at properties that are slightly below or above your budget; consider locations that are slightly further away and discuss the implications of what that might mean. It’s easy to save searches on your-move.co.uk by setting up a My Move file and in that way you can group together properties you might like to visit, once lockdown is over.
    
3. Make sure your finances are in shape. Coronavirus has had some far-reaching and unprecedented implications on families’ finances. Review all your income and expenditure; are there savings that you can make during lockdown like suspending sports channel subscriptions or gym membership? Is money being saved on petrol that can offset increased grocery bills.  There is a handy budget planner on your-move.co.uk where you can input all these details to find out what you could afford to put towards a mortgage. Contrary to what has been published in some press reports, banks are still offering mortgages and one of the most effective ways of researching what is available across the wider market, is to speak to a financial adviser. Your Move has a partnership with Embrace Financial Services who do telephone consultations and the first one is free. If you are interested in exploring that further, request a call back and we will be in touch alternatively you can call 0800 0560548.

Selling with Your Move

As well as getting the right price for your home we stay motivated to sell your house throughout the whole process - that's why you don't pay us a penny in sales fees until your house is sold.

Hear from our customers who have recently sold with us

Find out what our customers have to say about their experience of using Your Move to sell their home here.