The emotional side of selling your house

Herzlos

We had that, but the reality was that as much as we loved our first home (where we brought up the kids) we needed a bigger home and that chapter of our lives was done. 

Moving day was tough, and the new house was weird for a while but now whilst we have fond memories of the last house this one is definitely home now and the thought of moving back is just strange. 

Murphybear

I have not usually had any emotional attachment to a property apart from one.  We decided to look for a bungalow and found one that was practically perfect (apologies to Mary Poppins😹)

it was a 3 bedroomed one with garden all round and in a tiny village about 20 minutes from work.  The garden was mature, bit like the garden in Alice through the looking glass.  It had 2 ponds, a conservatory, a shed and a big workshop.  There were lots of blackcurrant and raspberry bushes, I made lots of ice cream.   The carpet in the lounge was a bit scruffy so we took it up and were amazed to discover a beautiful wooden floor.  We hired a polisher to sort it out 😺.  The following Spring loads of bright red tulips appeared, I counted 100.  

We stayed there for a few years then moved to Devon, about 190 miles away.  

There are lots of bungalows in our part of the world and when I see I always think of ours

ReadySteadyPop

rowan222 said:

Anyone else experienced a sort of separation anxiety of selling and leaving their home?

The house we are selling has been in the family for a long time. I even grew up here. Then I moved away and lived abroad for a while. When we came back we lived not too far away but the house was occupied by another family member but as there were empty rooms it worked for us to use it a temporary home from home on occasions. Usually a few days or a week at a time when work travel necessitated it. The memories started to come back, some good and a few bad.

Then about 18 months ago we inherited it. So we been living here pretty much doing some improvements and its now on the market. The thing is the prospect of letting it go scares me and rips me apart. But I absolutely dont want to stay here! So being totally logical I should be happy but I'm not. The emotional side of letting it go is very very strong and frightening. 

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? And how did you cope with it?

 

A relative of mine kept a home that had been in their family for many many years, over 100 I believe, they rented it out and now live in it again after a divorce, they are glad they kept it for practical and sentimental reasons. Go with your gut, rent it out or someone live in it.

Bonniepurple

The only house that I’ve had an emotional attachment to was my parents’ house, my childhood home. It was always my permanent address, and I always had a room there if I needed it. It’s where my Mum died and where I found my Dad collapsed the day before he died.  Clearing it was hard, but in the end it was just a building. We knew the buyer (his Mum lived next door!) and that made it easier-as did the fact that it wasn’t where we wanted to live, and wasn’t practical for what we needed anyway.

Interestingly, I’ve not found it hard to leave any of my adult homes.

strawb_shortcake

We're hoping to move, I wasn't the instigater for moving and it's taken me a long time to get on board with it, some of the houses we view I know will feel like a mistake if we were to move there, others I forget my house and consider how we'd live, and I'm taking that as a sign it's a more acceptable move. 

Our house has a really fantastic view, so our next house really needs to have a little unique wow element, otherwise I do worry that I'll regret it. Our budget doesn't really lend to many wow factors so it really does need to be something small to make me love the next one

chrisw

I couldn't face selling the family house so decided to rent it out. However, once all the furniture was gone and the kitchen, bathroom, fireplace, etc was replaced, most of the sentimentality had gone. I still have the house rented out nearly 20 years later but it just feels like another house now.