Overcoming the barriers and stresses to selling a home

Anyone who has ever undertaken a house move will agree it’s one of the most challenging life events, both physically and emotionally.

Overcoming the barriers and stresses to selling a home

Claire Jarvis (pictured), group sales director at Redrow

Anyone who has ever undertaken a house move will agree it’s one of the most challenging life events both physically and emotionally. Not only can it be an incredibly lengthy progress and extremely time-consuming, but the financial costs involved and the negotiation that’s required with the various parties can be stressful.

What, though, contributes to this stress and what can be done to combat it? To shed some light on what the biggest significant barriers and stresses are for Brits moving home, we surveyed the views of 2,000 UK adults, which revealed that time was a key bugbear. Almost 60% of respondents believe a lack of time available to dedicate to dealing with estate agents, solicitors and paperwork is a barrier to moving. This increased to 70% for those looking to sell their first home.

Similarly, eight in 10 (80%) homeowners stated that the significant amount of time the end-to-end process of moving takes as stressful. This increased marginally to 81% for those selling a property for the second or more time and those moving into a larger property.

Interestingly, despite uncertainly in some pockets of the property market surrounding Brexit, just one quarter of those surveyed considered macroeconomic factors such as Brexit as a significant barrier to moving. This was particularly true for investors who were looking to sell a property they do not currently live in, with just 4% citing macroeconomic factors as a significant barrier.

However, some steps can be taken to reduce the stress brought about by a house sale to ensure the process is as smooth as it possibly can be. Through our Help to Sell scheme we are attempting to relieve some of the main barriers and stresses for those looking to move into their dream home. Our model is based on providing sellers with up to three estate agents who will help them gain maximum exposure for their property, with a dedicated team available to assist them throughout the process, all the way through from the valuation of their current property to completion on their Redrow home.

Our scheme is open to all Redrow home buyers, no matter whether they are moving up or down the property ladder, and at no extra cost. In many cases, we will also contribute towards the estate agent fees.

Anyone who has ever undertaken a house move will agree it’s one of the most challenging life events, both physically and emotionally, but it shouldn’t be a significant source of stress either. We hope through our Help to Sell scheme that we can help relieve these challenges where possible.