How much time have you spent planning your move?

I’ve always thought it apt that experts plan and those that aren’t generally don’t.

Moving home is a big thing to do.  Have you heard (who hasn’t!) the saying:

“Fail to plan and you will plan to fail.”  ?

It’s very annoying, but annoyingly true.  From what I see it’s the key reason that people end up in difficulty with a property move; whether that be the selling, buying or both.  At worst a very basic plan will help hugely with stress levels and you’ll stand a better chance of getting a better property.

So why do people not plan?  The key reasons I see are:

  • Don’t know where to start.
  • Never even thought about it.
  • Moving on a whim.
  • Don’t feel it’s necessary as moved before.
  • Rather put it in the hands of someone else.

I see a lot of people moving.  I see the situations people can get themselves in when a basic plan hasn’t been put in place a few of these are:

  • Feeling hugely frustrated. Stuck on the market, in a bad contract with a bad agent and can’t do anything about it.
  • Huge financial risk. Finding a property, rushing their own property to market.  Almost always end up paying more for the purchase as negotiations are from a position of weakness (no sale yourself) and end up selling for less as again negotiating from a position of weakness (don’t want to lose the other house).  It’s almost always with the same agent too, so they have a conflict of interest.
  • Letting people down. Agreeing to sell, but haven’t actually planned the forward buying part at all so having to let buyer down.
  • Feeling upset. Missing out on a property they fall in love with through not being ready.

There are many more circumstances I see.  And on a daily basis.

So what do I advise on how to avoid this situation?  I’m not talking writing out a huge plan with dividing sections, multi-coloured tabs and ten billion post-it notes, just a simple plan with the basis would be great.

A few good questions to ask yourself that will guide you in to forming a simple plan and takes no time at all:

  1. What if we sell for less than we were hoping for?  What would we do?
  2. What if we lose our forward purchase part-way through selling?  What could we do?  Are there any options for us?
  3. Has our agent given us a plan of action for our sale?  What if it doesn’t work?  (If they don’t have a plan, talk to them and get one together as that’s their job.)  What is our plan B?
  4. When do we want to be moved by?  What are our ideal timescales?  Do we have a specific date that cannot be missed?  If we are missing that date, what will we do?  Does our plan fit with this?
  5. Do we know what we’re doing, or do we need to do some learning?  If so, what areas would be good?  Who can we speak to?
  6. If there is an issue, who do we trust, that knows what they’re talking about that we can speak to?  I find the smarter someone is, the less speedily they give advice and they will ask questions that end up helping you discover the answer.  If advice starts with “You need to…..”  it’s usually terrible.  Or so I see.

Any specific questions you have, you’re more than welcome to ask via our Facebook page www.facebook.com/mrgreenhomes or give me a call.