Love it or List it! 

We love the hugely popular show hosted by Kirsty and Phil called Love it or List It (if you haven’t watched it head to Channel 4!). For those who aren’t familiar with the format of the show, homeowners who disagree about whether they should move or undertake renovations to get they’re perfect home, are helped in making that decision by Phil and Kirstie.

As experienced Agents, we’re aware that this is often a very real dilemma for people thinking about selling their home, and we always try and help where we can by providing independent professional advice. A valuation is often of your property is the best place to start in helping to make a decision on what’s right for you.

Our valuation will allow you to appreciate what equity you have in your current home, and what budget that would mean you could invest if you were to move.  It can also allow you to appreciate that if you were to carry out a refurbishment, what the property might then be worth following that, and whether it is worth it.

These are the main points to consider when weighing up what’s going to be best for your personal situation, and whether to Love it or List it!!

Is one of your reasons for moving something that can’t fundamentally be changed?  For example if it’s living on a noisy road – yes you could invest in soundproofing etc but ultimately you can’t move a busy road!  Other things that fall into this category are things like no off-street parking, or wanting a larger garden etc.  If these are the reasons you’re not enjoying your current home you will most probably need to move to change those aspects.

Space – or lack of- is often cited as an issue where people may disagree about whether they should move or not.  It may be that with some clever added storage solutions and a declutter you could make your home feel more spacious.  If you wanted to invest more budget in reconfiguring the layout of your home to work for you, or extending it, then there are definitely ways of achieving more space in your current home.  But if these aren’t going to provide enough of the space you’re looking for, or aren’t possible for whatever reason, then you may still want to consider moving to a larger property.

Style of Property can often play a part in wanting to move, we all have our own preferences as to what makes a picture-perfect home, for some it’s the vision of a quaint period property, for others it’s a cutting edge new home.  Sometimes over time a certain style of property over time comes to fall out of favour. A while ago some of the post-war housing fell into this category, but now it is often very popular with people looking for homes that bring in a lot of light and generous room size, and often make ideal family homes.  Our advice would be really think about what it is you like about the style of property you are most drawn too.  Can you achieve this in your current home?  Are there some aspects that are about curb appeal rather than how you live and use the space?

We can’t promise to wave a magic wand over these dilemmas in quite the same way Kirstie and Phil do, but our years of experience in the local property market can certainly help inform your decision-making process in a helpful and unbiased way.

Contact us for any advice or to arrange a valuation.