Selling your home and moving elsewhere can be a stressful experience. Throw children in the mix and it can be even more intense. Depending on the age range of your children, there can be all sorts of different worries and reactions to the news of them having to move home. 

Telling your kids you are moving is one thing, getting ready for the move whilst having kids in the house is another. In this article, you will find tips for both. Hopefully, you can manage your sale, move home easily, and take the stress away from the whole family. Read on to find out everything you need to know.

The Pressure of Moving for Kids

Kids get comfortable in their homes. They have their toys, their clothes, their bedroom exactly how they want it. They probably have their friends nearby and know their route to school like the back of their hands. But, sometimes, for whatever reason, you need to uproot and move them elsewhere. This can be super daunting for younger children or a grumpy inconvenience for teenagers!

The pressure of moving can be stressful for all these reasons. They will likely have questions flying around their heads such as “will my next room be as good?” or “will I be really far away from my friends?” These are valid worries, of course, and you can imagine that you might feel the same way at their age. Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can help reduce these worries and make everyone’s moving process easier. 

Sell Fast to Avoid Stress

If possible, you want to have the process done as quickly as possible. Often, the worries of moving are far worse than the actual process, so waiting a long time for it to happen can cause stress to build and build, creating tension in the home amongst the children. As mentioned, they’ll have lots to worry about, so if you can get the move done quickly, it reduces the possibility of them creating more worrying scenarios in their minds.

Selling quickly isn’t necessarily the easiest thing. However, if you want a quick sale, a “we buy houses” company might be a good shout for you. These companies will offer a quick valuation and buy your house for cash, often to then rent out as landlords. This means you can get the sale part of your move done super quickly. These companies will not be part of a chain of sales, meaning that there will be no waiting around for other people’s mortgages to be approved, deposits to be secured, or other legal issues to be resolved.

It’s worth noting that you may receive a slightly lower offer than what you might receive on the open market. However, this trade-off could be worth it if you want to secure the funds and move quickly. If this isn’t for you, read on for more tips surrounding a more traditional home sale.

Helping Your Kids Understand

One of the challenges of this process will be the questions raised by your children. They may not understand the reasons you want or need to move house. They may feel that you are uprooting them unnecessarily or being unfair to them. In this situation, it’s best to be completely honest with them.

Whatever your reasons for moving might be, it’s best to be clear and transparent with your kids – no matter what their age – so that they can understand why the family is moving. Say you need a bigger house as you plan to have another child, then explain that! Maybe you need to move for an amazing work opportunity that could change everyone’s life – explain it! 

Being open and honest with your children will help them understand why these changes need to happen, whilst also building more trust between you. If they feel left in the dark, they are more likely to act out, get upset, or feel dejected. 

Get Them Out of the House

When preparing the house for viewings or having agents or buyers visit the home, it may be best to have your children away from the home. Firstly, it’s never easy cleaning or decorating with young kids running around! But also, it’s just far easier for them if they don’t see any of this activity taking place. Having strangers walk around the home looking to buy it can be a strange experience for young ones.

If possible, send your children to a friend or family’s home for a few days while you prepare the home for sale. Tell them they are going to have a nice little vacation while you do some housework. The trip will hopefully keep their mind off the stresses of moving while giving you a free roam of the house to get everything done.

There’s plenty to do when making a home ready for viewings, photos, or sale. You want to make sure all your decorating has been updated, retouching any old walls or dirty surfaces. You may also want to put a bunch of stuff in storage to help keep your home feeling open and airy. Though it may be stressful, it’s also worth removing a lot of personal items, so that those viewing the home can see it as more of a blank canvas. Doing this without the kids at home is far, far easier!

This applies to moving day, too. Even if the whole process has gone smoothly thus far, you may find your children find moving day extremely stressful. There will likely be plenty of strangers packing things into boxes, including your kids’ own personal possessions. Once again, if you can have them stay with a friend for the day, while you have time to unpack their new rooms and make everything comfortable for them, you will find they have a much less stressful moving experience.

It’s never going to be 100% smooth sailing when selling the family home. There will be worries, there will be questions, there may well be tears! But, if you keep your kids away from the chaos and keep being open and honest with them, you will find that you can take a good chunk of that stress away.