How To Say Goodbye To Your Home

by Corcoran McEnearney

Selling your house and saying goodbye to the home that you lived in can be a very emotional experience for a lot of homeowners.

If you have lived in your home for a long time, you probably made many unforgettable memories with your family, friends and loved ones that it will be hard to let go of when the time comes to move. Whether you realize it or not, you have an emotional attachment to this home, and as you think about moving, you can be overcome with feelings of sadness and hesitancy.

I would like to introduce you to the three transition methods I use with my clients to help ease their minds about their upcoming move.

1. Make Memories Before You Leave

Begin by taking pictures of your home inside and out, even before you begin the moving and packing process. Every crayon scribble, crooked picture and misplaced sock is a sign of a well-loved and well-lived home.

Take photos with your favorite neighbors and caption them with their names and dates. Hopefully you will keep in touch after the move, but you will never have the same kind of relationship when you no longer live next door to each other. You can also say goodbye to your favorite cashier at the local grocery store, or the pharmacist who always refills your prescriptions. It helps create closure for you and it makes them feel like you’ve noticed their hard work over the years.

Have dinner one last time at your favorite restaurant if you are moving very far away and take a commemorative photo. Write down your usual order on the back so that you can always remember your times spent there.

2. Take Something with You

Just because you are leaving doesn’t mean you can’t take something with you! Create a memory box of items around your yard. Leaves from the trees, presses of the flowers from your garden or a watercolor sketch of what your home looked like in full bloom. Many talented artists can create works of art based on your old home that you can display in your new one.

As long as you remove them before your home goes on the market, you can replace certain fixtures in your home and bring them along with you to your new one. For example, I had clients that loved the specialty billiard light fixture they kept over their pool table. They removed the fixture and put it into their new house and replaced it with something less unique for the new buyers.

Make sure you do replace anything you take with you though, otherwise the market value of your home will go down.

3. Look Toward the Future

Instead of dwelling on the past, look toward the future! Focus more on the upside of where you are going and the wonderful opportunities that your new home will provide you. You can do a Google search on the new area where you will be moving to and find new restaurants you want to try, new stores to shop at, as well as look up your kid’s new schools.

Look into local classes at the community center or Facebook events that are coming up in your town so that you can meet the people in your new neighborhood. There is something exciting about a fresh start and new opportunities to find new things to love.

Saying goodbye to your home can be difficult, but there is always a reason to be hopeful and optimistic about where you are going. A trusted Realtor can help guide you through the process.

Jean Beatty is a licensed real estate agent in VA, MD, and DC with McEnearney Associates Realtors® in McLean, VA. If you would like more information on selling or buying in today’s complex market, contact Jean at 301-641-4149 or visit her website JeanBeatty.com.

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