Moving out and purchasing your own home are supposed to be some of the most exciting and formative experiences of your life. However, as anyone who has ever done either can tell you, that’s not always the case.
Whether you’re renting your first flat with friends or taking the plunge into purchasing property, the experience of searching for the right home can be an emotionally difficult one (and not just because of the cost). This is not a frivolous purchase after all, it’s where you’re going to live.
If you’re currently looking for a home and finding it difficult to deal with the emotional strain, here are some suggestions for building strength and resilience.
Learn from other’s experience and expertise
Believe it or not, you are not the first person to buy or rent a house.
There are bound to be people in your life that can offer invaluable experience on everything from spotting a great investment opportunity to spotting damp in a shared flat.
Make sure your first step is to consult people you trust. Ask your parents for their opinions on a house, see if your friends would move into that flat and show pictures to anyone you know with even the most basic knowledge of home developments.
Do you know how many housing blogs there are out there? It’s a lot, and they cover everything from spotting structural issues in a barn conversion to getting over the rejection of missing out of a Spareroom house share. Even if your friends and family don’t have experience buying or renting in 2020, there will be someone online ready to guide you.
These blogs are a brilliant starting point for becoming a housing expert too. Emotional strength requires knowing what you’re getting yourself into. If you can spot a potentially leaky roof and understand the value of a semi-detached house in the suburbs you’re less likely to get messed around and stressed about whether or not you’re making the right choice.
Get the right professional support
As great a source of support and advice your family and friends can be during this process, it’s important to ensure you’ve got the right professional support behind you too and are covering yourself in case of an emergency.
While real estate can feel like a never ending process of paperwork and admin fees, having the right companies advising you can be the difference between your dream home and being sold a ticking time bomb.
Knowing you’ve invested money and time into a team that has your best interests at heart is a brilliant way of putting your house-hunting anxieties at ease.
For example, once you’ve found a great home you don’t want to rely on your own judgement alone. It’s probably safe to assume you’re not an expert in property, so ensure you bring in the right people to spot potentially costly errors. Investing in the services of a surveyor such as the PSC not only saves you money in the long run, but puts your mind at ease when you’re unpacking your belongings on moving day.
This isn’t just a suggestion confined to buying a home either. Renters can give themselves some valuable backup by investing in renters insurance with companies such as Duuo. Not only does having someone like Duuo behind you protect your belongings, but initiatives such as short-term rental insurance are more suited to the flexible lifestyles of modern renters.
There is plenty of support available to buyers, from close friends and family to professional services. This support network is essential for building emotional strength during the search for your new home.
Prepare for disappointment
Part of being emotionally strong is knowing how to deal with disappointments.
Try not to take it seriously. So many factors go into why you may not get a property. You might have been a little too late, or it was never really in your price range. It’s not as if the house personally rejected you.
If you’ve been through a procession of rejections and missed opportunities it might be worth remembering some timeless mental health lessons that help build mental strength.
Ensure you:
- Don’t things personally and starting to question your abilities and knowledge
- Don’t let yourself be driven by fear and panic
- Do approach house searching sensibly (set aside set time each day to focus)
- Do declutter your mind and allow yourself to focus on what’s important
Eating well, sticking to your exercise routine and taking the time to give yourself a break are just as important when looking for a house as they are at any other point in your life. If you’re letting your body or mind suffer, you won’t be in the right place to make a smart decision, and will start settling for less.
Enjoy the experience
Finally, at the end of the day, you should enjoy the process of finding your next home.
Yes, generation rent, ridiculously levels of competition for rooms and the rising prices of desirable properties have all contributed to house hunting becoming an overall frustrating experience, but there is still joy to be found.
Revel in viewing all sorts of different properties, experimenting with a place you may not have originally thought about and imagining your life there. Use it as an opportunity to learn more about properties and become your own interior designer (who doesn’t love a floor plan?) for a few weeks at least.
The experience of finding a new home may be demanding on both your health and your wallet, but it’s the chance to start fresh and rethink what you want from life.
Emotional clarity and strength are vitally important when partaking in something as important as finding a new home. So often you need to know exactly what you’re looking for and have the ability within yourself to strive through disappointments. But remember to think realistically, and when you feel things are too much take a moment to step away. The houses will still be there when you come back.