I have been selling real estate for almost 20 years, and can say, selling your home can be one of the most stressful events in life. In fact, surveys found that selling a property is seen as more stressful than buying one. With the concerns of preparing your home, cleaning, paperwork, buyer tours, inspection, and much more, no wonder there is so much stress. However, staying focused and positive and finding the right help to navigate through this challenging phase is so very important to minimizing the stress. Here are some simple yet useful ways to help you deal with the stress of selling your Northern VA home.

In order to remove the most stress from the process, you must hire a licensed real estate agent. However, not just any agent, an experienced Northern VA agent backed by a team. Having a team allows for less aspects of the deal to fall through the cracks and allows for team support if your agent is busy with another client, sick, or just taking the day off. An experience agent and team will remove so much more stress as compared to working with an individual agent or “For Sale By Owner”. At minimum, This agent should be a full time agent, as you would never higher a part time physician, attorney, or any other professional for reasons that should be very obvious. Here are some other recommendations on how to hire the best listing agent for your Northern VA home.

Before listing you must purge your house and get rid of the things you don't want to keep once you move. Then declutter, stage, and clean to prepare your home to sell. This will maximize the best price and terms for you. Don’t worry as it serves the duel purpose of getting you ready to make the actual move to your new home with less stuff. Contact me if you would like a detail guide to stage and prepare your home to sell.

You will also want to keep the home tidy and clean the whole time your Northern VA home is active on the market. Never leave the dishes in the kitchen, keep up with the laundry and vacuuming, and clean the bathrooms thoroughly. If this is too much of a task for you, you may consider hiring cleaning help during this on-market period.

You may not have considered it, but I highly recommend planning a vacation for the 1st week your home is active on the market. Typically the first few weekends on the market is when your Northern VA home will get the most action. If a week is not possible, plan a day trip or an all-day activity, such as a visit to a museum or a maybe a weekend getaway. If you are not living in the home, your realtor, can schedule open houses and showings at any time of the day. You don't have to drop everything to get out of the house for an unexpected showing. Think of this time as an investment on your personal well-being by getting your mind off the house sale for a bit.

One of the best ways to manage stress when selling your home or any other stressful scenario, is adapting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Get daily exercise, good sleep, eat healthy foods and drink more water. Lots and lots of water. Walk for an hour every day or take your kids and/or pets to the park and have a valuable time together. Those extra efforts will keep you physically and mentally healthy despite this tedious process.

Selling and buying a house requires a great deal of paperwork. I’d recommend to be ready to present all those documents at a very short notice. Preparing the necessary documents ahead of time will save you work and time as the moving process continues. Find your mortgage documents, title insurance, and be certain you have copies of title deeds and other necessary papers, including energy performance certificates, planning permission documents, gas safety inspection certifications, and others.

If you are buying a home as well, here is a list of documents your lender may require, Documents Needed for a Mortgage Loan.

HealthStatus reports that any disruption of your routine causes stress. Moving disrupts the entire family, and you also have to deal with the packing. The longer your Northern Va home is on the market, the more pain and frustration you will need endure. Even after all the cleaning and preparations you've done, always remember that selling a house could take time depending on market conditions. There’s a strong chance that your home won’t sell on the first open house so remember to have realistic expectations. This could help alleviate the stress you're already experiencing. Stay positive and trust on your realtor and the value they've provided to your home.