Have You Fallen Out of Love With Your Home?

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Do you remember the moment when you first laid eyes on your home? It is likely that you fell in love straight away. You knew that this was the house for you, and you could never imagine wanting to live anywhere else. Sound familiar? This is what most people experienced. But then, a few years down the line, they are shocked to find that they no longer enjoy being in their home. They feel frustrated; they can’t get comfortable, and their property is no longer satisfying their wants or needs. If this is the case, you could have fallen out of love with your home. But, why? And, what can you do about it? Let’s take a look…

Are you struggling to get comfortable? When you first moved into your house, it is likely that it was a blank canvas. You could add all of the things you wanted, and your property was probably an incredibly enjoyable place to be in at this point. However, as time goes on, and you accumulate more and more things, this feeling starts to fade. In fact, you may find that your house is actually frustrating and irritating you. This could be because you have accumulated too many things, making your house feel cluttered. Now would be the perfect time to go through all of your things and decide on the belongings you need, and those you don’t need. There are other reasons you may be struggling to get comfortable in your home, which makes you feel like you have fallen out of love with it. Perhaps your heating system has become inefficient after all of these years? Your heating and cooling system will have a massive impact on how much you enjoy being in your home. You should also consider upgrading furniture items to provide more comfort in key areas, such as the bedroom and/or living area.

What have you focused on? Have you focused on creating a property that you love? Or, have you thought about the resale value when adorning your home?  If you have merely considered the latter, you have created a property that may be perfect for someone else, but isn’t perfect for yourself. While you want to maximise your return on investment, it is your home right now, and so it is vital that it is somewhere you enjoy as well.

Did you think about the bigger picture when you purchased the property? This can be a difficult question to ask yourself. After all, depending on the answer, it can mean that you are admitting you purchased the wrong property for you and your family. This is something that a lot of people do more often than you would realize. It is very easy to walk into a home and fall in love with it, meaning that your stringent list of requirements is thrown out of the window. When this happens, it’s not surprising that you get to the stage whereby you fall out of love with the property. For example, if one of your requirements was a property with two double bedrooms, yet you ended up choosing a house with one double bedroom and one single bedroom, the novelty of the amazing property will soon wear off and you can end up feeling cramped in your home because you have compromised on the things that you initially deemed to be non-negotiable. This point highlights the necessity of doing your research and thinking about the future when it comes to buying a new house.

Have you given it enough time? When it comes to debating the all-important question, i.e. whether it is time to move on or not, you need to think about whether you have given your home enough time. A lot of people experience buyer’s remorse once they move into a home. This is only natural, especially in the first year. After all, a property represents an enormous investment, and it takes some time to make a house a home. So, don’t rush into the decision. You should put your own personal stamp on the place and give yourself a bit of time to determine whether the property is right for you or not.

Are you willing to roll up your sleeves and put in the effort? You have probably heard the phrase that relationships take work. Well, the same most certainly applies to properties. In fact, properties often take a lot more work than we anticipate to begin with. It is likely that you are going to have maintenance issues to contend with along the way. Plus, if you have fallen out of love with your home, you are going to have to spend some time getting it to where you want it to be so that you can fall back in love with it again. How much work is required depends on your property and your level of dissatisfaction. In some cases, only small changes, like a lick of paint and some soft furnishing, makes all of the difference. In other cases, you will need to knock down walls and so on!

If you feel like you have fallen out of love with your home, it is important to take the time to find out the root cause of this. What is making you hate your house so much? Is it the lack of storage? Do you hate the area? Do you feel the design of your property has become dated? By getting to the bottom of this, you will then be able to decide on the most appropriate action. In some cases, you will be able to make a few changes so that you fall in love with your property. In other cases, identifying the root cause of the problem can provide you with a big indication that it is time to move on and look for a new home.

Disclosure: This is a contributed post.