Selling Our House in the UK to Move to Australia

As the visa process to obtain our permanent residency all went through so quickly and smoothly, I think for a while, selling our house just seemed like the natural next step for us to work towards.

For some reason, in my head we would just sail through selling our stuff, having a good old sort out and getting the house ready to put up for sale. 

However, being back at work after Christmas, trying to maintain some sort of healthy regime, telling all my work colleagues about us leaving and proofreading recruitment packs for my current job (as well as getting notifications from the council to then apply for it!) have made the start of 2025 pretty exhausting, to be honest.

Coupled with pressure from family asking when we are putting the house up on the market and then having a massive panic around timescales, I just feel completely and utterly burnt out. And we are only two weeks into the term!

My ideal scenario for selling up is that I paint the whole house, spend a bit of money making it look a bit fresher and it goes to the first bidder for a great price after we put it on the market by the end of March. We will then move by August as planned. Sounds simple right?

In reality, this is not the case. I have realised that I need to be more realistic. There are a couple of rooms for us to freshen up but there is absolutely no time whatsoever to be doing the whole thing, nor will this make any difference to the price it sells for. To suit timescales and give ourselves a real chance of still leaving in August, we need to get the house on the market sooner rather than later. 

This has resulted in me going into complete and utter panic mode. 

My default mode when I panic about things is that my brain goes into overdrive and I will put my heart and soul into getting something done, regardless of how long it will take me or how difficult that will be.

Preferably I can get things done to perfection yesterday and this would make me very happy! So after a bit of a breakdown on Friday evening, Saturday morning we had a trip to B&Q. Paint, gloss and a few other decorating bits were purchased, we returned home and I decorated the kitchen. Top to bottom done. 

It’s great that this level of panic gives me the ability to ‘do’ and be productive as my list quickly gets ticked off. However, I didn’t just decorate. I continued sorting as I went, selling, washing and carrying on with planned social events. This of course has left me well and truly done in. 

And instead of listening to my body and resting, I will continue with my invisible list until it is all done and the house is on the market. But I only have to do it once, so that is my counterargument. Once it’s done it’s done! 

In the midst of this, my brain has also gone into a complete state of disarray over the possibility of the house not selling in time. Our plans are not working out, and we are not making it over to Australia in August.

Worrying that someone might pull out at the last minute and break the chain somewhere along the line. Unfortunately, because of the way the buying and selling process works in England, this is a likely possibility. This is also the reason I refuse to book our flights until we have completed. 

As a result of these concerns, we now have a plan B in place. Our visa needs to be activated by November 6^th 2025.

So if things really go downhill, we can all head to Australia, activate our visas, and then come back to the UK until the house has sold. I will no longer have a job as my contract ends in August but I can go on supply to earn some money until the time is right to go. 

This plan has put my mind slightly at ease. However, it will cost an absolute fortune and is by no means an ideal scenario for us! But it is there as a backup if needed. 

Hopefully, we will have the house on the market in the next couple of weeks. The house is being valued on Friday. Some items are taking a while to sell so I have been considering getting a load of bits together for a car boot sale and getting rid of some bulkier items. Certain things like kids’ toys, board games and books will hopefully sell there, rather than online platforms. 

We have also started to pack for the Movecube as this also helps with decluttering rooms. I have taken photos of items going into the boxes and bubble wrap so that when we open an account with Seven Seas, I can write down the inventory easily and won’t have to remember everything in each box. 

At the moment, in terms of selling or renting your house, the biggest piece of advice I can offer you is to start sorting out your stuff as soon as possible. Start small with one cupboard or one drawer and be brutal. You will thank yourself later!