How to Sell Your House (as an Empty Nest Single Mom)

There were many times I looked around my house after the kids left and thought, “How am I ever going to be able to sell my house as a single empty nest mom?” I even told the kids “I’m going to die in this house”.

Should I Sell My House?

Many things went into making my decision to sell the house I raised my children in as a single mom. We had made so many special memories in this house. I’d bought that house after my divorce alone. It had been a huge decision. Here are some of the things that factored into my decision to sell our house.

A series of unfortunate events happened in my circle of friends and I got to thinking, “I want to live closer to my adult kids and their wives. They were both living about half an hour apart and I was living 4-5 hours from them. It seemed like they were both going to be living there for a while.

Then after having a stable situation in my business for years, I was having trouble finding the right person to do important work for me. I was getting tired of training in a new person and then discovering we were not a good fit.

The housing market was fantastic. I wondered if it was time to sell my house, would the market hold?

I’d been working for myself for almost 20 years and the majority of my business was location dependent. What would I do for income if I moved?

The Decision to Sell Our House

Three things were holding me back from selling our home. First, how would I make an income if I didn’t live where I’d build my private, psychotherapy practice? Second, it would be hard to leave the friend group I’d had for over 20 years. Third, how was I going to get all the stuff out of my house, after living there for 18 years and raising my kids there?

One night I decided to see what jobs were available close to where my kids live. I spent a couple of hours watching my favorite Netflix show applying for jobs. I uploaded an outdated resume to Indeed and started applying.

By the end of the next week, I had 4 interviews. I got serious about making a game plan to figure out how long it would take me to be ready to relocate and decide, “Was it time to move closer to my kids?”.

With much prayer and trepidation, I decided, maybe it was time to sell the house and move. First I needed to decide what I needed from a job to be willing to close my private practice. I made a list of what I needed.

Then I needed to decide how long it would take me to get the house ready to sell, sell the house, close my business, and get moved. It was mid-May and I decided October 1 was the soonest I could get moved and start a job. One of the places I interviewed with agreed to what I needed to be willing to close my practice.

The Game Plan for Selling My House as an Empty Nester

I scheduled a time for a real estate agent friend to walk through my house and tell me what I needed to do to get the house ready. She was very encouraging and said, “You are in great shape, it will be easier than you think.”. It was May and I had some work scheduled to be done on the house later that month. That was the only maintenance that needed to be done. She predicted we would have an offer for the house within a week of it going on the market.

She asked me what was most overwhelming in selling my house. I told her, “Getting rid of all the stuff”. My friend told me a story about selling stuff on Facebook marketplace when she was cleaning out her mom and dad’s house and a single mom who had nothing getting some of her Mom’s nice dishes.

She suggested I start with something small like my linen closet. Her suggestion was to start by getting rid of those old towels and sheets that seem too good to throw away, but you don’t use anymore. Then get rid of the old makeup you don’t use. Starting small will help you build momentum. Leave the hardest room until last. This was great advice.

Getting the House Ready to Sell Took a Village

We decided on a date the house would go on the market. I scheduled a time for the house to be photographed about a week before it went on the market.

I had been telling the kids for a couple of years that there was an end date to when I would be their storage unit for their stuff, but they still had lots of special things in our house. They both scheduled a week-end to come up with their wives and finish cleaning out their stuff. One took charge of cleaning out the basement and the other cleaned out the 2 garages. One of my girls took charge of listing things on Facebook marketplace and negotiating with potential buyers.

One friend took charge of dealing with all of the books in my office. Another friend took charge of packing the dishes I wasn’t using every day and was keeping. I had a giveaway spot next to the garage and neighbors took what they wanted.

My kids took or put their names on things that they wanted that I was not keeping. I sold or gave away many things to young adult kids of friends and neighbors helping them get started in building a home. I donated things to nonprofits whose mission I support. The letting go of so much stuff was a joy.

After the House Sold

We did have 2 offers for the house the first week it was on the market, but they fell through, so we had a few weeks of a roller coaster, but we had a buyer before it was time to pack the truck.

I took a month off from work to get the house and my office packet. Friends come over and help pack and haul things to the dump. I made many trips to the local fundraising second-hand store. I made several trips to the dump.

One of my boys volunteered to drive the U-haul. We hired movers to help pack the truck while we got stuff ready for them and did the last-minute packing. We had a last bonfire in the fire pit that held many happy memories.

My son drove the truck to my new place. Making a 90-degree turn into the loading dock in city traffic. I had rented an apartment on the third floor, so unloading the truck took much longer than we had planned due to the elevators taking time to get to and from the loading dock area. We started unloading the truck at noon and by dinner time everything was in my new apartment and the bed was set up.

No one knew where the toilet paper or coffee was so when the kids left I went on an emergency supply run.