Housing stress across the world

It is commonly reported that moving house is up there as one of the most stressful times in your life. This seems to be due to the fact that not only are you completely uprooting yourself and potentially moving to a new location, but you also are likely to be involved with many complicated housing discussions too.

Such discussions may involve the idea of rent, local taxes, and even whether you should consider leaving California and moving across state lines, for example. You may be selling and buying a house which can sometimes involve a housing ‘chain’ that needs all purchases to complete at the same time. You may have issues over lease agreements or quarrels with your landlord. Another common stress adding factor is switching over bills and updating your address with important accounts such as your bank and insurance provider. And all of this stress occurs before you even have to start packing and moving boxes around.

In 2015, it was reported that over 15% of the US population were experiencing stress, anxiety or even depression due to a housing related issue. Many people claim to be losing sleep and physically suffering because of their housing concerns.

Potential solutions

Fortunately, there are many services and associations that offer help, support and guidance to those that are overwhelmed from moving home.

These can be simple solutions such as using a moving company to relocate all your possessions rather than moving them yourself. Alternatively, they can be more complex solutions like outsourcing some of the stress to an agent or advisor. This is often a wise decision if you’re planning to move across state lines and need to know about different states. An agent will be able to tell you All you need to know about moving to Houston or perhaps Delaware, it really depends on where you’re planning on moving to.

One particularly good spot of advice for those moving into a shared building is to join, and fully understand, your homeowner’s association.

What is a homeowner’s association?

Homeowner’s associations are often not optional. When moving into a shared building residents are expected to contribute a fee to their new homeowner’s association. Many housing associations themselves hire the services of management groups such as Cedar Management Group to run daily operations. Homeowner’s associations are important as they often maintain the building and its amenities. They can even help settle disputes between neighbours and recommend the best way to fix any issues that you may have within your own living areas. Not only that, but homeowner’s associations should be best placed to advise on all aspects of living in that particular building.

Where to seek help if you are feeling overwhelmed

If you are unable to find support from your homeowner’s association for any of your major concerns there are other places to seek help.

Most local authorities have dedicated housing teams to offer advice and support. These usually come with connections to local law firms to help settle any tricky legal questions.

Aside from that, many governments actually offer free money and housing advice services for those that are really struggling.

Please remember, that housing issues and moving home are difficult for the majority of the population. You are not alone in these worries. Please do seek support as soon as you can and hopefully this will help such problems from escalating and getting worse.