They live in Sydney, Boston and London and their Irish homes are for sale. Alanna Gallagher asks emigrants how they’re handling the long distance sell

IF SELLING your home is one of the most stressful things you can do in life then selling your home when you’ve already moved abroad amplifies the stress tenfold.

With an estimated 1,000 people leaving the country every week it is an experience that is becoming more commonplace. So, how do you ensure it goes as smoothly as possible and, ideally, results in a sale?

Property investor Bernie Walsh moved to Australia in mid-2009. During the good years she successfully remodelled, redeveloped and redecorated some 20 properties. Number 41 Alma Road, a four-bedroom Victorian townhouse in Monkstown, was finished in 2006 but a corporate let offer of €7,000 per month for a three-year period, was an offer she couldn’t refuse and she postponed the sale.

Now she wants to find a buyer for the house which has an asking price of €1.95 million through agents Beirne Wise.

Finding the right agent to sell your property is always important, but utterly crucial if you’re not going to be on-site, Walsh says. “You are very much dependent on your agent, who has to work harder and be more hands on, in long-distance sales.”

“Before you commit, talk to as many agents as is physically possible,” is her advice. “This will help you compare fees but also find the right man or woman for you.” Agents really have to earn their commission and roll up their sleeves and help out, she says. “Your agent needs to be willing to liase wity any builders, painters, gardeners and other workmen you many need to engage to ready your home for sale.”

At present, her house is rented and she has a good relationship with her tenants. “To keep tenants on board offer them a rent discount incentive – a month’s rent knocked off once the house is sold – to keep it in show condition while it is being viewed.

Your agent is your eyes and ears, says Walsh, and should be able to confirm that your tenants are maintaining the property in a “for sale” condition.

“Selling up is stressful enough but selling up and moving country is even more of a challenge,” says interior designer Danielle MacInnes, whose three-bedroom home, 165 Foxrock Close, is for sale through agents Sherry FitzGerald at €495,000.

Danielle has relocated to London, where her husband recently opened a second office, and she hopes to expand her Dublin-based interiors business. She has moved three times in three months; from her Foxrock home to a short-let in London and to their new London base.

Working in the business meant that she had contacts to organise the shipping of their furniture, the refreshing of their garden and the repaint. But even if you are in the business everything takes three to four times longer than you estimate, she says.

Danielle feels a great sense of distance from the sale. A stickler for detail, she worries about the lack of control she has over the appearance of the house. Presentation is her business and she feels the devil is in the detail – so-called “little things”,such as switching on all the lights and making sure the beds look their best, matter.

She’s even rustled up a friend to stay there a couple of nights a week to sustain its lived-in feeling. “Being away you’re detached from the whole process. I think about the sale all the time but beyond trusting my agent to do his job there isn’t anything more I can do when I’m miles away in London.” She is, however, driving her agent nuts with daily emails requesting updates.

There are some advantages. “The house isn’t being lived in so it isn’t getting messed up. Everything remains clean, neat and tidy, just as I left it.”

Keeping the heat on is essential to making the house feel lived in, even if it is empty, say American-

based husband and wife Ted O’Donghue and Catherine O’Donnell. They’re selling their recently renovated three-bedroom period holiday home, Orion Cottage, in the historic town of Castletownshend through Pat Maguire Properties in Skibbereen. The asking price is €395,000.

The renovations, done three years ago, included extending the property from two to three bedrooms. They were done from afar and it is easier to sell from afar than oversee remodelling long distance, says Ted.

But being 5,000 miles away means it’s difficult to know if we’re doing the right thing, says Catherine. The couple, now parents to Lily, aged six and Owen, aged four, used to come home two or three times a year. “Now we’re both working full-time and my six-year-old is in school it is harder to get the time to go back.”

Before the change in the economy the family had been looking to move home. Instead, they’ve been renting the house out for the last 18 months.

But it is difficult renting from afar, Catherine admits. “You have to pay people to do the garden and fix it up.” These services are added costs although Ted’s family also help out.

Selling a holiday home is different to selling your primary residence in that you don’t have to hide the kids’ toys and clutter but you can’t be on site to ensure that all the personal touches are in place,” says Catherine.

You absolutely need someone on the ground if selling from overseas, says West Cork agent Pat Maguire. He appoints caretakers to all the properties with overseas owners on his books.

Older houses don’t winter well unless someone is keeping an eye on them, Maguire continues. Heat is vital, as are regular visual inspections, another service offered by the agent, in order to address problems sooner rather than later.

And if it doesn’t sell? You need to consider this when you put the house on the market, says Bernie Walsh. “You also need to have an open and frank conversation with your bank about your fallback position.”

Despite the 11-hour time difference she talks to her bank manager twice a week on the phone.

“Should the house not sell, you need to discuss how you can renegotiate the terms of your loan,” Walsh says “but for the bank to consider this option you need to keep in touch and maintaining repayments is essential.”