Moving house

Slosh

So, I have started to sort and declutter and I'm trying to take it steady and do a little at a time rather than blitz a room like I did pre-arthritis!
So far I'm doing ok and have a list of to do jobs. I've even recruited a friend to come over for a day soon to get up to the cupboards I can't reach!
Next week I have my local council coming to collect unwanted big items along with some other stuff, there is a charge but what is usable is donated to charities and I know that whoever comes has been properly vetted so I feel a bit safer.

So, I have a question, high street estate agent or online? I have valuations booked by both and I have been very open with the online company, (the one with coloured bricks) about my concerns with using them.

Anyone on here with any experience/thoughts? I have never sold a house before via an estate agent and obviously want to try and manage the stress of this as much as possible.

Thanks
Gilli

stickywicket

The estate agent thing is important...and tricky.

We first put our house up for sale about 4 years before we actually moved. We got about 4-5 quotes, as they tell you to do. One was ridiculously low, most were the same and one slightly higher. MrSW was all for the higher one. She was a very personable lady and,so we did. By the time we'd reduced it to the price the others were suggesting it was a bit late and we eventually took it off the market.

Second time around we did the same but took a middling quote from one of the estate agents we'd refused before but who came highly recommended by a friend. They were lovely and helpful. Not part of a big chain. They got the measure of Mr SW immediately (He was always anxious to point out any potential defects such as the crack that several surveyors had insisted, in writing, was not a problem) and they insisted on doing all the viewings themselves whereas the first lot had done a couple then left us to do the rest. I do think this is very important. Their job is to sell houses and they do it much better than we can.. As a result it sold (STC) very quickly the only delay being with chains and solicitors.

I don't know if online agents would do this but personally I would never use them. But this is a Which report on them. https://tinyurl.com/ycb26l7o .

Slosh

Thanks for that SW.
I have had one valuation done but as the commission that agency charged is 3% including VAT I'm not going with them!
I'm a bit of an on-line research junkie so I've read that which article but will bookmark the link as I forgot to do that. The best thing about that is their impartiality.
Next week I have a valuation with a local firm and then the on-line one, I just thought I ought to look at it as an option, and being in London there is a local agent who used to work in the area where I live which is a plus. However my research on them has shown that the average price of the properties they sell locally is well below what mine is, making me think they might not have the buyers for my type of property.
I'm also trying to book a viewing with a larger chain but the fact I left a mesage with them yesterday (Friday), at about 4pm, and it's now nearly 1pm on Saturday doesn't impress me.

I don't have a MrSlosh to try to convince but I do have a friend trying to persuade me to add 10-20K to whatever the agents say.

Watch this space as they say.

stickywicket

I suspect London is in a category all of its own.

Our own estate agents were local with just two offices in two adjacent districts of Leeds. They knew their area through and through which helped.

I think – after a very quick glance at the Which article – online firms tend to value lower but reduce less than High St based ones. Perhaps this is why your friend suggested going higher than the valuation ie if you were going with an online company.I certainly wouldn't recommend it for where we were. (See my previous post )

I'd have thought that, these days, every 'ordinary' estate agent (ie apart from those specialising in either hovels or mansions) had the clients for most properties given that they all advertise on Rightmove and Zoopla anyway and that's where most people look.

I remember you saying you were hoping to move to somewhere where your daughter is also hoping to move to. How's that side of it going? Keeping the two balanced can be difficult. We looked at quite a few bungalows up here at first but soon realised that many of them were way too far away from our son. By the time we were getting to the crunch with our sale there were only two potential ones available up here neither of which really appealed. By a stroke of luck this one came back on the market and it had always been our first choice. About 10-15 minutes drive away too which we call perfect

Slosh

Well remembered Sticky, my daughter kicked all this off.
Ok. She, her husband and three children are currently renting a two bedroomed flat in South London, about a 50-60 minute drive and a complex route by public transport. She's been there for 5 years, the flat is her Dad's, and while she has now applied for council housing there is a waiting list of around 5 years and they can't afford to rent anywhere bigger privately.

She suggested moving to Peterborough, not just because prices are cheaper, but also because she knows some people up there and has family in the area, but also because she and her husband don't want to bring their children in London, especially the boys. BUT, only if I moved there too, (we had always planned I would move closer, this is just bringing it forward).

Her move will probably be easier, find somewhere new to rent, and give her Dad a month's notice, but mine is the more complex one. We're going to go up for a visit next month, to get a look around, visit estate and letting agents etc. and then make out a plan. We also both need to plan carefully to try and manage our health at the same time.

stickywicket

I can only suggest you try to decide what's really important for you both (I expect your daughter will want to investigate schools and docs will be important to both of you) and then try to draw an imaginary circle that will take in the vital stuff.

We had several recces up here, gradually reducing the circle. I go through towns / villages where we first looked at bungalows now and thank my lucky stars we didn't move there. Lovely places: much too far away.

Fortunately quite a bit of investigation can be done online. I wish you luck

dreamdaisy

When I was selling my late parents' house in Buckinghamshire via a local (to the house) independent agent the first chain broke thanks to someone using a cheap on-line estate agent who never replied to emails and ignored deadlines. Their client (a first time buyer aged 22) was as drippy as their chosen agent. What could have taken a couple of months at most ended up taking nearer ten.

When we bought No.10 through a local (to us) established family agent we were able to sell our old house through them without it going on the market. All done and dusted within four months.

I would avoid on-line and chain estate agents, I think local independent is the way to go. It's a hellishly stressful time and adding to the stress is something hard to avoid but easier to minimise. Good luck, I hope you benefit from the move as much as I have from ours. DD

Slosh

Thank you both, there are other forums for house moves but by coming on here I get advice which takes into account health concerns.
Sticky your advice about looking at what's important to each of us is really useful. I'd thought in terms of the actual bricks and mortar but not other things (though I have started checking out flood plains in the area). I will have a think about that this evening.

DD, my gut instinct is to go with the local agency, especially since the other national I tried to contact on Friday afternoon still hasn't got back to me!
One thing I like about the local agency is the way they support local events and groups through sponsorship, they also don't seem to pay for reccomendations on house buying websites, as although they are always listed in the top 5 for my area you have to contact them directly rather than through the site.

I've done some more sorting out, now taking it easy as fingers crossed I'm off to see my daughter tomorrow.

dreamdaisy

They sound to be the right choice for you, their main advantage is that their reputation stands or falls on how they perform whereas the nationals don't have that 'pressure'. It's a daunting time but the possible outcomes will make it all worth while. DD

dibdab

Good luck with the search Slosh. Like DD I think a local agent is always going to try harder because their reputation stands or falls on their service.

We moved house around 25 years ago, didn't unpack some of the boxes immediately, and finally emptied them and disposed of the contents last year! :oops: So I think my advice would be to be ruthless as you pack and get rid of stuff you don't use regularly that isn't precious to you....our sealed boxes contained things like spare crockery and pots and pans that went to a local hospice shop in the hope that they would benefit some one else. I well remember the look of despair on the removal men's faces when they espied our huge collection of books-very heavy to move they said-but when you move a teacher, a university lecturer and 2 book mad children there will be books, many books! I think they would prefer to move the kindle which is how I read now- around 250 books stored on one small tablet.


Good luck with the search and the sale.

Deb x

Slosh

That's a good point about a smaller local agency having to work harder for you.
I am a good declutterer, and have a friend who is almost obessive about clearing out coming round for a day to help.
I have cleared through a load of photo albums already, and put a couple of things out for possible sale.
With my crafting stuff if I haven't used it for a year it's also going.
I've contacted my local council "service store" about coming to collect some unwanted furniture and some other bits (they try to recycle or donate to charities as much as possible), and then will contact a local charity for some other stuff.
I've always found a good clear out quite cathartic, when my daughter, partner and baby moved out I cleared her room of unwanted stuff and then set it up as a craft room that evening. It was my way of working through my emotions around it.

dibdab

Sounds like you're doing really well Slosh. You may find if there's a local hostel for victims of domestic abuse they'd be grateful for donations of domestic stuff or furniture for families being rehomed.....it's one of the charities we regularly support at church...they also appreciate things like unused toiletries.

I hope you're pacing the sorting-keep the spoon pot as full as possible, this hot weather is really draining isn't it?

Slosh

Hi DibDab, I did start out by going for it in terms of tidying/sorting and soon discovered that was a bad idea!
So, I've slowed down and given myself until the end of August to get done. The worst is the stuff in high cupboards I can't get to.
My council do give usable items to local charities and I have previously donated usable stuff to either the BHF or a local charity that works with the homeless and addicts. At the moment though I do have a few pieces of furniture that are on their last legs so to speak.

So fed up with this heat, can't wait for it to end and a return to a cool and wet British summer! How are you managing it?

Anybody know a raindance?

daffy2

Anybody know a raindance?

I'm guessing you don't mean the one where you've forgotten your umbrella and are trying to avoid puddles while running for shelter?

Airwave!

We moved nearly twenty years ago and used a local estate agency, a good job was done. I started packing six months beforehand, aiming for a box a day, I finished a few days before we moved. We moved into our motorhome and on the day of the removal went out to lunch at the pub and then onwards to our new home and a campsite.
Next day I drove round to our new home at midday for the handing over of the keys and the family hadn't done a thing and their renta man and a van hadn't turned up, so much for me being organised! We spent the night with most of our furniture outside, everything else stacked in the cellar and eventually cleared it last year.

Housemoving stressful? YES!!

Slosh

Oh Airwave, what a nightmare!
Well I'm two down, one to go in terms of valuations, and finding that stressful enough! I've also made my booking for the furniture and bits which are coming to the end of their use to be cleared, and then once my helpful friend has been round I can divide the remainder of unwanted stuff between a charity and the dump.
Widely contrasting estimates today, 50,000 different, and very different approaches from the two valuers.

Need to sit down and do a pro/con list for each. One thing which was very different was that one said that all the commissions go into one pot and are then shared out equally as they work as a team, and individual rewards are based on the feedback from customers, the other was that each keeps their own commission so they are in competition with eachother.

dibdab

My goodness, what a huge difference in valuations. I remember way back when eventually choosing the estate agent with the mid range estimate, then wishing I hadn't because they seemed to put little effort into the sale-I subsequently discovered they dealt mainly with more expensive properties so perhaps we weren't lucrative enough. Is it possible to put it on the market with more than one agent?


My experience also taught me to read the small print more thoroughly- we eventually sold without the agents involvement but they wanted to claim their fee because the small print tied us in to it.....I promptly removed the house from the market, waited a short while and re-contacted the original buyer who bought direct from us because we were the bottom of a chain of 5 and they wanted to move the chain on- so we paid no commission.

Well done on your sorting progress.

Deb x

Slosh

I live in London which partly explains the difference I think.
I spent time thinking it over last night (heart), did some more research (head) and then came to a decision.

One of the things that really swayed me was when I found one of the valuers I saw lied to me! He told me they had sold a house opposite mine for 10K more than it actually sold for. I need to trust who ever I go with and this was a real no no, at the least he was just inflating it to make me think it sold for over the asking price or less likely but more serious the agency pocketed an extra 10k. It was also the agent with the highest valuation, the patter and script.

I've therefore gone with the small local agency, who believe in team work and struck me as being more honest and genuine.

I cancelled the coloured bricks one as I had made my choice and a bit more research showed that they mainly sold properties which were much lower in price than mine, making me think they wouldn't be attracting the right buyers for me.

So that's that. Thanks all for your advice. Now to continue decluttering.

daffy2

The fact that companies will be competing for business and so appealing to vanity and greed by suggesting inflated values to secure the business is further compounded by individuals driven by commission income and targets. While in theory the wish to secure and complete a sale can ensure effort being put in it can also lead to less desirable things - withheld information, cutting corners, not informing of all offers received etc. - which can be difficult or impossible to find, possibly until it's too late.
It's always interesting to see what properties actually sold for rather than what they were advertised at, and this is now easy thanks to Land Registry details being available for many properties(and will increase)on the likes of Rightmove without needing to register or pay. Looking at previous sale dates and prices for a currently advertised property can also be interesting, and possibly useful. If a house has sold several times within a short period there may be good reason.

Landgull36uk

Hello.

I remember when we moved from where we used to live 26 yrs ago it was fairly stressfull but being a kid at the time i found it quite exciting and fun even though my parents probrably didn't. Unfortunately with the situation im in at the moment im still living with my parents and older brother and living next to a city where jobs are hard to come by and with it being pretty delapidated its becoming a rather depressing place to live and to be honest its making me miserable. I currently work from home as self employed but im not earning enough to allow me to move myself somewhere else, even if i could move i wouldn't want to live to far away from my parents. Weve often talked about us all moving up into North Wales somewhere which would be lovely because weve had some great times there and ive always been happier there than where i am at the moment. I am hoping that very soon we will all seriously consider moving but i think my mother is a little reluctant because she has hip and back problems herself and she is also getting older including my father. To be honest i cant see it happening but im hoping that im wrong and it will happen because time is getting shorter for my parents atleast. Plus who knows what i'll be like physicly later on in life if me and my brother alone have the chance to move. We shall have to just wait and see, and hope.

stickywicket

To be honest I think it's a big mistake to just move somewhere because one has, in the past, had happy holidays there. Living somewhere is totally different to spending the odd week or two of leisure time in a place.

As we get older we have to prioritise things like ease of access to doctors, hospitals, shops etc. And also, as we get older, it's nowhere near as easy to make new friends as it was when we were working with people, standing chatting at the school gates or just getting involved in local voluntary work.

Like Slosh, we recently moved a long way at the request of our sons who wanted us nearer to one or other of them. As a result, we had a built-in community to come to. Very different from taking pot luck.

Landgull36uk

stickywicket wrote:

To be honest I think it's a big mistake to just move somewhere because one has, in the past, had happy holidays there. Living somewhere is totally different to spending the odd week or two of leisure time in a place.

As we get older we have to prioritise things like ease of access to doctors, hospitals, shops etc. And also, as we get older, it's nowhere near as easy to make new friends as it was when we were working with people, standing chatting at the school gates or just getting involved in local voluntary work.

Like Slosh, we recently moved a long way at the request of our sons who wanted us nearer to one or other of them. As a result, we had a built-in community to come to. Very different from taking pot luck.

I fully understand what your saying and we would do the full research on where we would be living and moving to before we do it which is only sense. As for friends we have none and most of our family either live to far away to visit regularly, passed away or just not interested enough to keep in touch regularly unless they want something. So we have nothing to keep us in the place we are at the moment other than ourselves.

Slosh

A friend of mine told me to check out the community and what social events and groups are available in any area I move to which was a great idea. I also already have my first invite to meet for coffee! One of my former pupils, a girl I got to know very well and was very involved with in a professional role found me on fb. She was a lovely girl and she's now at uni in Peterborough.
In terms of progress this week I got rid of a three seater sofa, an old folding dining table, bureau -cum-desk thing and three folding dining chairs. I had a bit of a rearrange and the rooms concerned look far bigger now.
Next is to sort rubbish for the dump and stuff to donate to charity.

Landgull36uk

Slosh wrote:

A friend of mine told me to check out the community and what social events and groups are available in any area I move to which was a great idea. I also already have my first invite to meet for coffee! One of my former pupils, a girl I got to know very well and was very involved with in a professional role found me on fb. She was a lovely girl and she's now at uni in Peterborough.
In terms of progress this week I got rid of a three seater sofa, an old folding dining table, bureau -cum-desk thing and three folding dining chairs. I had a bit of a rearrange and the rooms concerned look far bigger now.
Next is to sort rubbish for the dump and stuff to donate to charity.

Good luck with that hope all goes well

stickywicket

Landgull36uk wrote:

As for friends we have none

That's so sad. I can't, and don't want to, imagine life without friends. Who do you laugh with? Cry with? With whom do you talk over all the difficult bits of life? Families can be there too but sometimes families are the problem.

I understand that, if you work from home, it can be quite a solitary working life but wouldn't it be worth joining something in your leisure time - a class on something that interests you or a swimming club (I believe you swim) or a local voluntary organisation? If we don't meet people the opportunities for friendship are greatly diminished yet friends are, in my book, vital.