Home selling problems...

stickywicket

Removal people. The best advice I can give is to find someone who moved fairly recently and was happy with the outcome. Many have reviews on their webpages but, of course, only the good reviews.

We had 4-5 quotes and immediately discarded the one who rocked up 20 minutes late :shock: Of the others, the highest was almost double the price of the lowest with the other two in the middle. But Mr SW was keen to go with the cheapest, a small, local firm who a friend had recently used for a similar move – Leeds to Scotland. He was so impressed with them his daughter subsequently used them to move to Oxford from Leeds and promptly recommended them to her friends too.

They were brilliant. They suggested doing as they had with our friend ie load the vans They had two medium-sized, not one large – useful for our former ginnel) the afternoon before the move, leaving us with the bed, two armchairs and the TV. The next day they had us in Scotland for lunch. They sorted the bed at both ends and anything else we asked. They were kind, courteous and careful. So, if you can, I'd advise a personal recommendation from someone you trust.

As for the budgies, unless you're taking them in your car (which would probably be best) do ask the removal men as they might have special rules and conditions for pets. Also any 'special' furniture. Many years ago we had a piano to move and they needed telling in advance in order to do it safely.

Any valuables of any kind went in our car with us.

Don't forget to sort out facilities (gas, electrics, water, broadband) once you have a date. Beware of the broadband. Some take much longer than others.

Here endeth the epistle for today :oops:

Slosh

Sticky as ever you give the best advice.
I had one online quote yesterday, a company who did the hard sell bit over the phone and asked me to send through a video of my house as they don't come out to do viewings. Gave me a ball park figure but won't go with them.
Four coming to do viewings for quotes, all registered and all have insurance.
Quite a range of size of companies and I have a list of questions to ask.
Going to have them pack as that just seems sensible.
With the birds I have got a small cage for them to travel in as they have a very large cage. I need to get some information on how to catch them so I plan to ask advice in a local, well established pet shop.

I also found a service which for a reasonable fee (summer offer), will organise transfer/set up of utilities, internet etc and does all the research on best deals for you, my feeling was that anything I can do to simplify things is worth it.

Yesterday was a bad day, I felt totally overwhelmed with it all, today is a better day and tomorrow will be a good day as it's a family day.

Thank you as always Sticky, I really appreciate it with all you've got going on at present. t69044

stickywicket

Frankly, I'm feeling a bit of a fraud, Slosh. At the moment – body quite well adjusted to the heavy duty pain relief and midway through my two week course of pred – I feel great. But wouldn't necessarily trust my own judgement

Just for clarification – when I said 'local' I meant really local not a big company with local branches.

Budgies. When we had one, if you held two open cage doors together, he'd happily move from one to the other, especially with a bribe of millet in the desired one. It takes two humans to beat one budgie though 8)

Well done on the utility front and have a lovely day tomorrow m0150

dreamdaisy

Prepare to be overwhelmed from time to time, this is a huge disturbance and upset to anyone's life made more immense by the facts that you are doing it alone and are not in the best of health.

We used a local removals company who are generally well-regarded. I wasn't too impressed in some ways but I could not fault the care they took in moving our stuff from the old house into the new. We moved on 13.12.13, a dark and damp day. On 11 and 12.12 they came to the house to pack. On the day they put down what I call removal blankets in the hallways of both houses so the boots tramping in and out were dried as much as possible to reduce dirt. They emptied wardrobes on the day into special hanging boxes, dismantled the 'drobes, rebuilt them at No.10 then refilled them. Drawers were taken out of the chests, the chests moved to the lorry then the drawers put in again, simples. OK, they weren't necessarily in the right order but who cares? (Believe me you won't care about much by the end of moving day!) The bed was the first thing they rebuilt. In my car I took a kettle, milk, tea and coffee, mugs and sugar, biscuits, bedding, soap and bath towels.

We were lucky in that we moved within the same town, how it works over a distance I have no idea but it seems essential that you use a firm who is insured: ask for proof. I had cause to claim over damage but I was so tired I could not be bothered. Utilities-wise we stuck with our old provider for broadband etc, and they connected us within one week of moving. We took over the previous owner's choice of gas and 'leccy then changed once the dust had settled.

The future is beckoning and I am sure it is going to be good. This is the time for you to start a new life, a life with things on your terms and in your taste. I was thinking bungalow when we moved, our old house was a three storey mid-terrace Victorian town house and the stairs were getting so hard to manage, as it turned out No.10 has an upstairs but I rarely venture up there, that's Mr DD's domain! l love living on one level, it makes my physical life so much easier. DD

Slosh

The companies I have coming round really are smaller, local firms, I have checked out all their websites and one is based just a few streets away from me! Doing it now does give me time to think and decide carefully, and give me the time to call them back again with all those questions I forget to ask.

I often think the smaller firms offer a better service as they have more to loose if they muck up.

I do find it hard at times having to organise it all myself and it wasn't until I began to come out of it that I realised it had triggered another bout of depression. One of the best things I've done is being open on here, you all understand how it's more than the usual stress of a move.

My daughter is also being great, and I have found that going back to using my daily planner (something else that dropped off with the depression) also helps me stop feeling overwhelmed and overloaded.

Today is about jewellery making, then my pre-family visit baking, bread "the best bread in the world" courtesy of my bread machine, home-made sausage rolls (courtesy of puff pastry sheets) and then a cake (from my three ingredient baking book).

I know this will be so worthwhile, it's just the doing it that is hard.
Thank you all for your advice, understanding and support.

By the way DD do you ever wish you could spy on what Mr DD does in his upstairs domain? A train set? Art Studio?

stickywicket

You have a day off. Go for it t120005

Slosh

Day off postponed until tomorrow due to grandaughter being ill last night! However I have had my first viewing for a removal quote, local independant company and a Which Trusted Trader to boot!
Going to relax in front of the telly and do some jewellery making.