single storey house in Cambridge

Moving Home as an Elderly Person – What to Consider

Moving home at any age can be stressful as well as exciting but for elderly people there can be added complications and things to think about.

Many older people decide to move home mainly for practical reasons. Perhaps their current home is too big and becoming unmanageable if for instance the person is struggling with reduced mobility. Or maybe they need to move closer to family and friends in order to access care and support. Other reasons can be financial such as the need to raise funds for future care needs. Decisions could include what type of new home do you need and how much space?

One thing many elderly people worry about is having to go into residential care if they become too infirm to manage but research has shown that some 97% of people in the UK express a wish to remain in their own homes throughout their senior years. Let’s briefly take a look at on how you can achieve this and still access elderly care if needed.

De-clutter but keep the memories

One of the hardest things about moving home – and especially to a smaller home – is having to discard possessions and family mementos from your present home, which is probably full of memories . The prospect of throwing away precious belongings can for some people be a reason to put off a house move altogether. Even though moving would be beneficial to health and wellbeing. But decluttering and reducing the amount of possessions doesn’t mean discarding everything you hold dear. Instead it’s a chance to focus on keeping the truly meaningful possessions.

For this reason it is important to get family members and friends on board to help and support you throughout this process. After all it’s a stressful time in your life. Ask family and friends to help you sort through belongings and paperwork to decide what to keep. This can help to deal with the  emotional impact and stress of decluttering in preparation for moving.

 

Moving with one eye on the future

If you are downsizing then the chances are you will be able to manage a smaller home without any additional help (although  a gardener and/or cleaner can really help ease the maintenance burden). However, as everyone ages there is always the concern that there will come a time when you can’t manage to look after yourself and need more help in the home and maybe also personal care. Fortunately, there are some excellent home care companies that can provide home care services where a professional carer comes into your home on a regular basis in order to help you continue to live in your own homes.

But what about if your care needs could not be met by regular home care visits ?

As the vast majority of people want to stay in their own home in their later years a very important consideration when down-sizing is to consider whether you would still have room for a live-in carer should the need arise. A live-in carer provides 24/7 care in your own home so is a perfect alternative for so many of us who don’t want to move in to a care home. However, when you have live-in care it is essential that the new home has a good-sized spare room which could be the carer’s private space. They will need their own personal space in order to best carry out their tasks as professionally as possible.

 

Get Specialist Help

Moving someone from a home where they may have lived for many years can require the services of a company that specialises in helping elderly people relocate. If family and friends are unable to help then having someone who understands about the stresses and strains felt by older people leaving a much loved home can help the whole thing go as smoothly as possible. A specialist mover can understand and appreciate the memories and emotions tied up in precious belongings and furniture. Anything which offers support throughout the experience is important to help them feel they’re doing the right thing.

Reasons to avoid a DIY move

How to set up utilities when renting

Utilities

Whether it’s your first rental property or your third, setting up gas and electricity should be one of your priorities. This is because you need your utilities to be turned on for a decent standard of living, such as being able to cook and access clean water. If you’re wondering how to set up your utilities while renting, you’ve come to the right place.

Here’s a standard step-by-step process to get you going. Before you begin, it’s recommended that you find out which utilities you’re responsible for as a tenant, as this varies depending on the rental. Generally, you’ll be expected to pay for your own gas and electricity but this isn’t always the case.

1. Gather the relevant information

Before you begin it’s useful to gather all of the information you need for setting up utilities for your rental. Again this varies depending on the provider you choose but a general rule of thumb is that you’ll need:

    • A recent meter reading
    • Your new address in full
    • Preferred start date

If you’re unsure, the preferred start date is usually the day that you intend to move in.

2. Research various utility providers

There are many different providers of gas and electricity in the UK. Some tenants like to shop around separately for their gas and electricity, but it’s often cheaper and more convenient to get a package deal if possible. If you want minimum hassle, you can simply stay with the providers set up by the previous tenant. However, check that their tariff rates are suitable for your budget before you do this.

While you’re researching gas and electricity providers, you may also want to consider other utilities such as water, as well as other essentials like broadband. Consider making notes on your research, including possible providers for each type of utility and what the average costs for those utilities are shaping up to be.

3. Get in touch for a quote and switch-on date

Once you’ve started to research providers and have made a shortlist of preferred companies, start getting in touch for personalised quotes, if you haven’t done so already. These quotes inform you how much you can expect to pay per month for utilities. There are many different packages available so take your time to research thoroughly.

Getting utilities set up is easier than before as many providers now have online portals that you can log in to. These portals allow you to sign up for a utility plan and arrange a start date – all without speaking to a single member of staff.

If everything goes accordingly, your rented property should have access to all of the necessary utilities on the agreed start date. Make sure your provider has agreed to this date or acknowledged it in some form, however.

buying a home

Buying a Home: A Step by Step Guide

Purchasing a new home can be an incredibly stressful event. After all, it places third behind bereavement and divorce as the most stressful events we face in our lives. It’s not hard to see why either, especially when you take the amount there is to do into consideration. This guide takes you through the six stages of buying a home, detailing everything you need to do throughout the process. Hopefully, you will be able to use this guide as a checklist for buying a home, as well as helping to prepare you for the process.

 

Do You Need to Move?

Considering how stressful the entire buying and moving process is, you should carefully consider moving home. Some of the most common reasons people move are as follows:

  • Need more space
  • Dislike their neighbours
  • Dislike the area
  • Want a change of scenery
  • Want to get out of rented accommodation

If you are moving because you need more space, you should first decide if any of the other criteria on the list apply to you. If not, then consider extending your home instead or simply add more storage space. This tends to be a cheaper and less stressful process, even if it does tend to take longer. Sometimes an extension is all you need to improve your home, giving you more space without all the hassle associated with buying a new home.

 

The Steps to Buying Your New Home

If you are adamant about buying a new home, however, then there are six main stages that you need to complete – none of which are necessarily quick or easy. Here are each of them, in detail, for you to go through.

 

Step One: Find a Property You Can Afford

The first thing you need to do is assess your budget and determine what you are able to afford in terms of purchasing the house and the cost of the mortgage/bills every month. Make sure you take changes in your financial situation into account, and how you will be able to cope with these payments if something goes wrong. After all, your savings will not just cover the mortgage fees, but also things like stamp duty.

The first thing to do is check your credit score. Lenders are going to be looking at this, so you need to make sure it is up to scratch, and see if there is anything you can do to improve it. You can also check it for any errors and apply to have these rectified. A bad credit score is very likely to be rejected, so make sure you know what you are dealing with before you progress.

buying a house checklist

You also need to choose a mortgage that is right for you. Many people choose to go with their bank, but you can often find better deals when talking to the estate agent. This is because they usually have a mortgage broker that they will recommend to you.

Once you have found an offer you like, you can agree to a mortgage in principle. This is what tells you how much a lender is likely to offer, and the interest you will pay. You may have to pay a fee to reserve the mortgage product you want, which can cost up to £250.

Provided you have passed all of the relevant checks, you are now free to progress to the second stage of the buying process.

 

Step Two: Make an Offer

So, you have found the home of your dreams. It is within your budget, and the mortgage has essentially been agreed. Now you are ready to make an offer. Usually, you will do this through an estate agent, and often it is acceptable to start your offer price at around 10% below the asking price.

People often get confused about estate agent fees at this point in the process. When you are buying a home, you don’t need to pay estate agent fees on top of your purchase price. You only pay fees for the home that you are selling. These fees are only usually between 0.5% and 3% plus VAT, so it’s not a massive amount.

buying a home - finding a solicitor

Step Three: Find a Solicitor and Surveyor

Your solicitor is the person who handles all of the legal paperwork and filings. Some people choose to hire both a solicitor and conveyancer, but you will save money hiring someone who is able to do both.

You solicitor will always tell you how much you will be expected to pay before they start work, and you should expect to pay an upfront fee before they get started. Usually, this will be a 10% deposit that will be taken off the full amount after completion. Expect to pay up to £1,500 for their services, as well as 20% VAT.

Your solicitor will also submit searches to the local council in the property’s location. This check is to see if there are any local or planning issues that might affect the overall value of the property. You can expect this to cost up to £300.

The surveyor, on the other hand, surveys the property. This means they check the home thoroughly for any problems that could affect its overall cost. There tend to be two surveys – the valuation and property surveys.

The valuation survey is carried out by the lender. This is to ensure the property is worth the amount you are planning to pay before your mortgage is approved. However, this is not an extensive survey as it will not look for and try to uncover any damage or issues with the property. You can still expect to pay up to £1,500 for the service, however, depending on the value of the property. You may also get it for free, depending on the mortgage deal you selected.

The property survey is one that is commissioned by you. Many people neglect to do this, but the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) have found that, on average, buyers who don’t get the right survey find themselves faced with £5,750 worth of damages and repairs after moving in.

As it is going to be your property, it is worth paying a decent price to have a good and professional surveying job completed. Plus, it can really help you in terms of price negotiation. For example, if it is found that the property will need £5,000 worth of repairs, you can ask the current owners to lower the price by that much to make up for it.

Here are the three main types of survey that are available:

  • RICS condition report: This is a basic survey, as well as the cheapest one available. If you are buying a home that is in good condition, or one that has been newly built, then this is probably the best option to go for. No advice or valuation will be provided with this type of survey, and you can expect to pay around £250.

 

  • RICS homebuyer report: This is a much more detailed survey than the one above, and it is most suited to homes in reasonable condition. They look at the inside and outside of the property thoroughly so that they can note any damages or issues, before providing advice and a valuation. You can expect to pay a minimum of £400 for this service.

 

  • Building or structural survey: Of the three types, this is the most extensive. It is suitable for all properties, but is especially handy of you are buying an older building, or ones that look as though they might need some extra care and attention. Advice and a valuation will be provided at the end, and you can expect to pay a minimum of £600 for this type of survey.

 

Once this stage is complete and you have planned the type of survey that you will require for your home, you can move onto the next step of the buying process.

buying a home - having a survey done

Step Four: Finalise the Offer and Mortgage

Once the survey stage has been completed, you might want to consider renegotiating the offer that you made on your new home. There are two main reasons why you might want to go through with this:

  • The lender may have valued the property at a lower price, thus leaving you with a shortfall. This means that you won’t be able to match the asking price or what you were originally intending to offer.
  • Your survey may have uncovered issues with the property that will be expensive to fix. With this new information, you can try and renegotiate the price based on the estimated cost of repairs.

Once you have reached this stage, you may start feeling the pressure. This is because it is at this stage that things often become incredibly stressful. At this point, delays and issues could arise for a multitude of reasons, including these ones:

  • The seller decides to withdraw the property from the market (which they are entitled to at this stage)
  • The seller decides to accept a higher offer from another buyer. This is also known as gazumping
  • Your mortgage application could also be rejected at this stage

If things start to go wrong, make sure you communicate regularly with your solicitor and estate agent. Even though things may seem to be going badly, you would be surprised by how often things turn around when the lines of communication are kept open. Don’t give up after a bad turn because things could still go right for you.

However, if everything has gone to plan, you can contact your lender or mortgage adviser to move on with the mortgage finalisation. Usually, there is a fee for this service of up to £2,000. You can have this added onto the mortgage, but remember that if you do you will be paying the interest on it for the lifetime of the mortgage.

Once you have received your binding mortgage offer, the lender must give you seven days to think about it. This gives you time to compare it with other mortgage deals to make sure you are getting the right one for you. However, if you are positive that the mortgage being offered to you is the perfect one, you can give the go-ahead any time before the seven days are up.

It is important to remember that before you and the seller exchange contracts, you can back out of the purchase at any time. It is better that you pull out if you feel that you will not be able to afford the property in terms of repair costs or over the long run, so don’t feel ashamed about doing it. You may, however, lose some money, depending on how far through the process you are.

Once you have decided that this is the right choice for you, and your mortgage has been finalised, you can go ahead and start the next stage of the buying process.

 

Step Five: Exchange Contracts

If there are no problems or delays, you should now receive the contract to complete your sale. Signing this legally binds you to the purchase. Before you sign it, however, make sure you go through it carefully with your solicitor so that you understand each part.

You need to make sure you agree with what the sellers are leaving behind, and also ensure that all of your questions have been answered suitably. If you have any issues, make sure your solicitor has them ironed out immediately to help things continue running as smoothly as possible.

Once signed by both parties, you and the seller are committed to this stage of the buying process. The seller may ask you for a holding deposit at this stage of the process, usually only up to £1,000, to ensure that you are showing serious intent to follow through with this process.

Once the contracts have been exchanged, moving dates can be discussed and negotiated so that both parties have adequate notice. You will also need to purchase building insurance at this point to cover the structure of the property. Get your insurance sorted at the very beginning to avoid any shocks and disappointments.

Once this stage has been completed, you can move onto the final (and most exciting) one.

house keys handed over

Step Six: Completion

Completion is the most exciting, and most expensive, stage that will be carried out. It is when you pay off all of the money you owe, and you get to move into your new home. There are several things that need to be done in the final steps that lead up to full completion, and this stage lists them all.

The remaining money that is owed on the property will be paid. It will be transferred from your solicitor’s account to the seller’s solicitor. As some of the money will come from the mortgage provider, you can expect to pay a telegraphic transfer fee. Usually, this will cost up to £50.

You may also have to pay a mortgage account fee. The lender charges this fee for setting up, maintaining, and closing down your mortgage account. It is often added to the mortgage itself, which means that you will end up paying interest on it. As a result, it is often a good idea to pay for it up front. This usually costs up to £300.

During this stage, you will also need to pay the remainder of the bill for your solicitor. As a reminder, this typically costs a total (including the deposit) of up to £1,500 plus 20% VAT. Make sure you get this paid off early on as it is an important bill to settle.

At this point in the process, you solicitor will also register the sale with Land Registry for you. This covers properties in England and Wales. For properties in Northern Ireland, it will need to be registered with Land and Property Services. For properties in Scotland, it needs to be registered with Registers of Scotland. The cost of this process largely depends on the price of the property being purchased.

You will also need to pay your estate agent once the completion stage has been reached if you are also selling your home. If you are only buying, then you don’t need to worry about this point. This fee will have been agreed from the outset. Typically, it is a percentage of the purchase price, plus 20% VAT. Generally speaking, the percentage will be no more than 3%, and some agents will offer a percentage as low as 0.5%.

Stamp duty is also something that buyers need to take into consideration. Homes that cost more than £125,000 will require you to pay stamp duty. You will have 30 days after the completion date to pay the fee that is incurred by this tax. Your solicitor will arrange this for you most of the time, taking a good part of the stress away.

There are a number of stamp duty calculators online if you want to know roughly how much you will be expected to pay. If you are purchasing a second home, or one that you plan to rent out, you will need to pay an extra 3% on top of the regular stamp duty band. Make sure you take this into consideration when you are planning how much you are likely to spend.

If you are using a moving company to help you get all of your belongings to your new home, a top tip is that it is cheaper to move on a weekday than it is a weekend. The price will vary depending on how far away you are moving, but you can expect to pay a minimum of £300 and anywhere over £600. Make sure you get a lot of quotes and compare them before you decide on a company to use.

Now that you have paid all outstanding funds and moved in, you can finally relax in your new home. It’s not easy, and it can be very stressful at the time, but at least you have been able to find yourself a wonderful new place to live. Next up is a bottle of champagne while you plan your housewarming party and get those boxes unpacked.

 

To Conclude

Hopefully, our guide to buying a new home has been useful to you and given you a lot of information about what the process entails. It is not always an easy task to undertake, but it once you find yourself in your new home, you can breathe a sigh of joy and relief. Just remember to keep yourself incredibly organised, and to try and stay calm during the process.

If you have any questions or comments, we would love to hear them. Feel free to drop us a message in the comment section below to let us know what you thought of our step by step guide.

home staging

Getting (and Keeping) Your Home Ready to Show — Even with Kids

Most of the effort that goes into selling a house goes toward helping potential buyers envision themselves living in the space. Buyers need to be able to see the house for what it could be and the memories they could make in it. The more personalized it is to your tastes and lifestyle, the harder it will be to sell the house. Busy parents don’t have a lot of extra time to put into the sale of a house. Keeping that in mind, here are some tips that could make the process easier on you.

Getting Some Help

If you can make it fit within your budget, hiring a professional to stage your home can help. A home stager can assist you with lighting, arrange the furniture in an appealing way, and highlight the great attributes of your house. At the end of a professional stager’s stint in your house, buyers will be drawn in by the warmth, and the investment in the staging will pay off.

Professional stagers are not cheap but if you can afford a good home stager, your house will likely sell quicker and the stress will be taken off of you to figure out what buyers want to see.

Depersonalize Every Room

Some potential buyers may disagree with certain design choices yet still want to make the purchase. For instance, a chair in the wrong corner or a paint color they wouldn’t have chosen are things that they can overlook. There are other personal touches that can stand in the way of a buyer from being able to see themselves living in the house.

Some of the personalized touches that should be avoided are:

  • Family photographs
  • Clothes lying all over the room (with exception of the closet)
  • Certain pieces of art
  • Certain books
  • Diplomas
  • Trophies and awards
  • Too many knickknacks
  • Toys everywhere

Designated Spots

It’s easy for a house to fall into disarray; it can happen within a brief moment. To help you and your family to keep things organized and clutter-free, give everything a spot to fall.

Help your children keep their toys organized by having them choose the toys they love and use the most, with the caveat that it has to fit into one bin or basket. All the other toys can be packed and stored away until the big move. Giving each child one bin or basket is also beneficial in that when a showing happens it is easy for you and them to round up the toys and stash them away.

Use Creative Options

Potential buyers will scrounge through your closets and open drawers to get a feel for storage and space within the home. You want those areas to look as organized as possible, but you still need to live in your home and your family still needs to be able to function. Wherever possible, try adding some creative storage options to your home that not only will add to the design but also hide away your belongings in places buyers won’t look.

Here are some storage options that may work for you:

For a short period of time, while going through the process, selling a home can feel like a full-time job. Add on raising a family, careers, and daily responsibilities, it can get overwhelming if not prepared for. If possible, start by enlisting the help of a professional to stage your house. Then organize, give everything a place and use creative storage solutions. In no time, the stress of a sale and move will be but a distant memory.

prepare your home for a move

How do Movers Protect and Prepare your Home for a Move

Do you think the moving business is easy? It definitely is not. There are several nuances to it like packing, loading, unloading, and organizing. Though moving is not impossible but it has its own challenges. Moving is unequivocally the most stressful process because it can take a toll on even the best of organizers. But no matter how complex the task is, if performed with perfection you have nothing to worry about. If you know how to pack and move efficiently, you know exactly what difference will it make.

 

So how do professional movers tackle moving-related tasks? First, professional movers have packing and moving skills. Second moving companies mostly hire individuals with experience. They have the knowledge that ensures you always have safe and easy move. Not only this, but skilled movers are also familiar with the packing requirements and they know some crucial things related to moving. If you want to know what are those crucial things read below and find out how to pack your home as a mover does.

 

Start packing weeks ahead of the move

 

There is one thing that you have to keep in mind that packing is an integral part of any move. So as soon as you buy a new house, immediately start thinking about the days you can devote to packing alone. The bigger the house the more things you have to pack. Though consider yourself lucky if you have to pack a small apartment. But not lucky enough because you will still need a lot of skills to pack all your belongings. If you don’t want to be surrounded by boxes for weeks them simply rent a cheap self-storage unit.

 

Having said that, let’s see how packing weeks ahead of the move will help you. First, you will not be stressed by the time the moving trucks arrive. Second, you can keep a check on the movers while they load and unload all your belongings. Third, you will stay stress-free and have a great move.

 

Keep the furniture light

 

It has happened to most of us. Whether out of sheer laziness, avoidance or forgetfulness. But we have all been there. Un-emptied drawers of a hairdresser – does it ring a bell. Yes exactly, it is important to empty out all the drawers. Because a heavy dresser will be difficult to carry. It will consume your time and energy. Plus it is difficult to assess the safety of a piece of furniture when it is loaded with things inside. So, it is best that you first empty out all the drawers, pack the things in a separate box and then wrap the hairdresser in a soft blanket.

 

Label the boxes

 

Labeling will go a long way. It is also one of the techniques that will help you stay organized. Give a number to each box or use the technique of color-coding. Numbering the boxes will help you keep track of all the items and color-coding will help you identify which box belongs where. For example, the purple color is for the kitchen appliances, red for the master room, and green for the living room. In addition to this, don’t forget to prioritize the boxes. Say you are moving plants, aquarium or a fragile item. All these items will need immediate opening. So make sure you mark all the boxes that need to be unpacked as soon as you reach your house.

 

Separate the essentials from the non-essentials

 

You don’t need the old TV that lies in the basement nor the clothes that don’t fit. So, before making the final inventory donate or sell the non-essentials. Moving is the best opportunity to look for all the things that you can sell or simply donate. You can also call your friends and ask them if they are interested in buying some of the items. Likewise, you can also donate kitchen appliances not in use, old curtains, pieces of furniture lying in the store, etc. As a result of this exercise, you will have less things to pack.

 

Keep a stock of all the packing supplies

 

Gather all the supplies before you even begin to pack. You will need a pack of tapes, boxes of different shapes and sizes, wrapping paper, plastic wraps, bubble wraps, soft blankets, straps, moving dolly, markers, and gloves. So, make sure you gather all the supplies or buy the ones you don’t have. Instead, there are entire stores dedicated to selling items that you will need for packing. You can even request Manhattan Movers or the movers in your city to get the packing material for you. But remember they will charge you extra for the same.

 

Whether you are hiring long distance movers in NYC or local movers NYC of the city you reside in. If you have the right movers helping you they will make your journey stress-free and smooth. But in case if you chose to move all by yourself, keep all the tips mentioned above in mind. Happy moving!

moving out of home

Tips For Cheaply Moving Home As A Student

Students move home regularly, which is why it is important that every move is as cheap as possible. Here we have some great tips to help students move home cheaply and efficiently.

 

Moving home is expensive for everyone, especially for students. Students in London tend to move around a lot from home to halls, from halls to a shared house, then back home again. It’s a pretty changeable lifestyle when you’re a student which is why you have to become pretty great at moving your stuff or find someone else who can move or store stuff cheaply.

There are tons of ways you can save money when moving home as a student, here are just a few of them:

Mates Rates

Get everyone and anyone to help you. Don’t be afraid to trade cups of tea and favours for help moving, you need the help and this is when those closest to you should be available. Your family should be your first port of call as your parents probably have a bigger want and need to care for you than most of your mates, plus they like to help out however they can and may well be offended if you don’t ask them first. Then it’s time to call in the heavies – your mates. Plenty of them will be moving as well so simply call it ‘helping each other out’. You carry my box I’ll carry yours sort of thing! Everyone is in the same boat so hitch lifts and lifting help wherever you can, just don’t forget to say thank you and offer your services back, otherwise you won’t be getting much help next time!

Use What You Already Have

Where possible, try to avoid buying packing materials and use what you already have. Wrap clean kitchenware in scarves and clothes and ask friends to save up newspapers for you to wrap things in. Don’t bother buying packing boxes either, get down the local supermarket and ask them for spare boxes. Many shops have to pay to get their cardboard removed so will be more than happy to give you their spares. Top Tip – banana boxes are particularly strong and often come with lids so ask for those as a priority!

Have A Sale

Use moving as a chance to sell some of your unwanted items for extra money. Not only could this save you money on your move (saving fuel costs for car trips etc) it could make you money! Car boots are always an easy way to make a bit of spare cash on a Sunday morning (in some places pitches are just £5.00 for the whole morning!) or there are auction sites available to, not to mention recycling shops where you can weigh in old clothes.

Don’t Buy New

If you’re moving out for the first time, this is not the time for you to be buying loads of new and fancy items for your new home. You want clean and comfortable, not designer, so go mad on shabby chic! The best way to do this is by frequenting the car boots every Sunday in the lead up to your move. You can get plates for 20p, cool ornaments for £1.00, board games, clothes – anything you can think of! When you’re a student you can get away with being as wild and as out there as you want – so do it and grab yourself some second hand bargains!

Self-Storage

If you’re moving somewhere for a short time, try one of the many cheap self-storage units available to save money. The rates charged are very variable so compare prices of different self storage providers – but this is a great way to find secure space for your stuff if you need to stay in a friend’s room for a bit or at home for a bit while you save or look to find better digs.

Leave Time

 

Leave plenty of time to get yourself organised. Pack up your stuff for storing well in advance and try to label it so you know what is in every box. If you’re putting items in self-storage in Cambridge, Oxford, London (or wherever you are based at university) you need to make sure you lay out your self-storage unit well so nothing gets broken or damaged through collapsing stacks or dust infiltration. If you’re already studying then time management should be second nature to you, so there’s no excuse for being unorganised!

aerial photography of new houses

Apps You Need to Help With Your House Move

With the ability of mobile apps to streamline nearly every aspect of locating a new place, the process of moving has become significantly easier. Without taking advantage of these tools, you may find yourself overwhelmed with moving tasks and unable to finish everything in time for move-in day.

 

For example, it’s a good idea to research cheap renters insurance before you move so you can be sure your valuables will be protected in your new place. The same goes with searching for moving services and supplies – you don’t want to put these basic tasks off until the last minute. You can also check out the salary you’ll need to buy a home in the major towns and cities across the UK. Explore the data, compare cities and follow house price trends here.

 

You may be familiar with the vast array of real estate websites available to help facilitate the process of buying, selling, and renting properties, but there are also many lesser known programs for other tasks that come up while moving. These tools are must-haves for anyone planning an upcoming move, and having them downloaded may be just what you need to get your moving jobs done on schedule.

 

 

Zillow

 

Zillow may be the biggest name in the world of real estate websites and applications, and it’s easy to see why. The platform receives roughly 36 million unique visits every month from users around the world, and it’s a great starting point if you’re still looking for that perfect place.

 

If you’re interested in a more interactive experience, Zillow’s mobile app also contains a feature which allows you to look at local listings in real-time as you walk through target neighborhoods. This makes it easy to visualize your life in a new place and get a feel for each area you’re considering.

 

Wunderlist

 

Wunderlist isn’t actually a house move app, but its general suite of productivity tools make it a great way to stay on top of your progress and make sure you don’t push things off to the last minute. With Wunderlist, you’ll be able to put to-do lists together and set reminders for tasks that you want to finish at certain times.

 

One interesting feature of Wunderlist is the ability to share these lists and reminders, allowing you to delegate tasks to any roommates or friends that are helping you pack up your place. Syncing this information to the cloud turns Wunderlist into a centralized platform, making it that much easier to prepare for your move.

 

Facebook Marketplace

 

There’s a good chance that you’re among the 2 billion-plus people that use Facebook each month, but even regular Facebook users often aren’t aware of the platform’s robust marketplace features that facilitate the buying and selling of a variety of items. This is the perfect place to find people in your area and arrange a purchase.

 

Selling and giving away old items is one of the most commonly overlooked tasks involved in moving out, and these pieces can be tough to get rid of as your move-in date approaches. Put a few things on Facebook Marketplace well before you’re planning to move in order to give yourself time to field offers and find a convenient time and place to meet buyers.

 

TaskRabbit

 

Fixing up your current place is a great way to increase the sale value of a home or guarantee an apartment’s security deposit. Repairing any damage and performing routine maintenance may involve more tools and specialized skills than you’re comfortable taking care of yourself.

 

Fortunately, TaskRabbit makes it easy to find professional freelancers and contractors in your local area. It’s an especially useful tool if your moving date is rapidly approaching and you don’t have time to complete everything you need to before leaving. Anything from cleaning and painting to more in-depth projects can be found on TaskRabbit.

 

Moving out is an often overwhelming endeavor that requires careful preparation and planning well in advance. If you’re looking for ways to streamline the moving process, these house move apps will help you make a number of moving tasks easier, including everything from searching for a place to finding buyers for items you no longer need.

houseplants

Tips For Taking Your Houseplants To A New Home

Packing house plants is not as simple as packing a regular box for self-storage or a house move, they need special care and attention. Here are a few tips to help you.

 

When you have spent years cultivating healthy houseplants to bring warmth and greenery to your home, you don’t want to see them damaged or worse – dead – after a house move. Packing house plants is not as simple as packing a regular box for a house move or for self-storage in London or any other major city; they need special care and attention. Often they can be low on packing priorities, which is understandable when there’s so much to do. It is important you consider your houseplants when you’re moving if you want to keep them healthy and alive.

 

Here are some useful tips to help you keep your precious house plants alive during a move:

 

Give Them Away

If they won’t survive a long move, give them away. Think about how long you’re going to be travelling for and how hardy your plants are. If they simply won’t handle the climate change or rough transit, then you may have to give them to friends and family. It’s a tough sacrifice to make, but you will be able to replace them with new ones in your new home.

 

Check If They Are Covered By Insurance

It is likely that your moving company will not pay you any money if your houseplants get damaged in transit. This may not be a big issue if your plants are not precious to you, but if they are or if the plant is worth a lot of money you may want to think about taking the plants in the car with you.

 

Check You Can Take Them With You

If you think they will survive the long journey, check they are actually allowed to come with you. If you’re moving countries, there may be rules and regulations stopping you taking certain plants across the border, so read up on the rules before you move.

 

Take Cuttings

If you can’t take your plants with you, but love them – take some cuttings so you can cultivate baby plants from the original plants. There are products available at garden centres that will enable you to do this efficiently.

 

Check For Infestations

It is important you do not take plants into your new home if they have insect infestations or plant diseases that can be passed on to other plants. You can make an effort to remove the disease or insects before you move home, just make sure you leave enough time to do so.

 

Pack Your Plants Last

Make sure you pack your plants last but allow adequate time to do so – don’t just chuck them in the back of the car last minute. They need to be securely packed into sturdy boxes that cannot fall over, and that aren’t having other boxes on top of them. If you’re moving some items to self storage units and some to your new home, make sure the plants don’t accidentally get taken to the wrong place – they will not survive in a dark self-storage unit.

 

Keep Plants Moist

If you are travelling for a long period of time, plants will need to be extra moist so that they survive. Don’t water them during the move, simply install a drip feeder into the plant pot or give the soil a good soaking before you set off.

 

Plan Where Your Plants Will Go

As your plants will have thrived in their current environment, it is important you give them a similar environment in your new home. Make a note of the conditions your current plants live in IE; on the windowsill or in a cool, shaded corner, and find similar places in your new home to house them.

 

moving-house-exchanging-contracts

Easy Moving Home Tips

I don’t need to tell you that moving house is a stressful business but there are many ways to ease that stress a little bit that will help you stay calmer in the run-up to the “big day” and also on moving day itself. They will help you to keep calm and stay focused on the task at hand – and before you know it you will be sitting back in your new home with your feet up!

 

 

One of the reasons that moving home is so stressful is that there are so many things to think about and it all happens in quite a short time frame, with so many opportunities for things to go wrong. Buyers pull out of the sale, sellers decide not to move after all, you lose your job just before contacts are signed – these things all happen, if not on a regular basis certainly often enough for us to worry about them.

 

couple-move-into-new-home

Yet it can also seem like one minute you’re casually browsing through RightMove looking at properties in your price bracket and in your preferred locations, and the next you’re getting things down from the loft and packing up boxes – well, I know, not all house moves happen smoothly and quickly but many do and once the ball is rolling it can feel like the whole process is out of your control.

 

If you are lucky enough to be able to afford to have a removals company like DS Carriers Glasgow come in and do all the packing for you that can certainly relieve some of the stress but with all the other costs of moving home most of us try to save money by packing our boxes ourselves. There are advantages and disadvantages with both approaches.

 

Fragile Sign on packing box

Packing Your Own Boxes:

 

  • This will give you the opportunity to declutter, because moving home is often the only time we ever really have a good clear out of all those things we have been hoarding. It’s much harder to do this if the removers are packing for you – they will just pack everything, including, as I found out on my last house move, my office wastepaper basket along with all the rubbish in it!
  • You can start in advance – placing packed boxes in your garage (if you have one) or in low-cost storage. It really will help you be more organised! I found this brilliant price comparison chart for self-storage companies that helped me find the right one for me.
  • It will save you money – although not always as much as you would think so make sure you do your sums.

 

Having The Removers Pack The Boxes

 

  • Removals companies are experts at packing fragile or awkwardly shaped items so there is far less chance of anything getting broken or damaged if you let them do the packing. They will arrive with all the boxes and packing materials needed such as paper sheets for wrapping china and glass, bubble wrap and strong packing tape so you won’t have to worry about buying it and making sure you have enough. It is very common to underestimate how many boxes you will need for a house move.
  • Packing boxes takes time when you are not an expert and with all the other things that need organising for a house move having someone else do the packing takes away a huge amount of pressure. I had the removers pack my boxes last time I moved and didn’t regret the cost – I only wish I’d had them pack on previous house moves.

 

So aside from the packing what are the best and easiest ways to curb the stress of a house move? Here are just a few of my favourite tips:

 

Make a list of everything you need to remember

A To Do list will be your best friend when it comes to moving house. It is up to you where and how you maintain that list just make sure you have one – be vintage and keep a hand-written list in a notepad, use you smartphone and one of the many to-do apps available, just use a spreadsheet or notes and actions and reminders in Outlook or another email tool.

 

List will be really helpful to you but you must keep them up to date and that means keeping them with you (or easily accessible) at all times. So when you have booked a date and time for the removers to come and give an estimate of moving costs you won’t forget, and when you have to start packing boxes, you won’t forget; and your lists will help you with budgeting too as you can write down all quotes for comparison and keep track of costs you have already incurred.

 

Don’t forget to tick off tasks as you go – that’s very satisfying…

 

Pack Something Every Day

Yep, that’s right every day – it is just too easy to put the task off until tomorrow or the next day or the week-end and before you know it you are faced with a mammoth task. Whereas if you do something every day that mountainous task will gradually diminish with seemingly little effort. Set aside half and hour each day for packing – it is amazing what can be achieved in half and hour and most of us can find that extra time o=in our day if we really want to.

 

If you leave packing to the last minute there is a much greater chance of items getting damaged in transit because you rushed the job and there is also much more chance of you just packing everything because you haven’t got the time to sort out the clutter from the things you want to keep.

 

 

Label EVERYTHING

You really won’t remember what is in that large box with the red star sticker on it – trust me, I’ve been there. Make sure you label every box, bag, suitcase as soon as it is fully packed. It goes without saying (but…) you should keep a separate box for all the essentials and valuables: passports, driving licenses, tea, coffee, kettle, mugs, chocolate, duvets and sheets, clearly labelled, of course.

 

It may seem tempting to not label everything but that will just make the job of settling into your new home that bit harder. If the boxes are all properly labelled then the removers will know which rooms they belong in.

 

So every box needs a room label – on all 4 sides – to help out the removers when they are unloading, and a list of what the box contains for your benefit but also so the removers know whether they can stack certain boxes on top of each other. Clearly you don’t want your fragile china and glass in a box at the bottom of a pile of boxes containing heavy items like books or tools.

 

The more detailed the labels are the easier it will be for everyone.

 

Take Time Off Work

Don’t add to your stress levels by trying to move house without taking a few days off work – sure you will want to take most of those days after the move to help you get settled in to your new abode but don’t put yourself under unnecessary stress all for the sake of a couple of days off to help you get sorted before the move. If you are stressed at work and worrying about house move issues you won’t be functioning at full capacity anyway

 

If there is really some work that can’t wait then try and work extra hours well before moving day and get ahead of yourself. Think about putting any work-related deadlines and issues on your list to help plan ahead.

 

 

Some house moves can be fraught with glitches so be prepared for last minute dashes to the solicitor to discuss contract issues or time to talk to the estate agents to help keep everything running smoothly.

 

 

Set The Moving Date As Soon As Possible

If you are fortunate you may be able to choose the date that suits you best but if you are in a long chain of buyers and sellers, you may have very little choice. Whether the moving date is your ideal date or not, get it firmed up as soon as you possibly can. This will enable you to confirm the date with the movers, inform all the utilities companies of the impending move (gas, electricity, water, phones, internet service provider etc). If you can have all those companies informed well in advance then you have already taken some of the stress off your own shoulders.

 

If you have children or pets you can also book babysitters or childcare for the day and arrange for friends to look after you pets or book them into kennels or a cattery. Remember your stress can rub off on them so try and stay calm when children and pets are around – expend your frustrations at the gym if you must..

 

 

These are just some of my favourite tips to help keep the stress level down when moving house. Serial house movers will probably have plenty more good ideas on how to make a move run smoothly. If you have your own top tip why not share it below in the comments – we always love to hear from people about their moving home stories.