Great Cut The Cost Of Moving Home Hunt

eels_2

ahora_dinero wrote:

I bought my house via www.propertybroker.co.uk and it was a breeze. I hope the site comes up again soon

I just visited this site and it brought up cruddy adverts to run error checking software that are not relevant to the content and are not blocked by Firefox. So its straight off my list as being one of those extremely annoying time-wasting sites. Sorry but if its there to sell houses thats what it should be doing.

lesinge2k

I hired a van for the day... cost me £40. I got a couple of mates to help out.

Much cheaper than paying someone to turn up late and smash my stuff up...

somefriendlyuk

i agree with everything that courtjester has posted. i run a small building preservation buisenss(damp proofing,dry rot woodworm etc), and have been dealing with estate agents for many many years.I tell all my friends NOT to trust the majority the agents at all-not matter how 'nice' they seem -it is ALL ABOUT THE SALE-i have often gone back with keys and asked not to write to much because the sale is 'difficult'-they honestly have little interest if its riddled with woodworm and you are going to fall through the floor when you get the place!(I ALWAY SAY-I ONLY WRITE WHAT I FIND-NO MORE NO LESS) Also, I know that with some agents-should i go back with a bad report to many times, it is not unusal to stop getting phone calls to do inspections because i blow to many sales-i have even been told in a moment of weakness that i 'don't play the game' They are also only interested in quick reports -not if your any good,tell the truth and should the buyer use you to correct problems,any good. I know of one local firm that has hundred of complaints with trading standards, his work is shoddy but a fair few estate agent (and not just small independants either) use him as he does very quick reports.they also seem to give 'clean reports' from time to time,when there are problems, for what ever reasons-make your own conclussions. To give an example - i was recently faxed a structual survey and a homebuyers survey for a bungalow in my area.it was on sale for 180k-top end for where it is.The the reports were fairly daming about the condition of the property but all the agents were interested in was the fact they would not use the structual survey ever again and the homebuyers was just rubish. They were still desperatly trying to get the buyer to buy. I went out and found out hat there were many problems with the property just as the reports stated and the response i got was -you guessed it -oh hell that sales blown then-Just to add -the buyer for this was using the whole of a previous sale and all her savings to buy this place but what she was going to be left with should she buy it was of no concern. Fortunately i get plenty of work and have reduced the amount of agents by two thirds to the few i can reasonably feel comfortable with.

Dot

Can anyone suggest web sites for buying/selling houses without the use of agents - other than https://www.propertybroker.co.uk which has no properties for sale at all in my area. A number of posts have talked about doing it this way but not actually mentioned where to look.

Dot

I also agree with Shelagh when she suggested advertising property via this site - come on Martin, I am sure you can come up witb something

Helzy

I'm moving house. We can move a lot of the smaller furniture & clothes etc ourselves just by loading up a couple of cars. We're using a removal firm for the big stuff - they charge by the hour. I've gathered up loads of stuff that is now surplus to requirements and am selling it at a car boot sale this weekend. I stand to make about £70-£80, which I can put towards paying the removal men.

Take a little time to sort through your things, price them up and sell them on. It's money for nothing!!

golddustmedia

In the last year I've done a DIY move for myself & partner as well as my parents and each time learnt a lot.

In the weeks leading up to the move ruthlessly turn out junk and box up everything you can, if you don't actually need to use it box it up! (books, ornaments, dvd's even kitchen appliances!).

Then if moving a long way (as we were) every time you make a trip down there (viewing, signing etc) take a car load of boxes and put in cheap storage. I got a 15sq metre secure lockup for £12 per week for 3 weeks.
Then when it actually comes to moving chances are you've moved most of your "belongings" and only have the furniture and essentials left.

Then I rented a van, shop around and look for vouchers in the paper! 1 way rentals are overpriced and often a long weekend is a special offer. Both times I got last thing Friday to first thing Monday for the cost of Sat/Sun only (£130). So I used Mercedes sprinter 311 vans, 4.0metre load length and got ALL the furniture from 3 bed house into the van. If necessary make 2 trips, it means you can be unloading 1st load while people are preparing next load at the first house ready for your return.

Once the furniture is in without the clutter go and collect your other boxes from storage to reclutter your house.

Actual moving cost:
Van £130
Diesel £50
Storage £36.
Boxes free from work!


As for house buying.... you'd be AMAZED what a discount you can negotiate from new build developers.... I got my £185k house for £168k and was ready to move in at the time so was moved within 4 weeks.

eels_2

Saw another post saying use a shredder for packing material, good idea! Another one is to use newspaper but spray with a plant sprayer (old cleaning spray bottle), it then shrinks to fit fragile items. Works a treat. Also you don't unwrap it the same way and drop little fragile bits and break them.

secretdancer

We did exactly as chrissiewants2save and sold our house ourselves. Was such a doddle and imho no more hassle than selling through an estate agent. All I had to do was make the appointments and deal with the offers. Only like flogging anything else. We then handed everything over to the solicitors to do the conveyancing.

In addition to mocking up a sign for the front of the house and using our existing details as leaflets to give to potential vendors we also advertised our house on http://www.thelittlehousecompany.co.uk/ At the time (2 years ago) they were able to get the details onto rightmove but they don't seem to have that listed now. Instead they use Fish4 and propertyfinder.co.uk in addition to many more websites. Well worth thinking about if you are looking to sell privately.

smayhew

When I was packing up I found Asda supermarket a really good source of not only boxes but also bubble wrap, all from the fruit and veg section. The staff don't mind you taking it as it saves them clearing up, I found late in the afternoon Friday and Saturday to be the best times, not only free but green as well.