Moving to a house only round the corner

[hyperspacebug]

Hi, have you ever moved family home where new home was only just round the corner or even only few doors down? (the distance in our case would be 100 yards or so.)

Did you still hire the removal or did you decide to do all yourself?

[cafesociety]

I moved next door once, from a 2 bed terrace to a 3 bed end terrace with garage and drive and side gardens. It was a good move with much more space inside and out for not much money.

Moved myself with the help of my sons.

[HeirToTheIronThrone]

When I was younger we moved (housemate and I) literally next door, from one flat block to the next one along. We did that one all ourselves, just walking stuff round and pushing things in a trolley 'liberated' from Tesco for the day...

My DM moved from a house to another the next street along - for that she hired the removals as it was the whole contents of a family home and she couldn't manage beds, sofas, dresser etc by herself.

So I guess it all depends on how much stuff you have!

[SilasGreenback]

We are going to be moving next door in a few months and will be hiring a removal firm. We have some big heavy furniture and things like a piano that I don't want damaged. Getting things up and down stairs can also be quite tricky. We've used this firm before and they (and I guess other professional movers) just know how to move awkward stuff - so it all happens smoothly. If we had no money then we would do it ourselves, but it would take several days.

[Spindelina]

Not family home, but we moved from a 3rd floor flat to a ground floor flat on the other side of the road. We did get the movers in, because we didn't want to break ourselves (or our stuff) carrying things down the stairs. They loaded the van, did a U-turn, then unloaded again!

[Pinkje]

Don't expect any removal quote to be cheaper because of the distance as not much of the expense will be attributed to fuel costs. I remember hearing that the bulk of removals are local (people staying in school catchments for instance).

[ofcoursethisisanamechange]

did it all ourselves-- our car, friends' cars and friend with a trailer..... only thing I would have used a professional for would be a piano- did it over the course of 2 days so no mad rush.....was actually a lot of fun and friends and neighbours helped and we had a party on the second night ....

[30ish]

We moved to the house at the back of our house, if that makes sense? We removed fence panels and carried everything through the gardens! We still hired a van though for heavy things like the washing machine, dining room table and beds etc. We also used the van to pick up new items we had ordered ready for the move including a new TV and tumble dryer.

[Vickiyumyum]

Pre dc we moved to another flat in the same building as it was bigger and most importantly didn't have mushrooms growing in the built in cupboard!

We did that ourselves, but we had a lot less stuff then, even the sofa was just a futon, I was 16 weeks pregnant.

my last move meant moving one street away (my new house is at the end of the last houses garden iyswim) and we hired removers, im a single mum of 4, xh not much help so it was worth it. Moved for a bigger house for the same rent and a better house all round, newer better quality kitchen/bathroom, conservatory, en suite and loft conversion that's ok to use as a games/day room but not got planning for overnight sleeping, but handy for eldest ds to have somewhere to go and play ps4 when his 12yr old brother is going to bed.

[Beccadugs]

When I was a child we moved up the road.

My parents got a removal company in as there were lots of heavy things (wardrobe, beds etc.)

I reckon it's doable if you have some hefty men (or women) to lug the beds etc!

[Oubliette0292]

We moved about 300m last year and hired a removal company to pack and move our stuff. It was definitely worth paying for as we both work FT and would never have managed to get everything packed and moved on our own without taking a lot of time off work.

[pootlebug]

We moved next door when I was 10. My parents paid a remover from down the road to shift our piano as it was so heavy. Everything else was moved by my Dad and his mate one weekend.

But for 100 yards I think it's different - tbh there's not much difference between 100 yards and 100 miles - if it's too far to walk carrying everything, you need a van, and then the distance is irrelevant.

[ixos]

If you are in a chain you will have to have everything out of the house by lunchtime ready for completion. Where will you put the entire contents of your house while you are waiting for your new house to vacate? In a removal van usually. Also your buyers will not be pleased at having to wait for hours while you move all your stuff. Plus where will you put your stuff if your purchase doesn't complete that day? Happened to us last year - sale completed, purchase did not due to bank problems. We were very glad all our stuff was in a van and not still in a house we no longered owned. If you are not in a chain, ignore!

[oscarwilde]

^^ This If you are in a chain you will have to have everything out of the house by lunchtime ready for completion. Where will you put the entire contents of your house while you are waiting for your new house to vacate? In a removal van usually. Also your buyers will not be pleased at having to wait for hours while you move all your stuff. Plus where will you put your stuff if your purchase doesn't complete that day?

Or if it is pouring with rain? I moved literally across the street for more space. The removal people carried a few awkward large bits over like a humungous sofa. We had a lot of large furniture which was v heavy though and so many boxes of DH's shoes..

One lesson learned was that the new house had been left utterly filthy and as it turned out, flea infested. So much for nice neighbours. The removal people were kind enough to go to the local pub for lunch and give us an hour to make a headstart since they didn't have to drive anywhere. I will in future pay to have my furniture stored overnight in a depot and moved in the next day so I can flea bomb the house to be on the safe side.

If you are moving into an empty property this doesn't apply, (apart from the risk of fleas and squalor) and if you don't have tons of stuff and can rent a van overnight to load stuff into in advance then no reason not to move yourself to keep costs down.

[CheesyBadger]

When I was 3 we moved next doorBrilliant! I have also moved round the corner and used cars and walked some boxes round

[KnottedAnchorChief]

We moved round the corner, about 6 houses distance and I can see my old house from my bedroom window. Both 4 bed houses and a fair bit of stuff.
We hired a removal company because there's no way we could have managed all the stuff and also because of the completion timings thing. However we took a risk and hired one van instead of two and then did two trips which was cheaper.

[fiorentina]

Please use a removal company or hire a large van. Our vendor was moving down the road, we'd completed by 12.30 and at 4.30 they were still moving things out. So annoying as we couldn't get in until they were out and they left the house filthy as they hadn't had time to do any even superficial effort at cleaning up. It was very stressful for us. We made her pay for the additional costs our removers charged for our of hours working.

[JassyRadlett]

Yes, I did! And got movers/packers to do it. Had us out by 1pm for completion, they went and had lunch while we collected keys. By 5pm they had all furniture in the right rooms, had reassembled everything (beds, bookcases, wardrobes), hung clothes back up in wardrobes, and tidied up after themselves.

Brought DS home from nursery, groceries and new fridge delivered around 6pm, bit of mild unpacking and bed making and we were able to put DS to bed on time, with his toys nearby (movers were brilliant about his stuff, really family-focused when packing, 'he'll be wanting this on his first night so we'll put it on top of this box, I'll mark it as first night stuff') and we had a nice takeaway, glass of wine and went to bed.

Worth every penny, especially as it was a rainy day.

[kazzawazzawoo]

Planning on doing it ourselves this time and hiring a van. Moving about two miles down the road.