How much do you do BEFORE exchange of contracts.

[runikka]

Good afternoon

Hope everyone is enjoying the bank holiday weekend. Having the extra days off and hoping to exchange contracts in the next month, has got me wondering how far we can go to prepare. We have spent the last month or so, clearing out and getting rid of everything we do want to take with us. We have contacted removals companies and plan to get packing help. However, we have shelves full of things that need to be taken down, the loft to empty and walls that will need the paint touching in, the oven and carpets will need clean before we move out. There are the change of address letters. We have stopped short of doing these things as although we now have the space to do without the shelves, dont want to jinx things by starting the packing or loft clearance.
At the same time, we are aware that although the exchange might still be a long way off, once it has happened, things will move very quickly and dont want to have mountains to climb then.

How much do you leave until exchange?

All the best

Hi

I am in the same position - just waiting for few legal issues before finalising our big move - this bank holiday I started boxing up glassware, pictures etc so now the front room is full of boxes - we are waiting until we get a date before starting on the big items.

I am booking myself and our 2 month old into a local premier inn the night before we move and a couple of other nights so that my husband can get on with dismantling and moving furniture into our new home.

good luck with your move.

Definately start de-cluttering as even if the sale falls through it will be a good job done; also the painting - no point having the carpets cleaned until you have actually moved out (actually that's a really nice thing to do - we have just bought a house and I had the carpets cleaned at my expense before we moved in - not sure why you are doing it really ).

Do no packing before exchange of contracts. We had a buyer pull out a week before exchange and we subsequently pulled out of a purchase a week before we were due to exchange. Pack between exchange and completion - we only had a week in the end and it was a very busy week.

Personally I would not clean carpets or oven before moving out. I cleaned my kitchen very thoroughly before I moved out of our house only to be greated to a very dirty kitchen in my new home. Hoover, clean surfaces and inside cupboards but in all likelihood the new owners will clean it. Also their removal men will put their dirty boots on the carpet at some point, especially if it rains.

I would clean oven but not carpets, and I wouldn't touch up either as new owners might be redecorating - unless of course massive hole I guess
packing have you had quotes for packing by your removel firm as it can be suprisingly cheap and saves a world of pain - and they emptied the loft
and change of address - the post office redirection is pretty good

and with most of my house moves exchange and completion have been very close together
I would keep on decluttering through especially from the loft you never have time when moving into a new house

The buyers of my previous property asked if they could clean our carpets before they moved in.

We were moving in with my parents and put everything into storage on the Saturday. They came in on Sunday night with her carpet cleaner with 2 of her friends. Double .

When the removal men came the next day it was still damp and the carpets ended up filthy.

I won't mention the babysitting I did for her the week after.

There's nowt as queer as folk. Housebuying seems to bring all kind of fraeks out of the woodwork.

The only things we are doing before we (hopefully) exchange are declutter, have removal company quotes and daydream!!! Even having a stress about having removal companies around in case we're tempting fate!!!