When to start packing for move?

[popsiclesforbreakfast]

Hi all,
Hoping to get some advice!
I know things are a little different at the moment with house buying and selling. We are in the process of selling our house and buying another. As far as we can see it there's the survey to be done on the property we are buying, and some paperwork from both parties to go back to solicitors.

My thought is that exchange may not be too far off?

I just wondered, how much notice do you usually get of an exchange date and are people finding to avoid the chance of someone in the chain having to self isolate, completion is happening very soon after?

We have lots to pack and also sell before we move but don't want to do too much too soon!

This is very different from our previous house purchases where we purchased new both times so advice would be appreciated. Thanks all!

As sad as it makes me to say (because I do know there are people out there in genuine need) I'd be inclined to agree.

I think the moment you list something as free, you automatically attract people who have a tendency to push the limits a little.

Case in point, listed items for free for collections. These weren't essential items we are talking ornaments and a floor cushion. Had numerous people messaging me asking if I'd deliver 20+ miles away free of charge too!

I find now it's better to set as a cheap price and then if you choose to let them off paying when they arrive to collect then that's a bonus for them.

If you can afford it, ask the removal company to pack for you. It's not usually much extra and worth every penny IME.

GrumpyHoonMain

Any more tips on the whole selling, renting, buying situation please? We are doing the same. Accepted an offer on ours, can’t find house we want to buy so have found a rental in the area.

The thought of all that packing and unpacking and life admin is keeping me up all night. And best way to store things that don’t fit in rental but might need in new house (e.g. sofa).

Any words of wisdom gratefully received. Any dos and donts?

@Msmcc1212

GrumpyHoonMain

Any more tips on the whole selling, renting, buying situation please? We are doing the same. Accepted an offer on ours, can’t find house we want to buy so have found a rental in the area.

The thought of all that packing and unpacking and life admin is keeping me up all night. And best way to store things that don’t fit in rental but might need in new house (e.g. sofa).

Any words of wisdom gratefully received. Any dos and donts?

I'm in same situation. We are worried about finding a rental too soon as there is nothing certain until exchange and the thought of being stuck with a 6 or 12 month tenancy agreement plus house isn't great! Any thoughts gratefully received

Thanks, popsicle - I 've never heard of shpock (what a name!), have you sold furniture through that? I wanted to find a way for the bed specifically where people who can afford to spend more would look - it was expensive new but willing to sell for a few hundred, i would need to buy a new smaller bed as I'm downsizing. Budget very tight what with the crazy competitive market where I'm buying (I'm on a budget scale of house buying).
Freecycle would be good for some things - that's why I would haev asked the charity shop to pick up but theyve closed down. Are the freecycle places online or would you need to google them locally?

Start looking on local fb pages and gumtree for free moving boxes. The cost a fortune. W

To those posters asking about renting, we did this. Our purchase fell through & we still went through with our sale as I couldn't bear the thought of starting all over again at another point. We did find another house fairly quickly but lived in rented for 3 months.
I'll try & remember what I can...

• Some rental companies won't want to know you if you tell them you're only going to be there short term. They prefer people that will stay for 12 months plus. We couldn't even view some properties. Rentals in our area went really quickly. We had to book a viewing the same day else they would be gone the next.
• as you'll be moving twice it's worth trying to haggle for a better price with the removal company
• we got the keys to our rental just before completion. This meant we could be flexible on our moving day (week days are cheaper!) and reduced the stress of having to get the house clean etc for buyers. I just popped back when it was empty & cleaned it (though they still bloody moaned it wasn't clean enough!)
• as I mentioned upthread - packing is worth every penny. They provide the boxes, bubble wrap etc & do a much better job than I ever would have. Nothing broken or damaged. I went out for a morning, came back and the whole house had been emptied!
• label every box with its contents - you won't have a clue what's in there in 3 months time.
• most rentals won't include a fridge/washing machine. This was a pain as we left behind integrated ones so had to buy cheap ones to tide us over.
• only unpack what you absolutely need. We managed to store loads in the garage of our rental. It was literally packed to the ceiling! We thought we'd need to pay for storage but we didn't.
• most rentals are a min of 6 months. We were ready to move into our new house 3 months into the contract. We asked the rental company nicely if they would release us from the contract if they managed to let the property to someone else & luckily they did. Otherwise we would have been paying rent & mortgage. We chose the cheapest house we could for this reason.

Hope that helps. Good luck with it all!

Just to add, still glad we did it despite all of the hassle. It put us in a much stronger position to buy our new house & it was a huge weight lifted once we had completed on the house we were selling tempting as it was to just stay put at the time!

@Ayupmeduck

Just to add, still glad we did it despite all of the hassle. It put us in a much stronger position to buy our new house & it was a huge weight lifted once we had completed on the house we were selling tempting as it was to just stay put at the time!

Thanks for the info all really useful. My worry is our sale falling through when we've committed to a rental. In my mind we couldn't commit to anything until exchange of contracts in case it all fell through and you're stuck with your house plus a rent to pay!

Ayupmeduck

Brilliant advice. Thank you!!

Good luck temproasted. I worry about that too but where we are moving to the rentals fly off so we are going to have to go for it and pray. If the sale falls through we will be out of pocket by thousands! But got to take the risk. Eek.

@Msmcc1212

Ayupmeduck

Brilliant advice. Thank you!!

Good luck temproasted. I worry about that too but where we are moving to the rentals fly off so we are going to have to go for it and pray. If the sale falls through we will be out of pocket by thousands! But got to take the risk. Eek.

Yep the rental market is really competitive where we are too. it also takes a while to sort out the rental admin with references, credit checks, deposits etc so a few weeks at least. I can see why you're concerned though @temproasted. Hopefully though by the time you get close to exchange the chances of it falling through are smallish. Perhaps you could ask for a longer period between exchange and completion to allow you to sort something if that's possible.