To move before Christmas or not?

[RM2013]

Has anyone moved close to Christmas? Was it a complete nightmare? Any advice?

We are selling our family home of 19 years to FTB who are understandably keen to be in their first home for Christmas.

We are ready to complete on sale but not quite there with our onward purchase as a couple of enquiries still outstanding. Solicitor still saying completion before Christmas is possible if enquiries are answered.

Do I carry on waiting and hope that we can still move before Christmas and postpone planning Christmas until we know if we are moving or not? DH says he feels tempted to just say let’s all wait until the new year enjoy Christmas where we are and move afterwards.

with the stress of the whole process I haven’t been able to even think about Christmas.

I know it’s first world problems and all that but usually I am so organized so just wondered what peoples experiences were of moving house close to Christmas?

@Persipan brilliant news - was it very expensive to add packing to your removals package? If we move next week we will be very short on time. We have a company coming out to quote us on Weds - good luck for tomorrow

@RM2013 it wasn't cheap, but I originally had mentally set aside about £2k for removal costs (total guesstimate based on no research at all), and including packing the whole lot has come in at about £2.5k so it's in the general vicinity of what I'd imagined, and OH MY GOODNESS it's worth it. I had sort of gamely said to myself that I'd manage packing somehow, if I couldn't get a removal firm that offered it, but after witnessing all the work they did today I can't see how I possibly could have done it in the time.

(I'd also originally budgeted for stamp duty, which I now don't have to pay because they changed the threshold, so overall I'm quids in anyway!)

Ten years ago we exchanged on 8th december and completed on 20th december. It didn't go too badly, I did a food shop online for the new house as soon as we exchanged and even ordered a Christmas tree to arrive on the 20th. I was nice to have the time over Christmas to unpack before starting work in the new year. I do remember some hassle about the phone line though. The sellers would not tell me their number which meant we had to stay with bt who couldn't connect us until after Christmas! I can't remember if we got it sorted in the end and had a line when we moved or had to wait a week.

I hope your move goes smoothly, I find the time up to exchange the worst, once you have a date at least you can make plans.

When we moved recently the packing service added a few hundred pounds but was totally worth it. Definitely worth it in your situation moving so close to Christmas and at short notice.

We moved on the 20th which was the last day before Christmas that the solicitors etc were working. I think I got the last removal company with availability in my area (my sellers didn’t manage to do it).

Good luck!

Well don’t think move will happen on 21st now due to postal strikes my solicitors are still waiting for a signed form from the previous owners

Well my movers continue to be brilliant! Unfortunately that's more than can be said for my vendor's movers, so I'm currently sat in the van with my guys, watching the crappy movers dawdle and critiquing their haircuts...

That’s really shit, OP. Bad luck.

@LoobyDop thank you. The whole thing has been so stressful. Oh well new year and new home I guess

@Persipan thanks for the feedback on removals and packing. Sounds brilliant. We have someone coming to quite us tomorrow so will see what our options are. Hope the vendors removals have stopped dawdling and you’re getting organized

We are in! And I have the basics of the living room and bedroom set up! I also have about 10,000 boxes to sort out, but that can be an issue for another time.

@Persipan great news. Unpacking boxes can wait at least you have a couple of rooms sorted!
The removals guy came today. Quoted us less than a grand for move plus packing - we are only moving a short distance

We have booked removal company on this Saturday and hopefully everything will be smooth. Christmas at new home this year.

@Qqbank01 good luck with your move

well I started this thread but now we know for definite that we won’t be moving before Christmas. Our purchase is still held up and the postal strikes haven’t helped as it’s 1 form that’s holding up everything

Good luck to everyone still trying to get moved before Christmas and those waiting for a new year move

We finally exchanged and have signed for our rental and moving in before Christmas. I think I may be slightly crazy.

We do have some time to sort the house we've sold between Christmas and early Jan, thank goodness.

Congratulations! And that's quite nice, having some time to sort your house over the intervening time. Hope your move goes well.

I have managed to unpack the kitchen, buy a new fridge (my ancient one died in the move) get the spare room presentable, and arrange the piles of boxes in the study and the room my friends have dubbed 'the library' (which all sounds terribly grand but really just means I have a lot of books and there's a through room between the living room and kitchen where I'm going to put them all), so it's somewhat functional for my dad coming today. He'll be taking us to his for Christmas later in the week. Still lots to do (sorting the questionable plumbing under the sink is high on the list) but we're gradually getting there.

@BeauticianNotMagician81 congrats I hope the move to the rental goes well

@Persipan glad all is getting slowly sorted enjoy your Christmas