Relocating from Teesside to Sheffield, house to sell, comment, give advice or ignoreas you wish!!

[BouncingTurtle]

So the story is DH has got himself a new job (hurrah!!) better prospects & more £££££, due to his current employer being a tight bunch of fuckers - they've told the workforce they are getting a 0% payrise despite the company turning a good profit this year

However it means we will have to relocate as he is facing a 1.5-2 hour commute to work which is simply unfeasible.

So it means the Turtle Abode will be going on the market and we will be looking for a new home in Sheffield.

This is absolutely great news for us, because although we love living here, both of us graduated the University of Sheffield and fell in love with the city. We still have close friends there who we visit regularly and we'd talked about how we'd like to live in Sheffield again.

DH is formally handing in his notice tomorrow and will have to give 2 months notice, but anticipates starting his new job beginning of March.

We think he will be given garden leave (he works for a large FMCG managing their Supermarket X acccount, and will be going to work for another FMCG managing the account for the same supermarket, albeit selling a different type of product) so hopefully that will be a big help to getting things done.

We don't NEED to move by March, 2 of our friends have already come forward to offer beds during the week to DH to cut his commuting time which is fantastic but I am keen to move!!

So we have the estate agents coming around on Thursday and are busy tarting the place up.

Anyway one of my main worries is how quickly we can get this place sold - how much should we be prepared to lose to get a quick sale?

Also how do you manage prospective buyers coming around when you a) have a toddler that goes to bed at 7pm, and b) work from home in the evenings?

When I bought my first house I mainly viewed in the evenings and weekends, as I worked full time during the week. But if people came around in the evening, they would not be able to look at our dining room if I am working, and I would not allow them to enter ds's bedroom when he is asleep!! Or am I worrying about this too much?

I have sold a house before but it was part-ex for a new build, so didn't really do the whole selling thing!

Anyway - well done if you actually read that essay! Would be interested in hearing your thoughts if you are also selling and/or relocating, and also if you live in Sheffield!

Congratulations on the new job, and your relocation to Sheffield. I live in Sheffield and love it

Re viewers when selling - I think if you want to sell fast you need to be pretty accomodating to having viewings whenever they can make it, even if it means the odd disturbed night for your toddler. We did viewings when DD was little and we did still put her to bed, but we left a lamp on so viewers could see in the room still, and could then come back at another time for second viewings.

Why could they not go in the dining room if you were working? Mostly you have an appointment time so could you not just pile your work things away for the hour or so involved in a viewing?

Mind you we found most of our viewings were at weekends.

good luck bouncing turtle, relocating from near teesside to sheffield is our medium term goal as my parents live there and we want to be near them, but house prices not as cheap as you might think and our twins are nicely settled at school at the moment. Can't help with much, but wanted to wish you luck!

Thank you for your good wishes!

Hula - I work in a virtual contact centre - it is essential that I have a professional environment as the client doesn't want customers to know they may be speaking to someone working from home rather than in a call centre, so I can't be disturbed. My desk is in the dining room, and the door is kept firmly shut while I am call taking so that "house noises" don't intrude. I am generally taking calls for 2-3 hours constantly, and once I accept shifts, I cannot take breaks if someone turns up to have a look around because I will be penalised if I cannot take calls during a shift, and since shifts are a bit thin on the ground I cannot afford to turn them down at the moment. I don't work every evening but I do work most. So will have to work visits around then!

Turtle - welcome back to Sheffield. I live in Sheffield in S10 and love it! Do you know where you'll be looking to live?

Ah, I can see that makes life harder then re the work. I think you then just have to be honest and upfront with visitors. Explain that because of confidential work you cannot have people in the room where your work takes place. Have loads of photos from all angles, plus measurements or room plan for them o see. And encourage them to come back for second viewings at a different time of day, or encourage the agency to arrange as many viewings during the day or weekends as you can.

I assume there is nowhere else you can arrange to do your calls over this time?

Good idea there Hulababy!

Katz - DH will be working in Kiverton Park so we are looking SE Sheffield, perhaps Norton, Gleadless or the Mosborough Townships.

i love property porn! always on blundells, saxtonmee and haybrooks websites! what sort of house are you after - can channel my property obbession although don't know that side of teh city at all.

Ooh def Norton then you will be near the glory that is Graves Park (essential for anyone with kids). We'll see you in the animal park (identified by our fruit shoots and ginsters )

I think it is perfectly ok to say people cant come round in the evenings. even if people do view in the evening they would come back in the day in anycase for a second viewing. may mean you need to be much more flexible in the mornings and weekends.

Regarding price - will you actually need to "lose" money as it were - or are you happy to just cover costs (ie purchase price plus cost of any significant work that you have done?

Good luck! Sheffield is very nice (in parts) - you just have to choose your area carefully as you would with any city. Schools, etc. vary hugely.

In our suburb we can be in the city in 10 minutes and the Peak District in 5. It's well placed for London and Manchester, and the people are very friendly. (How old are your children? Be prepared for them to acquire Yorkshire accents! It's a bit weird at first...)

The only drawback is the lack of any water - no big river/quayside area for character, and no coastline for an hour or two either way.

(I mean, there is a the River Don, but it's not really a big feature of the city the way that, say, the Tyne and the Thames are of theirs.)

I used to live that kind of way out. We lived in Swallownest, which varies greatly in which area you live in. Aston nearby is nice too, and very handy for the motorway - which is why we initially lived that way out. We also lived at Todwick for a while when DD was a baby, which was a pleasant little village although a bit far out for me.

Unquietdad - I'm counting on ds acquiring a weird Yorkshire accent lol, we are technically in North Yorkshire at the moment, so he should be use to it! I am going to miss being closer to the sea, we are currently less than an hour away from Whitby. But the Peak District has it's compensations, it is one of the things I loved about Sheffield was being so close to the Peaks!

Katz - yes I have all of those estate agents saved on my favourites, been looking at 4 bed semis at around the £150,000 mark, saw a couple in Gleadless that looked fab, but they have been sold now!

Mortgage wise, we will have to see... going to see the mortgage advisor on Friday to look at our options. There is another house on our street which also up for sale, similar to ours though theirs is detached, ours is a semi but we have more floor space. Theirs is on the market for £10,000 more than the orginal purchase price, so will be asking the EA whether they have had much interested. If we got the original purchase price for our house we would be absolutely over the moon!

congrats on new life start - but personally i would not buy a house where i could not see every room - you will need to look at only having people round when you can allow them in - or the american way of open days viewings seem to be catching on

good luck !

No I agree hotbot... so it is going to be a case of coming to some arrangement to ensure people come and look around the house when I am not working.
Personally I prefer to look around houses in the daytime any way so I am hoping most people will want to visit during the weekend.

Talk to your estate agents about an open weekend, with lots of advertising in the run up.

the house we currently own was an open house and we probably wouldn't have even bothered to view it if we'd had to make an appointment. Would recommend having one!

Congrats on the move. I am a Sheffielder now, though I'm originally from the Midlands. I have never regretted moving and love the City more than I ever thought possible.

I love the fact that you can drive 5 minutes in one direction and be in the middle of a busy little town, 5 minutes in the other and you're in the middle of the countryside. It can't be beat imo.

I live in the south side of the city, up on a hill with a corking view of the city from our back window.

Hope you manage to find the right place for you Good luck wiht selling the house and all.

Yes I will ask the estate agent about open weekends.
One thing I can do is just give the estate agent a list of dates/times each week when I know someone will be home and I won't be working, so people can just pop in if they are nearby.

squilly - you must be knee deep in snow too at the mo then!

Turtle - Peak District lovely, it is a compensation!

You can get to the coast for a day trip. Granted it is only Cleethorpes, but only 1.5 hours drive even from this side of town. Not the most idealic place on earth but fab for children with scooters.

'twas indeed snowy on Sunday night Katz. Are you this side of the city too? Your girls look really familiar, but they may be because they look similar to by friends wee girls.

Living on the hills is great for views, not so good in the snow.

PS your cakes on your profile page look divine Katz. If you made to order, and I didn't have a birthday due in a week, I'd be putting in a request

Arrghhhh!! Apparently there is more snow on the way! It's going to be like this until mid January, the weather forecasters reckon!

DH handed his notice but hasn't been given garden leave. Pity but not unexpected!

Squilly - i'm up in Crookes and my georgraphy is apalling so no idea if that is the south side or not!!! Agree about the views we have a fantastic view over the Rivelin valley and into the peak district can see for miles on a good day - currenlty have a postcard view of snowy hills! We still have lots of snow and more to come tonight apparently.

Cakes all look far more impressive that the actual work put in! What sort of cake were you after, i steal ideas from this website scroll down below the adverts