By Matt Ballard, Managing Director
Firstly, I’d like to offer my congratulations! If you are reading this blog, then there’s a fair chance that you have had an offer accepted on your house and have plans to move.
It may be into your forever home, a stop-gap renter, a down-size, closer to that school…the list is endless.
Whatever your position, one of the most important aspects of moving house is appointing your removals company – without them, you simply wouldn’t be able to get from A to B!
So, why would you try and cut corners at the final hurdle to save a few pounds on a cheap removals company, when it’s so vital?
It’s time for the (organised) chaos to begin
Now that you’ve decided to move, there are lots of things you’ll need to consider. The process usually begins whilst you’re sat on the sofa with some rubbish TV on and a mobile device in your hand, scrolling through Rightmove.
You forward links to your partner, family and friends, you make contact with the agent, you view the properties – and that house, possibly the most unexpected one, grabs your attention!
At this point, logic completely takes a back seat… it’s all heart. Before you know it, your offer has been accepted and it’s time to get yourselves organised.
You appoint your solicitors and your mortgage broker springs into action. The following weeks are a flurry of activity. You have forms to fill in. Are you leaving the curtains for the new buyers? What about the cooker?
Your surveyor identifies a few issues with your new place, so you work through them one by one with your solicitor. The questions that your buyer’s solicitor is asking seem ridiculous, but you do your best to answer them anyway.
You visit carpet shops and get samples, start thinking where your sofa will go, and imagine the bedrooms set up with your bedroom furniture and your kid’s rooms all setup. You allow yourself to get excited…
Put your trust in the professionals
We all know there’s a lot to sort out when you move home and it’s an expensive thing to do, so it’s understandable that people look for any opportunities to save money. You start to wonder – is everything I’m paying for really worth it?
In theory, you probably could have applied for your mortgage yourself – but you wanted the assurances that it would be carried out by a professional who provides a service that is tailored to your needs.
You could have got your builder mate to do your survey on the cheap, but you didn’t because you wanted a professional that could insure their services and make sure that nothing gets missed.
You could have used a faceless online estate agent that was half the cost of a local one, but you didn’t because you wanted to know who you were dealing with, have a trusting relationship and be able to call in to their office if needed.
So why oh why would you get to the final link of your move (arguably one of the most important, too!) and use an uninsured, unprofessional, internet-based ‘removals company’?