How to Prepare for a Home Move

Hurry up and wait is the order of the day when it comes to selling your home.

There is that initial burst of action when the estate agent gets the promotional details ready, your home is advertised, and then……… you eagerly await the first viewings………… and the house offer waiting game begins.

This is going to be the first stressful part of your home move, the anxiety of waiting for the house to sell, then the negotiation of the offer, and then awaiting the outcome of the home survey.

It is certainly a stressful process.

Many people consider this waiting period to be a waste of time when you are basically in limbo waiting for things to happen.

But there is plenty you can be doing preparing for a home move.

The home selling process is long and drawn out in most cases, so this is an ideal opportunity to get as organised and prepared as possible so there is no last-minute stressful rushing about.

Who knows, you may be lucky and get a full asking price offer with no chain, it does happen.

So the more organised you are now, the easier, cheaper, and less stressful your home move will be.

Here we will discover all the tasks that you can be doing now before the first day of your home moving calendar kicks in.

How to Prepare Your House for a Move

There is so much uncertainty about buying and selling a home that in the early stages it may seem a bit premature to be preparing for a house move without even having had an offer, let alone a move date.

But this is an ideal time to be getting yourself, and your home, ready.

The best way to prepare for a home move is to get everything sorted and organised so that when the starting pistol is fired you are ahead of the game.

#1 Declutter Your Home Ready to Move

Decluttering is when you get rid of all the things in the home you no longer have a need for, things that are just making the home cramped and untidy, and using up valuable space.

Sorting out all your unwanted things will make your home seem bigger and more appealing to buyers, and you will ensure you save on packing and moving costs once your home has sold.

And no matter how quickly or slowly your home sells, decluttering is an essential part of any home move, so it is a good use of your available time to get it done now.

In fact, decluttering is such a vital part of selling and moving that it is one of the very first things you should do to prepare your house for selling.

Decluttering room by room is a big task, especially when it comes to the attic, sheds, and garages, but you will find lots of useful tips in the guides below.

Must read:

• In The Ultimate Guide to Decluttering for a Home Move, we suggest ways to make decluttering your home easier as well as look at how to emotionally detach yourself from things so that it is easier to get rid of them.

• How to Declutter a Loft for Moving. The loft is often a dumping ground but often contains sentimental items from your past. In this guide, we suggest ways to declutter your loft safely and easily.

• How to Do a Car Boot Sale. Selling your unwanted items is a great way to raise some cash to help pay towards your moving expenses. Here we offer some great tips to make your car boot sale a success.

• The Ultimate Guide of Where to Donate Things When Moving Home. In this guide, we list household items by category and suggest places where you can donate those items, it also includes lists of organisations that come to your home and collect your donations for free.

#2 Create a Floor Plan

Depending upon whether you have chosen your new home yet, or whether you are downsizing, making a floor plan of your new home will help you decide which items of furniture will go where in your new home.

It will help you identify any items that will not fit in your new place so that you can sell or donate them, and allow you time to source replacement pieces if you need to.

By creating a floor plan early you may identify pieces of furniture that you will not take with you, but the person buying your home may like to buy from you.

When you are looking at all the furniture you have and where it will go in your new home, you may also decide that your current home just has too much furniture in it.

Hiring a storage unit may be a cheap way to get the surplus items out of the way while the home is being sold.

You may also like to read:

• How to Make a Floor Plan in which we show you how to make a simple floor plan as well show you how to measure furniture so that you can be sure it fits in your new home.

• In How to Choose a Storage Unit we explain the different options you have when hiring a storage unit, what the average costs are, and what things to watch out for when choosing the right storage unit for your particular needs.

#3 Decide How to Move

One of the decisions you could be making now is how you are going to move home, will you pack and move everything yourself? Hire a full-service Removal Company? or Pack yourself and get a removal firm to load and transport your things?

Having decluttered you now have a better idea of exactly what you are taking with you and what items you have that may require specialist packing and moving.

The cost of moving home can vary enormously depending upon the services you need to hire, whether you are physically able, or have the time to move yourself, and how far away your new home is.

You will find these guides useful in helping you decide the best and most cost-effective way to move home for you:

• Ways to Move Home: The Pros and Cons of Every Home Moving Option. In this guide, we go through each of the home moving options and list their pros and cons so that you can make a more imformed decision as to which is the best option in your particular circumstances.
• How to Estimate Home Moving Costs. This guide shows you the costs related to different ways of moving home, how those costs are arrived at, and where there may be opportunities for you to save some money.
• What to Know When Hiring a Removal Company for the First Time. If you have never hired a removal company before and unsure exactly what they do and how they will make your home ove so much easier, then this guide is for you.
• Are Home Packing Services Worth the Money?. One of the worst aspects of moving home is packing. Hiring a team of professional packers will make your home move so much easier but are they worth the money? Here we seek to answer that question.

#4 Prepare a Change of Address Checklist

You can never be too organised when it comes to moving home. It is far better to have everything written down so that you do not forget to do anything.

A change of address checklist is something that you could be creating now. Over the next few months, you can add any addresses that you may have initially forgotten about.

We have created a change of address checklist to help you get started.

 #5 Prepare Home Moving Binder

A home moving binder is super useful for keeping your paperwork really organised. It makes finding essential information and paperwork so much easier, and if you take the time to create a binder now, during the hectic home moving period you will have all the hard work done, so it will just be a case of keeping it updated.

You will find lots of useful ideas for creating your own home moving binder here.

#6 Learn a New Language

If you are going to be emigrating, whilst you wait for your house to sell you can use the time to learn a new language and become familiar with all the customs of your new home country.

It is also a good time to find out about any restrictions there may be on items that you cannot move to that country.

You might like to read: International Moving: The Ultimate Home Moving Challenge?. International home moves can be complicated so in this guide we explain what you can expect to happen during teh relocation, the differrent shipping options you have, the associated costs, and what to look out for when choosing an international removal company.

#7 Learn All About Your New Area

You can be using this time to get to know the area you are moving to.

The internet is a great tool for this and by joining local forums and social network groups you will soon become familiar with your new area.

Maybe you could even plan a few physical trips to the new area. Plan on doing so at different times of the day on different days of the week so that you get a good idea of what the area is really like.

Or maybe you have not even decided where you want to move to yet, so whilst your home sells you can use this time to research all the potential areas you could move to.

You might be interested to read: How to Decide Where to Move Next in which we look at how to achieve a great work / life balance when deciding where your next home will be.

#8 Choose the Décor

You could also be using this time to choose your colour scheme for your new home. Even when you have moved there is still plenty to do, like unpacking, pet-proofing, and child-proofing your home.

Getting tasks like choosing colour schemes, and maybe even the type of window dressing done now is not only a good use of your time but can be exciting too.

Now might also be a good time to research the availability of any furniture you may need in your new home.

There can often be a long wait between ordering and delivery dates, so this may be something you want to think about, especially if you need to get home aids supplied and fitted for elderly or less mobile members of the family.

You might like to read: How to Make a New Place Feel Like Your Home. Getting to know a new area is crucial to help stave off relocation depression. Here we suggest ways to get to know your new neighbourhood and now, before you move, is a great time to start that process.

#9 Learn to Relax

After decluttering and getting organised, one of the most beneficial things to learn about moving home is how to relax.

There are many things that will happen over the next few weeks and months that you may, or may not, have control over.

How you react to those events will be determined by your state of mind, the more relaxed and prepared you are for things that may go wrong, the less traumatic they will be.

Staying as relaxed as possible will make the whole home moving experience far less stressful so the guide below has been written to help you.

You may like to read: How to Cope With Emotional Overload When Moving Home. Moving home is a rollercoaster of emotions and knowing how to manage those emotions will make your home move far easier. Here we suggest some techniques to help you cope with all those different emotions.

How to Ease the Anxiety of Waiting for a House to Sell

Moving home can be an emotional rollercoaster, the initial excitement of moving home, then the viewings, the anticipation of getting offers, the lows of when no offers come in, or they are well below what you anticipated selling for.

It can certainly be a time of stress if you are not prepared for the emotions that come with moving home.

So how can you combat the anxiety of selling a home?

Be realistic – Manage Your Expectations

The chances of you selling your home to the first person that comes along is low, but it is not unheard of.

If you are expecting the first person who comes along to give you the full asking price, you are setting yourself up for stress and disappointment.

So be realistic with your expectations and if the home does sell within the first week then that is a huge bonus.

Also, be realistic with the price that your home will fetch. Most areas have a ceiling price, so no matter what improvements you have made, there is a maximum that houses sell for.

You can use this tool from www.rightmove.co.uk which shows you the prices at which houses actually sold for in your area.

You may also like to read: The Expectations vs Reality of Moving Home. In this guide, we look at what you would like to happen during the moving process in a perfect world but what in all reality will actually happen.

Appeal to as many home buyers as possible

Whilst you may prefer the 3^rd bedroom to be an exact replica of a Porto Rican jungle, home buyers would much prefer to see a 3^rd bedroom, so stage your home to sell.

Play to the strengths of your own particular home.

If the homes for sale around you have small kitchens and you have extended or enhanced yours with space saving ideas, extol the virtues of your improvements and how it enhances the livability of the home. 

Try to keep paint colours as neutral as possible to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible. Quirky themes or colours may look amazing to you, but they may have a limited appeal to others.

Keep the home and garden as clean and tidy as possible. Always keep the outside of the home tidy as many potential buyers will be doing a drive-by before coming to see the inside.

Appeal to a very narrow band of potential buyers and your home will be on the market longer as you wait for that one needle in a haystack buyer.

Even if you don’t drive, but parking is at a premium in your road, and your front garden has the potential for off road parking, be sure to mention that to potential buyers.

Look at your home from every angle and how it would appeal to the most number of people. Play it safe, highlight the things that people look for in your area, and also the improvements you have made over other properties in your area, or the potential for further improvements.

You may also like to read: How to Stage a Home for Selling. In this guide, we look at how to make your home more appealing to potential buyers.

Be flexible

If your home has been on the market for a while then it could be that your pricing is wrong, the way the home is staged could be putting people off, or you have too high expectations of what your home is worth.

Listen to what your estate agent has to say. They will know what is happening on the local market and what needs to happen to get your home sold.

You may need to be flexible with your expectations to get a sale, sticking rigidly to what you believe without taking expert advice could lead to your home being on the market longer than usual.

At the end of the day the estate agent wants to make a sale as much as you do.

This guide may interest you: How to Add Kerb Appeal to a Home. Many potential buyers will make an instant decision whether to view a house just from teh external appearance. In this guide, we look at ways to improve the kerb appeal of your home to attract the most amount of interest.

How to Prepare for Moving into Your First Home

How to prepare to move out of your parents’ home for the first time may appear daunting at first.

There will seem like a million and one things to do, there will be the nagging doubts as to whether you are doing the right thing, if you have enough money, or even if you have the skills to be able to look after yourself.

As with any home move there will be doubts, stress, and worry, and even more so when it is your first time moving away from home.

To help you get organised and to make your first home moving adventure we have created a checklist below of all the things you will need to think about when moving out for the first time.

Moving Out for the First Time Checklist

• Decide if now is the best time to move out
• Plan how you are going to bring up the subject and tell your parents of your plans
• Review your finances. Have you saved enough money? What will your living costs be? Can you afford to live on your own or will you need to flatshare?
• Moving to a new area? Find out all you can about the area
• Will you need furniture? Find out where to get free furniture and household goods
• Decide how you are going home? A few items means you can move yourself, if moving furniture too you may need a removal company
• Have a plan-b prepared in case your plans go awry

Must read: The Ultimate First Home Moving Checklist. Moving into your first home can be pretty daunting but we have created the ultimate first home checklist, from packing and moving to stocking the cupboards, this is an essentail checklist.

How to Prepare Your Home for Movers

Whilst it may be too early to start packing or even considering hiring a removal company, there are still things you can be thinking about now.

• Declutter
• Research Removal Firms
• Check on the notice you need to give the removal firm
• Find out what the removal company cannot move
• Photograph and label connections of electronics
• Think about moving insurance
• Prepare a packing inventory

We have already covered decluttering, and this is the single most important thing you can be doing during this period.

When the time comes, the removal company will be able to see exactly what you are moving and give you a far more accurate cost estimate.

As mentioned earlier, consider putting excess furniture in storage to make your home less cluttered and more appealing to viewers.

If you plan on doing that then you are likely to need a removal company to help you. This is a great way to see just how good your local removal firm is.

It will not cost much to get them to move a few items to a storage unit, and you will get to see how professional and caring they are before you trust them with all your worldly possessions.

We see this often where people have hired a removal firm to put stuff into storage and discovered just how good or bad that company is.

Now is also the time to be thinking about what you will do with the things that the removal company cannot move for health and safety reasons.

You can see what these items are in Guide to Non-Allowable Items but always check with the removal company that is actually moving you as their list may differ slightly.

Use this time to research as much as you can about any removal firms you are thinking of hiring. There is no such thing as being too careful.

Read every review you can find, drive past their depot and check out what it looks like, the condition of the vehicles will tell you a lot about how caring and professional they are, go to the companies house website https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/ and check that they are a legitimate business, if they are a member of one of the Removal Trade associations check that their membership is still in date.

You may also like to read: How to Pick a Good Removal Company: A Step-By-Step Guide. In this guide, we use a real world example to show you how to pick a trustworthy removal firm for your home move. Picking a good removal company is not easy out of the thousands out there, so this guide is exceptionally useful.

Once you have found your ideal moving company then contact them to see how much notice they need to book your move, the best removal firms are booked early so you may need a plan B.

Go around labelling and photographing all the connections to your electronics. When it comes to reconnecting them in your new home it will be so much easier.

Research your moving insurance options. Whilst the removal company will offer you insurance in their price, it is often basic and may not cover the full cost of replacement or repair. You also need to consider if you need cancellation or delay insurance for example.

You can learn more about your insurance options in Home Moving Insurance – Do I Need It?

The final thing you can be preparing for your home move is an inventory of all the things you intend to move.

This is an important task and can be quite time consuming. In the event that you need to make an insurance claim you will have detailed lists and photographs which will be invaluable.

• Make a detailed inventory of all your possessions.
• Write down make, model and serial numbers of electronics
• Photograph everything, especially valuables, noting hallmarks and distinguishing features
• Photograph all the connections of your electronics, it will make reconnecting them so much easier.
• If you have antiques and collectables now would be a good time to get them professionally appraised for insurance purposes.

It may seem a bit premature to get some of these things done, but once your home has sold and a moving date set, time slips away at an alarming rate.

Must have: We have prepared a home moving checklist for you which is free to download so that when the time comes to start the countdown to moving day you are well prepared.

It is never an easy process, but being well prepared and organised, and finding a really good removal company to help you, ensures you are doing all you can to have as stress-free a home move as possible.

Good luck with the sale of your home and preparing for your home move.