I have moved 19 times as an adult here and abroad and never for the forces or anything, so have had a range of experiences. Definitely never use the people the estate agents suggest. Do your own research. Various things such as , in one case I did not think that the estate agent was doing much to sell my house, so sent in a friend to pose as a buyer and asking for exactly what my house offered. she was told of two other properties first. I went in cancelled those estate agents and refused to pay them anything and went elsewhere. I told them that as I had proof of their lack of effort on my part, I would write tot he local paper and tell them of the experience. They quickly shut up and I advised anyone else notg to use them. I agree about asking around. Once I am contemplating moving to an area, I get the local paper for a few weeks sent to me. This is worthwhile as you get an idea of the actual area and can see where there may be problem areas that you would not want to live in a specific road. so when I planned to go to somewhere close to Nottingham, I looked at the map and was getting the local paper. There were a couple of bridges over the river which it soon became apparent would be hold up spots with poor traffic or an accident. so then I narrowed down my search area rather like a slice of pie, to look for an appropriate are to look in and then went from there. In another move, saw a house that looked quite possible for what we wanted and was shown round by the estate agent in the afternoon. I asked to go and have another look at it and again was offered an afternoon appointment. So , I then made myself a little chart up of traffic, so cars vans motor bikes etc. along the top line and marked the time of day on the other line and just made a mark in the appropriate square so that at the end of the day I had taken myself a picnic so that I did not miss anything, and it was clear that it was used as a cut through in the early morning going past the house. I repeated the experiment on another day to confirm and then decided not to buy the house. I also , when discussing dates with the solicitor etc, take a tape recorder and just politely say I am recording this so that I dont get mixed up and can let my husband listen to it later. If they are a decent company they should not refuse to do that , and if they dont like it I would go elsewhere. When I have moved a long distance have gone and stayed b and b for about three days which allowed me to do my own research and also try to go and have a look in the winter time or when the weather is miserableMoving is stressful enough anyway and if you saw it on a lovely summer day, you can feel you have made a bad choice when it is miserable on the actual moving. Write yourself a note putting down all the pros and cons you saw when you visited and then when you wonder why you moved you can look back at it. If the solicitor has delayed by the lack of doing something such as sending papers to be signed or leaving it for a couple of weeks without any good reason, I start totting up my time and energy and mileage, and tell them that this is unreasonable and if they cannot now complete the work for the specific date they said I shall be giving them an invoice for my time fuel costs etc . We had one situation, which was not the solicitors fault but the buyers of our house where a young couple, first time buyers. After the survey on our house there was a window that needed some wood replacing etc. My husband told the surveyor the job would be done by the following monday, when he could inspec it etc, He decided to come on the previous thursday, when the jobs was not finished, so help up the whole move refusing their mortgage and all the knock in effects and that was on the actual moving day. My husband had to go and find out all about it , although we had done nothing wrong and all the things were done and a letter stating that the work was finished etc!! It got sorted in the end., but it is always a hassle. Having moved back from abroad when some things had been stored for a time, I have several times found a b and b close to the new place. It is definitely worth them money, as if you are waiting for the removal people and they are late or whatever , you can work as long as you want to on that day, theywe either had a chinese meal or organised to have a casserole at the b and b. so when you have had enough you can leave the mess and go and get a shower and have a decent sleep and breakfast before you tackle the next day. Good luck with it all.
