To sell in today's housing market you need to have something special, something that will stand out in the viewers mind. It has always been the case that house staging can enhance the chances of selling your property, but today this is never more the case. There are many ways of house staging and there are many house stagers around, we have worked with Staged Moves in Essex, although there are many around that will offer a similar service.
One of the main ways of house staging is to remove clutter and furniture to maximise the effect to a potential buyer, historically this would involve a man and van or a hire van and a trip to a self store facility. As you can imagine this is a real hassle and is often decided against. There is a solution to this dilemma, what if the self store room could be brought to your front door? Impossible? Well its not, there is a solution called Mobile Self Storage The storage room, in the form of a mobile storage unit (MSU) is brought to your property inside a trailer and left for you to load. This is really convenient as you will get enough time to load up and secure your MSU. Each MSU comes with 15 blankets for protecting your goods and can be secured with 2 padlocks. The other benefit is that your goods will be handled once as opposed to multiple times if accessing a room in a self store site. You can also purchase packing materials in advance or on the day from the `mini bar` secured to each trailer. Items such as mattress covers and sofa covers can be purchased.
This system of house staging we have found is more convenient and at a time where every detail is so important becoming a really useful service. The typical storage charges are lower than self storage sites and the collection charge is very reasonable at approximately £40 for a local collection. Insurance is usually included free up to £5,000 and £1 per £1,000 cover per month. For an illustration £10,000 cover with a self store company could be approx £30-£40 pcm compared to £5 mobile self storage.
There are many ways of helping to sell your property, I stumbled upon one this weekend when I decided to sort out the weeds coming through my block paving. I purchased a scraping tool and a bag of sweeping sand and went to work scraping the weeds and mud out and then sweeping the sand over the gaps. The end result was amazing my drive looked like new.(It needs to be a sunny day preferably) Things like that can make all the difference.
When you do get to the point of actually selling your property you will have already have completed one of the main jobs i.e. de-cluttering and you will be more organised for your forthcoming move. When getting quotes from removal companies it is really important that you look for companies that are accredited, and are members of either the Guild or the BAR.
Good luck with your sale and remember you need to stand out in a crowd!
Alan Stephenson
Monday, 11 October 2010
Saturday, 4 September 2010
Is Storage the answer in todays housing market?
With all the uncertainty in the housing market at the moment its little wonder sellers are often under stress during the selling process. There are many reasons why people move home, some reasons will override any economic influence such as divorce, death or job change, however the majority of moves in the UK are largely voluntary, ranging from the addition of a child, wanting more room, to the ultimate extreme- a lottery win.
The housing market has been affected by recent economic influences since as early as January 2008, and as such the majority of moves in this period, have been mostly the first group mixed in with a few of the second group depending on various conditions, such as election results, and interest rate or unemployment predictions. One thing certainly true is that the market is affected by the media and forecasts. This will vary from predictions of growth and lower than forecast unemployment figures to headline news that the mortgage lending for the last month was an all time low. This all affects confidence and this is what drives the market.
The other main reason for the volatile market we are seeing at the moment is the shortage of first time buyers, a direct result of several factors such as the average house price, availability of finance and the tightening of mortgage lending and the removal of self certificated mortgages. This factor is causing the current uncertainty and lack of activity it is not however the root cause, this is down to things like the banks excesses of the last 10 years.
Historically there was no shortage of first time buyers in a growing market when the banks were lending up to 125% mortgages, where the buy to let market was booming and landlords were usually the first time buyer. in the rare example that there was no first time buyer, or they pulled out, it would often be the case that someone at the top of the chain would buy at the bottom to enable the completion, knowing it would not be a problem selling soon after, and often for a tidy profit.
This is not the case in today's market. So when a seller has a complete chain including a first time buyer, they will be very keen to exchange contracts as the worry is that the chain could fall apart at any time. We have experience of this over the past few weeks and have found that from speaking to our customers they are saying this is the case.
By going into storage the seller is showing commitment to the sale and can wrap the deal up quicker. This will also enable them to be in a better buying position as they have now become the first time buyer and may have more leverage on price and availability because of this, they may be able to move quicker as they will be non dependant cash buyers.
If your considering storage with a rental property as an option to break the chain, it is worth considering the details carefully. Many people automatically assume they need a similar sized house to rent as the one they have sold, but if they can manage with a smaller house and put some of their furniture & effects into store the difference between the rental costs will be far greater than the storage costs, furthermore it will save the furniture and effects being unnecessary handled as containerised storage only requires handling twice, the same as a normal removal.
There are many options available when considering storage, but its use is certainly an answer to the uncertain housing market we are now experiencing.
So Is Storage the answer to today's housing market? I very much doubt it, but it could be a major help for some people in the situations described above.
For Information on our storage services please visit our Website www.ajstephensonremovals.co.uk
Alan Stephenson
A J Stephenson Removals
Billericay,
Essex
The housing market has been affected by recent economic influences since as early as January 2008, and as such the majority of moves in this period, have been mostly the first group mixed in with a few of the second group depending on various conditions, such as election results, and interest rate or unemployment predictions. One thing certainly true is that the market is affected by the media and forecasts. This will vary from predictions of growth and lower than forecast unemployment figures to headline news that the mortgage lending for the last month was an all time low. This all affects confidence and this is what drives the market.
The other main reason for the volatile market we are seeing at the moment is the shortage of first time buyers, a direct result of several factors such as the average house price, availability of finance and the tightening of mortgage lending and the removal of self certificated mortgages. This factor is causing the current uncertainty and lack of activity it is not however the root cause, this is down to things like the banks excesses of the last 10 years.
Historically there was no shortage of first time buyers in a growing market when the banks were lending up to 125% mortgages, where the buy to let market was booming and landlords were usually the first time buyer. in the rare example that there was no first time buyer, or they pulled out, it would often be the case that someone at the top of the chain would buy at the bottom to enable the completion, knowing it would not be a problem selling soon after, and often for a tidy profit.
This is not the case in today's market. So when a seller has a complete chain including a first time buyer, they will be very keen to exchange contracts as the worry is that the chain could fall apart at any time. We have experience of this over the past few weeks and have found that from speaking to our customers they are saying this is the case.
By going into storage the seller is showing commitment to the sale and can wrap the deal up quicker. This will also enable them to be in a better buying position as they have now become the first time buyer and may have more leverage on price and availability because of this, they may be able to move quicker as they will be non dependant cash buyers.
 |
| Wooden Storage Containers on a specialist Removal Lorry. A Forklift loads and unloads from the lorry to reduce handling. An adjustable ramp is positioned for ease of loading. |
 |
| Wooden Storage containers stacked in our warehouse in Thurrock. All contents are protected and handled with care. |
If your considering storage with a rental property as an option to break the chain, it is worth considering the details carefully. Many people automatically assume they need a similar sized house to rent as the one they have sold, but if they can manage with a smaller house and put some of their furniture & effects into store the difference between the rental costs will be far greater than the storage costs, furthermore it will save the furniture and effects being unnecessary handled as containerised storage only requires handling twice, the same as a normal removal.
There are many options available when considering storage, but its use is certainly an answer to the uncertain housing market we are now experiencing.
So Is Storage the answer to today's housing market? I very much doubt it, but it could be a major help for some people in the situations described above.
For Information on our storage services please visit our Website www.ajstephensonremovals.co.uk
Alan Stephenson
A J Stephenson Removals
Billericay,
Essex
Monday, 16 August 2010
A J Stephenson Removals: A J Stephenson Removals first blog!
A J Stephenson Removals: A J Stephenson Removals first blog!: "Hello Welcome to my first blog. I have alot of interesting and useful subjects I want to discuss in the coming months but for now I will le..."
A J Stephenson Removals first blog!
Hello
Welcome to my first blog. I have alot of interesting and useful subjects I want to discuss in the coming months but for now I will leave it short and simple.
My company A J Stephenson Removals has recently joined the moving etc group which is a dedicated site for accredited professionals in the moving industry including removers and estate agents etc. It is open to the public and would be an invaluable place for anyone considering moving home. see the site here- http://www.movingetc.tv/
I will be able to offer information regarding removals, storage and packing as well as outlining potential problems encountered when moving home.
You will be able to find really useful information about all aspects of removals and storage in my unique report "The Top Ten Removals and Storage Disasters to avoid". This is an depth look at what really goes on in the industry, some is quite ugly! All you need to do is put your email and name in the form on my homepage or on my facebook page the report will be delivered to you in daily chapters.
As founding members of the National Guild of Removers and Storers, and one of the few Ombudsman Approved Removers in Essex, you are guaranteed a quality service. My goal is to be known as the name to trust for anyone considering removals in Essex.
Alan Stephenson
Welcome to my first blog. I have alot of interesting and useful subjects I want to discuss in the coming months but for now I will leave it short and simple.
My company A J Stephenson Removals has recently joined the moving etc group which is a dedicated site for accredited professionals in the moving industry including removers and estate agents etc. It is open to the public and would be an invaluable place for anyone considering moving home. see the site here- http://www.movingetc.tv/
I will be able to offer information regarding removals, storage and packing as well as outlining potential problems encountered when moving home.
You will be able to find really useful information about all aspects of removals and storage in my unique report "The Top Ten Removals and Storage Disasters to avoid". This is an depth look at what really goes on in the industry, some is quite ugly! All you need to do is put your email and name in the form on my homepage or on my facebook page the report will be delivered to you in daily chapters.
As founding members of the National Guild of Removers and Storers, and one of the few Ombudsman Approved Removers in Essex, you are guaranteed a quality service. My goal is to be known as the name to trust for anyone considering removals in Essex.
Alan Stephenson
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)