Congratulations, you have a buyer for your property, you’ve exchanged contracts and you’re on your way to completing.

Here are a few things to help you organise yourself after you’ve sold your property to make this process as stress free as possible.

1. Arrange a removals company

If you have items that are valuable or big and heavy, you’ll probably need to enlist the help of a removal firm.
Many removals companies now offer to pack up all of your belongings for you and some will only insure the goods that they have packed themselves, so check the small print and make sure you’re happy with it.
Go for recommendations from friends, colleagues and family and get at least three quotes. Help is also available from the British Association of Removers (BAR) or the National Guild of Removers and Storers (NGRS).

2. Have a clear out – De-junk your life

It’s amazing how much junk you can accumulate over the years, so take the opportunity to have a big clear out before the removals company arrives. Bear in mind that you’ll have to move anything you buy between now and your move date – sometimes that can make you think twice about whether a purchase is really essential.

Sell or donate any furniture that’s no longer needed. Many charity shops will collect for free if you’re donating – especially useful for large items, or when you’re donating in bulk.

3. Check what’s included in the sale

Make sure you check what’s included in the sale and don’t unknowingly remove anything that you said would be included. If curtains and light fittings are included, then make sure you leave them behind.

4. Tell people you’re moving

Once you have a completion date, you’ll need to let lots of people (and Companies) know that you’re moving.

Contact your providers for gas, electricity, water, phone, TV, broadband, mobile phone.

You’ll also need to let other companies know like your employer, TV licensing, the DVLA, banks and financial institutions, credit card providers (including store cards) the council (for council tax and parking permits) and other things you wouldn’t necessarily think of like Tesco Clubcard, Boots advantage card and any other loyalty programmes you belong to.

It’s easy to forget a few, so a good idea is to contact a company as soon as you get a letter through from them and keep a check-list of companies you’ve changed your address with.

To save yourself some hassle, it’s worth checking out websites like iammoving.com who will notify 1500 companies of your change of address. Also tell the Post Office at least five days in advance and re-direct your mail.

5. Create a guide to your house

It’s a lovely thing to do and will help your buyers enormously – put a list together letting them know how things work and where things are – sometimes a stopcock is really hard to find and your boiler may be an enigma to someone who’s used to a different kind. Leave a pack with all your appliance manuals somewhere easy to find.

Leaving a note of the collection days for refuse and recycling collections is also useful to save your buyer playing a guessing game or calling the council, plus we could all use some good Karma!

6. Leave it clean and tidy

It’s a courtesy to your buyer to clean the house as you leave, fill any holes in the walls and generally leave the place looking appealing.

Lots of house buyers decide to purchase when a house is looking its best and arrive to find holes in walls which were previously hidden behind paintings and so on – sometimes people haven’t even removed wall hangings when they’ve re-decorated, leaving a patchwork of different paint colours on the walls. If you have any, leave any left-over paint from redecorating so that the new onwers have the right colour to match the walls.

7. Get kids and pets to a safe place

It’s stressful enough as it is, so you probably don’t want kids and pets getting under your feet while you organise the removals and make your final checks. Pack them off to a friend or family member if you can.

8. Get essentials together in one place

Unpacking and putting furniture into its new place at the other end is likely to take a while even if you have a removal firm doing it, so get some essentials together including towels, toiletries, tea, coffee and snacks and a change of clothes so that you can at least shower and feel fresh in the morning after the move.

9. Change the locks at your new house

Get the locks changed at your new house as soon as you move in – you don’t know who’s had a spare key from the previous owner and it’ll give you peace of mind.

It’s another thing that many people seem to forget, so booking the locksmith in advance can be a really good way to make sure you won’t forget!

10.…Relax

Everything is done, finally, so now it’s time to pour yourself a glass of wine and relax….Until tomorrow!

If you’re thinking of selling, we have a range of options designed to fit around your lifestyle. We can manage the whole process, leaving you free to concentrate on work and other things, or we can leave some of it up to you, saving you money.

Check out our selling pages at www.fishneedwater.com/Sellers or give us a call – we’d be delighted to help.