Homesearch
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ONCE you decide to sell up and move on to pastures new, your first stop should be to find a good estate agent (the National Association of Estate Agents www.naea.co.uk and the Office of the Ombudsman for Estate Agents www.oea.co.uk can help) and a good solicitor (www.solicitors-online.com or www.LawyerLocator.co.uk ).
But even when you have appointed them it doesn't stop there. In fact, that is just the beginning.
Although your house may seem fine to you, there are probably some things that can be done to help it sell quicker - and for the full asking price.
For some priceless tricks of the trade, try going to www.bbc.co.uk/homes .
The site has a fantastic advice section on how to secure the maximum price for your property. One feature estimates that by simply cleaning and sprucing up the most tired parts of a house and investing £500 you could add £5,000 to its resale. Plus, there's a room-by-room guide on how to maximise your property's saleability as well as general tips for selling.
Channel 4 has a wealth of homes shows like Location, Location, Location, Grand Design and Selling Houses to take tips and information from and on its website www.channel4.com/homes is the pick of the best.
The more methodical may appreciate the checklists on www.npower.com. They're useful and may prevent you forgetting the obvious things. It is also surprising how much planning needs to be done.
For last minute tidy tips before viewers arrive, go to www.homestagers.co.uk .
Many are common sense but you can get so caught up in the bigger picture it's easy to forget the little things.
www.reallymoving.com has everything that you need including homes for sale, free valuations, online quotes from surveyors, solicitors, removal, insurance and cleaning companies plus handy features such as e-mail reminders (although trying to set them up may just add to the stress).
Once you've sold and it's time to move out, you need to find a good removal firm. You can search for firms in your area by tapping in your postcode at the British Association of Removers website www.bar.co.uk.
If you still have the energy and fancy doing the removals yourself why not go to www.ukcarandvanrental.co.uk ? The site allows you to email your requirements and will get back to you with a quote within 24 hours.
For other local van hire companies, go to the Yellow Pages website at www.yell.com.
Finally if you check all of the checklists on the above sites you'll know exactly (to the hour) when to start packing things up.
For the most expensive but also the most impressive cardboard boxes go to www.removal-boxes-uk.co.uk . They come in three sizes suitable for clothes curtains etc, crockery and heavy items and also delicates.