Removals and Storage

Moving house is never easy, but in light of the recent 2008 Budget, taking on the strain and the cost of uprooting your entire family and all your belongings will have many of us counting the pennies and trying to get the very best out of selling our homes. CheaperStorage.org’s definitive guide to getting the best out of selling your property will teach you how to get the best price from your home with a quick sell, and how to save money whilst you’re at it.

1. Look at your house from the view of the prospective buyer – detach yourself from possessions and the ‘home’ you have made for yourself and put the spotlight on the property’s best features.
2. Clutter, dirt, neglect = bad. Open spaces, clean surfaces and working appliances = good. Most simple repairs can be done by yourself, although you may need to hire a professional for repairs to plumbing or electrical fixtures.
3. Repaint and re-carpet only where necessary, and be careful about redecorating – garish colours and bad paint jobs can bring the value of your property down whilst costing you money in supplies. Consider taking up old carpets if you have good wooden flooring. A little varnish could do wonders and gives the room a more spacious, airy feel.
4. Make sure the rooms smell fresh (and not pumped full of air-fresheners) for when your viewings start. Fresh flowers are a nice aesthetic touch, and bring a pleasant scent to rooms.
5. Make rooms spacious and comfortable; remove floor rugs, clutter and collections, as well as excess furniture and accessories where possible – remember you are selling the house, not its contents, so keep the floor space as neat and spacious as possible.
6. If you have one, de-clutter your garage as much as possible to make room for at least one car, perhaps consider using a storage space. Clean and de-cobweb any nooks and cranny’s!
7. Try to put away most of your family photo’s and personal items to help the prospective buyers see themselves and their families occupying the space.
8. Most importantly, always try to look through the eyes of the buyer, and remember that you are not making these changes to live with; you are just trying to get the best out of your home!

Moving home is a back breaking process and involves even more work when you have been living in the same house for a number of years.

It is amazing how much junk you accumulate so you need to be ruthless when deciding what you are going to throw away when you’re moving house. Magazines soon mount up and are a very heavy burden, so toss them aside along with any old cheque books, papers receipts and out of date bills/accounts. CDs which are never listened to could make a trip to the charity shop along with old videotapes which are no longer watched and clothing that has lost its appeal etc.

A good way to offload unused brick-a-brack is to hold a moving home garage sale. This will give you the opportunity to make a bit of spare cash and lighten the load in the removal van. Remember a removal van hire usually charges by the amount of space that you take up, so only take items that you use and need.

Keep reminding yourself that moving home is a good thing and it will give you a chance to clear out the old and make way for the new. Positive thoughts about a home move will make the process so much easier and not so emotionally draining. The following quote will also come in handy; ‘Move as little as possible to be comfortable’.

When you finally make your home move, you will notice that your new home is full of the old tenant’s vibes and energies. A good moving home tip is to scatter salt over all of the carpets and leave it there for several hours. Feng Shui experts say that the salt will absorb this excess energy which can then be vacuumed up. Be sure to empty the dust bag immediately afterwards and throw it into the outside rubbish bin.

The removal storage industry is experiencing a recent Renaissance. It seems that almost every day someone comes out with a new and clever way to hang something, box something or store something and people are moving home more than ever.

The most recent improvement has been in long term storage companies which is also climate controlled storage.

There is a growing trend in markets large and small to convert former grocery stores or other vacant retail space into secure, climate controlled storage companies. This new market model is a win-win for everyone. Strip mall owners are able to get long term leases on retail space that was sitting idle. The self storage center is able to get a great price on existing space that is already under roof and has HVAC. Plus,can be converted less expensively to storage units then if they were starting from scratch. The big winner is the self-storage consumer.

Since these new storage companies are in retail areas they tend to be more conveniently located than newer, free-standing self storage centers. Because the overhead is lower the rates for individual storage units are often less expensive per square foot. These centers also offer a wider variety of space options since not all of their storage units are the same cookie-cutter size. This is really handy if you have something that is over sized or an odd shape that needs to be stored. The biggest plus is this new generation of climate controlled storage is an added level of security.

The converted retail stores to self storage centers have limited access, either through the front doors or the shipping bay doors. These are easy to monitor both by humans and by video security cameras. This is much better that hundreds of feet of chain length fence - often with blind spots that are not monitored - and the risk of someone breaking into your storage unit undetected.

Another plus, especially if you do not visit your storage company very often, it is unlikely you will experience a climate related accident such as freezing of water damage. If the roof is leaking in these storage centers, someone will notice. If the roof is leaking in a single storage bays of a free standing self storage center, no one would notice until you arrived and opened the door.

Another plus of these next generation storage companies is many will offer high security storage. This is usually a section within the storage center that is well secured, with heavier locks on doors, better video monitoring and often manned by a security guard 24/7. These are well suited for the storage of valuable antiques or works of art. While not inexpensive, this level of storage goes for a fraction of what high end, all-climate storage used to cost.

The only down side to these new storage centers, especially those that are just getting started, they do not offer the same access that the more mature free standing self storage centers offer.

Because there are now more options then ever for self storage, including the new portable on demand storage solutions, rates have been stabilizing and in some cases actually coming down. You would be well advised to shop around for the best pricing, especially if you are looking for a long term contract. Self service center owners are less likely to give a price break to someone who will only be there for a few months, but will often cut deals better than the printed price sheet for someone looking at a multiple year lease.

Before you sign any long term contract, be sure to read it carefully and insist on a job change or emergence “escape” clause. If you suddenly get transferred or have something else unforeseen occur, you don’t want to end up paying for years on an empty storage unit.