In the current economic climate, with wages spectacularly failing to keep pace with the price of housing, there aren’t many people who can afford to buy a house in a big city. Young Londoners have to get used to a volatile rental market where price rises or changes of landlord could see them moving every 12 months throughout their twenties and into their thirties. This has an effect, and while some young professionals in the city feel rootless and distressed at the lack of a stable home, others have pragmatically become very good at moving house.
We’re going to learn a few lessons today about how an experienced London moves house and get some insights and lifehacks to make your own lives easier.
Get Organised
Step one is to get organised. Decide what you want and begin to look for it systematically: choose the areas you want to live in, blacklist areas you would never consider living in, decide on an appropriate price range, and any other conditions, from the number of existing housemates to whether you want to or cannot live on the ground floor.
You can then set alerts with property sites and apps that will let you know whenever houses fitting those requirements become available. As apps like Rightmove accept listings from estate agents, this is also a good way to get you on the radar of lots of different estate agents without having to spend whole days calling them.
Deciding what you need as soon as you know you need to move and using web services to automate your search reduces stress and helps get you ahead of the game.
Use Help
Don’t try to go it alone. From searching for a new home to moving in and unpacking, moving house is akin to a fulltime job. Find the help that is available to you, from friends who are willing to give their time to helping you pack and lift boxes to a storage company if you need extra time to finalise your move. London storage from byStored includes free pick up of your stored items and a delivery to an address of your choice when you need it, so you can even turn them into a removal service into the bargain.
It’s also worth finding a local cleaning firm, rather than having to clean your flat yourself after you’ve spent all day moving boxes. Using cleaners might cost money, but not as much as your landlord will deduct from your deposit for leaving behind an untidy flat!