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Written by The McCarthy's Team on April 20, 2018

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We spotted a story in the paper recently which said the number of house moves now falling through before completion was on the rise. That’s scary news for anyone planning a move – it’s your worst nightmare to think you get so far down the line, and then it all falls apart.

The research, from Quick Move Now, showed a house sale fall-through rate of 39% in the first quarter of 2018 – the highest level seen in the last 10 years. It’s in sharp contrast to the low 20 per cents seen in the last decade – although even that is one in five falling through when you think about it!

The majority of these were due to the buyer changing their mind, or the seller feeling the move wasn’t progressing fast enough. A quarter fell through due to one of the parties wanting to renegotiate at the last minute. Cheeky!

Other reasons included failure to secure the necessary mortgage, a property chain collapse or the survey bringing unknown problems to light.

It’s something we obviously witness a lot in the line of business we’re in. We’ll be all booked for a job, and suddenly the call comes – the whole chain has collapsed and everything’s off. But for some people, they might find themselves in a situation where the house they’re buying is pulled – but their buyer is still keen. What do you do?

For lots of people, they decide the best bet is to carry on with selling their house. After all, if the sale is progressing well, and you got the asking price you wanted, you never know how long it might take to secure that again. If you take it off the market, what happens if you then spot a house you would like to buy and you’re not in a position to put in an offer? It all gets very complicated!

So, for many, the best solution is to carry on with the sale and move into either a short term rental property, or in with family and friends. That way, when your dream house hits the market, you’re ready to move in an instant!

And that’s where we come in, with our storage solutions. If your parents or a friend are willing to have you move in for a couple of months, they’re probably not going to have the room for you to bring along your own three piece suite, thousand strong record collection and enough kitchen gadgets to start your own showroom. This is when storage becomes your friend!

There are two options – container storage, or self storage. We can treat your moving out like any other removal – we can help pack if needed, and then load all your boxes and furniture into the van – but within the vans there are large containers. When we’re done, these are sealed, and then we take them to our secure storage centre where they’re kept safe, remaining sealed, until you’re ready to get them delivered to your new home, however long that might take. It’s great if it’s all items you won’t need to access in the short term – like furniture or the contents of the loft.

If you would prefer to be able to get access to your items whenever you want, self storage would be a better option. You can hire a van, and slowly (or quickly!) transport everything at your own pace, into your very own unit (we can advise on what size you’d need depending on how much you have). You alone have the key, and can get back in to your items at any time – whilst having the reassurance they’re kept safe and secure while you’re not there.  Lease lengths are flexible and so there’s no extended commitment – and there’s the added bonus that when you get your new home, you can move everything back in slowly, whilst you decorate or decide where things should go.

So, if the worst happens, and your move doesn’t quite go to plan, there may be options. It’s also perhaps a good time to check you’ve taken out the removal postponement and cancellation waiver insurance too – just in case! That way if your move is just temporarily delayed (fingers crossed), or the worst happens and it’s cancelled, you’re covered.

Planning a house move can be stressful – so let us help take the pressure off where we can!