What does the future hold??

Well it's has been a difficult couple of years and until the general election is out of the way it is difficult to see how the housing market is shaping up.

As ever, before a general election (always held when we should be busiest) the market slows down, and this year is no exception. It is wholly understandable that people thinking about moving house hang on to see the outcome. They are all asking themselves, Will taxes be raised? What will happen to the stamp duty threshold? What will happen to HIPS? Questions all waiting to be answered before the public decided to splash out on a new house.

A recent investigation by one of the UK's leading estate agents Your Move into how the housing market reacts to an election claims that a good turnout and a Tory defeat could devastate the housing market.

The research going back to 1979 shows that a slump in transactions generally follows a good turnout, where as a low turnout stimulates the market. Your Move also found that when the Tories do well there is an increase in activity in the housing market.

I think that there is a little more to this and it’s a shame the research didn't take into account the economic situation at the time.

So for a good end to 2010 we need a low turnout and a Tory victory to get everyone moving again, let's wait and see.

February blues

It's the first of February, ususally the worst month of the year for Removal companies and this probably will not be an exception. The year started okay with the first two weeks in january actually quite good for people moving house. Then according to reports we have recieved from removal comapanies the work seems to have dried up.

The media is full of reports of impending doom for the housing market and generally talking this up so no doubt the year will be an interesting one for all concern and connected with the removal industry.

I have only just started this moving house blog and will be interested in looking back over it by the end of the year.

The Taco has Landed

It is not that often that a new and reolutionary item arrives in the removals and moving industry but today they did. The Tiger Tacos have arrived.

What is a Tiger Taco?

Have you ever tried to place a TV, computer monitor into a box on your own, The box flaps come alive and start to get in the way and you end up having to use your feet to hold the box open. Well no more.

A Tiger Taco is a time saving device, used when loading and unloading cardboard boxes. A simple device that slots over a folded flap of a box and holds it in place and out of the way while you pack the box, whether you are moving house or just packing boxes. Once the box is packed and full slide off the Tiger Taco and fasten the box as normal with tape. You can then move onto a new box and slide the Tiger Tacos over the flaps again. This makes packing boxes quicker and accidents less likely to happen especially when moving house. The Tiger Tacos are made from strong ABS Plastic these are long lasting time saving devices.

No professional packer should be without one.

visit the Tiger Taco website to see more

Sub-zero slumber

I had a chilly night last weekend braving the cold weather on the 26th January 2008 to raise money for charity and raise awareness of Homelessness on National Homelessness Sunday 27th January.

The sleep-out was hosted by MHS homes group and took part in Chatham in Kent. I joined 180 other sleepers who took part to raise money for the Emmaus Medway Community project which seeks to tackle the problems of homelessness through a self-supporting Medway community and Macmillan Cancer Relief who have launched a new appeal to raise over £1 million to help build a cancer care unit at Medway Maritime Hospital.

MHS Homes Group contacted Helpiammoving.com Ltd to see if Helpineedboxes.co.uk could supply cardboard boxes for people to use to sleep out in over night. I thought this was a very good cause, so volunteered to join in as well as supply moving boxes.

Armed with a dozen cardboard moving boxes I swapped my comfortable bed to sleep my collection of boxes in the shape of a F1 car. Complete with driver and steering wheel the boxes looked quite good and we even won a prize on the evening. I was amazed with the other designs, everything from a church to an Ipod all made from cardboard boxes.

Terry Waite who supports the Emmaus Medway Community project came down to offer his support to the sleep out.

Although a chilly night as wind blew from the Medway, the hot tea kept everybody warm until it was time to go to sleep. My moving boxes turned out to be warmer than it was outside but very snug, I couldn't even roll over. I did fall asleep on and off but it is amazing how vulnerable you feel. Every little noise and movement was met with the need to listen intently for more.

The event was an ideal opportunity to raise not only money for these two charities but also raise awareness of homelessness and help those in genuine need and we all raised over £25,000 for both charities.