Moving in... with the Queen of Clean

Lynsey, Queen of Clean, has advice for you

 

So, you've bid for a house or two, you've had a bid accepted, then you have passed the nervous period till contracts are exchanged, not to mention the stressful period after they've been exchanged, and you've completed the move. Congratulations!

 

Next you've gone through and boxed up all the possessions in your old home that you think you need for the new one, and consigned them to the tender care (hopefully) of a removals company, and if you're newly married perhaps the new bride has been carried across the threshold safely. You're in, surrounded by boxes, with luck and planning the power is on, the water flowing, and the people you bought from have left things clean and tidy.

 

Chances are it's late at night and you're going to be sleeping on the floor, a couch, or a bed you're too tired to make up properly, maybe even a hotel not too far away. Morning dawns, you dig out the kettle and necessaries you brought to make the morning cuppa, and there you are, ready to make this house your home.

 

What next? Unpacking those boxes, moving that furniture, making sure the cat (if you have one) doesn't leave the premises for two weeks, certainly not if the lengthy to do list by icatcare.org is anything to go by – http://icatcare.org/advice/keeping-your-cat-happy/moving-house-your-cat.

 

However, the bright new light of day, and seeing the premises minus your predecessors furniture and decorations for the first time, might make you think twice. Is that an unpleasant smell coming from the sink? Oh dear, is that long untouched grease you see behind the empty cooker space? Just what are those stains where the sofa used to be? And what are those suspicious tiny droppings behind where a bookcase formerly stood? Your own visits and your surveyor didn't prepare you for this, as the light arcs mercilessly through temporarily curtain-free windows, revealing all.

 

Common sense comes to the rescue here. You can leave those boxes untouched, your furniture and effects where they are. Out come the cleaning materials. You may have been a householder for years already and know what you're doing, more or less. Or maybe you're fresh from the coddled experience of living in your mum's house and you don't know what to do with a cooker or an iron, let alone a steam mop.

 

Here we can help you. Just as we'd hope you moved with the expert help of Edward Ashdale Estate Agents, now you're in cleaning mode another expert can be of help.

 

We have some exclusive tips for you gleaned from TV's Queen of Clean, Lynsey.

What tips does Lynsey have to suggest to people newly moved in to help them with their cleaning challenge?

 

“Moving into a new home is a very exciting time, but it's so important to give your new home a good clean before you move in to make it feel like yours. Other people's grime will be polluting the surfaces and door handles!  You will notice the previous occupants marks of habitation which can make you feel uneasy in your new property, but never fear, a few antibacterial products and a drop of bleach here and there will help your home to feel brand new and all yours.

 

“My advice would be to start at the top and work your way down!

 

“Firstly, dust those ceilings, concentrating well on the cobwebs and the corners. Have a step ladder to hand and go over with a large feather duster.  It will be satisfying watching the dust drop to the floor. Ceilings harbour dust so its important that you get these clean.

 

“Door handles, light switches and other buttons all need a really good clean with antibacterial spray.

 

“Get all the windows and doors open and give the house a really good air.

 

“Pull up any unwanted carpet and rugs and pull down old curtains, blinds and  lampshades and get them straight to the tip.

 

“Add a good amount of neat bleach to all the sinks and baths and leave to soak to really help kill those germs.  After a good soaking scrub, clean with an antibacterial spray until it comes up like new. If you have a shower, replace the shower head. These harbour a lot of bacteria and germs.

 

“If you are keeping the toilets make sure you replace the seats with new ones and really scrub the pan clean.  Pour a cheap bottle of coke down to ensure the pipes are clean and there are no unwanted blockages that can create nasty smells.

 

“If appliances have been left and you are keeping them, ensure you scrub them clean. Invest in a good over cleaner and use baby oil to really shine that hob.

 

“A bit of neat bleach on a toothbrush will help you get the grout in-between any tiles clean and bring them back to life.

 

“Other than this, rigorously, but well needed clean, your home will be clean and ready to move into and it will truly feel like yours.”

 

When Lynsey finished preparing this advice, typically she remarked, “In the mood for a good clean now!”

 

With advice like this, your life in your new home should get off to a good (if busy) start.

 

If you have bought through Edward Ashdale, and need a bit of local knowledge and advice once you've moved in, don't hesitate to give us a call. We don't think our job is done – and dusted – once you have those keys in your hand.

 

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.

Sam's Word 10: Doing anything for a sale

Sam's word

Some people will do anything for a sale. You may have heard that saying before. It is usually associated with traditional product sales and sales techniques.

Door to door salesmen. Big feet in the front door, wearing vulnerable people down over hours in their homes.

Used car salesmen. 'Clocked' cars that show a gentle 20,000 mileage where the true mileage is 100,000 plus. Claims of the superior reliability of the vehicle that barely groaned its way into the premises the day before. Have you ever seen the splendid Ealing comedy School For Scoundrels? You should. One of the high points is the sale of a terrible car by two of the shadiest salesmen you could ever meet, Dudley and Dunstan, resulting in Ian Carmichael losing out to Terry-Thomas with a young lady (temporarily, as it happens).

There are many more examples of people who will do anything, and often bad things, for a sale.

Well, we will join some of those people. The better ones. We will do anything for a sale. If it is within reason and if it is within our values and ethics. You may not hear the word ethics around estate agency too often, so here it is again. Ethics.

So, what is the 'sale' I am talking about? What do I mean by 'anything'?

The sale I am talking about isn't selling ourselves to get people's business, important though that is.

No, the sales I am talking about are the ones that we do on others behalf. So selling a property we've been instructed to sell for the best price and in the best interests of a home owner. Or having a property let for a landlord to the right tenants and not ones who will provide an unpleasant experience for that landlord.

The 'anything' that we will do starts with working hard. My staff and I put ourselves out, big time, to make a sale. We work a lot of hours and take calls round the clock. We take a proper look at a property we're to present. No five minutes in and out and a scrawl on the back of an envelope before someone types up some crude property details sheet and considers the job done. No unaccompanied viewings. No amateur photography, we use professionals.

The market for sales is strong as I write, so you can be lazy and sell properties. We don't like that at all. We're not like that at all. Our approach is the same, is as reliable, whether the market is hot or cold.

As a smaller, but very determined agency, we can't do everything at once. Yet here are some things we have done as part of our journey. We are the result of the bringing together of two agencies to form Edward Ashdale. That meant re-branding and merging IT resources, not a cheap or easy start. Since then, one of our offices, Bromley, has moved (not very far) to a better office where we can welcome people better.

We've developed a new website, and the one we have now will be replaced when we're ready with something even better. We've been blogging interesting writing (we hope) about our industry and our locality, and more. We've taken to the airwaves by appearing on Meridian Radio - thank you, DJ Alan King. We've taken a presence on social media sites Facebook and Twitter, and more unusually for estate agents, Tumblr. Why? Because we need to be heard, and if we're heard, so are the properties we have for sale or let. Certainly we network and leaflet and have good property details in our windows like many other agents. That is where many other estate agents give up, job done. Believe me, far fewer go the extra mile into these social media platforms, or onto You Tube, which we use and we are going to be using more and more from now on as well.

The anything we won't do for a sale is to exaggerate, lie, deceive or pretend that things are one way when they're another. I wrote in an earlier blog post about "the agencies who have a drive to fleece consumers unfairly". They do exist and we will never be one of them. So we work hard, we innovate, and we build our reputation that we are twenty first century estate agents with traditional values who are good to work with.

That way, we get to sleep at night.

Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  January 2015

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.