A Day in the life of a Relocation Agent...

Day in the life of a Relocation Agent...

Morning

Arrive at office bright and early. Two reasons for this, mainly to deal with the daily car parking battle! If I arrive at 8.10am I can park outside my office but arrive from 8.15am onwards and I have no chance. It also gives me a chance to get a head start on the emails before the phone starts ringing.

Mid-morning

Today’s search is to source rented accommodation for an Australian family moving over with a large Pharmaceutical company to Windsor.  I set about the search by finding out about school place availability for the two children because so often the results of the school search then determines where the family will settle. Located two school options and arranged appointments for clients to view. Then set about arranging viewing schedule of properties thirty minutes apart based around the school locations. On an average viewing day we could see anything between eight and ten properties a day for two days and the third day would be used to register with local doctors, take them to a supermarket to assess food prices, show them a trial commute, point out local facilities and arrange move in date. Phew quite a plan to organise.

Lunch

Grab a quick sandwich on the way to viewing a house that will be coming on the market in the next few weeks for US clients wishing to buy for approximately £3 million.

On way back pop into see a client I moved in to the area three weeks ago to see if everything is okay and check that the children have settled.

Mid-afternoon

Submitted offer on behalf of investment client who is interested in buying two brand new flats. Offer was quite a bit under the asking price but a cash purchase and the client wanted two and could exchange within two weeks.

Had an enquiry from US corporate client who is looking to move four staff over in the next few weeks. I have scheduled diary time to fit this in.

3pm Costa break

I need a fifteen minute coffee break to assess what needs doing for the rest of the day. Ummm skinny flat white for me – thanks.

Heard back from Estate Agents regarding investment client. The developers have not accepted low offer but are will to meet half way. We went back with a slightly increased offer, which was accepted. Happy client! I will now set about planning to fit out the flats in preparation to rent.

End of the day

Contact Private client with budget up to £3 million to discuss potential of the new property which I viewed at lunchtime and upload some photographs for them to see.

Lock up office, make sure car is clean and full of petrol ahead of tour day tomorrow, let’s pray for some home from home sunshine for our Australian clients!

Day in the life of a Relocation Agent...

Day in the life of a Relocation Agent...

Morning

Arrive at office bright and early. Two reasons for this, mainly to deal with the daily car parking battle! If I arrive at 8.10am I can park outside my office but arrive from 8.15am onwards and I have no chance. It also gives me a chance to get a head start on the emails before the phone starts ringing.

Mid-morning

Today’s search is to source rented accommodation for an Australian family moving over with a large Pharmaceutical company to Windsor.  I set about the search by finding out about school place availability for the two children because so often the results of the school search then determines where the family will settle. Located two school options and arranged appointments for clients to view. Then set about arranging viewing schedule of properties thirty minutes apart based around the school locations. On an average viewing day we could see anything between eight and ten properties a day for two days and the third day would be used to register with local doctors, take them to a supermarket to assess food prices, show them a trial commute, point out local facilities and arrange move in date. Phew quite a plan to organise.

 Lunch

Grab a quick sandwich on the way to viewing a house that will be coming on the market in the next few weeks for US clients wishing to buy for approximately £3 million.

On way back pop into see a client I moved in to the area three weeks ago to see if everything is okay and check that the children have settled

Mid-afternoon

Submitted offer on behalf of investment client who is interested in buying two brand new flats. Offer was quite a bit under the asking price but a cash purchase and the client wanted two and could exchange within two weeks. 

Had an enquiry from US corporate client who is looking to move four staff over in the next few weeks. I have scheduled diary time to fit this in.

3pm Costa break

I need a fifteen minute coffee break to assess what needs doing for the rest of the day. Ummm skinny flat white for me – thanks.

Heard back from Estate Agents regarding investment client. The developers have not accepted low offer but are will to meet half way. We went back with a slightly increased offer, which was accepted. Happy client! I will now set about planning to fit out the flats in preparation to rent.

 End of the day

Contact Private client with budget up to £3 million to discuss potential of the new property which I viewed at lunchtime and upload some photographs for them to see.

Lock up office, make sure car is clean and full of petrol ahead of tour day tomorrow, let’s pray for some home from home sunshine for our Australian clients!

From couch to Marathon can it be done?

From Couch to Marathon can it be done?

Ummm good question, I’m a middle aged Mum of two teenagers and business owner and for the last four or five years have been into London to watch the thousands who are running toward the 26.2 mile finish line. I love the atmosphere and the noise and the sheer determination on the runners faces especially towards the finish line. I said to my daughter, ‘One day I would love to run the Marathon’ and she looked at me as if I just stepped off the moon, ‘You Mum, you don’t even run’. This is true, I did not run so within weeks of watching the Virgin London Marathon I purchased some trainers and off I went.

First of all I applied for a ballot space in the marathon, for those of you who have not been involved in the Marathon before there are 125,000 applicants for 36,000 places. You apply for a ballot place and you are told in October if you are successful or not. This is good; however, if I was lucky enough to get a ballot space I couldn’t go from couch to Marathon in six months so I started to run in case I did get a space.

Paula Radcliffe has an excellent eight week course in her book running from scratch to 5K so I quickly signed myself up to the Race For Life while the impetus was still there. The great thing about the course was you started off running for three minutes and walked for 1 minute and you did that seven times. I have to say the first few attempts I was willing the watch on as three minutes seemed like a life time. This was repeated three times a week and I was quickly able to run the three minutes without gasping for breath and running comfortably.  Then the interval time increases each week by two minutes so running five minutes with one minute break etc etc.

I was so proud of myself towards the end of the course I was running and really not needing the breaks and keen to progress quicker  but as Paula points out your legs have not been used to being stretched so regularly so gently increase the time intervals and make sure you have your rest days so your body can recover for the next run.

After running on my own for a number of weeks the sport can be quite solitary and I have found the joy of Audio books on my iPhone wanting to know what happens at the end of the chapter has kept me running past my house and round the block a couple of times!

 I have since also discovered that running does not have to be a solitary experience as there are lots of running groups out there with different ability levels who offer solidarity and company on a regular basis. There are two groups I have found particularly good.

1.       is running sisters a woman only group of runners who range from starters to marathon runners. www.runningsisters.com

2.       The other is Park Run this is a free group that organise a 5K run on a Saturday morning in parks all over the UK www.parkrun.com This is a great event just turn up and run in fantastic environment with lots of other likeminded people of all ages.

Three months in and I have to say I am loving the running and enjoying the satisfaction of achieving new distances (up to six miles now) and aiming to beat my pervious times on existing routes. I think I can say I have caught the running bug whatever that is. Whether I will be so keen in the midst of the cold wet winter – watch this space!

10 things to do before you move out of London

1.       Get an up to date valuation on the value of your home. This is the foundations for the future search and will give you a relevant guide boundary of where you’ll be looking.

2.       Consider work travel requirements, get an up to date train time table, tube map, bus time table and work time prepared to commute back into the city and home in the evenings.

3.       Get a map and drawer a V shaped funnel of where you’d be prepared to go.

4.       If schools are important, check if county you are interested have the 11+ grammar system or the comprehensive one. Even if at this stage senior schooling is not an option the schools affect the house value.

5.       Write a list about what you like and dislike in the area you are currently living in. Then write another list about what it is that you will be looking to replicate in the new area.

6.       Discuss views on how important it is to have an organic butcher within walking distance compared to finding the perfect village first school with no shop in the village.

7.       Put aside a weekend and elect an area I’ll use Beaconsfield as an example. I find it useful not only to drive around the area but make appointments for view a few homes even at this early stage. Two main advantages both the Estate Agents and the homeowners know an awful lot about their locations and are often keen to give you inside information regarding schools etc.

8.       Link in to area social networks, for example, Beaconsfield like many towns has its own website. Also websites like www.netmums.com have local chapters with friendly people willing to give local advice online.

9.       If schools are important and you pinpoint an area that is a possibility look up the league tables on http://search.bbc.co.uk/search?scope=schoolsearch&tab=primary&q=beaconsfield You’ll be looking for out of 300 on the scale for 100% for English 100% maths and 100% Science.  National Average is 247, Bucks Average is 259 so scores above 260 are good. This is a long topic and I could go on for hours so if you require any more information please call. (01494 672086)

10.   Finally ask for your friends family connections for information on the areas you are thinking about. We all have our own opinions but you can get pretty good feedback on an area from talking it through.

 Good luck with your search.

 Chiltern Relocation offer free area guides to Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross, Great Missenden, Chalfont St Peter, Chalfont St Giles, Chesham, Amersham, Henley on Thames, Marlow, Oxford, Penn, Reading and Windsor Just call 01494 672086 or visit www.chilternrelocation.com

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