Letting the House

The topic on our minds today is the Letting of the House while we are away.  Furnished or unfurnished?  What fixtures and fittings to leave?  How much will we get?  Which agent to use?  Where can we store our stuff?  How much should we keep?  What should we throw away?  What should we give away?  What should we lend?  What could we sell on EBay?

So the list is endless but this is where we are at the moment....

The immediate plan is to get a few letting agents round to give us some estimates of how much we will get for the house and what we need to do to maximise our income from the house.  We have no idea what they take in commission and what their service includes and doesn't include.

From our informal research we think unfurnished is probably best but we'd leave all the white goods and the blinds and curtains, floor coverings and light fittings.  We do have a couple of expensive (and rather lovely in my opinion) lights in the dining and living rooms and are still debating what to do about them.  The more you go down the path of what is a cherished possession that you could not live without, the more you realisee that very few things fall into that category beyond memento's and pictures of much loved friends and family......A balance has to be struck between getting rid of all our possessions that we can't take with us and having enough "stuff" to set up a home again when we return wherever and whenever that might be.

After spending some time chatting this one through with friends over the weekend we came up with the idea that we might be able to store some stuff in a lock up in our own garage and also in the loft but we also need to check that this will not reduce the rental value of the property too much.  We are also going to try and persuade people to "borrow" or "baby-sit" buts of furniture for us.  Mike's daughter and Granddaughter have already bagged the big HD TV!  Clearly, this option could off-set the costs of long term storage. 

This week I am going to start the process of sorting through the contents of our drawers, shelves and cupboards and start the process of selling some of the best stuff on eBay such as books and ballgowns. I don't think I can part easily with much of my kitchen equipment so that might all end up in the garage.  Next option is the Charity Shop round the corner who might be seeing a lot of us over the coming weeks but I must resist the urge to buy..............

As ever any ideas or advice gratefully received......