House is Sold!!

Well.. a major, major milestone!  Sold in 4 days.  I'm going to post the reference letter for our agent -- who was amazing.

Looks like we will leave January 22.  Visa appointment this Friday (Dec.11)

The Shawn Lepp Team

It's not often my wife Odette and I take time to write about a service or product we have purchased, or a vacation we have taken that exceeded our expectations. But we're going to make an exception here.

We are moving to London, UK and as you can imagine, planning has been going on for some time.  Two years in fact!   One of the last items (and the largest) was selling our home.  Everything, and we mean everything depended on the sale going well. We considered a low cost brokerage in the summer and we were really thinking that we would go that way.  Our thinking was that we had to maximise every penny from the sale.

Just by chance,  I filled in a form on Shawn's site to get an idea of what the house was worth -- and that began our relationship with Shawn.

Shawn visited us and we told him that we really weren't up for paying a high commission. He listened to our concerns and then patiently went though a very professional presentation that explained in detail the service that he and his team offers.  At the end of the presentation, we felt that Shawn and team were value for money.  From the staging to the photographs, to the marketing.. all first class. It's like when you go to a good restaurant; you don't mind paying a little more.  You are getting value for your money.

When we saw what Sue did to stage the house (transformed it with our own 'stuff!'), the photographs -- which were in a word, amazing, we knew we had made the right decision.

Our home was sold in a matter of days and for slightly more than we would have taken as well.

Recommending Shawn is easy.  Professional, respectful and most importantly, he and his excellent team simply do what they say they will do!

House Sale Update

Hi There,

Been officially for sale since Wednesday... By Sunday, we will have had at least 6 viewings and an open house.  We will get feedback from the estate agent by Tuesday -- if no offers materialse.

So off and running... Now.. we wait.

Photographers did an amazing job.

Wish us luck!


James and Odette,
December 4, 2015

October/November Update

House for Sale!!!

Well... the house is being put up for sale next week!  October was very busy work-wise.  But we're back on track now.

We found an excellent real estate agent -- Shout out to the Shawn Lepp Team.  Professional, knowledgeable and act with integrity.  Will definitely recommend them.

Stager coming on Wednesday... Things moving very very very fast!  Exciting. Our Barclay's account is fully open with sufficient funds for everything.

Off to Brussels for Odette's Data Privacy Conference.  Then house up for sale (officially) when we get back!

Is this really happening?

September update

Well, a few major events since our last post.

First, Odette has finished her full time employment.  It was very emotional for her as she has been working at the hospital for 20 years.  Patients, Doctors, colleagues are all very sad to see her go.

If you knew Odette, you would understand why everyone is so sad to see her go.  But we live our life moving forward... we can only look backward.

So here we are.  Right on schedule with everything.  Bank account opened in Canary Wharf, money (some) transferred there to get it open and so on.

Oh.. and just came back from Hawaii.  Superb!  Very long trip and very very hot!

Next up is Odette's UK visa.  That should be straight forward and takes up to 12 weeks -- which right now is the end of the year.  Excellent timing.

Seeing our names on cheques with a London address is making this very real now.  And of course, with Odette leaving her job, it doesn't get much more real than that.

This is the most exciting time we will have for years.  Well worth it!  The future looks good; exciting, enjoyable and more than a little challenging!

We're well on track.  Trust us when we say.  You need an excellent plan to make this sort of move (ours has 49 separate tasks in it.)  As we say at my company, "Plan your work and work your plan!".

Very true!

Some pics from Waikiki beach

August Update

Seems in every blog we always say "Can't believe how fast time is going by..."  Or something like that :-)

We have a plan that includes almost 50 things to do!  As simple as shredding papers and taking garbage to the dump, to ensuring our Barclay's International account is open.

But more pressing than anything is Odette's privacy certification exam coming up in a matter of days now.

This is a big deal.

Months and months of studying 7 days a week, nights and so on will ensure Odette will pass.  Of that, I have no doubt.  And after that, it's on to taking the European 'flavour' of the privacy certification.

So.. not much new other than working our plan (and we can categorically say, a plan is a 'must' -- not an option -- a must).

After Odette's exam, we're off to Hawaii for a week which will be most welcome.

We'll update at the end of September.  At that time, we should have our Barclay's account open, the Garage cleaned and other "thing's" gone from the house.  And Odette will be approaching the day when she leaves work.  That will be emotional -- but much greener pastures lie ahead.


James and Odette Young,
August, 2015

July update

Hello!

Sadly my Father passed away on July 2nd, so July was quite a stressful time.  One of the things we did do however -- actually had to do -- was take my parents remains back to Scotland and scatter their ashes there.

That went well and we found a nice area overlooking the sea,  Of course it was cold and raining but that's just a typical Scottish summer day!

We took the opportunity to spend some time in London and explored both Canary Wharf and Earl's Court where we met Toby from House Hunters International.  We both loved Canary Wharf.  It is new, quiet (relatively speaking!) and the flats there are amazing.  We met an Estate agent that we will use.  Odette gave him a comprehensive list of requirements for the flat!

Earl's Court is nice and we visited two flats.  Both were disappointing in different ways. Great area, but the flats were a letdown.  So... Canary Wharf it is.

As an aside Canary Wharf is just a 15-20 minute tube ride to Piccadilly Circus (which is the theater district).  We saw Thriller! which really makes you believe you have actually seen Michael Jackson.  Unbelievable.

After the show we had dinner in a very vibrant Piccadilly Circus (close to midnight at this time).  Now.. wouldn't it be nice to just get on the tube and go back to a beautiful, quiet Canary Wharf flat overlooking the Thames?  Soon.

Updates for June

Did we say that time flies?

Since our last entry, Odette has sent in her resignation letter for October.  That is a major milestone!  She is finishing up University and preparing for her CIPP certification.  So everything is going according to plan.

We checked out CommFree -- which is a flat fee brokerage.  Basically, you sel the house yourself but can save 2.5%+ on the commission.  That could mean thousands and thousands of $.

We're not 100% certain if we will go that route, but it certainly sounds attractive.

Canary Wharf and Earl's Court are the leading contenders for us right now.  Both locations are great.  It will just depend on what feels right.  The bucket list has always had a period type flat in London with a shiny black door and a shiny brass knob of course; cream coloured exterior and large windows.  but hey, everyone wants that.  But.. you only live once.

A few other things on the agenda such as:

• Hawaii for vacation,
• Odette attending the IAPP Europe Data Protection Congress in Brussels.  (We'll both go).
• Amsterdam for a week after Brussels
• Miami for part of winter

Then we sell the house and move!

So... everything is going according to plan and we will update later!

The Pushy ReMax man

The real estate market here is red hot.  So much so, that estate agents are having to reduce their commission since houses basically sell themselves.

We had a knock on the door the other night from a ReMax agent.  He pointed to the house a few doors up that he had just sold for what we gather was $30k over asking.  He said we could get something similar.  When we told him we were not moving to next year.. he then upped his cash in hand estimate by $25k.  We did indicate that his 5% commission was ridiculous and that we'd look at services such as "CommFree" etc.

He was so busy talking that we doubt he was listening anyway.  Here's the bottom line.

It is so easy to sell houses that he thinks that he can just place a "For Sale" sign on the lawn and make tens of thousands of dollars in a few days.  Very pushy indeed.

He just wouldn't shut up.  We recommended to him that he switch to "Decaf" coffee.

But... this is all good.  It's both a buyers and sellers market.  It's too early still to tell what we will get for the house; but right now, it's looking like we will get 5%-10% more than we have planned for.

Timing is everything!

Properties in Earls Court and Currency

When we visited London in 2014, we were staying in the Gloucester road area.  One day, we walked west down Cromwell Road to Earls Court.    We loved the houses/flats there.

Odette has been looking hard to find a suitable flat in that area and there seem to be many in our price range.  We're not rich and the flat will be for 6 months to 1 year.  It will be however, a dream flat for us!

Sadly, we will have to move out :-(  But who knows?  Both of us are thinking about employment in the contract market and depending on how we do, maybe we'll just buy our dream flat?

Maybe not... but you need to dream in this life?  Otherwise, you simply exist; you don't live.

Our move is really starting to hit home now. Given that it is now May 1st this upcoming Friday, summer is just around the corner, then... Our last winter!

We didn't get a chance to attend the "CommFree" seminar due to other commitments.  We will attend the next one in June.  In a move such as this, we really need to maximise the profit from our house sale.  It can make a huge difference.

Also, any profit will be in Canadian dollars of course.  The CDN$ has not done well against the British pound in the last year.  After the Bank of Canada cut interest rates in January, the dollar dropped 5% against the pound.  It has made some of that back, but every 1 percent means a big difference to us.

We've thought about putting any money now into pounds to protect ourselves.  But the currency markets are volatile.  We would have lost money if we would have done this in January.  Do interest rates increase in Canada?  In the UK?  What about oil prices?  Everything has a direct or indirect effect on currency.

While these things do not keep us up at night, they are legitimate concerns going forward.  Right now, we're just maintaining the status quo.  Any currency move carries risk and at the end of the day, might not mean anything.

We'll provide a further update in the summer.

Enjoy the increasingly good weather!


James and Odette
Spring, 2015
1 Year until we move!

Welcome!

This is our first post on our move to London.  It is hard to believe that our house will go up for sale in less than one year from now.  We're not worried about selling the house since houses here sell within 1-2 weeks and get what they asking for.

Commission is an ugly reality of selling though and I (James) will attend a "Commission Free" seminar in April to see how this works.  Why pay a real estate 'tax' if you don't have to?

Also, a new highway is being built just up the street and a new shopping mall.  All ready for the end of 2015!  This is good news of course when selling a house.  Close to major infrastructure always puts the house value up.

We have made up our mind where we want to live in London when we arrive.  We have a pretty good plan.  It is:

• We go to London in May, 2016 and find a flat in the Earl's Court area
• We will be prepared to live there for 6 months to 1 year
• Odette will look for work (I will simply continue in my current job.. or transfer to the UK company)
• Once we are settled, we will look for a property to purchase.

So it seems pretty seamless!  Not really scary but a huge adjustment especially for Odette.