Moving house - a journey into the unexpected

The trials and tribulations of selling one's home are many and varied. Initially, there is the decision-making process involved in choosing the method of finding a purchaser - should one "go it alone" and advertise in whatever fashion one might find easiest, or should one follow the traditional path of selecting an estate agent to further one's interests in selling property?

If one were to decide to follow the latter method, again, one has to make certain decisions. Should the decision to grant a sole agency the right to sell your property prove more appealing? There are pros and cons which become immediately apparent.

For instance, on the one hand, it is far more attractive to pay a fee which is 3.5 per cent of the selling price than it is to pay the extortionate 5 per cent required of multi-agency arrangements. On the other hand, this restricts the vendor's availability of potential purchasers.

Obviously, if, say, five or more agents were to produce a variety of potential purchasers, the very fact that they are more in number naturally means that the wider circle of people seeking to buy a property such as the one on offer is more likely to produce the final purchaser than just the one 'sole agent'.

Having made the all-important marketing decision, the owner of the property now has to endure several months of visitations from estate agents with their "clients" in tow. It would be invaluable were the estate agents to follow the path of their counterparts in the UK and to produce typewritten details of all the specifications, layout, facilities, built-in accessories etc, all clearly displayed beneath a clear large colour photograph of the property in question.

This would enable the prospective purchaser to make an informed decision as to whether or not the house/flat is quite what they are looking for.

However, for reasons best known to themselves, but no doubt connected with financial considerations, estate agents limit themselves to producing details and photographs for their shop windows and, in limited fashion, for newspaper advertising.

No direct mailshots or even typewritten details are available to hand for those looking for a property to purchase. As a result it often happens that totally unsuitable clients are wheeled in to view properties which they would never consider buying.

For instance, one vendor who was trying to sell her top-floor maiso-nette with all 38 steps and no lift was visited by elderly couples looking for ground floor accommodation, women with babies (who would never be able to lug their baby buggies and associated baby equipment up all those stairs) as well as other clients whose budget was far below the asking price.

At last, after months and months of hard travail and endless viewers, the fortunate vendor is in the happy position of receiving an offer as near to the original asking price as possible and the buying process is set in motion.

Again, the system laid down at law for the actual purchase is one calculated to slow down any sense of urgency. The initial konvenju or contract is fairly speedily entered into, once vendor and purchaser have agreed terms and the vendor's ten per cent deposit is at hand. Then, the usual period of three months is set for completion to include any permits needed and all necessary searches to be undertaken.

So, at last, the date is set for completion and all matters seem to be progressing satisfactorily. Now, another hurdle has to be surmounted. The person vacating the property has to pack and move house to the new abode. This sounds simple enough. One selects a reputable firm to oversee the packing and transportation of all one's belongings and good and chattels and the rest is easy.

So, how should the lucky vendors select a company of repute to organise the packing and despatch of their furniture and effects? In Malta, such propositions are usually best sorted out by means of the "bush telegraph", in other words, through personal recommendation of somebody who has been successful in finding a suitable packing agency. Once the selection process has reached its (hopefully) satisfactory conclusion, it is time for the fun and games to commence.

To those people fortunate enough to have experience of truly professional overseas packers, the systems in Malta might seem a trifle archaic. For instance, once the person seeking the services of a packing agency investigates the services available, it becomes immediately apparent that, in general, people in Malta pack their own goods and chattels, china and glass, clothes, personal items, etc.

The packing agency will offer a packing service for selected items and for china and glassware and other breakables. However, perhaps for financial considerations or, more likely, from a preference to feeling assured that all items are truly carefully-packed and bubble-wrapped or tissue wrapped as the case might require, it is only rarely that 'professional' packing is requested.

Another indication in the maze puzzling the now bewildered person undertaking the house move is the attitude of insurance companies. One lady requested the assistance of the insurance agent currently responsible for insuring her house and contents and was told unequivocally that the company did not underwrite insurance on house moves.

Quite simply, the reason for the refusal lay in the fact that the insurers were not at all confident of the care and attention or the professionalism of the packers themselves and, thus, the company was just not prepared to take the risk.

However, the packing agency was a step ahead of this impasse and offered their own insurance based on a Lm100 excess and a cost of Lm25 for the first Lm10,000 and Lm50 for contents up to the value of Lm50,000. This proposal met with approval from the person on the move and the whole process kicked off.

At this juncture, the reader might be pardoned for believing the saga has reached a satisfactory conclusion. Nothing could be further from the truth.

One recent such move was almost farcical in the series of events which took place. First of all, all the packaging material was delivered quite promptly to the home of the person moving house. It had been requested that several cardboard hanging wardrobes be delivered, similar to those which had brought the personal garments over to Malta from the UK some three years previously.

These were duly delivered, along with a multitude of cardboard boxes of varied sizes. However, all the cardboard packaging was the reused packaging of other people's personal effects which had been brought to Malta from overseas.

For some unknown reason, hanging wardrobes are unavailable in brand new pristine condition for love or money anywhere in Malta.

Equally, all the cardboard boxes to be used in the house move were the recycled, second-hand packaging of those people who had been moved to Malta from overseas. The reason for this lack of brand new cardboard packaging is a mysterious one - is it sheer unavailability or is it parsimony on the part of the packing firm?

Eventually, the day for the move dawned. On the eve, the packers arrived punctually and set to work to wrap (in reused second-hand so- called white paper) all items that were breakable - apart from the really valuable china, glass and ornaments which the lady in question wisely decided to pack herself in tissue and bubble-wrap and to transport carefully and individually from her old home to the new abode.

Another invaluable trick which the lady took upon herself to perform was to remove all drawers from her bedroom furniture fully packed as they were in the old home and, once again, individually and carefully transported by car.

Thus, when the drawerless furniture arrived in the new home, all that was required was to replace the neatly packed drawers back into place and no packing, unpacking or other bothersome exercise was necessary at all.

At last, all was packed and ready for the actual move of the following day. The boxes, furniture and belongings were swiftly moved and packed aboard the removal vans for the short journey to the new address. More fun and games were afoot.

There had been some doubt that the wardrobes would be able to be taken upstairs. The owner of the packing firm was persuaded to visit the new home to judge whether or not the wardrobes could be carried upstairs.

Needless to say, he never bothered to measure the wardrobes, or the staircase or the doorway. He simply decided that it would be best (for him and the packers) to order a crane for the wardrobes to be hoisted aloft through the balcony.

The irony of it all was that, when the crane arrived, the first wardrobe was hoisted aloft and suspended in mid air when a major problem arose. Quite simply, when the owner of the packing firm had visited the new house and decided to order a crane he never checked the sliding doors leading onto the balcony and it was only while the wardrobe was suspended in mid-air over the balcony that it was discovered that the sliding doors just could not be removed.

At this point, the owner of the packing firm was obliged to borrow several tools and screwdrivers and physically remove the door frame in order to free the sliding doors and to enable the wardrobe(s) to enter the first floor.

Various other inefficiencies came to light but it seemed almost unimportant that, for instance, the person directing all the actual movers as to whether all items (duly marked and itemised in block capitals for all to read) was illiterate.

Another foible was the curious fact that there were several items of furniture in the bedroom where all the newly arrived furniture was destined to reside but no move was made to empty the room until all the new furniture was inside the room and it became impossible for any space to be left.

At this stage, the unnecessary furniture had to be squeezed past the newly arrived furniture adding to the chaos!

All in all, removal day in Malta is a day best forgotten and, if it were at all possible, some lessons should be learnt and improvements implemented - perhaps an enterprising overseas packing organisation could be persuaded to come over and make constructive suggestions to enable the services on offer to become more professional, thus leading to a greater degree of customer satisfaction!