Bluegrass Lass

Out of curiosity, did any of you consider using a relocation specialist/agency? If my husband's job offer pans out, we'll likely be returning back to Glasgow sometime in December as we think he'll have a January 2013 start date. We want to leave the US and travel together to Glasgow, and we will be arriving with our 2 cats in tow. I don't want to rush finding a place because I want it to be as close to 'right' as it can be (I think the flat we had last year contributed greatly to our unhappiness), but yet we can't afford to take weeks to find a place because of the cats. We can't afford a hotel long term, and I refuse to board them for weeks while we find a place. I couldn't imagine how traumatized they would be to go from a plane trip into a cattery for who knows how long. Not to mention, we have a tight budget and can't afford £15 to £20/day to board them.

So we're thinking of looking into using a relocation agent to look at properties on our behalf, or perhaps my in-laws could look at them in our place, to see if we can have a place sorted before we arrived. Have any of you ever used one?

kronenborg

i would think that if the cost of £15 per day for boarding seems too much for a couple of weeks due to your budget, then the cost of a relocation agent would be out of the question.

where do you plan to stay when you first arrive? would it not be possible to have the cats wherever it is you initially plan to stay? even if its a hotel, presumably there are pet friendly hotels in the area (a cursory google search seems to suggest there are)

much as you dislike the idea of boarding the cats, it may turn out to be a less expensive and stressful option for them. if you could arrange for someone to do the airport transfer on the US side, you could always board them in the US while you get sorted in the UK, to be flown over when things are more settled - at least they wouldnt have the stress of the journey followed by cattery - the other way around might be preferable. alternatively, do you have friends/family in the area who could take the cats for a while?

the other issue would be following someone else's recommendation (be it in-laws or agent) on what they consider to be a suitable property for you - i would never agree on a lease without having first viewed the property myself at least once. the internet is a great resource for property, but it is obviously selective, and doesnt reveal the whole picture - particularly if there is something about the picture that isnt quite right.

on a side note, i have flown both cats and dogs both directions across the atlantic and never really detected much in the way of animal stress in any instance - they have always seemed remarkably unbothered by the whole affair (unlike myself!)

Bluegrass Lass

Well, in all honesty, we don't have the budget to stay in a hotel for weeks, with or without the cats. We have no one on this side of the pond that can take them for any length of time. Either my family members already have cats to take care of (and our cats don't play well with others), or they are allergic to them. We have no plans to use a pet relocation company to ship them either. We arranged their travel last year with no problems, so I think we could arrange it all this time as well, without paying the additional costs a pet moving company would charge.

When we moved to the UK last year for a period of time, we brought them over with us, and while they were physically fine after the trip over (and the subsequent trip back to the US), behaviorally we noticed changes that took a long time to go away. They've very rarely been boarded over the years, & while I may be guilty of humanizing them somewhat, they always acted odd for several weeks after coming home. That's why I'm concerned how a stressful plane ride and then stuffing them into a cattery for several weeks may affect them. They are both purebred cats, and have always been a bit high strung.

My in-laws are located outside Glasgow, and unfortunately we can't stay with them for the time it might take to find a place because they have pets too. But I'm hoping they may be willing to help us find a place if they look at a few properties for us, that way the letting agency knows we are real people, and maybe we could sign a lease before we get there.

We do have the possible option of my husband flying ahead of me, and having him find a place, & then I join him, but he does not like the the idea of me traveling alone & trying to handle heavy baggage and the cats. And he's rightfully concerned about picking out a flat without my input. So while, this is far from the ideal option, it is an option I'm willing to put up with so that I & the cats can move straight into a place.

I'm just thinking surely we aren't the only people that have needed to arrange a lease before they actually arrived in the UK?

lf1

I think Sallysimmons used an agency. I'm sure she will be along shortly.
Good luck with your move.

kirstyp

Hi! Have you got specific questions about relocation companies that I can help with? (we provide these services fairly regularly for clients moving with their employers) or are you just looking for people's individual experiences? happy to answer any questions about the process etc if it helps!

Kirsty

Bluegrass Lass

Hi Kirsty,

I was looking for some individual experiences, mostly. I wanted to get an idea of what the services entailed and get a feel of what costs might be.

My husband is British, I'm American, and we are most likely moving to Glasgow around the end of the year. We've decided to move back to Scotland, so an employer wouldn't be involved in the process, just us. We are just waiting for an offer to come through, with a specific start date before we start making definite moving plans. So in the meantime I'm trying to do some research and see what costs might be to see how that could work with our budget.

Scotty1

Hi Bluegrass
I am a relocation consultant and originally from Glasgow, but don't live there any more, so can't offer any hands on help. However some general thoughts for you

A relocation consultant can help you access housing and get you settled in a place quickly. A lots of companies use them to help settle people and not have them stressing out about where to live.

As you have family in Glasgow, things will be easier, but think hard about getting you in-laws to look at places for you - its a big responsibility to put on someone who may not share your tastes or lifestyle, and if you don't like the place they select, grief will result! A relocation agent helps take the emotion out of evaluating potential places.

A relocation agent will be able to help you with areas (pretty important in somewhere as big as Glasgow) and with the cats

I would suggest starting on google and yellow pages and see if hubby's work will help pay for a relocation advice, or cat boarding

On fees, it varies considerably and is not cheap, mainly because it is mostly a corporate brief.

Good luck and sorry I can't be of actual practical help!

Scotty

Beccarose

I think if you trust your in-laws judgement and they know what you're looking for then it would be alright ...although you said not even your husband should be picking a place without you there...
Aside from asking someone somewhere (no friends on either side who could help?) to hang on to them for a little while then I'm not sure what other option you have. How long of a lease are you wanting to get? If it's short term then I would not worry so much about signing sight unseen, besides you could ask plenty of questions and get lots of pictures. That's what we are going to have to do ourselves.

Bluegrass Lass

Oh, I was a teasing about him picking out place out without me there.

I don't think I fully understand what the differences are between short term and long term leases in the UK. When we were there for a short time last year, we signed a 6month lease, and I think the letting agency called that a long term lease. That seems very unusual to me, because most leases, at least in my area of the US, are 1yr minimum. If 6mo is considered long term, would a short term only be a couple of months?

Beccarose

If you look at RightMove you will see options for leasing vary quite a lot. I've seen some for 3 months, some for a year and others for multi-year. Personally I would never sign a lease for multi year because you just don't know what will be happening next year or the year after, etc. I'm sure there are people who will lease for as short as a month, especially those who have a hard time getting renters.

Thanks for clarifying that you were joking about the part about your husband looking on his own- I was going 'hmm' for a little while there. I really think if you trust your in-laws and know you won't be stuck in a lease for more than say 6 months while you get your barrings then it should all be fine. Just let them know what you are looking for and what your specifications on areas are and it will all work. We had my dad look at houses for us before moving to the PNW and it worked out well. Of course it was not another country but hey ho.

sallysimmons

Yes, we used this company on the recommendation of another poster here. Our particular agent specialized in the north, but they're a national company as far as I know.

I think the other poster's name was Guinness and she had 4 pets, so needed help finding something. They got her settled quickly so I called them and we hired them. I thought the service they provided was outstanding for the fee we paid. It cost one month's rent along with a registration fee that I think was about £700. Some people made noises that they thought that was a rip-off, but I think it saved us from a big mistake and frankly with all the work they do, I don't see how they make a profit.

They scoured the property websites but also had relationships with agents, so they heard about some rentals before they made it on to the Internet. They had us give them detailed requirements, they did all the checking about pets, and they went and viewed each property. Then they sent us photos and videos along with a report.

There were a couple of cases where this saved us from taking a property that looked amazing online but wound up having some real flaws. We love the place we're in and now that we're back we've been able to see a couple that she advised us against. She was definitely right about them as both are on really busy roads.

It's really competitive where we are, so when she saw our current house on Rightmove, she called and got the first appointment. She then she got her report to us from the car so that we could decide whether to make an offer. She did this because there were 8 viewings booked for the following day. Because of her quick thinking, we got our offer in first, the landlord accepted and they cancelled all the other viewings.

Now that we're back, I see their name a lot on the credits for shows like Location, Location, Location - I guess they do a lot of the back end research for those programmes.