Case Studies

Job change demands quick relocation

A change in employment caused major project manager Charlie Dunn to seek a quick move from the North West to Cambridgeshire.

Charlie had lived and worked in Carlisle for 13 years but when his contract ended with a civil engineering distributor, he was delighted to secure similar work in Cambridge, where he had lived previously and where his elderly mother and many friends continued to live.

A divorcee, Charlie was looking to downsize from his three-bedroom detached bungalow, with conservatory and workshop, to something more suitable for single occupancy. He placed his Carlisle home on the market through an estate agent but, with his new job and opportunities moving at a pace 270 miles away, he decided he needed a quick sale.

He contacted UK Property Bank and spoke to director Jim Akin. “Jim was extremely helpful,” said Charlie, “and he offered me a very realistic proposal to get me on the move.”

UK Property Bank briefed a local RICS-affiliated surveyor to value Charlie’s home.

Charlie said: “They used a local surveyor with a very good reputation and his valuation was spot on. UK Property Bank offered me 85 per cent of this valuation and I gladly accepted it. It gave me peace of mind that I had a firm offer in a housing market that was not moving very quickly.

“The transaction was completed very quickly - I would say within one month. The survey was conducted at the beginning of April this year (2006) and I moved in May.”

Charlie now lives in Great Shelford, a village he describes as “the most expensive in Cambridgeshire, possibly the world!”

“I am a single man and, as a cash buyer, I was able to buy a more modest house for myself in this very desirable location and put a little away for my dream of owning a holiday property abroad.

“I was extremely happy with the service offered by UK Property Bank. Jim Akin took the care to ring me personally during the transaction to check that everything was going well. Throughout my life I have enjoyed property deals that worked out well for me, and this one certainly did.”

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