10 of the most common questions asked by every home buyer

People do not know ‘who to notify’ when they are moving house.

Whether a first time buyer or a regular mover, buying a home is always a daunting and laborious process. 

Aside from the financial burdens that come with purchasing a house, there are many practicalities that come when moving home and they can often lead first-time buyers to turn to the internet for answers.

​JustServicesGroup.com has investigated the most common questions buyers are faced with. They used Google search data to uncover the top discussions over the last 12 months and to find the most pressing questions buyers had to ask.

Many home buyers making a move wanted to know ‘who to notify’, with the search terms including this phrase having an average monthly search volume of 2.6k. Variations of the term included ‘who to notify when moving house’ and ‘moving house checklist who to notify’.  

When re-locating it is important to notify about the change of address to ensure your mail is redirected properly, GP’s have the correct address in their records  and the bank knows to send statements and private information to the right place. Searches including the term ‘changing addresses’ had an average search volume of 1k and included queries such as ‘where do i need to change my address’ and ‘list of addresses to change when moving house’. 

Here are the 10 most searched for questions by house buyers (average monthly searches over the last 12 months):

1. Who to notify (of moving house): 2,630 searches
2. Changing addresses (after moving house): 1,000 searches
3. Changing council tax (when moving house): 650 searches
4. Things to buy (when moving in/out): 280 searches
5. Moving Sky TV/phone/broadband (when moving house): 270 searches
6. Settling cats (after moving house): 180 searches
7. How to pack (when moving house): 180 searches
8. Changing bills/energy suppliers (after moving house): 170 searches
9. Things to change (when moving house): 150 searches
10. Moving schools (when moving house): 140 searches

Co-founder of JustServicesGroup.com Chris Burls said: “It’s interesting to see what home buyers have Googled the most when it comes to moving. Buying a property isn’t just a financial burden, the practicalities of things like changing an address can be confusing but they are important.  

“It’s amazing that we have Google to rely on to make sure that nothing is left-out but the best thing to do is make a checklist of everything - such as financial responsibilities, alerting suppliers and changing council tax - so that nothing is left out and everything is transferred smoothly.”