Naturally in our industry we see our clients moving in or out on a daily basis. This is a stressful time and relocating can be expensive, time consuming and overwhelming. Whether you're moving down the block or across the country, our best advice is to plan ahead.
Here is a rough timeline to consider:
Eight weeks: Choose the type of move. Decide whether to hire professional movers to pack and transport your belongings, do a combination where you pack yourself and hire a service to move things, or do it all yourself.
Calculate all the different costs. Professional movers might charge more if you live on an upper floor of a walk-up building. An interstate do-it-yourself move likely requires paying for gas, hotel stays and food.
If you go the professional route, get at least three in-home estimates. The moving industry while mostly professional does have it share of fraud. Getting an in-home inventory quote is a key component rather than simply getting a phone quote. If you give your inventory over the phone, and then on moving day and the moves say this is different than what you said over the phone you can be charged more and at that point there isn't much you can do about it.
Make sure your moving company is licensed and insured, and that the estimate you receive is binding, or "not-to-exceed." Also, watch out for companies that charge by the cubic foot because they could pack the truck loosely to take up more space. For interstate moves, you should be billed by the weight of your items; local moves should be billed by the hour and number of movers.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, www.protectyourmove.gov , offers tips on protecting yourself from moving fraud.
Five to six weeks: Inventory belongings and change address. You should start deciding which belongings you want to move, give away and throw out. Also, start notifying others about your change of address, including banks, credit-card companies and insurers.
The U.S. Postal Service allows you to set up a forwarding service online at www.usps.com . www.Moving.com also offers a free change-of-address service under its Tools & Services section.
Three to four weeks: Start packing. You can buy boxes at local storage facilities, home-improvement stores and even online. www.Usedcardboardboxes.com resells used boxes at a discount and ships them to you free. But be sure to inspect all boxes carefully. Even if you save a few bucks on boxes, if they fall apart you lose more than any savings.
One to two weeks: Make final calls. Everything but a few daily necessities should be packed and you should be living out of a suitcase.
Make calls to your landlord to reconfirm your move-in date and to utilities to confirm that you'll have electricity and water when you move in. You then have that last week to handle anything unexpected.
We have a wealth of relocation information and advice. Please feel free to contact us anytime.