There are some things in life that can either be viewed as an unpleasant necessity in which case no amount of preparation will make them less daunting or they can be viewed as an adventure in which case with a bit of planning they can be both fun and exciting. I have spent most of my adult life relocating in some cases simply because I wanted to and in others because my work required it of me. Let me state up-front that the corporate relocation is easier only in that it is paid for by someone else; in all other ways the same rules apply. At this stage of my life I have the cross country and even global relocation down to a fine art, but I am not afraid to use a bit of assistance from experts. My best expert advice is the Military Relocation Checklist, which is provided at the end of this article.
This is a big move and bound to set everyone on edge, or as we say in my family set everyone’s head on fire. There are so many moving parts to this type of relocation it is difficult to know where to start with a good checklist, but of course the first place to start is with the family. The following are family consideration that will assist with the relocation stress:
1. Has a career assistance package been negotiated for the spouse that will be “out of work” due to the relocation? This is an important factor to consider since one spouse will be unemployed unless the work for a company with locations in the area that you will be locating to and can negotiate a transfer. It is important to consider your spouses emotional response to unemployment. It is also important to consider the affect of the loss of income to your family while your spouse is looking for work. I always advise people to negotiate this prior to accepting a position to relocate.
2. Someone will need to be the project manager’ for your move. It is more than likely that this job is going to fall to your spouse as you will be taking on your new position. You should plan for six (6) weeks prior to your actual move for your spouse to be full time in their role of move project manager’. Make sure you factor this into your financial calculations.
3. If you have children, especially teenagers, talk to them early about the relocation and your reasons. Don’t assume that this does not affect them, it does. They will have an immediate and usually negative response. You will need to treat them respectfully and sensitively as they work through their emotions about leaving their friends and schools for an unknown.
4.If at all possible take at least one family trip to the new location during the two months prior to the move. You should have one trip for house hunting paid for by the company but they may not pay for the entire family, just you and your spouse. If possible take an additional trip to get to know the area. Visit schools, do some additional house hunting, visit the area malls, and any other things of local interest.
If you have not already negotiated your relocation package let me provide you a couple of quick tips that will make life easier.
1. Ask for a pre-paid credit card with a set amount that you can spend as you see fit for your move. This approach allows you to budget your move and not account for your spending. It is the best approach to relocation.
2. Do your homework! Even though corporations believe they have negotiated “best rates” this is not always the case. Frequently you can negotiate better rates on your own simply by doing comparison shopping. Certainly you should always start with the corporate preferred vendors for moving, but if you don’t believe they are giving you a fair estimate tell them and get other estimates before you select a vendor.
Now to some tips on the move itself and dealing with moving companies, always a challenge.
1. Only use bonded movers. Do not trust your property to cut rate movers who no one has ever heard of. Trying to save too much money risking you will not receive your property on the other end or at the very least you will not receive it in the same condition.
2. Before having the movers come to your house for inspection and proposal know what you want! This is an important step in the process. There are many different ways to arrange the pack and move. They can do the entire pack, move, and unpack. They can do only some of the pack, move, and unpack, or any other combination that you determine best fits your schedule and style. You knowing what you want before they get there will make the process easier and ensure that the bids you receive are consistent. My usual approach is to have the movers do all packing except those items that I am going to carry with me, it is a bit more expensive but worth the stress reduction. I also have them do all the furniture breakdown and set-up on the other end if I am moving directly into a new home. I do not have them do unpacking, it is generally not worth it as they don’t do put away as well as I do, although you can pay for this service.
3. One thing to consider in the mover
selection is whether you will be moving directly into a new home. If this is not the case you should consider renting a storage unit until you have found your new permanent home. In my past moves I have taken short term apartment leases and rented furniture rather moving twice. Having movers store your goods is very expensive while renting a storage unit yourself will cut your costs by up to 75%. If you want the movers to place your goods in your storage unit you will need to rent a unit on a ground floor as most professional movers will not load a second floor unit. If there are specific personal items that you want use large colored coded stickers to mark the boxes and have these set aside during the storage unit load from the truck. One thing to keep in mind, if you talk to the had mover early in the day it is likely that they will load your truck with the marked boxes at the same time they are loading your storage unit, always make certain that you pre-tip for this service! When you get ready to move to your permanent abode you can do it yourself or follow my final piece of advice, hire someone to move your goods from the storage unit to your new home.
Now to the last a final thing to know before the movers come to your house for inspection and bid, they are going to propose based on what you show them you have. It is rare that the cost you pay will be substantially less than the bid price. Walk through your house, open your drawers, your closets, your cabinets, all the other places you hide things especially things you never use. Be brutal with yourself and your family. Even the most frugal of us amass “junk” over time; humans are by nature gatherers we can’t help ourselves. Relocation offers the perfect opportunity to purge ourselves of all the things in our lives that are filling the nooks and crannies of our home and will quite frankly cost us in our move. I know, we all start off with the idea that we will hold a garage sale, make some extra spending money as we prepare for our relocation. All fine and good if you think you have the time for preparation and a day or two to spend waiting for those who might be interested in the stuff you no longer want or need. My experience with garage sales is this they are generally not worth the time and energy necessary to set up and conduct. Call me jaded, however during relocation there is a limited amount of time to complete a significant number of critical tasks the time it takes to gather, mark, and manage
sale simply doesn’t provide the return on investment. If you have older teens or even better adult children willing to pitch in on this effort, well have at it and good luck.
My approach to purging is the following. I clear a space in the garage, lay down a tarp, and rent a small dumpster. I start at the top of the house and go room by room starting with the guest room. Each room is purged from closet through decorations, linens, and books and other; nothing is sacred anymore. Everything is left in the room that will be moved or is transferred to the garage for charity, thrown in dumpster, thrown in the book exchange pile, or thrown in the recycle bin. Once I have been through every room completely I take a day break from my purging and then do a final walk-through in case I have missed something. There are no take backs! Once the second purge is complete I call the appropriate charities for pick-up, have the dumpster hauled away, put the recycle bin out for pick up, take the books to the exchange, and ask for money, my purge is complete. Now I am ready for the movers.
These steps are really the hardest part of the front end. The back end is finding a new home to move into and really making it a home. Of course if you have a home to sell the challenge is timing, when to start looking; should you wait until your old home has sold or use some creative financing models to have the best of both worlds? There are some questions to ask yourself before you start the process of finding your new permanent home.
1.Does your relocation package offer temporary housing assignment or a mortgage bridge? If the answer is yes, for how long?
2. Can you afford the possibility of two mortgages?
3. What is the housing market like in your current area? How long do houses stay on the market?
4. Is there anything special or unique about your current residence that sets it apart from others in your neighborhood? Look at it as if you are a buyer, use a critical eye!
5. Last but certainly not least, how much do you honestly think you can sell your house for. Don’t rely upon real estate agents for this answer. Do your own research. Find out how much houses in your neighborhood have sold for recently. Do the comparison for yourself. Find the last 5 to 7 sales; you are looking for price per square foot not total sales price. The average will tell you what to expect when you sell your home. You can ignore short sales and foreclosures just look for normal sales in the past 120 to 180 days.
to the difficult job of doing just enough without overspending. It is a personal decision whether you put your house on the market before or after you move out. I have always found it very difficult to try to sell a house in the middle of a move, but in a slow market sometimes it is better to have it on the market earlier rather than later. Remember that if you have kids or pets the wear and tear is going to show and will reduce the price that a buyer might be willing to pay for your home. Selling a home when it is empty gives you the chance to do some inexpensive clean-up and provide a pristine move-in ready home for a new home owner. Realistically, except in a booming market expect that your house will sell after you are in your new city. Make certain that you trust your agent and plan on an extended sell cycle unless you chose a more creative solution to moving your house off the market.
There are many other relocation steps that should be planned for; the military checklist covers the bulk of them. My opinion is spouses, houses, and children are the keys to less stress and more fun. If you can deal with these in a way that ensures their transition is smooth and at least has some benefits for them you will find they will work with you in the move rather than against you ever step of the way. Relocation is never easy, but it doesn’t have to be a tribulation either.
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