Sharing recipes, crafts and frugal living, the challenges and triumphs of parenting a neurotypical child and a child on the Autism Spectrum. Yoga Instructor said goodbye to her nightly glass of Chardonnay to give up habits that were not serving her purpose in life! The CocktailMom name remains, however with a new focus on healthy and authentic living.

10/29/2008

Moving Tips

You could say we have moved a lot. You could say that. Logan who is 5 is on his 7th place of residence. Nope, we aren't running from the law...we just like to move. Sounds crazy to most, I know.
A friend of mine who I made that cute patchwork/crochet baby hat for is moving back to the east coast. I am so excited!!! She emailed asking for some cross country moving advice and as I wrote the email I thought there might be a few other readers who could benefit from my moving advice.
  1. First and foremost-do your research! Whether it is cross town or cross country move, go online and shop prices of whether it would be cheaper to use a pod company, or pack a Uhaul type truck and move yourself or hire movers. Within each of those decisions lies more research and shopping. If you decide to do the pod thing, as we did for our cross country move, there are many companies to choose from so do your research. Also don't forget to google the name of the company along with the words "coupon code", to see if you can save even more money.
  2. Pack every crevice. Roll underwear and stuff in shoes. Use blankets and linens as padding for furniture and protect wood finishes. If using a pod, invest in bungee cords so that you can pile things up along the walls and secure tightly.
  3. During a cross country move I highly suggest making a list of items to give away, sell or trash. Walk into the room and take in the inventory. Divide your paper in half and on one side write the things you want to sell, on the other the items to give away. Each room should have it's own piece of paper. Once you list an item on craigslist or freecycle, cross it off your list.
  4. Read! I highly suggest reading the book Simple Steps to Selling Your Home. There is a ton of really good advice, advice that your Realtor will most likely not say to you. For example clear off all counters, no microwave in the kitchen. In the bathroom remove everything except a soap dish or soap dispenser.
  5. My tips for selling your house: Get rid of your large trash can and opt for a small one under the sink that you can take out often. Who wants to look at a smelly house.
  6. If it's valuable like your grandmother's wedding ring, get it out of your house. You can't trust another person's agent to watch every single person who comes into your home and there are stories of people stealing things from open houses.
  7. Move all of your toiletries into a travel bag to clear clutter from bathroom cabinets.
  8. Make sure to remove any laundry from your washer or drier when someone comes to view your house.
  9. Take down all personal pictures, the buyer should envision themselves in your home and that's kind of hard if your chubby faced kid is hanging on every single wall.
  10. If you are "staging" your home for every viewing put those items in a Rubbermaid container that you can access quickly. When I staged my home I set the table with cute plastic dishes and put out my agents card along with the color flier.
  11. Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! Pictures sell your home, if your agent says "we want them to come and see your home, not online pictures"-look for another agent. That's bullshit. I wouldn't look at a home if it didn't have pictures online...it says something must be wrong that they can't take pictures.
We sold our home in Seattle in 5 days and then had a bidding war between 3 people which resulted in us getting more than our asking price in a market that wasn't the greatest.
OK that's all I can think of right now...hope that helps some of you. If anyone else has anything to add please do so in the comments. Happy moving!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are truly awesome!! These really are excellent tips and I know others will be grateful for your post.
-Kel

Julie said...

Bake a batch of refrigerated cookies (and take the dirty cookie sheet with you)just before you leave to make your house smell yummy, smelly candles just make people wonder what you're covering up (like cat pee????)
Take the cookies with you because people most likely won't eat the cookies anyway. might as well enjoy them yourself! lol

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