Recently, we sold our house (yay!). With a 30-day escrow (yikes!). Without having a home to move into (ouch!).

Normally, there would be a contingency placed on the sale that could allow us to stay in the house until we had somewhere else to go. In our case, we had plans to move into a rental home instead of buying a new one, which is (usually) easier to manage than the home buying process. With a 30-day escrow, the time for the buyer to commit is shorter, but it also means that there is a small window of time between the commit date and closing date. This didn’t give us a lot of time to find a home that was move-in ready. As soon as the commit date passed, there was a flurry of activity to look at homes, choose one, put in the application, provide the deposit, and sign the paperwork. This was all done in a matter of days, but the home that we found would not be available two weeks after the sale of our house closed.

Here are some of things that we have done to help our move go smoothly:

• Purge — get rid of everything you don’t need. If you haven’t used it in a while, you probably won’t need it soon. (Read more here: Moving, Part II – Purging)
• Buy packing supplies from the local home improvement center. This saved us money, as the moving companies tend to charge more for supplies.
• Pack — start this one earlier than you think you need to. My husband fretted over this for weeks, while I was sure there would be plenty of time. The truth was somewhere in the middle. (Read more here: Moving, Part III: Packing)
• Arrange for storage or moving of all furniture, boxes, and everything else. We chose PODs for storage, and a local moving company (Unique Moving, Inc.) to fill the PODs. (Read more here: Moving, Part IV: PODs)
• General “housekeeping” — this includes arranging for all utilities to be turned off (and turned on in the new location), forwarding mail, and informing everyone who needs to know that we moved.
• Unpack – We requested the same movers (including the same crew) that packed the PODs to come and unpack them. They were already familiar with their packing process, as well as the items that went in.
• File everything – Moving expenses may be tax deductible. We’ll be checking with our tax preparer regarding current tax laws. I created a special envelope to store my moving expense receipts, checklists, and other key paperwork.

Recommendations:

Real Estate Agent:
Tina Hare from Troop Real Estate
Tina was great!  She came in and took a tour of the home. We let her know about all of our concerns, and she was able to address all of them. She gave us some “homework” to complete, and came back for our second meeting with a list of comps and a recommended price for the home. Our home needed quite a bit of work, and rather than fix it, she suggested we sell the home “as is.” This meant that we were not responsible for the repairs, and the buyer would come in fully aware of what needed to be done.  (This reduced a lot of our stress.) We discussed the price, and ended up asking a bit more than she recommended, which worked out perfectly in the long run. Tina handled everything, starting with the Open House. When the offer came in, she checked in and gave us some recommendations, and she sent us all paperwork via email for electronic signature. This was important, as it can be difficult to get both me and my husband in the same place during business hours. Our feedback for improvement was mostly around communication; it was pretty quiet from Tina’s side because she’s very busy and probably didn’t know what we didn’t know, but she was always quick to respond when we asked questions. So, be sure to ask questions!

Meryll Russell from Troop Real Estate
Meryll is on Tina’s team, and she pretty much held our hands through the entire process.  Meryll came over with the photographer to take photos, brought over the beautiful brochures showcasing the house, and checked in on us every few days. She was invaluable in helping us find our next home, showing us close to 15 houses before we were able to make a decision. Meryll was very patient, and shared her thoughts as we viewed the homes. She answered any questions we had, and reassured us whenever we got nervous about the whole selling process.  I can’t say enough good words about Meryll – she’s the best!

(Read More: Moving, Part II – Purging)