This blog is a direct transcript from the video below. This comes in 3 versions: You are able to watch the video, read the blog for your convenience or listen to the audio experience (which is linked under the video below).
Relocating to a completely new state or country is exciting at first, but once you think about all the work you have to put in, it just flat out sucks. Sorry but there is no better word. In this video, I share 10 tips to make your relocation stress free. Stick around to the end for a surprise.
Packing, condensing, labeling boxes, and researching a new place to plant your feet is nothing short of stressful. There’s so much preparation and frustration involved with moving that most people can say they don’t look forward to it at all. Maybe you’re moving because you have to, moving because you want to, or simply just throwing a hail Mary and going with the flow. On a scale of 1-10 for most overwhelming and stressful, relocating is about 100. That’s why I threw together 10 tips to make your life suck a little less during this process.
#1 – Answer These Questions:
When people think about relocating, they fill their minds with the destination, and not the process actually involved in getting there. Before you tell me you bought some moving boxes, simmer down for a second and whip out your handy dandy notebook and make a scheduled timetable, and plan your next move. Answer these questions: how much time do you have? How long will it take to pack? Let these questions be the base for your preparation.
#2 – Take Inventory:
The last thing you’d want to do is rip your hair out when moving day comes around. Start this process a month or two before the actual move-in day to give you adequate time to pack, plan, and execute. On top of a timetable, create a moving checklist for yourself. Take inventory before you move a single thing, and then figure out what you actually need to bring with you and what you don’t. There’s definitely an app for that.
#3 – Donate & Donate Some More:
For the things you don’t need to bring, consider donating, selling in resale stores or Facebook marketplace. Don’t just pack everything up and take it with you, because those same shirts you haven’t worn in 10 years will most likely be shoved in the back of your dresser at this new location too. If you’re heading over to Michigan, don’t be too quick to get rid of extra clothes, you may need them to layer up for the winters!
Alright, now it’s time to start packing. And if you’re someone who gets really stuck at this part. I’ll link a video I created about making your move go smooth with 8 tips. When I moved homes, I didn’t exactly practice what I preached and it got me in a huge fluster. Changing homes is exciting, emotional, and a lot of things are on your mind, but hear me out from experience, don’t skimp on your packing methods. You’ll thank yourself later. Keep important boxes out of the moving truck, label your boxes by room, use color coding methods for convenience, and know exactly what’s in every box. But Andrew, I can’t remember every little item I packed in each box!
#4 – Snap A Picture:
And you’re right, I obviously didn’t either. So do yourself a favor and snap a picture on your phone of the inside of each box. If you’re like any other person trying to move, you’re always wanting to save space, so you play tetris and throw anything and everything in a box as long as it fits. Well you’re not going to write a Harry Potter novel on your box for everything that’s in it, so take a picture instead. Same thing goes for things you’re taking apart that are complex enough to make you forget how to put it together. Take a picture of how it’s put together, if it’s old enough not to have instructions still of course.
#5 – Get Professionals:
The next tip, get professional movers on board early on in the process to make sure they fully understand your expectations going forward. If you’re relocating for work, chances are they may have a moving service on speed dial, so be sure to ask just to see. If that’s the case, ask around the office and hear some of the other experiences with the company too. People tend to try and go as cheap as possible when it comes to moving companies, and I’m here to tell you that’s not the greatest idea. Let me remind you that you get what you pay for. Think about your belongings, your vase that has been in the family for generations and generations can better be trusted in the hands of quality, not cheap.
#6 – Carry-On Bag:
Since we are on the topic of packing, that brings me to the next tip, have you been on an airplane? Yes? Then you know that you have your main luggage that’s held in a compartment on the plane, while you have a carry-on on you. The reason I bring this up is you should have a carry-on with you for the moving process to. An overnight bag, an essential box, whatever you want to call it. Have this box close by so you don’t have to tear apart the whole moving truck looking for a phone charger.
#7 – Make Your Contacts:
Way before the packing process even starts, you’ll want to take this tip to heart. Three words: MAKE. YOUR. CONTACTS. Get in touch with a mortgage lender, real estate professional, insurance agent, and know what you have to get in touch with to change utilities, register yourself, change address, vehicles, etc. All this stuff can be found with a simple Google search to redirect you to a .gov website. As far as lenders, Realtors, and insurance agents, if you have one of those professionals in your current state or country that you trust, let them take on the workload of finding the perfect person for you and your needs, because there’s a potential referral fee they can get from those people for getting them business.
#8 – Virtual Tour:
After your contacts are made, get yourself a virtual tour. I believe this is a very underutilized resource available to people relocating to new areas. If you’re someone who is relocating to Michigan, reach out to me and I’d be happy to give you a virtual tour of some of the areas you are interested in. I primarily hangout in southeast Michigan just to let you know. You and I both know that edited videos and Google Earth can only do so much for your curiosity. Ask one of those professionals if they would give you a candid tour of the community you’re planning on moving to.
#9 – FREE GIFT:
If the research aspect of your relocation is overwhelming, and you’re headed over to Michigan, keep this priceless tip in mind and be sure to download my complimentary Michigan relocation guide to give you the inside scoop of this fine state. I’ll link that HERE.
#10 – Reach Out To Me:
Last but not least, tip number ten, simply reach out to me, and I will take some of that 500 pound laid off your shoulders and answer anything I can to help your process go as smooth as possible.
Cheers,
Andrew
Andrew McManamon is a Michigan REALTOR® with Signature Sotheby’s International Realty and provides real estate services to Buyers, Sellers and Investors throughout SE Michigan including Livingston County, Oakland County, Washtenaw County, Genesee County & beyond. Andrew has become one of the rising stars of Michigan real estate agents. Prior to his real estate career Andrew was responsible for managing a senior living facility in Brighton, Michigan as a dining supervisor and an activities assistant. Andrew’s passion to help people is unlike any other, and he continues to strive to be best resource he can be. Andrew graduated from Cleary University in Howell, Michigan with a double major and currently resides in White Lake, Michigan.