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I couldn't agree more with the POD advice. When we were about to sell our house I rented one and put stuff we ABSOLUTELY couldn't live without. Most of the furniture, everything in the garage, etc. Then after we sold the house, the stuff we couldn't live without (refrigerator, kitchen appliances, chairs, etc) went to a friends garage. Then we lived in an Extended Stay with our big cardboard box of 1 week of clothes, toiletries, etc. Worked really well. With dogs I don't think and Extended Stay would work, but a pet friendly apartment might.
Long story short, you don't have to move everything at once if you don't want to.
From what I can tell PODS is just a brand name of a regular shipping container. We had a 40' container put at one house we were moving out of and then that container was delivered to where we were going. They stored it for several months between the time of one house to the next. We've also bought shipping containers before, but then you have to hire a tractor trailer to move it.
It does look like PODS will drop the container onto the ground, though, which is nice. Our container was up on the trailer and had to be accessed via a ramp.
We had packed everything into boxes and had the boxes numbered with a separate index sheet that said what was in which number of box. Frequently during a move there will be people helping and sometimes hired folks. A box labeled "#44" looks just like "#45" where as "Family Silver Service" or "heirloom jewelry" is much more likely to walk off than "gardening books". Another labeling system folks use is 'Bedroom Box 1', etc. By putting numbers on them you can look and notice that the small heavy bedroom box (which might contain jewelry) is missing when one of the numbers is missing.
Now is a good time to get rid of anything you don't like or doesn't bring you joy. Even if it is still 'good' if it has bad memories attached to it, ditch it.
Selling first is not a mistake, buying first and then not being able to sell is a mistake. A loan can go bad in the last week if the underwriter demands a document from the buyer that he just can't get. The seller would not even know this. There's other stupid stuff the neither the buyer or seller know is going on behind the scenes that can kill a deal. If the buyer had an FHA loan that was denied due to a low appraisal on a previous property and the bank did not close it out in the FHA system that means he can't close on the new home with an FHA loan, and there is a lot of red tape to get it resolved. I'm sure it does not happen often, but there are things you can't imagine that kill a deal.
There was no doubt I could sell, since I live in a hot area. Altho I suppose if the buyer got a loan, there could be problems in that way.
I also was concerned about something breaking, since my house is 60 yrs old. The a/c is getting a tad old. I already had the sprinkler box break (cost $300 for that).
Our neighbors put their stuff into PODS, and the PODS truck picked up the box(Es) and stored them at the PODS yard until the boxes were needed at the new house; then the PODS were taken to the new house.
We used u-boxes from U-Haul. We picked them up, loaded them up--they're already mounted
on a trailer--took them back to the yard and had them stored. Then when we were ready, our U-boxes were loaded onto a large trailer and driven down (by a U-Haul driver) to a U-Haul facility near our location where we could bring them to the house one at a time and unload them.
Thanks. I've gotten some quotes from the PODS place.
I can't do a Uhaul thing, unless they deliver and pick up and drive them. I'm by myself, and I can't do that. My car is too small to tow anything.
Start researching rentals now, for you and your dogs get something and put a deposit if you need to.
I'd get rid of stuff, keep only what you can't live without.
Are your buyers in the same boat...perhaps they'd like to move in sooner and would pay rent while waiting for closing.
Think of it as an adventure, which it is. Hope that you're moving somewhere great.
The buyers are rich guys, investors. It's a cash "as is" sale, which is one of the reasons I took it. (The real estate guy took a lower commission, because he didn't list it....he just brought me the buyer.) They wanted to close earlier, but I asked for 2 week extension to give me more time.
If I'm ready, maybe they WOULD like to get the home 2 weeks earlier & pay me rent. They wouldn't live here. They're going to send workmen to update it and such. Thanks for the suggestion!
If you can afford a decent place to rent I think you should take some time to look after you move. Since you feel so emotionally maxed right now, you may not be looking with the right mind frame. Let the dust settle find a great place after you acclimate a bit. All this effort will pay off, but only if you find a great place to buy that you want to settle in.
I think I have a solution to the rental.
A friend of the family (out of state) has a tiny tiny house in a decent enough neighborhood that she rents out. It will be vacant soon, and she said she'd rent it to me for not much...no dog deposit or anything. She doesn't care about the dogs.
It's four hours from the city I'm moving to, but I think I can handle that. I can drive in every week and stay overnight to drive around neighborhoods I haven't seen, and to look at houses for sale.
I would not have a lease or anything. I just need to check and see how long she needs me to stay. She's going out of town and wants someone in the place to keep an eye on it, until she gets back to town. I hope that works out. It's far away, but would save me thousands. What a stroke of luck! I hope that works out.
I would discourage this. Lots of reasons not to rent to potential buyers. What if the deal doesn't go through and they won't move, for example?
Oh....at first I thought that sounded great, but yes, there could be something involving damage to the home or liability or insurance. Better stick with the closing date.
A friend of the family (out of state) has a tiny tiny house in a decent enough neighborhood that she rents out. It will be vacant soon, and she said she'd rent it to me for not much...no dog deposit or anything. She doesn't care about the dogs.
It's four hours from the city I'm moving to, but I think I can handle that. I can drive in every week and stay overnight to drive around neighborhoods I haven't seen, and to look at houses for sale.
I would not have a lease or anything. I just need to check and see how long she needs me to stay. She's going out of town and wants someone in the place to keep an eye on it, until she gets back to town. I hope that works out. It's far away, but would save me thousands. What a stroke of luck! I hope that works out.
A hour hour drive is tough. Plus then you have to drive back home. I was looking for a home about 2 and a half hours from where I lived and it was really a long haul. A 4 hour drive is like NYC to DC.
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