Advice on the Relocation Process? (Houston, Dallas: rental car, extended stay, for sale)

[DallasDreamer]

Hi!

My husband and I are moving to the Richardson area in a couple of months. This is my husband's and my first "big" move (both in terms of distance and in terms of having a moving company help us). I have some questions specific to the Dallas experience and more general moving questions.

1. We are going to Richardson in mid-August to find a rental house. Can you recommend a fairly inexpensive hotel/motel with clean rooms that do not smell like mold or smoke? Also, we need one that has free internet access to facilitate our search.

2. I'm hoping it is possible to look at houses over a Friday-Monday long weekend. I was going to look in the newspaper, online ads, and craigslist and map them to figure out where they were. Do you recommend any other local resources?

3. Has anyone moved recently and really liked the moving company they used? (We're moving from South Florida to Richardson.) I want to mostly pack my own stuff, but I have no idea how to pack things like lamps, so would like a little help with a few things like that.

4. We have two cars and want to ship one of them. Any recommended shipping companies or alternative methods? (One of us has a health problem that makes long periods of driving very unideal.)

5. Any other "big move" advice?

Thanks for any input you can provide! I really appreciate all this forum has already taught me about Dallas

[Big G]

As far as mapping houses for sale, there's a local realtor (Ebby Halliday) that has a very handy feature on their site. You can select an area and have every house in the MLS within a certain price range mapped out. Pop-up windows will show you a picture of the house and its listed price.

[momof2dfw]

I can't really help you on some of your questions as I've never made such a BIG move.


1. We are going to Richardson in mid-August to find a rental house. Can you recommend a fairly inexpensive hotel/motel with clean rooms that do not smell like mold or smoke? Also, we need one that has free internet access to facilitate our search.
Try the Homewood Suites that is located off of Hwy 190/George Bush Turnpike and Jupiter. It has a Plano address but is right across the street is Richardson. Easy access to 190 and 75-Central from here. They also have free breakfasts every morning and dinner on weeknights.

2. I'm hoping it is possible to look at houses over a Friday-Monday long weekend. I was going to look in the newspaper, online ads, and craigslist and map them to figure out where they were. Do you recommend any other local resources?
Another good site is realtor.com
As for the Friday-Monday look - do you know where your going to be working so that you can get a good idea of commutes from different areas of Richardson? If you can buy a Dallas Mapsco now and use it to help chart areas it might help and then it will REALLY come in handy when your here. This is the EASIEST way to look up streets and a lot of real estate listings use the Mapsco reference for locations.

3. Has anyone moved recently and really liked the moving company they used? (We're moving from South Florida to Richardson.) I want to mostly pack my own stuff, but I have no idea how to pack things like lamps, so would like a little help with a few things like that.
Can't help you here. Sorry.

4. We have two cars and want to ship one of them. Any recommended shipping companies or alternative methods? (One of us has a health problem that makes long periods of driving very unideal.)
There are several companies that do this. One way to find some might be by looking on ebay for cars that are for sale and see what ads come up under the listings there. Try the high end ones as people from all over the country will buy one that is clear across the country and have it shipped.

5. Any other "big move" advice?

[NY2DFW]

You can try the Richardson hotel on Campbell just off of 75. It's a very classy, well kept hotel for the money. They're having a summer weekend special of $79 per night during July and August for past customers, but I'm sure you can get the same rate if you request it. It's near a lot of restaurants and probably close to the areas you want to look at for housing. Ask for one of the top floors to get a great view. By contrast, stay away from the Radisson across the street...not worth it.

[Guingirl]

We moved from Northern CA to Fort Worth, so we did the big move...actually did it twice, once for my Mom and once for us in January and February of this year.

On big moving companies, DO your research!!! Make sure you have an accurate accounting of your items and call references. While we definately had budget for a large moving company, we opted to rent a 26' Penske truck with an additional trailer and I drove out the car behind my hubby and 3yr old. We did this for my Mom as well in one month after another.

We did this because my Mom was paranoid by all the horror stories that she read online when she googled moving companies. Not all companies are like that by any means, but she was nervous and we did it her way and it ended up working for us .

We had a professional moving company come and pack the actual truck and they moved everything out of the house and into the truck. Then we drove it and had a professional company move it from the truck and into the house.

Doing it our way with gas for the truck and car, hotels (we stayed at Hampton Inns & Hilton Garden Inn type properties on the way out), truck and movers on both ends and it cost us about 5K. Which for us was reimbursed by my hubby's company.

As far as picking a house (and I have Socketz to thank for kinda setting me straight) is that don't expect to pick the right house for you in a short period of time. There is so much available that there really is no need to push it because you end up finding that the area that you like the house, might not be the area that you really like in the end.

Another piece of advice for the big move...just go with the flow and just be aware of your surroundings.

Good luck to you in your move!

[Pintea]

We moved here first, then we looked for a house. We stayed at one of those business hotels, that has weekly rates. I believe it is called Extended Stay, it was in Richardson too.
We packed our own stuff and used SMARTMOVE® Earn Cash Rebates Whenever You Buy or Sell Real Estate They will keep your stuff free of charge for 30 days. That gave us plenty of time to find a rental. Once we had that, we called Smart Move to schedule delivery. It all went very smoothly, and we did it all in one trip.
We rented an apartment, I believe we used Dallas Apartments Move Free Apartments Dallas Houston Apartment Locator Austin Apartments Texas They gave us $200 and it's free to use.

[loves2read]

I am PM an MLS site with good info--like taxes, listing date, has map link with overhead view of property--which I find very useful when scouting property...be aware that the overhead map picture does not always point to the right address---it could be off as much as 4-5 houses which is really frustrating when you want to check how the driveway goes or how big the backyard is...
You might be able to get property info on builder and actually location from Dallas Co appraisal district--I use the TAD.org site for homes in Tarrant co all the time....

my 2 cents----think of the 10-day option contract with the purchase offer as a tool---use it like that--
you as a buyer have that 10 day period to freeze the house for YOUR consideration--you usually only put down a minimal amount of option money which is different from the larger downpayment/escrow money--THAT you get back if you decide NOT to buy the house while you forfet the option money--and you don't even have to give a reason for not exercising the option---so you can still shop during that ten days or maybe you saw 2 houses and you liked both (your realtor probably won't like you persuing 2 houses at same time--but it is YOUR house and YOUR mortgage and ultimately YOUR decision)
So if you find a house you like and you think it is right for you BUT your realtor says it might go quickly if you don't make an offer--consider "Is it worth $100 to me to hold that house off the market for ten days so that no one else can get their foot in the door"--most of the time 100 is a cheap price to pay if you have it to spend -- some people don't....

Of course the sellers don't HAVE to take your offer if someone else makes a one at the same time and they might have a couple of backups if the one falls through...just see the option money as buying control of that property for 10 days--time for investigation/reflection/ without the pressure of feeling like someone will jerk it out from under you...it is also a cooling off period--you can ask to revist the house for another viewing even and measure for furniture or whatever...

Don't PLEASE try not to buy under pressure and in a rush--that is what we did over 20 years ago--we were moving from Shreveport LA--came on a 3-day buying trip--put contract on house under construction and came to regret it. Not really any major problems like bad foundation but just bad design --- we did not realize until we actually lived here...for variety of reasons could not move during the past years--neighorhood was fine/schools were good/just bad house plan...
we thought we would be moving to another job w/in a couple of year so at first we were just marking time but that did not happen...
SO my house hunting tips....
1) buy your house thinking about resale (even though you might not want to move) if it is really a bargain--why--bad location backing to busy street or subdivision/city area is going downhill, schools are becoming a problem---
if the price is lower than comps or house has been on market a while--there is a reason for that...try to be certain what it is--ask about new construction in the area--especially roads/upgrading of traffic arteries--some people move when they know new apts are being built in area or roads are being widened or a new shopping center is going where the farm is now...
Your realtor might not know--but she can find out about zoning changes and you can call as well---most city zoning/building offices are pretty good to give out that info on phone....
2)check the design/floorplan--not just the wall colors or the carpet-- buy one of those laser-light tape measures and check for furniture placement/clearance/electric plugs--
ask --where will we put the christmas tree and where do we put the everyday dishes or where does the litter box go
will people be walking in front of the tv all the time as they go to kitchen or bathroom/bedroom--how do you get in and out of the back yard and where are the hose connections ---
are the stair treads cut too narrow so it would be easy to lose your footing--which windows get the hot afternoon sun--when was the last time the outside was painted and did they reroof this summer after the hail storms cause lots of people in TArrant co anyway had to
Some problems can't really be resolved, some problems can be lived with---you have to decide that--but make the choice knowing WHAT you are buying--don't buy something and find out you can't open the oven door unless you stand beside it because there is not enough aisle space...or that the utility room door won't close all the way because of how big the washer and dryer are...or that your dryer vests the wrong side for the hole in the wall...

3) can you REALLY park cars in the garage --if they have lots of storage in garage besides moving boxes maybe house itself has no storage...check for attic space...

My realtor and I were going to look at house and when we drove up she said we did not even need to get out--that she had almost sold that house years ago when it was still under construction but the guy she was working with came out one day and tried to park IN the garage because the weather looked really bad--he could not park his truck in the garage because it was not deep enough--so he got out of the deal--so garages/driveways are important--if the driveway is raised because the lot is elevated, can you drive down it w/o worrying about falling over the edge--

So make sure about the garage--try to actually park a car in there---

4) in your option contract or before-- ask for past year's worth of electric/gas/water bills so you can see how high they were compared to what average use is--you may not have as many kids as the owners, set your thermostat as high or can restrict your water use--but house could have bad HVAC system...so

5) make sure you get a QUALITY inspection that will check the HVAC system/insulation and other factors--try to get an "energy audit" which a regular inspection normally won't do so you would need to get different firm and it is not inexpensive but you know about heating/cooling problems and those monthly bills are just as significant as your mortgage bill

6) if you do just rent a home initially and find areas you like then try to drive around the areas you are interested in at different times of the day/night--see what is going on after 6 pm Wednesday or 10 am Saturday morning when people are home--maybe everyone is parking on the street and you can't even drive down it--maybe there is a dog that is ALWAYS barking--maybe there are gangs of teens walking around when the sun goes down--who knows??? you won't -- if you only go there once for a looky-looky

all that may sound like overkill--but buying a house is important decision--you wouldn't marry someone after only two dates (I hope) so it really helps to know what you are doing when you put down a contract...

[DallasDreamer]

Thanks for all the information--it's taking some time to digest it all.

I did buy a used 2007 Dallas Mapsco today, though. Seems like a very wise investment if we're going to be driving around in a rental car! Thanks, momof2dfw

The information on online mapping will definitely come in handy, too.

Thank you, loves2read, for your extensive post on house-buying. All really good advice, it seems. We were thinking of buying, but, as you said, I don't think there's any way to know what you're getting in just one short trip.

The Richardson Hotel looks really nice. I think we're going to go with a package deal, which will not include that. But it seems like a great place to have visitors stay at--I love non-chain establishments.

Guingirl and Pintea, thank you very much for the information on how you accomplished your big moves. We may incorporate some of your wisdom into our strategy.

Right now I'm in a sea of moving estimates, rental-house-hunt planning, home organizing... so it's wonderful to have your input and support.

[usc619]

Dont rush, Rent frist then interveiw a few realtors before you choose one.

[Panks]

This post is just what I need also! I hope DallasDreamer won't mind me asking a question on her post.

I'm also planning a look-see visit in Dallas around late August, but I'll be coming alone. I was planning to just drive around for 2-3 days to get a feel for the neighborhoods and where I might want to rent, but I'm concerned that I won't be able to see much since I'll be driving and looking at a GPS/ maps in a new city. If money was no object, I'd get a taxi to take me everywhere, but unfortunately thats not an option!

Do you guys know if there is a better way? Could I take the train or bus or even a tour bus on the first day? Or do you think 2-3 days isn't enough time to get a feel for all of Dallas and I really need to narrow it down to just a few neighborhoods?

BTW, great advice loves2read, I bookmarked your post for future reference. What is a PM? Prime Minister ??

And what does Guingirl mean by be aware of yoru surroundings? thats not my strong suit, so please give me more details...are we talking everywhere or only some neighborhoods? of course, I know its best to be alert at all times..but some places will get you into more trouble than others. Will I know if I am walking/driving into a dangerous neighborhood or will it look normal and still have a high risk for getting mugged or raped?