[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by jaimilyn

We live on the east coast, so flying out there to do a house viewing visit will cost over $800, which is a huge chunk of the move budget.

I've done a couple of corporate moves in a past life, and just had the realtor find a house that matched my specifications so I didn't have to visit. Is this something that people do anymore? We just want to rent for a year, so as long as the house is in good condition in a decent neighborhood (and matches the specs below), I'm really not going to be that picky. I don't mind paying the real estate agent a few hundred dollars to go look at a couple of properties that I pick off Zillow, since that would be way less than flying.

I have had eight corporate relocations over the years.

It seems to me that $800 is a cheap price compared to what it is going to cost if you get out to Las Vegas and are completely MISERABLE for a year or more.

From my experience, what a real estate agent is interested in is getting the commission, not that your necessarily going to be happy. In the past, I have sent real estate people a list f what I want just to find that half of what they showed me was pretty bad.

[jaimilyn]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

I have had eight corporate relocations over the years.

It seems to me that $800 is a cheap price compared to what it is going to cost if you get out to Las Vegas and are completely MISERABLE for a year or more.

From my experience, what a real estate agent is interested in is getting the commission, not that your necessarily going to be happy. In the past, I have sent real estate people a list f what I want just to find that half of what they showed me was pretty bad.

I did several corporate relocations with my ex before we split, and the real estate agents always found us something good.

The real estate agent we're working with now is a personal connection, and he's been doing an excellent job of using his network to find us something good. He knows the neighborhoods and the property managers, so I definitely trust him.

When you've only got about 10k to work with, $800 for one person to visit is just too much. Luckily I found a midweek sale on southwest and we got tickets for both of us for $400, so we'll be there tomorrow!

[Raiderman]

We just overnighted the lease and move-ins to the listing agent for our new house. We're 2700 miles away and moving June 3rd. It was a pretty painless process, but we did have the advantage of a friend in Henderson who offered to go with our real estate agent and take additional pics of the homes. But even if our friends didn't go, the photos online were good enough for us to pick out our new rental home. Just be prepared for move-ins being more in LV than in many other parts of the country. In our local market, for instance, move-ins are capped at 1st and security. The place we just rented go 1st, security, pet, cleaning, admin, and then tacked on another $64/mo for landscaping and trash. So make sure you calculate all of the up-fronts if you're working on a budget.

Good luck with your move!

[jaimilyn]

Back from our whirlwind trip to Vegas on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was really sweet of you guys to have a heat wave just for me. Thanks for that...

We've got a great agent and he was able to take us through a couple of places so now he knows what we like.

It seems to be that the problem we're running into is that no one wants to rent to people with cats, and the rental houses that do allow cats go in an extremely short period of time. So, even though we didn't find anything exact, hopefully something good comes up in the next couple of days and our realtor can help us snag it.

By the way, what is with all the hoops to jump through to rent?! I've never had to do anything other than sign some paperwork and give the property manager a check. Just to apply to rent takes more effort than it did to get a loan quote from a mortgage broker. WTF?? Credit report, paychecks, referral letter from my current landlord, a shrubbery... (PS, no we can't buy until we get a decent down payment together and get me a job. Husband's salary alone won't get us a big enough mortgage)

So overall, we had a blast visiting, and are really looking forward to moving out there. It's just the whole "moving" thing that is driving me crazy.

[Raiderman]

Yup, it's much more difficult to rent. We have 2 chihuahuas. The place we got said "no pets". We understand that, as some places don't want 7 Irish Wolfhounds roaming the property LOL.. our agent had a great idea, though, and we sent in photos of our dogs in "cute poses" along with our application. $600 later and we're in with both dogs. But yes, there was a ton of paperwork.. application, bank statements, check stubs, lease with 17 addendums (exaggerating a bit on that one), a pint of blood, and the rights to our firstborn.

At least if we decide to move to another rental in a year or two, or buy, we'll be local and can take our time a bit. Doing all that from 2700 miles away added a level of stress.

Good luck on your move!

[jaimilyn]

Cute pictures with the application...hmm, that is a good plan. The realtor told us the more information the better... Maybe some bows around the cats' necks?

[jaimilyn]

By the way Raiderman, good luck on your move, too! Are you guys driving or hiring a truck? 2700 miles means you're not all that far from me, sadly we're not moving until the next week (probably), or else we could all caravan together!

After running all my numbers, it's looking to be cheaper to do what someone on the first page suggested and put everything in a Penske, put one car on a dolly behind it, and drive car #2. We'll put the cats in the car with me (I refuse to drive a massive moving truck, much less with a car behind it), hubby and I will each grab a friend and we'll caravan out there.

[Raiderman]

Originally Posted by jaimilyn

By the way Raiderman, good luck on your move, too! Are you guys driving or hiring a truck? 2700 miles means you're not all that far from me, sadly we're not moving until the next week (probably), or else we could all caravan together!

After running all my numbers, it's looking to be cheaper to do what someone on the first page suggested and put everything in a Penske, put one car on a dolly behind it, and drive car #2. We'll put the cats in the car with me (I refuse to drive a massive moving truck, much less with a car behind it), hubby and I will each grab a friend and we'll caravan out there.

Thanks! We're moving from RI... leaving June 3. We used ABF U-Pack. It was a smidge cheaper than a Uhaul/Penske/Budget when we figured in gas. We're driving with our 2 chihuahuas in our little SUV. That way we can ride together, as my wife is not keen on driving in areas she doesn't know. Just as a point of reference for you, 13 linear feet (13' x 8' x 9') ran us $2500. Our SUV gets about 25mpg so figure about $400 in gas, $400 in hotels, and a couple hundred in food. Might want to check out that option as well.

[jaimilyn]

Originally Posted by Raiderman

Thanks! We're moving from RI... leaving June 3. We used ABF U-Pack. It was a smidge cheaper than a Uhaul/Penske/Budget when we figured in gas. We're driving with our 2 chihuahuas in our little SUV. That way we can ride together, as my wife is not keen on driving in areas she doesn't know. Just as a point of reference for you, 13 linear feet (13' x 8' x 9') ran us $2500. Our SUV gets about 25mpg so figure about $400 in gas, $400 in hotels, and a couple hundred in food. Might want to check out that option as well.

We're in Maryland, so practically right around the corner

Do you have one or two cars? We have two, and that's part of why I was thinking to just tow it behind the truck.

I've gotten a couple of ABF quotes, I think we're closer to 17'. Estimating how much space we need has been frustrating and I'm hoping we can fit our stuff onto whatever comes. We're in a 2 bedroom house now with a basement and attic full of boxes. We're winnowing down our massive amount of stuff that mostly we even forgot we had, but it's an ongoing process. Husband is an English teacher - we started this process with about 50 boxes of books (seriously not exaggerating). We're down to 20, but that's still a pretty big number, and that doesn't get into the electronics and furniture and camping gear etc.

[Raiderman]

Originally Posted by jaimilyn

We're in Maryland, so practically right around the corner

Do you have one or two cars? We have two, and that's part of why I was thinking to just tow it behind the truck.

I've gotten a couple of ABF quotes, I think we're closer to 17'. Estimating how much space we need has been frustrating and I'm hoping we can fit our stuff onto whatever comes. We're in a 2 bedroom house now with a basement and attic full of boxes. We're winnowing down our massive amount of stuff that mostly we even forgot we had, but it's an ongoing process. Husband is an English teacher - we started this process with about 50 boxes of books (seriously not exaggerating). We're down to 20, but that's still a pretty big number, and that doesn't get into the electronics and furniture and camping gear etc.

You would be very surprised how much room 13x8x9 truly is. I am staging everything in our garage that has a 9' ceiling so we know the exact amount of space to fill. Granted, we sold the living room and dining room furniture and all cars but 1, so it's probably a bit easier for us. We have 200+ boxes packed so far and have taken up about 4 1/2 linear feet. The trick is a stepladder and going all the way to the ceiling. We also bought same-sized boxes which helped utilize the space. Our standard size box is 16x11x7. So 6 boxes wide x 15 boxes tall (90 boxes) takes up 11 linear inches. We then have 18" cubes for the larger items. We make a wall of those with 5 boxes wide x 6 boxes tall (30 boxes). So 120 boxes takes up less than 2 linear feet. It's like a big Tetris puzzle