Did You Sell Your House? A Checklist for Your Move

Moving is one of the most stressful things that you can do. if you have to sell your house and move, knowing what to do before, during, and after the move can help. So we have created a checklist of what you should do during each stage of the process.

2 Months Before Move, After You Sell Your House

1. Determine if you want to hire some help for moving – When you are older, chances are less likely that your family and friends will be willing to help you with moving if you buy them pizza. If you are still young and you have friends willing to do it, great. You can move on to tip 3. If not, continue on to tip 2.
2. Get some move quotes – It’s a good idea to get at least 3 estimates from the moving companies. You want to make sure that the quotes are written and binding.
3. Talk about moving your specialty items – Some of the items will require special expenses and care to move. Plan the way to move things like artwork, a piano, and other kinds of valuable or fragile items. Make sure that you are getting your moving company’s estimate upfront
4. Dedicate the move money – A lot of people who are moving jump right in and make a budget for new items for their house, such as décor or furniture, instead of putting money aside for their move. Remember expenses like the moving truck, moving supplies, and furniture movers.
5. Create your budget for moving – along with paying for the moving services, you should expect that you are going to spend money on other things as well. Tape, bubble wrap, and cardboard boxes will quickly add up.  You also might have things like closing costs when you’re buying a house and if you are renting you might have repair costs to pay before you leave.
6. Create a file for your move – Whether it’s paper, electronic, or both, you want to have a place where you can track the information that is needed for the move, such as receipts, moving quotes, and other purchase papers or rental documents.
7. Gather records together – This will include your medical records for your family and you, including prescription and shot records. You also should include your dental records and get medical records from your vet for your pets. You can also ask them for referrals for the new location.
8. Speak with the insurance agent – You may find that your renters/home insurance and your auto insurance rates could be changing after the move. Allow time for completing your application process.
9. Learn about the new community.- Find resources about shopping, entertainment, and schools in the new area.
10. Organize your items to donate or sell – Don’t overstuff moving boxes with those items that aren’t wanted or needed. You can make money by selling things online. you can also drop off unwanted clothes and goods at the local thrift store.
11. Plan days off – Moving’s a big task that you usually can’t do in one day. Look at your calendar and find out if the moving days overlap with work. This will let you request your time off.

Six Weeks Before the Move

1. Take care of more records – If you’re a parent, get copies of your children’s school records. This is going to take time.
2. Evaluate possessions – Anything that you aren’t using, don’t take with you. Just keep things that are going to make you happy.
3. Plan your garage sale – After you have determined the items that you don’t want or need, a garage sale is a great way to get rid of them and make some money.
4. Check the food – Begin cleaning out your pantry and freezer. Plan your meals based on what’s in there already so you don’t have to purchase more food.
5. Use cleaning supplies or throw them away – Many times you can’t move particular cleaning products, such as aerosol products and bleach. So you want to use them before leaving. You can purchase new ones when you arrive.
6. Search for free moving and packing boxes – Yes, you might have to buy some. But you also can go to your grocery store, liquor store, and other retailers. If you always order from Amazon, they make great packing boxes and they’re strong.
7. Schedule the moving day – You’ve gotten your quotes. Now you want to evaluate the right one and schedule the move. You shouldn’t wait too long. Trucks may not be as available when you get closer to the moving day. Weekends are also a busy time so you want to choose the specific day that you are moving as soon as you can. remember to talk about packing, loading, liability coverage, claims procedures, and delivery.
8. Create an inventory of your home – This process is simple, but it will make it simple to insure the items you have. This list also can help you with tracking if anything’s missing during your move
9. Transfer your renter’s or home insurance – update your forwarding address and policy for the insurance. This can change if you’re needing a different type of insurance at the new address. If you’ve prepaid for the whole year and you’re ending the plan early, you might be refunded the difference.
10. Have your car checked – It’s a good idea to have your vehicle serviced before moving. Even when you’re not moving very far, you are going to have a lot on your mind so now is a good time to do it.
11. Have a farewell party – Whether you are leaving town or you are simply going to leave someplace with a lot of wonderful memories, throw one final bash before moving to bond with your friends and family.

30 Days Before the Move After You Sell Your House

1. Start packing – If you are moving during the winter, pack up your summer shoes and clothes. If you’re moving during the summer, pack your winter shoes and clothes. Start boxing things up that you don’t use regularly.
2. Plan to move pets – Decide how you are going to move your furry or finned friends from your old location to your new location.
3. Return any borrowed items – As you start packing, return anything that you have borrowed such as movies or books. You also should avoid renting anything new so that there’s no concern about packing them accidentally or forgetting to return them.
4. Arrange the moveout inspection – Whether you’re selling the house that you owned or leaving someplace you rented, you want to do a walk-through to ensure that its condition is good.
5. Do last-minute repairs – Before you do that final inspection, do anything that may be an issue. For example, if there’s a photo covering a big hole in your wall you should fix it. This will help with avoiding delays in your move.
6. Confirm any travel arrangements – If you are moving long-distance, you want to book hotels or arrange flights for your long road trip
7. Figure how you can ship your vehicle – If you are moving long-distance, it’s possible that you can’t drive your vehicle. You also might not want to. Plan the way that you are going to transport it.
8. Reserve the moving truck or schedule the movers – If you haven’t already done it, you want to reserve the movers. You also want to rent your moving truck now if you’re doing it yourself.
9. Create the checklist for utilities – Changing the utilities will mean you have to stop the service where you currently live and then start it up at the new place. Once the move dates have been finalized, you can schedule this change ahead of time.
10. Change your address – This is important, and it takes just a couple of minutes.

2 Weeks Before the Move

1. Do more changes of address – Tell your bank, credit cards, and other important people that you soon will have a new address. You also need to tell the IRS, local government, and the DMV.
2. Create labels for the moving boxes – This can make it really easy for the movers to deliver the boxes to the correct room in the new house. Before you begin throwing items into the boxes, make some color-coded labels to put on each of them for the specific rooms.
3. Pack up the boxes – Pack based on the room and carefully label the boxes. Chances are that you will want to set up your bedrooms and kitchen quickly when you’re done moving. this is going to help a lot. Have all of it ready when your movers arrive, no matter if they’re amateur or professional.
4. Pack a box of essentials for your first week – This box will have things like the coffeemaker, shower liner, towels, and toiletries.
5. Recruit some volunteers – Friends and family can help even with professional movers. Think of the things that people can do, such as wrapping up fine China or keeping an eye on the kids.
6. Rid yourself of any hazardous materials – There are some things that can’t be moved, and you have to handle them carefully. Figure out the way that you can dispose of those things such as half-full lighter fluid bottles and leftover gasoline in a gas can.
7. Practice the new commute – Take some time to find out the amount of time it’s going to go back and forth to work from your new house. Begin the day early so that you can see the time you’ll need to leave to get to work on time. Then drive home to see how long it takes you to get home.
8. Put aside valuables – Place valuable items like jewelry, birth certificates, and other important things in a small safe or separate box which will remain with you during your move. Put them aside early and make sure they stay with you instead of in your moving truck.

One Week Before You Move After You Sell Your House

1. Speak with your moving consultant – This is something that the majority of moving companies assign you. Go over the move details a final time with the consultant.
2. Prepare the records – Print 2 or more copies of the deal with your mover.
3. Communicate with friends & family – Tell them the new address, whether you do it more formally or through an email.
4. Prepare for anything unexpected – Fill up any of the prescriptions you are going to need during your move. These are things like bandages, snacks, water, etc. Drain the oil and gas from your heaters and lawnmower. Also, think about getting traveler’s checks or cash for any expenses during your move.
5. Empty & defrost the fridge – This should be done at least a day before you move. This is going to require some planning of meals for those days you’re still in your old place. Any of the perishables that haven’t been used, will need to be tossed. This is also true for anything in your pantry.
6. Set the schedule for moving day – Start out with when you expect the movers to get there as well as depart, and schedule other things, like a final inspection.
7. Have a backup plan – Have some flexibility, since you are going to probably have some delay that you can’t control.
8. Do a final reading of your meter – Request a representative from your utilities to do one last meter reading. This is going to help you avoid paying for anything you didn’t use.
9. Begin cleaning – Prepare for the last walk-through and clean the house. Concentrate on the bathrooms and kitchen. Broom sweep floors before leaving.
10. Gather key copies – Return the keys to the realtor or landlord so that they can give them to the home’s new occupants.
11. Take out some cash – It’s a good idea to tip the movers. So you want to take cash out.

Moving day

1. Protect your old place – Even though you’re leaving, the last thing you want is to damage the place. Put down floor, door frame, and carpet protectors through the house before your movers begin.
2. Give your movers room – If the movers are professional, they know how to do their work. They are going to pack up the stuff in the way.
3. Check the place again – Check every closet and room to ensure that nothing is forgotten.
4. Save receipts – It’s possible that the moving expenses are tax-deductible. That is why you want to keep your receipts.
5. Take valuables with you – Remember that box we mentioned above? This is what needs to go with you. whether it’s going in the vehicle or in carry-on luggage.
6. Get to the new place before the movers – This will let you direct your movers on where things go. The labeled boxes are going to help. However, you will want to establish each room’s baseline.
7. Unpack essentials – This is where your essential box will come in handy. This will help you with having a good night’s sleep in your new home. start to unpack and get things ready.

We hope that you found this checklist for a moving timeline after you sell a house helpful. Are you ready to sell your house but having trouble finding someone to buy it? If so, we are happy to help you. contact us here to get a cash quote for your home. You don’t have to do any repairs or anything. We make it simple and quick to sell your home.