Given my husband, we would plan ad nauseum.
He would have a job, I would not, unless he finally decides to retire.
The long timing of preparations would be agony for me.
(Our move here was long. We lived in a nearby retirement home for 4 months because it was cheap. Our furnishings were in storage for 6 months. Closing of the house sale was FIVE months for the people leaving this place.)
I'd be inclined to visit the area once or twice, choose an area to live in, return home and pack and GO!
Family and friends would not be a significant part of his decision.
Grandchildren would be a huge part in mine.
I might talk to several real estate people about the local situation. There's plenty of info on the web! DD & DSIL found their house on the web. They knew what they wanted, knew the finances of it all, and bought the first house they saw that suited them. At the time, houses there sold within 3 days of listing.
The garden situation would affect me. I'd want to know what direction the garden faced, the zone, etc.
I sure don't look forward to our next move. It will be terribly difficult to organize unless we have a farm auction first!

When I moved here from California, I was young, didn't have much stuff, and took 6 weeks off between destinations (travelled by car and stopped to see sights like what's on the corner in Winslow, AZ)....I also had an advocate that helped transition me from military to civilian life, and she helped:

Get a moving company to come in and pack my things in CA. When we arrived in MA, I called and they brought my things and unpacked them. This was a large expense, but well worth it.

I did do background checks on the various companies available to me - I remember some being really bad.

In short, I'd try to plan with a large monetary and time cushion - as much as possible and more! At this stage in the game, I might try to sell as much as possible and move with less :)

I had a rental lined up when I moved here (hated it, but I lived through it and bought my first home within 6 months).

That's all I can add....hopefully someday I'll be selling everything and moving to a boat or home in a warmer clime :)

Saucy

PM, my husband and I moved a fairly long distance when we cam to Napa in the 80's. We had two small children. We visited here several times, and then subscribed to the local newspaper. We did not put our house on the market till one of us had a job.If the house had not sold I would have stayed behind till it did.As it happened our house was on the market for less than a week. Our realtor in San Diego gave us a referral and an agent up here rented a condo for us that would take pets (we had two cats at the time).We had movers, but my husbands new employers picked up part of the tab. Like Saucy, we would have forked out for the movers in any case. We got pre-qualified for a loan before looking for a house here-we only stayed in the rental condo for 3 months. I say if you have children, someone needs to nail down a job, or else you need enough cash to live on for at least a year. My two cents!

Kathy in Napa

Oh...and we sold our house before buying so we knew how much we had to work with.

DH's new job paid for storage and moving! A godsend!!!

We sold and bought with real estate people. In the past DH wanted to do all that ourselves...and we did everything privately, but this time around I asked him PLEASE, NO! Our agent here was excellent and managed to get us into our new place in May so that I wouldn't lose out on the gardening season. She understood!!! (DH didn't get it...)

So some of you have made big moves. I wonder if it was nerve wracking at the time or exciting. Although I never moved across country, when I was growing up, my parents moved quite a bit. Our friends used to tease us that they had run out of room in their address book pages for our updated information. [g] Ten moves in the last ten years before I was married. I was tired of living out of boxes so when I did get married, one of my goals was not to move for awhile and we have lived in the same house for thirty years. :-)

Great information. Would love to know what were the motivations for your moves, was it a better opportunity for work, or change in climate or to be closer to family?

I would be the planner in the family...ad nauseum would exactly represent what some members of the family would use to describe it. [g]

There are so many 'Best Places to Live' lists. I keep looking them over, but after awhile my eyes are crossing with information overload.

So enough savings to pay all your expenses for a year? That could end up being a chunk of change. Did any of you actually get specific estimating what it was going to cost you to live....rent/utilities/food etc?

What made you leave California for New England, Saucy?

Kathy...the local newspaper is not quite as useful as it was in the 80s, is it? [g] Nice if your company is going to relocate you, that is the big piece of the puzzle.

pm2

DH took early retirement from the University of Toronto (for various reasons) but wanted to continue to teach full time. We investigated the University of Victoria and Waterloo University where he knew people and respected the departments there. He chose the second one, so I didn't get to garden in BC!
At the time my mother's care near Buffalo was important to me and I did NOT want to move as far as BC. Our children are in Boston and Alberta, now, so no place is convenient for visits.

DH is very specific about finances. Which can be good. He budgets quite strictly, invests his own money (though these days that is a gloomy business) and plans retirement expenses. If only he knew the actual dates of our demise it would help his calculations! He has always gone by the philosophy of having at least one year's income set aside in case of disaster. And we pay cash for everything- which often means waiting to make a purchase, or not making one at all.

The move from Toronto to a rural area was a big change in life style...that I was pushing for. DH now loves it, though he would have been content anywhere. Returning to the city would be a struggle for me. Each visit I physically notice the effects of pollution, noise etc. Having a moving company take charge of our possessions made it a far more relaxing move than I anticipated! The kids were no longer at home. There was a cat involved though. Nothing was lost or broken. They were solid companies that work for the university. I packed NOTHING. I did have a garage sale before that.
I am usually very easy about moves as I can take or leave possessions. I can travel spontaneously with only a small suitcase. Must be residue from my Peace Corps days. I loved traveling in Asia with the kids. If we needed something, we bought it. Later, in India, we carried next to nothing with us except for DH's clothes as he was evaluating a conference and needed to look respectable, but I bought a sari for the one occasion where I needed to look dressy.

The next move will be very anxiety producing. Too many THINGS, WHERE? A nursing home? a small house? near one of the children? In Canada? UGH. I'm avoiding even thinking about it. Our wills are made though and up to date. Some folks select their new area by climate, others by activities like golfing, skiing, whatever.

ROFLOL....'if only he knew the actual dates of our demise it would help his calculations'

You are so funny Gardenbug! :-)

PM, Nick is from MA....we met in Chicago, married in San Diego, had Jake in San Diego. Once there was a grandchild involved it seemed important (mostly to our families....we would've relo'd to a warmer place) that we be near a family support system. It has been good for us, though sometimes I look back and wish I'd spoke up for myself more....New England is not exactly the place for someone who struggles with the winter blues.

Lots of good advice here mostly along the same lines :) GB, I would like to live in a quieter place, but I often think Nick would suffer (and therefore make me suffer :) if he wasn't so close to "town."

Though I've not moved really long distance, since my 2000 divorce I've moved 5 times and learned a few essentials:

1. Be sure you have a place to move into before you leave.
2. Do not count on anyone to be of any real help except a professional moving company.
3. Plan on it costing at least 1.5 what you'd think it will cost.
4. If kids are involved, pack a box with some chosen stuff to keep them busy both on the road and upon arrival. Gives them a sense of familiarity and keeps them out from underfoot.
5. Know why you're leaving, or why you're going to where you're going. I have a lot of friends who just decided they were tired of being where they were, made hasty decisions about places they thought they'd like to live, and have been trying to get back to New England ever since.
6. Look at real estate sites, a lot. Find out if housing is accessible and affordable and meets your needs. An "affordable" house in Connecticut will be half the size of an "affordable" house in Iowa.

Hope this helps.

Martie

All the distance moves (New Brunswick to Nova Scotia to Montreal to Toronto) I've done were in my student days when I didn't have much to move. Our last move was between two houses in the same town. But we did a 'full pack move' where the moving company did all the packing. We ended up having a 6 week delay before being able to move in here so it was simple to tell the moving company to just put it all in storage and then, later, to say 'deliver it [here] on this date...' If we ever move again, it would definitely be a 'full pack move' - it's worth the cost - and it wasn't that much more. Randy's parents moved a lot and always did the full pack move, including at times shipping cars. It makes everything else so much simpler.

Such a long distance between choices, Gardenbug. So it would seem that now you are half way between both children. DD is in Alberta? I don't know why I thought she was closer to you than that. Is BC better for gardening?

Sounds like your DH is a very smart person to keep finances in such control. If there is any area of life that needs the control, to me it is that. It must give all of you a lot of security.

I don't think I have ever lived in a rural area. I sometimes wonder if I could get used to it.

I agree about the next move being anxiety producing. I'm avoiding thinking about it most of the time too. [g]

Saucy....are you orignially from California? Even though it isn't warm here, it's usually a blessing for the kids to have extended family nearby that they can get to know. At least you get your vacations in a warmer climate. :-) Have you tried taking up a winter sport yet? I've known people who were much happier in New England when they did.

Martie....lots of good ideas there. It does seem that making a major move like that can often take on a life of it's own. Things can conspire to keep you there once you are there. Good tip about the kid's box. I used to do that for my kids too, when we would go visit family or take a trip. I pack up a library book bag for myself for traveling, with the camera, hair brush, a good book, etc.

I am going to have to keep 'the full pack move' in mind when and if, Woody. What I would not look forward to is going through the house to get ready for the move. The attic and the basement especially. [g]

Thanks for sharing...!
:-)

Long LOST post here. ARGHHHHH!

Maybe I'll find it in me to add here later.

Ah moving strategies, wish I had one. Our neighborhood is getting worse and worse. More unsafe and bad neighbors, but our house is payed for and I love my gardens which make it hard to leave. We have been looking around and found a house that would be perfect for us. Problem is the real estate market here in MI is really bad to sell our house and Brad works at a truck plant which isn't the most secure place to be employed these days. We've decided to work on our house over the winter to get it ready and reassess things in the spring. Here's some pics of the house we would love to snap up. It has 2 acres that are pretty much a blank slate to garden and even a 30x40 barn that I would love to get my hands on and fix up a bit.

Eden

Here is a link that might be useful: house

Eden, I love my garden too, and I know that it will be sad to leave it when the time comes, but I believe that the garden is in fact the gardener; the garden will go with us wherever we go , and the excitement of making a new garden will help to soften the hurt of abandoning one that in my case I have worked on for 15 years. The new garden will be a discovery, learning the site and what effects the sun and climate has, the soil ,the views.. a journey of discovery !

Kathy in Napa

Most people are of the impression that a move across town is not that time consuming as an interstate or international move. However no matter what move you have to make, the stress related to it is the same. By hiring local movers, they will take care of your packing, loading and unloading while you can take care of other work.

1) On hiring movers to help with your move, its better to get in touch with them well in advance. Once you approach them, they will send over representatives to give you a moving estimate.

2) Taking a look at your possessions, they will be able to decide how much time they require to pack your stuff, how much packing material they will require and decide how many moving trucks they will need to move your possessions.

3) Distance is a very important factor to consider while choosing movers as most movers consider only moves within a hundred mile radius to be a local move. Moreover, find out if the local movers charge by the hour, or if they charge a flat fee. Some local movers include packing material and services in their moving estimate while some of them add them as extra charges.

4) Its better to choose local movers in close vicinity instead of one located far away as it's easier for both you and their workers. Being located near you, they find it easy to guide you through your moving process, and to solve any problems you may encounter during the packing and moving process. Moreover, local movers located near you are more economical as they don't have to spend so much time and money travelling to and from their company to your place.

5) It is always better to ensure your movers are insured and registered with local authorities as they will be handling your expensive possessions. With insurance, they will be liable to make payments in case anything breaks during the move. By hiring registered companies, if any disputes or damages arise during the move, you will be able to easily contact and deal with them.

6) It's always better to hire movers testified by friends, family and neighbors. To be on the safer side, it is better to check with the Better Business Bureau to verify and cross check some references.

7) Last, but not least, make sure you get everything associated with the move in writing with the movers before the move. This includes the terms, conditions and all information related to moving estimates of the move.

Thanks,
Mark

Houston Moving Serviceshref>

Here is a link that might be useful: Houston Moving Services