Congrats on a new home!

Well, start accumulating some boxes,newspapers, and bubble wrap. The only thing that might take some work is finding boxes. Talk to friends. I talked to my supermarket the last time I moved, and you have to go very early morning to get boxes since they restock overnight and mostly crush the boxes. Another good place for sturdy boxes is a wine store.

Or, you can go to place like U-Haul or storage building and buy boxes.

I definitely recommend professional movers the day of the move. The best money ever spent.

I would do the math first, so you can fully know how much this move is going to cost. Will you do a conditional offer, or buy it outright , you might have to carry 2 homes for many months. Also factor in installation, reconnection costs in the new home; a RE agent should be able to provide you with typical closing costs, etc.

As far as packing goes, you could pack as much as you can yourself but invest a certain amount for professional packers at the end, possibly leave all your kitchen to be packed by them the day before moving.

Also keep in mind that you would possibly be packing while the home is still on the market, how would that work?

good luck on getting the house you desire, this is so exciting !

I have always packed myself, regardless of moving companies. Let them do it a couple of time and trying to find things was a mess. They tend to top off boxes with things that don't belong together.

Walmart early in the morning is a good place for boxes. Also copy paper boxes for books, heavy items, files, computer accessories. Craigs list has a lot of free moving boxes you can pick up. I wouldn't worry about the boxes being broke down, takes less room to get them home. Make sure you have tons of tape, marking pens and packing material. I've also used a lot of towels for packing breakables.

I pack according to the room things are going to and use large black markers identifying by Room 1,2, etc. When I get to the new home each door to a room has a sticky note saying which room number. One of the reasons I ended up with this was from a couple of prior moves, the boxes were marked as to contents. Every move was missing a box with expensive items. Those guys are moving so fast you have no time to match the little squares with numbers on them. And your exhausted by the time it is over.

If you are packing expensive art, it is worth buying the boxes specifically for these.

Think of packing as a time to enjoy your treasures. Like packing a present for yourself. Sometimes I do this when cleaning, forgotten treasures walked past, then finding a memory and why it is placed where it was.

Try craigslist for boxes, and sell your boxes there when you are finished.

We packed ourselves once, but the two pros we hired last time did it in a fraction of the time, very orderly, no breakage. Well worth it.

Start getting rid of almost everything now. It is nice to start out fresh.

Good luck

This is an excellent time to walk around your home -- sit in every room and do lists of things that places/items need to be cleaned; places that need to be organized; need to be donated or even thrown away or taken to the dump....

You may wish to rent a storage space to stash the packed boxes or to stash extra items that might be cluttering your home as you prepare to sell it .... and will act as a "holding tank" for in-between times ....

You may wish to create a Master List for Each and Every Room .... type it into the computer; run it off and place it into a huge binder ....

Next -- create list for the New House (congratulations!) -- of Things to Do; Possible Furniture Placement etc.

Next -- decide:

a)Do You Want to Pack All Boxes and Move All Things?
b)Have Someone Else Move the Big Items and just take over all of the boxes?
c)Have Someone Pack and Move You?

Next -- and this is the big question: You must decide "What is Worth Moving ....And What Can Disappear!"
Not easy at all -- but save LOTS of time, sweat and effort ....

Congratulations again! And plase keep us informed of the your Move! :)

How exciting! New rooms to paint! But I am getting ahead of myself. Mitchdesj is right. You need to figure out the finances first.

You need to call three real estate agents and arrange for them to come to your house for an interview. Do that now, even before you are done cleaning. A good agent who knows your area can give you a ballpark figure of what your house is worth, then follow it up with "comps," comparable houses that have sold recently. The agent you select will guide you through the sales process.

Agent commissions are usually somewhere around 5-6 percent, which is then split 4 ways between the seller's agent and agent's company and the buyer's agent and company. You can ask the agent for a discount in representing you on the sale in exchange for using that agent in the purchase of the next house.

Real estate agents are self-employed and they range from fantastic to just plain awful. When I went through this a couple years ago, I liked the ones that had a team. One person did photos, one person did write-ups. Beware of part-timers and people who can't spell. Ask to see samples of their brochures. Look at current listings and take note of those you find professional and note the agent's name.

As for boxes, sign up for your local freecycle.org. Lots of people give away their moving boxes. And some people sell them on craigslist - you can sometimes buy 50 used boxes for $50.

Congratulations on finding your dream house.

In addition to those areas already addressed by other posters, don't forget about the expenses in your new home like window treatments and carpet cleaning or replacement.

If you have the budget, use professional packers and movers. They aren't perfect, but it's so much easier than trying to do it yourself. Another little tip for moving day in the new house is to tape a furniture arrangement plan to the top of each room's doorway oriented to how the room should look as you walk into it. That helps movers know exactly where to put your furniture.

Get rid of anything you don't intend to move. Get recommendations for movers and estimates from at least 2. Make sure they give you a "not to exceed" number.
I got a POD and packed it with things I was moving but could live without until the move, holiday items, clothes, big toys, good china and a few pieces of furniture. I took out pieces that I did not want to chance someone trying to negotiate into the deal. Then the POD was taken to storage.This made my house look like it had plenty of space for everything.
Luckily, the first couple that looked at it bought it!
Good luck with your move, Nan

Purge as you go. Have two or three separate piles - one for throwing away, one for recycling and one for donations. If you have kids who have moved out and some of the stuff is theirs - give it back to them.

I have always packed our own stuff but used movers to move the stuff. Mark each and everything that is in the pertinent boxes on the box or on a piece of paper taped to the box. Fill the different sized boxes with the proper weighted stuff - for eg - pillows and bedding can go in big boxes but books need to go in small boxes. After you've packed the box make sure you can lift it.

It terms of costs of moving - in our area it is expensive to move - taxes, redoing mortgages, commissions, movers, disconnecting and reconnecting of services, fees for forwarding mail, etc. And that is why we renovated instead of moving.

Thanks, everyone for your input.

Yes, cleaning and purging. Have a garage sale pile started.

We're going to get pricing for packing and moving. We have to hire movers.

I am concerned about how much it will cost to move - I know it's going to cut into overall profit on the sale but I think we've decided it will be worth it in the long run.

Have one agent scheduled one week from now. Will line up two more so we can make a good choice. Didn't think about that - called this one lady and I liked her but I should look at others.

Never thought about where the boxes were going to come from - like they fall from the sky or something. Duh. Might be another good reason for hiring packers/movers instead of just movers.

So much to think about and do. And I have to sell my house first!

I remembered there was an old topic on the forum about packing with some good advice. I thought it was a clever idea to also label the boxes with levels of priority in terms of opening them when you arrive at the new place.

Here is a link that might be useful: packing advice

Banana and cereal boxes are also sturdy - and free. But do watch for spiders in the banana boxes. Liquor boxes are perfect size for books (larger boxes get too heavy).

Purge, purge, purge.

Start a list of what needs to be repaired, etc before you put the house on the market.

I don't have any suggestions (yet) as most of what I was thinking has already been posted but I did want to offer a BIG CONGRATS to you, I am really excited for you!!!

Even if you pack most stuff yourself, you might want the moving co to pack breakable items--I think they are only insured against breakage if the company packs them. At least that's the way it was here 20 years ago when I last moved!

Congratulations on finding a great house. Now to get the one you have sold:

As you already are doing, it needs to be clean. Think of what impression someone would have when they come to look at your house. Take pictures, and you may see some things that need to be addressed that you don't normally notice. Are there any unfinished maintenance items that need to be done? You don't want potential buyers thinking that the house hasn't been kept up. Does the space look neat and spacious or croweded and cluttered? As others have said, purge things you don't need and aren't going to keep. For the things you won't need for a while, pack them up and maybe put them in storage. That way your house will look like you have plenty of storage space. When you hire a realtor, ask them if they see anything that should be addressed before the house is put on the market.

For packing boxes, those folded flat are fine as long as they are not ripped. Use 2" wide packing tape to assemble them (buy a tape dispenser). First tape the crosswise seam in the flaps, then also tape the side seams. The tape will look like an "H". This helps the box hold the weight of whatever you are putting in it. Many boxes have a stamp on them that tells you how much weight they can hold. Be sure not to overload them. With breakables, try to have at least a layer or two of paper between items. For very delicate items use bubble wrap. Try to pack boxes pretty completely to prevent items from banging around during transport. Put the heavier items on the bottom of the boxes, and in the case of fairly heavy items, fill the top of the box with lightweight items. Label the boxes with the contents, and also label which room in the new house they will go into. On our last move, I used different colored labels for each room so it was easy to see at a glance where each box needed to go. If you use common sense and imagine the contents of the box rattling around during transport, you should be able to figure out how much cushioning is needed for each type of item you're packing.

Good luck selling your house and moving into your new home.

I haven't moved in about forever- just wanted to congratulate you! I imagine that like most things, take one step at a time.

We moved out of our house 2 years ago for a whole house reno and then moved back in 6 months later. A lot of our stuff went into storage but I packed up most of our stuff put did have the movers pack up all of my good china and glass ware and wasn't the least bit worried. They use so much paper it would have taken a 9.0 earthquake to do any damage! They packed up so much stuff in 4 hours that would have taken me 2 days to do - well worth it. You can do that - just have them pack up certain things or certain rooms.

Two interesting things - when we moved into our house 22 years ago some of the packed boxes that we had went straight into storage cupboards. I had a 22 month old and a new born and getting the house up and running was the main priority. Fast forward 22 years and those boxes still hadn't been unpacked (they contained wedding presents unfortunately) and so we just donated the stuff. The same thing happened this time - we've been back in the house almost 2 years and still haven't unpacked all the boxes - we just have too much stuff.

My point is to be ruthless about purging.

My son is putting his house on the market in Feb. Already they've purged a LOT of stuff, and the house is already staged. They boxed up a lot of things which are stored in the garage, donated things to GW, and sold stuff on Ebay and Craigslist.

They've taken all the pictures off the walls except for a few.

If you are definitely going to sell soon, that's where I'd begin. You can always buy boxes too.

Thanks for all the info and ideas.

Been busy cleaning. I am purging more ruthlessly because of your input. If there's any question, it's going and I know that would not have been the case. It's kind of fun!

My family is pissing me off, however. Two boys and one DH could all be doing more to help get this house ready to sell. We're all on the same page about moving. When we were looking for houses I really thought the boys would be somewhat emotional about moving. Not at all. Every house we visited, they were choosing bedrooms. That's when I knew moving was something we should pursue - we're perfectly happy in this house but no one seems terribly upset by the idea of leaving.

But geeze o-pete I can't do it all by myself. I swear I'm not going to pitch a fit. Breathing and suggesting (often) to-do items from the list for them to GO DO!

Make the boys at least do their own rooms, getting rid of the stuff they don't want/need.

Load the car w/things you'll be giving away.

Hose down/sweep patio, sidewalks, driveway, etc.

Keep yard mowed and weeded.

That's a start. ;o)

I love moving! We have always done it ourselves, but until recently we only had basic furniture. I always take it as a chance to reassess my possessions and an opportunity to nest.

I use essentially this plan

Here is a link that might be useful: Flylady's moving plan

There are a lot of great moving boxes out there. I know I am sending tons to recycling every week.

With that being said, call local moving companies (the big ones) that do the corporate relos. Ask if they sell used boxes, or if they can pass your name along to someone moving into your area. I would be so happy to call someone up and give my boxes to them. We drag them to the curb every week and our township recycles them for us. Of course our movers would also come back and pick them up for us, but I cannot keep that many empty (flattened) boxes around.

It costs a lot to move. We paid nothing for our relo, they paid the commissions, the fees, the closing costs, etc. It is a lot of money, but you can try to recoup some of that on the price of selling your home.

Good luck and watch out for the tennis elbow from vacuuming. I speak from experience.

:)

Tennis elbow - lol @ bee! Can relate.

Don't think I mentioned the house next door is for sale right now - has been for a couple months.

So, guess what happened? Agent with whom I've yet to meet (appt is this Saturday) calls this morning and talks to DH. Asks if she can take pictures of our house to complete her presentation for us - not marketing pix - but us. DH said "fine". She goes on to say she is next door right now and and wants to snap a few. I hear DH say, "sure, no problem".

She then goes on to say -btw- she's out there with clients and they aren't interested in neighbor's but are interested in ours and wants to see it. DH says we're no where near ready to let anyone look but we can talk about it on Saturday.

This is what happened to me last time. Agent brought people thru before as much as a sign went in the yard and it took them six days to get everything arranged and sign the contract. The first people that looked at my old house bought it. We didn't have any idea where we we're going to live. It was a relo and it paid for temp housing for which I was very grateful. However, we lived in a Holiday Inn for 11 weeks. Two kids and a dog. I can't do that again.

My problem this time is the house that I like that started all of this crazy house selling business is just in the framing stage - a good 3 months from done.

These people may take one look inside and decide it's not what they thought.

Or, it could be deja vu all over again. (to quote Yogi Berra)

Wow. Exciting! It would be way cool to have those people give you a great offer. Even if the new house isn't finished, you could write it into the contract that you will be able to rent back your current house for x # of months after closing if need be.

I am so excited for you!

Can you ask her to cut her commission rate if they are the ones to buy it? Sort of like an exclusion clause. She essentially would not have to even market the house if they ended up your buyers.

good luck

I too thought about that, bee! We'll see if they still want to walk through and if so I will definitely ask that question. TY!

UPDATE - We're not moving now. Going to wait til March/April and see how we feel.

Agent did have a couple clients who wanted to see the house. But after looking at comps and knowing that appraisers are coming in with very conservative numbers, we're going to wait.

I'll find another house if that's what's meant to be.

My house looks fabulous, however! I feel so ready for fall and the holidays - it's awesome. Still have a to-do list of about 20 items. We're going to keep working on it so if we do want to move in spring, we'll be ready.

TY everyone!

I'm disappointed for you because you won't be able to buy the house you wanted, but I commend your positive attitude. It is nice to feel like you've cleared away some of the excess of your life, doesn't it?