Save Money on Your Next out of State Move

No matter how you slice it, moving is expensive. It is also not very much fun. There is no such thing as a cheap and easy move.

That said, it doesn’t have to be unbearable. There are many things you can do to alleviate some of the expense while making things a little less painful. The art of the possible is a matter of well-considered compromises. Here are a few that will help you make the big move while keeping a little money in your pocket:

Consider More Than Price

In big moves across great distances, there is a good chance than not everything will make it in tact, and that’s if it makes it at all. The losses can add up to a devastating total. You reduce your chances to suffer these types of losses by using professional movers. And in the event of such a loss, you have insurance options that can rectify the situation.

With a discount mover, what you gain on price will be lost in damaged and missing items. There is also the matter of costs associated with being late at either end. Professional movers like North American Van Lines are much more likely to offer on-time guarantees, and keep from costing you the extra money that quickly overwhelms any discounts you might get from other services. Saving on price is not the only way to save on a mover.

Rent out Your Old House

Everyone has the fantasy of selling their old home just as they are about to move into the new one. But that is simply not the reality most of the time. There is either a lengthy period of time in which you are losing money on the house while it sits empty and watching the property value diminish, or you sell too quickly for fear that a better offer may not come along.

This panic selling or value drainage can be eliminated by renting your home when you move out of state. You don’t have to manage the property yourself. You can have a property management company do it for you. Empty houses lose property value, and also bring down the value of surrounding homes. If you happen to be in a down market, a rental can be just the thing to help you wait it out.

Don’t Move Items You Don’t Have to Move

One of the most money-wasting parts of any move is moving things that you would have been better off leaving behind. Why not have a yard sale before the big move? Not only does that help you clarify what is really important to you, it puts money directly into your pocket that you can reinvest in better movers.

Rather than cutting away some of that old furniture from our lives, we allow sentimentality to make us hang on to things that are past their time. We will do the unthinkable and put these things into longterm storage. It starts off as a short-term thing. But finances are tight. We have already bought new furniture for the new place. And suddenly, it becomes even harder to work that old stuff back into our lives.

By failing to cut the ties early on, we create an additional expense and hardship that could have been completely avoided had we sold those difficult items when we had the chance, and when it would have done us the most good.

Moving out of state carries challenges that local moves do not:

  1. They are more expensive.
  2. They make it difficult to settle details after the fact.
  3. They tend to have more emotional resonance.

Make them more bearable by getting a quality mover, rent rather than quick sell your house, and sell off your excess rather than move it.