Moving Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make

When Jennifer Weeks and her husband moved from Washington, D.C., the movers were in a hurry when the truck arrived in Watertown, Mass. With two more stops to make that afternoon, the men said Jennifer didn’t need to worry about checking off every item by its numbered sticker on the inventory sheet. “They’ll take care of it if anything’s missing,” he told her.

“We let them pressure us into signing quickly (that the move was complete),” remembers Weeks. “And sure enough, a large carton that contained my entire CD collection was missing. The moving company refused to pay for it because we hadn’t noted it on the delivery form. Based on this experience, I will always check off every single item upon delivery if and when I move again, no matter how long it takes and how impatient the crew.”

Probably every day, somewhere in the country, people like Weeks learn the hard way about moving mistakes. Even do-it-yourselfers can make goofs, too. For instance, when one couple was moving from Phoenix to Lake Tahoe, they misjudged the size of the truck they needed to rent. They wound up having to leave some belongings behind. And while they had a place to store it, another trip back and forth — and another truck rental — isn’t anyone’s idea of fun.

It’s not just the act of moving that is ripe for error. The choice you make in where you’re moving can present problems, too.

When my husband and I moved from West Palm Beach, Fla., to a small town in western Colorado, we saw nice, big public parks and a huge public swimming complex and assumed it would be a good place for a young family. But the city was filled mostly with retirees and people who’d lived in the town all their lives — and most of those young families didn’t seem interested in making friends with newcomers.

In that same city, we also found a gorgeous 1920s house we loved, remembering how much everyone in our old Florida neighborhood coveted historic homes and enjoyed fixing them up. But when it came time for us to leave Colorado, we learned the hard way that people moving in and around that city preferred the subdivisions with spanking new homes — there just wasn’t an active market there for old homes. It took us nine months to sell our five-bedroom house.

How can you avoid making mistakes when you’re gearing up for a move?

Get References

“Next time, I’ll get multiple references when I book movers — this was a mid-sized regional company that we didn’t check out thoroughly,” Weeks remembers. Just as you’d get references with the company that moves your belongings, take similar care when choosing a new city. Read the area’s local newspapers, talk to moms outside the school where your kids would go, knock on the doors of your potential new neighbors. Ask what people like and don’t like about the city. A Chamber of Commerce is a good place to get detailed information about a town, but remember: Their job is to entice companies to move to a city, so they will paint a pretty picture. Use any information you get there as a launching pad for questions of your own.

Do Your Homework

Study a moving company’s contract in detail. Is the price truly guaranteed, or is there a chance it will increase upon delivery? Exactly what insurance are they offering, and will it really cover your losses if something happens? Are they guaranteeing an arrival day, or will you possibly be sitting in your new home with no belongings for a few days? Just as you’d check the Better Business Bureau to see if a moving company has any complaints against it, you’d want to check with the police station where you’re moving to find out what crime is like in the neighborhood you’re considering. Not only do you want to avoid being the victim of crime yourself, but a growing crime rate can have a negative effect on the value of the home you’re buying. Also check with the city or county’s planning and zoning department to find out if they’re anticipating making any changes – whether in rezoning near your new house to commercial, which might detract from the value of the home, or whether they’re considering widening small neighborhood streets to busier, four-lane traffic corridors.

Avoid Rushing

You’re more apt to end up with a moving company you don’t like — not to mention a house you don’t like — if you don’t give yourself time. When Darci Smith moved from Grand Rapids, Mich., to Chicago in 2004, an unexpectedly quick sale of her house meant she had just two days to find an apartment. “I found a nice place but didn’t take into account that it was a neighborhood that didn’t satisfy my reasons for moving to a big city. I couldn’t walk anywhere, and public transportation wasn’t convenient so I used my car every day,” she says. A year later, she bought a condo — making sure it was in the midst of a thriving area.

Time It Right

Summer tends to be the busiest and most expensive time to hire a moving company. (No one wants to lug sofas around or push dollies through snowy driveways.) If you have kids, though, summer is often the best way to avoid disrupting school. However, the younger your kids, the easier it is on them to move midyear; younger children aren’t quite as entrenched with cliques of friends, sports and after-school activities and they tend to make new friends easier. When you move midyear, they’ll meet new kids in school right away instead of having to slog through a summer alone.