The process of selling a home is one that millions will have to go through at one time or another. There is a lot of paperwork, a lot of meetings, plenty of viewings, and often a lot of negotiating to be done before the home is eventually sold.
Whether you sell your house to a family, or a company that bought your home for cash, your next step will be to move. Unfortunately, the moving process can be just as busy and stressful as selling your home if you’re not careful.
In an effort to help you out, this article is going to go over five great pieces of advice for moving after selling a home.
Start Early
Perhaps the best piece of advice is to start the process early. If you leave everything until the last minute, you are sure to forget or miss something. Now, this doesn’t mean you need to pack up everything months in advance. However, you should have a plan for how you want to move, and how many boxes you may need, and slowly organize how things will be packed up.
You want to begin decluttering early, and start thinking about the overall costs of moving, so you can prepare for them. Of course, you can begin packing up some things you don’t use, but want to keep. The earlier you start creating a plan or moving list, the better the overall process is likely to go.
Find Things to Sell, Donate, or Leave Behind
Another piece of advice is to be selective about what you bring to your new home. Many of us have a ton of junk or other items we hardly use, but haven’t gotten rid of. Moving is the perfect reason to get rid of it. So before you pack things up, go through everything you own and decide whether it needs to come with you. There is a good chance you’ll find dozens of items that don’t.
For the things you don’t want, you have a few choices of what to do with them. You can sell them for a bit of extra cash, donate them to a worthy cause or even leave them for the next owner (if they’re okay with it). This will make it much easier to reduce clutter in your future home, as well.
Ensure You Have Lined Up Some Help
Even if you don’t have a lot of things, trying to handle a move all by yourself will be challenging. There is a lot of stuff to move, many of which will be large or heavy. If you don’t want to spend a ton of time (and energy) moving on your own, be sure to line up some help.
This could be a group of friends or even some professional movers. This can help the move take much less time and be much easier to handle and complete. Of course, if you go with a professional, be sure to choose a reliable company and do your research.
Clean as You Pack
When you move out of a home, it is crucial that you leave it clean and spotless, and in good condition for the next owner. In most cases, people will leave most of the cleaning until the end and handle it at all once.
But instead of leaving all the cleaning until this point, consider cleaning the home as you pack up for the move. While some cleaning may not be able to be done until the home is nearly empty, there is plenty you can do beforehand. By cleaning as you pack and go through your items, you can make the final move-out cleaning list easier to manage and handle. Also, implementing the most suitable method to declutter your home could leave a whole new mark on the selling process.
Disconnect or Transfer Your Utilities
Another thing that you need to keep in mind when moving after a home sale is to disconnect or transfer all of your utilities. This includes your power, internet, phone, water, and others. This can be a lot of work and can require many different calls or emails, but is crucial to ensure you can get them all set up at your new home.
If you forget to do this, it can lead you to still end up paying for utilities at a place you don’t even live anymore. Also, don’t forget to change your address to ensure all mail ends up going to the proper place.
In conclusion, we hope these tips and pieces of advice have been able to help you have a successful move after selling a home.
