a little help??

[mrsvargas]

Hi ladies,
I just found out that my husband is being transferred to Atlanta. We currently live in the Chicago suburbs so this is a big change. We need to sell our house and buy another and move by February. Can anybody give me some suggestions on how to do this frugally and/ or any advice on the Atlanta area from members who live there? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
mrsvargas

[inneedofhope]

selling a house can take a long time. since time is an issue the first thing i would suggest is finding yourself a good realtor to list your house with.
Get online and start looking at the local tourism and chamber of commerce sites for your new town.
It's late in the season to do a moving garage sale, but you could get some extra stuff off to consignment shops or listed on ebay or freecycle to reduce what you'll be moving.
Good luck!

[lizard22]

I agree with getting the house on the market ASAP.

A good realtor will also offer suggestions on how to prep your home for maximum value (declutter, paint, etc.)

You want to make any necessary repairs before you show your house to prospective buyers. This greatly decreases areas for negotiations on price.

Decluttering will lower your moving costs. Less to pack, less to ship etc.

Have DH ask around the office for some co-workers he might be able to call in the Atlanta area. Their spouses are usually more than willing to help.

If his company has a relocation department contact them. They will also let you know of any expenses that the company will cover for the move. If they don't offer any relocation expense information ASK. Just because they don't mention it does not mean they don't offer it.

We moved overseas for a year with my husband's job back in 2000. By not asking about comapny covered costs to move we missed out on having belongings shipped there. Try traveling alone with two small children and 5 suitcases. We took advantage of the perk on the relocation back to the States.

If you have school aged children I suggest you start to research areas near Dh's job that have good schools. You can then contact the school directly, tell them of your situation and ask for any information regarding test scores, class size etc.

Use your computer. Almost every town has their own web page. It is priceless. It will cover municipalities, schools, taxes demographics and anything else you can think of.

I hope this offered some kind of help!

Good Luck!

[couponchic]

If you are planning on buying a house before you actually move to Atlanta, you probably would want to get preapproved with a mortgage company. That way, you will know how much house you can afford. The other benefit to being preapproved is if you make an offer on a house and someone who is not preapproved makes an offer, the seller might choose your offer because they know you can afford/have the financing for it.

[peanut]

A frugal move? Declutter. Get rid of excess stuff or stuff that can be replaced cheaply at the other end.

Box your own stuff. Use towels and sheets, etc. as wrapping. Keep a list of what's in what box on a clipboard. On the box only put numbers that correspond to the list. Otherwise you might find yourself missing electronics equipment at the other end.

Use an independent mover instead of a big name company. Or move yourself. Depends how much stuff you have and how many friends/family to help load and unload.

Don't box things you don't have to. If your dresser drawers are full, leave them that way. Don't pull out the clothes and pack them in boxes. That takes up more space in the moving truck. Movers don't like that.

Plan take out on moving day OR arrange to have friends help and have a potluck at someone's place that night.

Pretend you're packing for a camping trip and have food in the cooller with ice paks to see you through the move. Keeps you from buying stuff en route.

When we moved here we actually rented a studio apartment for one month until we found a house we liked. People were horrified we didn't move into a house right away, but I'm glad we didn't. Some of the locations we were shown were really bad. We'd have never been able to resell those houses. By treating our time in the studio like one long Brownie camp, our family found a much better home in a much better location within our price range. Once we were on location, we had the opportunity to look around more carefully before investing our money in a home.