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Downsizing

Posted on January 18th, 2012 No Comments

This is a guest blog post from Self Storage Finders, directory of storage facilities.

The economy has been sluggish for several years, another recession is looming and consumer confidence is still low. In these tough times, people are learning to do more with less. This is apparent in the trend towards smaller homes, apartments and condos. While downsizing sounds easy, there are certain things one should consider.

Where will you be downsizing to? Are you staying in the same area or moving out of state? When moving out of state you have to consider the costs, job market and schools for your kids. Are you going to purchase a home or rent? Is it better to rent a house, apartment or condo with your lifestyle?

If you plan to purchase a home, renting an apartment might be a good start. Renting first will give you a familiarity with the neighborhoods, schools, commute, shopping and safety issues before finding a more permanent place. Talk to co-workers and locals to learn more about the area and by the time you are ready to purchase a home, you’ll know exactly where you want to go.

You also have to consider what to dispose of and what to keep. Just because you are downsizing, it doesn’t mean you have to get rid of everything as some of your possessions will have meaning and value to you. Other items can be sold, donated or thrown out. Some of your larger items may not fit in an apartment but will be needed once you purchase a home. A Chicago storage facility or Los Angeles storage unit can be a good resource in these instances. Storage units are great during the relocation process, can be found easily and are usually relatively cheap.

Downsizing is a big change and it may take some time to adjust to your smaller living space. Be sure to no clutter your new space and your adjustment will go smoother and be less stressful.

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How to avoid moving scams

Posted on November 17th, 2011 No Comments

The following tips and advice can help you reduce the stress of moving your household to another city or state. First and most importantly, choose a professional moving company that can prove it is legitimate. The movers should come into your home and see how much there will be to move, and they need to visually inspect your household items in order to make an estimate.

Moving companies that do not write up an estimate are not legitimate, since this is a necessary first step in the moving process. Second, the movers should not require any down payment or deposit of any kind. This is the mark of a scammer—asking or pressuring the customer into believing that a down payment is part of the move. It is not. How are you to know that they will deliver your boxes and furniture once they have your money?

There are thousands of people who have fallen victim to this scam—they give the moving company money before the move and either never see that company, or their things, again, or the scammers show up at the new house asking for more money than the original amount that was quoted to the customer. In effect, they hold the customer’s furniture hostage, until their demands are met, which is illegal, but happens all the time. You can prevent this by making sure you know the moving company’s reputation, their physical address, their web site and their telephone numbers.

They must also have the right certificated and licenses. Ask for their DOT and MC license numbers. It is also helpful to research the company to see if there are any published complaints about them by previous customers and if so, what type of problems they encountered. Check with the Better Business Bureau as well. From local movers to car moving companies you must always look into their business before choosing them.

One more red flag that can help you to avoid being scammed by a moving company is if they advertise much lower rates than every other company that you have checked into. They may try to lure customers with attractive pricing, but a legitimate mover will always offer an estimate based on actual market values for their services, since there is a lot of competition among movers. If you find a mover and do not have much information about them, you can always check them out by searching the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration, (FTCSA), at www.fmcsa.dot.gov.

It is smart to visit a site like moversquote.org to get free mover quotes and compare them as the movers are pre-screened and licensed.

The guest post is provided by MoversQuote.Org.

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Hiring a trustworthy moving company

Posted on October 29th, 2011 No Comments

This articles was provided as a guest post by LowCostMovers.Org, moving portal of licensed and insured companies.

How do you find movers who can be trusted with your family’s treasured possessions? Look for cheap moving companies that are well-established and have offices all over the U.S. Check out the statistics regarding the number of satisfied customers they have served, and find out how many shipments they move each year. It pays to thoroughly investigate the moving company and know how many years they have been in business, too. Some other questions to ask are: how many drivers and vans do they have? Are all of their drivers certified, bonded and insured? Are the drivers required to pass stringent background checks as well? Have they been properly trained? Does the moving company ever hire subcontractors? If so, are those subcontractors also held to the highest professional standards? Are the subcontractors bonded? If not, then you might not want to hire that particular moving company.

If you need full service moving companies, make sure that the company provides packing, unpacking, storage, clean up, and any other services you require. Check into the amount and type of insurance that the moving company has, since that can vary greatly from one company to another, and you want to be sure that your movers have the best, most comprehensive insurance in case any of your belongings are lost or damaged during the move. Minimum insurance coverage, which is required by Department of Transportation law, might not be sufficient in all situations. Inspect the moving vans and trucks to be sure that they all have the company logo and are clean and look well-maintained. Keep a record of the mover’s DOT and MC license numbers. There is also a law that many customers may not be familiar with, which requires that the movers provide you with a booklet called, “Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move”. Read it before you move so you do not have any unanswered questions or concerns, and so you are not surprised by anything regarding your rights if there is a problem with the move or with filing a claim if necessary.

Keeping detailed lists of every box and item that you are moving, and take photographs of every antique and other object of particular value to you, to have peace of mind and know that you have done all you can to make your move easier.

Posted in Before You Move, Moving scams

Preparing for Long Distance Move

Posted on October 17th, 2011 1 Comment

Moving in general is a very stressful task; it is even more challenging when you have to move long distance out of state. When moving long distance, the key to a successful move is to plan ahead. You want to give yourself at least a month and a half (two months would be ideal) to get things together before moving day arrives. During the first few days of those two months should be spent trying to locate a long distance mover.

Experts would tell you that you should select at least five or six prospective movers before narrowing them to just two that you can work with and compare prices and services.

Most of the times word of mouth is the ideal way to find a long distance moving company. You can source numbers of long distance moving companies from your friends, families and work acquaintance. Their feedback about the company would go a long distance for you and would be part of the deciding factor. An internet research about a specific company can also help you determine if they are as good as they say they are. The reviews and testimonials about the company from previous clients would be enough indication if you should visit their office or move along to a next long distance mover.

Those companies that you visit in person would usually display their proof of legitimacy with an array of certificates on the wall or you would see their business license as well. However, you can still go that extra mile by checking up the company through the Better Business Bureau.

Once comfortable with the moving company and their rates, one of the first things you should do after setting a moving date is to get rid of the excess stuff you may have laying around the house. You can choose to either throw them away or put them in the hands of friends and relatives if they are in good condition. Since moving is costly, you may also want to consider selling off some of your stuff through a garage sale in order to recover your money. Once you have gotten rid of the clutter, the next thing to do would be to make a list of all the items that you now have in your home that you intend to take to your new home.

Next, make a list of the items that you are moving with before you start packing them in containers, boxes etc. Experts would advise that you pack room by room and well ahead in advance to avoid the rush. Use strong boxes; you can get them free at your neighbor grocery store and remember to bolster your breakables with bubble wrap or even with newspapers. As you pack, remember that you should not exceed 50 pounds per box; don’t forget to seal and label your boxes as well.

If you are mving with jewelry, documents and other personal effects, the best thing to do is to personally take it with you to avoid it being misplaced when you get to the new home. You should also travel with medications which should be stored in leak-proof containers.

Finally, a week before moving day, inform the utility cable and phone companies about your move so that you would no longer incur charges when you move. Depending on the state that you live in you may be able to transfer your service using the same provider; other times you have to create a new account with a competing company. Either way, ensure that the basic essentials such as lights, water and heat are functioning before you move in.

This is guest post from FindGoodMovers.com, moving portal of long distance movers.

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Across Country Moving Concerns

Posted on October 15th, 2011 No Comments

As most would imagine, moving across country can be a huge undertaking and with it comes twice the anxiety that one would endure even when moving within their own state. There are many things that could and have gone wrong on across country moves; some of which you can prevent ahead of time to eliminate further stress.

The moving company that you choose to relocate you and your family to another state can determine if your move would be successful or not. That’s why it is imperative that you properly screen the moving companies by making sure to do proper background checks and research on them. Without research, you could be putting your household items in the hands of a company that could either steal or damage your items; this is definitely not the way you envision your moving day.

Even with legitimate companies, there is always that chance of Murphy’s Law looming over your long distance move. Here are a few cross country concerns that most experience and ways in which you can handle them.

They say timing is everything when making a cross country move; unfortunately if you get all your things on the truck on time when moving day arrives, there is really no telling when your household items would arrive at your new home. In most situations, you have customers who get to their new place of residence well ahead of the moving vehicle; sometimes it can take hours, other times it can take days.

The main cause for scheduling problems is if the company has multiple clients that are moving around the same time. It would be wise to talk to the moving company ahead of time to guesstimate a time or amount of days that it would take them to deliver your items. Most movers usually give a window of three to seven days; if this is the case then you can find ways to work around that. Perhaps you can stay at a cheap hotel or bed and breakfast close to your new residence so that you can be on standby when the movers get there with your household items.

Secondly, another problem that can plague a cross country move is the exorbitant rate that you may be asked to pay. Because of the nature of the move to several miles away, it is quite easy for a moving company to inflate their prices on customers who do not know any better. Not only are customers charged with the moving fee but some moving companies are known for sneaking in moving supplies fees etc. and make the bill twice the amount that it really is. All this can be avoided if you initially get your moving company to supply you with a written estimate as well as a signed list of household inventory. On this paper there would be information about the total weight of your household items as well as the cubic feet. Always keep that document close to you; it would be the one thing that would prevent you from paying outrageous fees at the end of your move.

Theft is also a big concern in cross country moves as there are a lot of rouge movers who take the opportunity to steal from customers during transit. Again, this would be a good time to do your research on a few cross country moving companies before making a decision. The Internet is very useful in assisting you when it comes to getting more information about a specific moving company. There are two websites that currently provide moving customers with the evidence that they need to determine if a moving company is legitimate or not. They are the Better Business Bureau website at www.bbb.org and the Safety and Fitness Electronic Records (SAFER) System at www.safersys.org These are the sites where complaints are lodged about a specific long distance moving company that you may want to hire. It is also good to do background checks on the owner of the moving company as well as to see how long the company has been in business and their track records before you take that leap.

The worst thing that could happen is to complete your thorough research on the moving company and then find out that the work has been subcontracted to a company that specialize in long distance moving. In this situation, the moving company that you initially hire would move your household items only so far before reaching at a cut off point where the subcontractor takes your items the rest of the way. This is not a good scenario; you want to find out before hand if the original hired company would be getting your items directly from point A to point B. If this is not the case upfront, then you can always switch to another moving company that offers this service.

This is a guest post by Matt Hammerton, Marketing Manager of Cross Country Movers, the web company that provides moving leads.

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