“What’s taking so long?” I grumbled.
Diana and I were newlyweds, looking for our first home. I’d walked through the house briskly noting the necessities. Roof, garage, furnace? Check, check, check. Ok, done. Meanwhile, Diana was evaluating each room with the intensity of a diamond cutter.
“Shh!” the realtor said. “Give her time! She’s imagining your furniture – and your future – in this house.”
Moving to a new home is a major life event. It can be physically, emotionally and financially challenging. Over the years at FCG, we’ve become experts in helping our customers over these hurdles, whether they’re navigating a corporate transfer across the country, upgrading into a bigger family home or downsizing after the kids have grown.
Here are some tips we’d like to share:
- Consider your new home – and how you want to live in it. Are you moving from a formal suburban colonial to a casual oceanfront cottage? A sprawling single-family home to a compact city condo. Are you shrinking square footage or expanding? These questions will help you determine whether some of your furniture – or any of it – will work in your new home.
- Don’t delay. As soon as you list your current home for sale, contact FCG. We can help you determine the value of your furniture. Some pieces may have limited resale potential. Others could generate cash quickly. Our promise: we’ll be prompt and honest with our evaluation.
- Coordinate with your realtor before you move the furniture. Most realtors will want to stage your home to appeal to potential buyers. Few want to sell an empty house. Your realtor may want you to keep some furniture in place for showings while getting rid of oversized or outdated pieces.
- The P&S is the trigger. Once you have a “purchase and sale agreement,” you have a sharply defined timeframe. That’s when you’ll need a precise moving plan. If you haven’t yet contacted FCG, send us an email with a link to your home listing. Based on the listing photos, we can evaluate your furniture for possible consignment.
- If you do decide to put furniture in storage for a time, take photos – and make some notes about the size and condition of the pieces. Trying to remember the dimensions of a beloved china cabinet in storage is difficult when you’re in that new home. So grab that camera or cellphone before the moving van arrives. Later, if you decide your furniture won’t work in your new home, you’ll have the info we’ll need to decide whether those pieces can be sold at FCG.
- In fact, catalog everything that is going into storage. Label boxes clearly. You’d be surprised how quickly you’ll forget what is stacked in the farthest corners of the unit. Storage is expensive; fees run about $150 a month and up. Do you really want to pay to store those old board games?
Over the years, we’ve helped thousands of customers with their moves. We can help take some of the stress out of a move. As you plan this next new phase of your life, let us put our experience to work for you.
