Do your clients have Plans made for moving?

Bill,

You nailed it with this post. Its the last thing on their minds and can be panic inducing when they discover they overlooked it.

-Brent

This is so important. I have a mover I recommend early on to buyers so they don't run into this last minute planning.

William, starting the moving conversation early on is great advise, it is a huge job and sellers sometimes are unrealistic about the time and effort to get it done. 

It's very good advice to get specific with our sellers about what their plan is for moving out the house, this isn't something that you can just hope will solve itself, it has so many moving parts to it like you carefully mention.

Great post Will, you are truly correct sir.

Yeah, I secretly love the deer-in-the-headlights look when it becomes apparent to the seller they only have a couple of hours to move...

This is really good advice and something that many people don't give thought to.  When I bought my home in 1994, the seller had made no efforts to pack prior to COE and had made no arrangements for help.  This was a serious problem for us as we had an appointment for new carpets to be installed and needed to rip up the flooring in one room and paint all the rooms.  We compromised on her letting us rip up the floor but it took her 4 days to finally move the last of her belongings.  Here is SoCal it seems to be common to allow 3 days after COE.

Bill,

I always try to share the # of my favorite Fire Fighter Movers with new listings.  This give a little nudge in the beginning.

There worst case scenerio of any closing is the seller not out of the house in time.

I don't ask all of those questions, but have run into issues that might have been avoided if I had.  Thanks for a great post!

Hi William - I usually urge my clients to begin packing up even before the listing shows up in the mls.  Getting rid of clutter, collectibles, excess toys, etc will make the house more attractive and looking bigger, and when it sells, they will already be partially packed for moving. 

Some of my sellers really get into the program and pack up everything they can live without for a couple of months and put it n a storage unit.  When it's time to move to their new home, the movers can quickly move out the rest, pick up the boxes from storage, and the hourly rates for moving will be reduced.  We also have a relationship with a local mover to get a discount for our clients, and I give clients that info if they want to use it.

Hi William,
Thanks for sharing your pre-moving checklist.
Moving can be less stressful once things are planned and organized.
Have a wonderful week!

William - These are great recommendations for helping our clients and preventing snags at the end.

William, I've never had a seller that didn't have a moving plan in their head when they listed (well, let me take that back... I had one).  I can see this as a hand-out at the listing appointment.  thanks for great post.

Bill, great post, and congrats on the feature.  Do you offer the phone numbers for the dumpster vendors?

I had this happen one time.  It was a very rense situation that finally played out OK but with the seller paying a large sum.

Great system William, it prevents a lot of future headaches when a good plan is submitted and followed up on like this.  It sounds like you do need to share this plan with the sellers agent occasionally though.