Has anyone relocated with a family?

[mom of 2 boys]

My husband and I would like to relocate in a year or two. We would like to try to stay with his current company and transfer locations, but that might not end up being a possibility when the time comes. If that is the case, then he will have to line up a new job first. We will have to sell our house during this process as well. 

 

Has anyone done this? The process seems so daunting and overwhelming to me. If you could list the steps that you took to make this happen, I would appreciate that. Staying here long term is not really an option. The winters are long and harsh, and I don't want to live the rest of my life having SAD 7-8 months out of every year. 

 

How did you choose your location? 

Did you move before your house sold? If so, how did choose to handle maintenance from a distance? 

Did you immediately purchase another home in your new location, or did you rent first? 

 

Part of me wonders if it might make more sense to sell our house and rent locally first, just to keep the house headache separate from the actual relocating headache. But that sounds like a headache too, lol. 

 

Any tips / advice / personal experience stories would be very helpful! 

 

Thank you! 

[Laura Corin]

Several times. The first time with just a baby, we rented out our house, moved into short term accommodation at the new location, then rented long term.

 

Second move Husband and I went first for a weekend and found a place to rent. We later bought in that location.

 

Third move we rented out our flat, moved into temporary accommodation in the new place, then bought there. We later took a trip back to the old location to sell the flat.

 

We still own the very first property and rent it out.

 

How did we choose locations? Mostly they were chosen for us due to job opportunities. Move number two was the only one where we chose a place we already knew and liked.

Edited June 12, 2017 by Laura Corin

[QueenCat]

We've moved for new jobs. But it was the job that determined the location, not vice-versa. We didn't pick locations and then look for jobs there. Dh looks for jobs that would be wise career moves. When he gets them, we move. Usually, we've had to rent for a few months, with short term apartment leases,while waiting for a house to sell.

[regentrude]

We have moved to a different continent with small children. We did not get to choose the location; we went where the job was. (That is the standard in our circle)

We did not own a house back home.

In the new location, we rented first (6 mo lease) and started looking for a house once we had arrived.  We arranged the rental online with the help of a real estate agent DH had met on his interview visit. We moved into our premanent home after five months.

Edited June 12, 2017 by regentrude

[Lecka]

We just moved in March.

 

Do you have to have your equity from your current home to use as a down payment? That is a factor in people renting at the new location or sending their husband ahead to rent an apartment while showing the home.

 

If you moved there and spent 2-3 years settling in and then wanted to move again -- would this make sense? People who don't rent first (or already know the area) may be open to doing this. If this is unlikely to make sense for you, it may push you towards renting while getting to know the area.

 

Will any of your kids possibly attend public school? Then you may be more likely to buy into a district until your youngest child is through elementary school, and then move within town.

 

A lot depends on how much stuff you have, and how much money, and how much you can spend to smooth things over or if you would rather not.

 

But if you expect to pay 20% down and need to sell to come up with that amount ---- then that means you are probably going to rent first or send your husband ahead to a very cheap apartment while you show the house. (Edit -- or have a contingency in your contract that the sell on your current home goes through, when you are bidding on your next home.)

 

If homes sell very fast that makes a difference too.

 

Some people also rent in their old location if their house sells fast or if they need to move during a slow time of year.

 

It is a combination of choices and preferences, and what is affordable.

Edited June 12, 2017 by Lecka

[Arcadia]

How did you choose your location?

We relocated to the states from another country. So a consideration was how near the nearest embassy is for ease of renewing passports. In our case it is a 40 mins drive. Then what is employment opportunities like if my husband was retrenched here. We are surrounded by potential employees in this area so we felt there is a lower risk of long term unemployment compared to other areas. So my husband targeted jobs in this area to apply to and the company that sponsored his H1B was glad not to have to go through an outsource company.

 

Did you move before your house sold? If so, how did choose to handle maintenance from a distance?

We didn't sell our house as my parents could make use of it. Our first house is much more elderly friendly than my parents old house. No stairs, big bathrooms and doorways. They maintain our house for us easily as it is a small condo.

 

Did you immediately purchase another home in your new location, or did you rent first?

The company paid for a house and car rental for two months so we had time to look for a home. We rent for a few months after as rent was low. We bought in a hurry when rent was increasing like crazy. When we rented it was $1,100 for a one year lease. It jumped to $1,700 in a few months then to $1,900 for new tenants in less than 6 months.

 

Now my husband is looking at internal transfer to two viable locations. Since my oldest wants a commuter university, we would be looking at whether he would like the colleges near both locations before requesting a transfer. Both locations are tech hubs. If we relocate, we'll probably rent our current home out and use the same property management company a friend who had relocated out of California has been using for years.

[lynn]

Nm

Edited June 12, 2017 by lynn

[Guest]

We are doing it in just under four weeks, job settled the location for us.

 

You just kind of do it.

 

Pack stuff away that goes with the movers. And pack bags to be used during the drive for immediate hotel stay. In our case DH is coming back to fix the bathrooms, repaint, and get the house on the market once we are settled in our rental.

 

And yes, we are renting first while we look for property to build on.

Edited June 12, 2017 by Arctic Mama

[Lecka]

There are also contingencies where you have an offer on your house and then make an offer on the new house "contingent" on your house selling. This worked out for us on this move, but there was no competition for the house we bought.

 

This is how you can go straight between houses without renting in-between, and use your down payment from your old house.

Edited June 12, 2017 by Lecka

[Tess in the Burbs]

we have.  I was trying to come up with the weirdest situation so you can see it just works out....

 

First relocation was fur babies only.  We rented our house.  Dh had rented an apt in new city 3 months prior to me finding a renter for our house and then I came out.  Eventually renter bought our house.  It was stressful though. 

 

Another: we moved cross country and bought a house after I had my dd.  DH got laid off just after we closed on the house.  He wasn't able to find a job before severance pay dried up, so we listed and sold it quickly.  We moved out and put our stuff in storage 2 hours away so kids and myself could stay in dh's grandparent's spare bedrooms.  He moved in with a friend in the town we had been in so he could keep looking for work.  After a month he found a job and we moved into an apartment together....only to move out of state a few months later when he had a better job lined up.  It was a lot of moving those 2 years.  

 

Another time we moved without selling house first...it was a mess, and we got caught up with the bank issues of foreclosing when we had offers on the house they just wouldn't approve.  In that case we moved and rented before the house stuff was over.  We were only there a little over a year before moving back and being a rental we just gave notice. She ended up being able to rent for higher so no issues.  

 

Our last big relocation across the country we were renting as well.  

If I owned a house and dh had to move for another job I would try to find him a tiny space to rent while we sold the house and then mom/kids come when it sold and rent a new place.  It's hard to buy in a new area until you figure out where your circle of friends will be.  If homeschooling you want to be close to the people that do the things you do.    If you have time...sell now and find a short term rental.  It's just easier to move if you don't have a house to sell.  

We've moved so much I'm afraid to buy.  If dh wants to up and go, we could do that.  And we have way too many times!  It always works out.  House or not.  Whether you go together or one at a time will depend on your budget most likely.

 

[Lawyer&Mom]

We are doing it in just under four weeks, job settled the location for us.

 

You just kind of do it.

 

Pack stuff away that goes with the movers. And pack bags to be used during the drive for immediate hotel stay. In our case DH is coming back to fix the bathrooms, repaint, and get the house on the market once we are settled in our rental.

 

And yes, we are renting first while we look for property to build on.

I missed this! Where did you end up deciding to move?

[Guest]

I missed this! Where did you end up deciding to move?

We just got the final offer details for a job in Dayton, Ohio this afternoon. We have some classes to teach here in the middle of July but are planning on being on the road to drive down by about July 15th :)

[Lawyer&Mom]

We just got the final offer details for a job in Dayton, Ohio this afternoon. We have some classes to teach here in the middle of July but are planning on being on the road to drive down by about July 15th :)

Congratulations!!! How exciting!

[Guest]

Congratulations!!! How exciting!

I'm super excited, thanks! My husband really loved the company the area was really very nice. Now it's just all th craziness in trying to get the house ready and packed, and figuring out the insanity that is special ed in that area. It's district by district and they aren't very transparent ;)

[Lecka]

Oh.... more on money. For us we dropped the price on our old house, in order for us to move straight here and buy here. We wanted to and it would let us save on moving expenses.

 

We could have held out for a higher price and probably gotten it, but this way we felt was easier on us and the kids.

 

It was an option now; but 5 years ago we wouldn't have been able to afford it.

 

Also -- it I should maybe a moot point because the house we bought also came down in price similar to how we dropped our sell price.

 

Because it was a bit out-of-season in both markets. We could have held out for Spring, and the previous owner of our current house could have held out for Spring.

 

We also were willing to drop the price because we wanted to make an offer on this house, and it was getting into our preferred time to sell.

 

But in different circumstances we would have needed to hold out for a higher price (like if we didn't have much equity) or if we just chose to have some other things be inconvenient for us in order to hold out for a higher price.

[Lecka]

I seem to have blocked all the showings from my mind..... We had a lot of weekend showings and had to be out of the house for them. Weekday showings weren't so bad but a lot of people want to look on Saturday and Sunday, and we never wanted to turn down showings if we could make it work, so we just made it work.

[kathkath]

Yes. This is what we did:

1.Get rid of everything you possibly can.

2. Pack up everything you don't need for the next 2 months.

3. Meanwhile consult with several realtors who do large volume in your immediate neighborhood/area. Find out what they recommend you do to prepare to sell. Do as much of that as you can. We replaced all of our flooring and painted all walls/trim. We also replaced our roof through insurance (hail) and hired a handyman to wash windows and caulk, repair and stain deck. We got granite in the kitchen and had the island professionally painted. Overall we probably spent close to $15k not including roof. Worth it tho.

4. Signed on with realtor, packed up more things, had house professionally cleaned and staged. Put on market. 3 offers in less than a week. We opted for not the the highest but the earliest closing date and negotiated staying rent-free several weeks past closing. This enabled us to have more leverage buying at the next location, and that paid off . All in all our process was excellent and the only thing I would have changed was beginning the purge process sooner so we could sell more and give less away. I'm a firm believer in getting your home as competitive as possible, and in choosing the realtor who knows your area best, who has lots of experience. Not necessarily your friend. It is the largest financial transaction you ever do so it should be an expert.

[PhotoGal]

Are you me? ;)  We are working on this right now - trying to get out of an area that is gloomy most of the year.

 

To move here, we sold, rented about 6 months (broke our lease and paid a penalty for that), and bought. 

 

This time, it is taking longer to sell. We were hoping to sell, rent back, and buy. Now we are trying to decide if we will rent at the new place or wait another year to sell. That would stink.

 

I agree with the poster above. We used the same realtor to sell that we did to buy because we were comfortable with her. She is nice, but we should have gone with the realtors who really dominate this area. They know what they are doing and are not passive like our current realtor is. :(

[Lecka]

We interviewed 3 realtors and wanted to know what they would recommend we do to prepare/show our house. 

 

We were really up in the air on a lot of things, on whether or not we should replace some things, etc.  It was useful.

 

[LMD]

Yes. It's been a long road but we don't tend to do things the easy or conventional way... The cliff's notes version:

 

First, dh was made redundant. Then he got an interim job, we sold our house and rented.

Dh got a more stable job, but retraining meant 2 years of tiny income.

We continued to rent, looked for our dream land, and kept an eye out for jobs that matched the area we wanted. The land came first. Then the job.

Dh lived on the land, working full time and building a house, the kids and I stayed in the rental. We saw each other a couple of days a week. That was really hard... Kids were 9, 7, 4 & 1.

Finally it was ready and we were all together again. Hard but worth it.