Move or Sell everything?

Question

Hi

Was wondering if anyone has been through the same situation as me and have advice.

I am currently living in LA, got accepted to a school in the East Coast.
We own our house, have 2 cars, lots of furniture, etc.

Does is make more sense to move everything to the East Coast? It must be pretty expensive?
We were planning to:

A) Sell one car, rent out the house ( the rent we would make would cover mortgage payments)
ship one car and all our stuff, anyone know around how much it would cost to move a car and a truck load of stuff?

B) Sell one car, rent/sell the house, put everything we have into one of those storage places here in LA, and drive over to the East Coast any take minimal things (cloth, computer, etc)

Can't decide because two years doesn't seem long, but not short either....

By the way if you are/know a UCLA/USC/Loyoa/Pepperdine student starting this year, my house is like 8 miles to UCLA, 3 miles to Santa Monica beach/3rd street. Its fully fenced, great for pet owners, 3 bedroom 1 bath, garage. 1000 sq.ft (house, 5,800 sq.ft lot). Will be available to rent around early July. Please PM me if interested, want showing, more info.

eskimoroll · Answer

I'm in the exact same scenario but I'm movig from the midwest (Minnesota) to Boston. We have 2 cars (loaning one to my sister for two years), renting out our home, and we're debating selling everything vs. hiring movers. Moving sucks.

lagomez · Answer

I would keep the house if you plan on moving back. If you don't want to move back or perhaps you want to move into something bigger after school then might as well get rid of it.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Having done the cross country move a few times in the past, a cheaper alternative to hiring traditional movers is upack (https://www.upack.com -- I have zero affiliation with them other than having used them in the past). Basically, the trucking company (ABF) drops off an empty container at your house, you pack it in yourself, and they pick it up and drop it off at your desired location about a week or so later (and you unload it yourself). Depending on the value of your furniture and your likely plans post-MBA, this may or may not be worth it.

If there's a reasonable chance you'll be moving back to the west coast post-MBA and you have decent furniture/stuff already, you might as well just keep it in storage. And then buy stuff for b-school when you're there (remember it's not a full 2 years -- you arrive in early Sept, and leave by mid-May, and you're only there for 16 months total because there's a summer internship in between the two years).

What you can do is buy used furniture from other students (or really cheap IKEA furniture), and then re-sell the furniture to other students when you graduate.

eskimoroll · Answer

Good call on Upack. I was looking to use a service like that but I forget the name. Thanks Alex for the reminder.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

If you use upack, just remember to pack it properly like the professionals do (with blankets/padding, taping up glass, etc), since contents will shift during transport. Something I didn't do the first time I used them haha

eskimoroll · Answer

Thanks for the tips! Not that my stuff is really that delicate (or expensive) but it'll be nice to not have to clean up broken stuff when I arrive in Boston.

So it'll be like $2k for my stuff + $1K for my car + $0.6K for plane tickets + miscellaneous stuff and taxes = $4000 to move! Eek!

lulumocha · Answer

Thanks for the info. I will definitely look into this.

Anyone know a good car shipping company? Or does Upack do this too? i.e. I just drive the car into a container?

lagomez · Answer

Also check out https://www.pods.com I have never used them but it is a similar service.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

For car transport, try Intercity (www.intercitylines.com) -- not the absolute cheapest, but is reliable and on time -- and if you have a decent car, it may be worth it. Some shipping companies will pull a bait-and-switch, and arrive sometimes a week or even 10 days later than they said they would (because what happens is that drivers starting on one coast may try and "load up" on vehicles along the way, so they may end up waiting in one city for a few days longer to see if more cars can get loaded up -- so while it would only take maybe 3-5 days coast-to-coast, could end up being 2 weeks).

humphy · Answer

I had a corporate relo that cost $10k+ and I was single out of college. Moving is a pain in the ass. So yes it is very expensive. Even storing is expensive... Don't be lured in by those $1 for the first month gimmicks. It is like ~$100/mo for 100sqft storage.

If I were you and actualy I am already looking forward to this... I would sell off as much as I could (even the cars, kind of depends on your plans during and after school, but definitely all the furniture).

I downsized 50% moving to LA and it was the best feeling in the world.

If you are renting, consider leaving your furniture. It will fetch a higher rent, and you don't have to pay for freaking storage.

It's hard to part with the crap you own but I have never regretted selling that piece of furniture or electronic. Cash in the bank is weightless! You don't even have to dust it or clean it!

Posted from my mobile device

Av · Answer

As the reality of moving costs sets in, I'm leaning toward another sell-off

Someday, it'll be nice to buy furniture and appliances with the intention of keeping them for more than a couple years.

humphy · Answer

Yes but then again, gen Y seems to not be able to stay in one place for more than a few years at a time. We reap what we sow I guess.

Posted from my mobile device

bb · Answer

I think this may be a good discussion to move to the business school life. It will get lost here.... :-//

runnergirl · Answer

I'm planning to rent my house furnished, although I will take a few valuable/sentimental items. I think I'll get a better value from the increased rent of furnished vs. unfurnished that from simply trying to sell everything on craigslist. Also, if/when I move back, the furniture could still be in decent condition.

humphy · Answer

I would suggest to anyone who is interested to get a property manager. for like a certain % of rent (i think 10 or less?), they take care of everything from listing to insurance to claims to evictions to damages to maintenance, etc. Some things are just not worth the distraction, especially if you are across country deep into your MBA year. Spend the bucks and save the headache. One flight back will be half the cost of hiring professionals to manage the darn thing for a year! Not to mention the time.

tigerbeck · Answer

This is all good advice. I am working on selling my house now. But did look into a property manager. There is also insurance that covers things like when your tenants wash some horrible thing and ruin the washer or smash a hole in the wall. As for my stuff I plan on having a sell off/give away session. I find that I am giving a lot of stuff away just to be done with it. Amtrak will also take your boxes cross country for VERY cheap. The only parameters is it has to be boxes and 50lbs or less each. They will store your stuff for a decent rate per day too. It is called Amtrak Express and they also move cars from select locations. Drive in.. rail away..pick up at the other end. That way no one is touching your car either.

Becky

Becky

lulumocha · Answer

Thanks everyone for the great advice.

After looking up everything (west coast to east coast):
Upack - doing everything ourself - $2700
U-haul - $2400 - $3000 depending on size of tuck

Getting people to load and unload:
Asked a few places (Upack, some other moving companies)
Anywhere from $3200 to $3600

Shipping one car
Intercitylines - $1800 (they ship your car enclosed, no waiting for other pickups)
Services that wait for other pickups - $900 to $1300

After looking at everything we are going to hire a real estate agent that does both leasing and selling, would prefer to lease and ship most of our stuff except big furniture, sell one car, drive one car across the USA, and make it a long road trip...

obsessively · Answer

When it comes time for me, I'm probably going to sell my furniture...cheaper to buy new stuff than to move my current furniture (I'm single and female, so I'd certainly need to hire someone, which is $$$). And I'm not particularly in love with any of it anyway, so it's no great loss.

BigRedEnvEng · Answer

lulumocha - I highly recommend a good road trip over the summer! I did that in the summer of 2006 between jobs - by far one of the best trips I've made. Let me know if you'd like suggestions on places to see / stop.

I'm moving to Europe for b school and not planning on coming back to the US for a while (if all goes well), so I'm selling everything (car, furniture; thankfully I'm renting, so no house to worry about). My mom lives in Europe, so I have already sent some stuff I really don't want to get rid of to her via some family members who have visited the US over the past few months. Then I plan to go over with whatever fits in 2 suitcases and a carry-on. Should be interesting...

Move or Sell everything?

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