How to make cross country move easier?
July 8, 2022 12:02 PM Subscribe
I need to move several states over on a very short deadline. I was expecting to have more time and money to do this with and there are additional complicating factors. What are things I need to do but might be forgetting, and what are things I might be overcomplicating that I can do easier?
Complicating factors:
1) I will be leaving behind a house that will be sporadically occupied by a family member, though no more than about a week a month, so cannot be rented out. Said family member will definitely not do maintenance.
2) I have a cat. I will not be able to move into an apartment in the new location for at least a month or so. Places I am able to stay before the apartment do not permit cats. I previously thought I could board the cat for about 300-400$ a month. This is very much not the case - places I've checked are going for about 1000$ which I cannot afford. Can I ask friends to hold onto a cat for a month or so if I provide the food or is this an unreasonable ask?
3) I will need my car at the new location. How many hours a day can I reasonably drive it myself? How long will this trip take?
Complicating factors:
1) I will be leaving behind a house that will be sporadically occupied by a family member, though no more than about a week a month, so cannot be rented out. Said family member will definitely not do maintenance.
2) I have a cat. I will not be able to move into an apartment in the new location for at least a month or so. Places I am able to stay before the apartment do not permit cats. I previously thought I could board the cat for about 300-400$ a month. This is very much not the case - places I've checked are going for about 1000$ which I cannot afford. Can I ask friends to hold onto a cat for a month or so if I provide the food or is this an unreasonable ask?
3) I will need my car at the new location. How many hours a day can I reasonably drive it myself? How long will this trip take?
> Can I ask friends to hold onto a cat for a month or so if I provide the food or is this an unreasonable ask?
For what it's worth, I would totally not be offended by such an ask. I have a little dog who prevents me from helping out, but I wouldn't be offended by the asking. This is classic friends helping friends material.
tho, setting aside the dog issue, my first question to myself after hearing such an ask would be "self, is there a chance this cat will be abandoned with me?"
> I will need my car at the new location. How many hours a day can I reasonably drive it myself? How long will this trip take?
I am assuming you're talking about the road trip that'll move you from State A to State B here.
Google Maps can answer the "how long" question with a pretty decent degree of accuracy.
My own approach would be to be conservative about the duration of your daily drive. For me, an aging dude with questionable eyesight, anything after about 6 hours and I start to worry about my ability to focus on the road.
> I will be leaving behind a house that will be sporadically occupied by a family member, though no more than about a week a month, so cannot be rented out. Said family member will definitely not do maintenance.
Ouch. Is there a mortgage on the house? Who is paying it? That person is the person most incentivized to see to regular maintenance.
If the mortgage-payer is you, and you can't rent out the house but you have to pay the mortgage on it to keep your family member housed, then that seems like an arrangement that's going to really cost you financially.
If the mortgage-payer is not you, maybe the mortgage-payer can see to maintenance?
posted by Sauce Trough at 12:25 PM on July 8, 2022
For what it's worth, I would totally not be offended by such an ask. I have a little dog who prevents me from helping out, but I wouldn't be offended by the asking. This is classic friends helping friends material.
tho, setting aside the dog issue, my first question to myself after hearing such an ask would be "self, is there a chance this cat will be abandoned with me?"
> I will need my car at the new location. How many hours a day can I reasonably drive it myself? How long will this trip take?
I am assuming you're talking about the road trip that'll move you from State A to State B here.
Google Maps can answer the "how long" question with a pretty decent degree of accuracy.
My own approach would be to be conservative about the duration of your daily drive. For me, an aging dude with questionable eyesight, anything after about 6 hours and I start to worry about my ability to focus on the road.
> I will be leaving behind a house that will be sporadically occupied by a family member, though no more than about a week a month, so cannot be rented out. Said family member will definitely not do maintenance.
Ouch. Is there a mortgage on the house? Who is paying it? That person is the person most incentivized to see to regular maintenance.
If the mortgage-payer is you, and you can't rent out the house but you have to pay the mortgage on it to keep your family member housed, then that seems like an arrangement that's going to really cost you financially.
If the mortgage-payer is not you, maybe the mortgage-payer can see to maintenance?
posted by Sauce Trough at 12:25 PM on July 8, 2022
Re driving - that very much depends on how comfortable you are driving in general, driving long distances in particular and how busy or otherwise the roads you’re driving are. Empty roads require less concentration because there are fewer idiots trying to kill themselves and their fellow road users.
I have driven 800+ miles in a day without feeling dangerously tired. But I would not plan to do that distance several days in a row. On a multi day road trip I’d plan to alternate shorter and longer days. Or find a sustainable average and see how convenient over night stops work out. And look out for local beauty spots along your route where I’d want to stop to stretch my legs…
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:56 PM on July 8, 2022
I have driven 800+ miles in a day without feeling dangerously tired. But I would not plan to do that distance several days in a row. On a multi day road trip I’d plan to alternate shorter and longer days. Or find a sustainable average and see how convenient over night stops work out. And look out for local beauty spots along your route where I’d want to stop to stretch my legs…
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:56 PM on July 8, 2022
We used a company called Zippy Shell to move our things cross country. They packed us up, took our little pod and shipped it, and then unloaded at the new place like a week later. It was somewhere around $2500 about five years ago. We needed one pod for a 1200 sq ft condo.
1)Are you the homeowner? I mean...I don't think it's out of line to ask the family member to start contributing, either financially or for maintenance in your absence. If the family member's not going to do it, you'll need to pay someone to do it. If they are not amenable or able, it is very reasonable to look at your options for renting or selling.
2)Definitely not an unreasonable ask!! Also, maybe look at boarding where you're currently living now as opposed to future home. Might be a difference in price there.
3) My husband and i are road warriors. We did 7 hrs each day of our drive with fairly frequent stops for people and pet bathroom breaks and stretching.
posted by BlueBear at 12:59 PM on July 8, 2022
1)Are you the homeowner? I mean...I don't think it's out of line to ask the family member to start contributing, either financially or for maintenance in your absence. If the family member's not going to do it, you'll need to pay someone to do it. If they are not amenable or able, it is very reasonable to look at your options for renting or selling.
2)Definitely not an unreasonable ask!! Also, maybe look at boarding where you're currently living now as opposed to future home. Might be a difference in price there.
3) My husband and i are road warriors. We did 7 hrs each day of our drive with fairly frequent stops for people and pet bathroom breaks and stretching.
posted by BlueBear at 12:59 PM on July 8, 2022
How many hours a day can I reasonably drive it myself?
I think it's pretty standard to budget about eight hours a day for driving, which doesn't include stop times. I stop to pee fairly often, I don't eat in the car, and you have to get gas occasionally, so if you're driving eight hours, you'll probably be on the road for about ten or eleven. You can cut that down by not stopping to pee and eating in the car if you're OK with that. That's a longish day, but not so long that you pass out from exhaustion at the end of the day. If there's a more convenient or interesting stopping point within about an hour and a half in either direction, I might go shorter or longer. So each day would be about seven to twelve hours door to door.
If you have a second driver, you can go longer, but can't just multiply the 7-12 hours by the number of drivers. The upper limit is probably 15-16 hours door-to-door. More than that and the physical constraints will become too uncomfortable.
posted by kevinbelt at 1:28 PM on July 8, 2022
I think it's pretty standard to budget about eight hours a day for driving, which doesn't include stop times. I stop to pee fairly often, I don't eat in the car, and you have to get gas occasionally, so if you're driving eight hours, you'll probably be on the road for about ten or eleven. You can cut that down by not stopping to pee and eating in the car if you're OK with that. That's a longish day, but not so long that you pass out from exhaustion at the end of the day. If there's a more convenient or interesting stopping point within about an hour and a half in either direction, I might go shorter or longer. So each day would be about seven to twelve hours door to door.
If you have a second driver, you can go longer, but can't just multiply the 7-12 hours by the number of drivers. The upper limit is probably 15-16 hours door-to-door. More than that and the physical constraints will become too uncomfortable.
posted by kevinbelt at 1:28 PM on July 8, 2022
Yes, you can ask friends to cat sit - I'd prioritize asking people who like animals but don't have pets, since someone with pets already might be worried about how they'd all get along. You could also ask a friend to pet sit if you leave your cat in your home - I would be happy to do that for a friend.
In terms of driving, I've driven 16hrs in one day, which was a lot. More comfortable is 8-10hrs. It also depends how many days of driving you are doing, as it does kinda wear you down. Hard to say how long the trip will take without knowing how many miles it is, the route, etc.
Other tip: if you rent a U-Haul, you can add on movers on either end of your move, for not that much money. It's worth it, especially in the packing-up end of things.
posted by coffeecat at 1:30 PM on July 8, 2022
In terms of driving, I've driven 16hrs in one day, which was a lot. More comfortable is 8-10hrs. It also depends how many days of driving you are doing, as it does kinda wear you down. Hard to say how long the trip will take without knowing how many miles it is, the route, etc.
Other tip: if you rent a U-Haul, you can add on movers on either end of your move, for not that much money. It's worth it, especially in the packing-up end of things.
posted by coffeecat at 1:30 PM on July 8, 2022
If you're planning to drive the moving truck yourself and don't want to have to dick around with the moving truck not being available when you reserved it, rent a Penske, not a U-Haul or a Budget.
posted by Jess the Mess at 1:36 PM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Jess the Mess at 1:36 PM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: If the mortgage-payer is you, and you can't rent out the house but you have to pay the mortgage on it to keep your family member housed
This is the case. The advantage though is I don't have to move all of my stuff - this is a relatively short term (less than a year) move for a work opportunity, so selling also doesn't make sense. So there will be no moving truck, only what I can fit into the car. The family member is not able to contribute.
Re maintenance: are there services that just come do maintenance of the house? What sort of things would I need them to do? I don't really think about maintenance normally on this kind of timescale since, well, I'm there.
posted by sockmeamadeus at 2:08 PM on July 8, 2022
This is the case. The advantage though is I don't have to move all of my stuff - this is a relatively short term (less than a year) move for a work opportunity, so selling also doesn't make sense. So there will be no moving truck, only what I can fit into the car. The family member is not able to contribute.
Re maintenance: are there services that just come do maintenance of the house? What sort of things would I need them to do? I don't really think about maintenance normally on this kind of timescale since, well, I'm there.
posted by sockmeamadeus at 2:08 PM on July 8, 2022
Penske. They do a 5 day, no mileage, flat rate, leave it full of gas. So, Ogden Utah to Southern California, was $599. That was 2016. It leaves plenty of time to unpack and clean out the truck, and return it at your new location. The other thing Inl did was shrink my possesions to an 8x20 foot storage unit. Go to my new place with necessities, and then go back and get my stuff after I settled in. I took my cats first trip, and was only gone over a couple of days crom my cats for the move out. My vehicle is a van so I had room for a lot of necessities in there.
posted by Oyéah at 2:13 PM on July 8, 2022
posted by Oyéah at 2:13 PM on July 8, 2022
I don't know your house so I can't say what your exact maintenance needs are.
Some of the needs will be super easy -- if you find good yard work people, they can come and go without you ever having to be there. Other stuff will require access to the property.
There are definitely property management firms that will oversee a rental property for you. I have no idea how good these are or how expensive, but that may be the easiest solution if you can swing it financially.
In your position, I would likely draw up a full schedule of anticipated maintenance a year in advance, pre-schedule that maintenance with the people who provide it -- furnace people, plumbing people, gutter people, roof people, etc. Can the family member be trusted to at least manage access to the property for jobs that require internal access? I would be aggressive about maintenance because anything that happens while the house is unoccupied will be worse than if the house were occupied, so I'd want to be proactive about keeping stuff in running order and not court disaster.
I would try to find an emergency contact who can respond if the house is in unusual but predictable danger -- like if your old town has a cold snap and you need to drip your faucets so the pipes don't freeze. In the past, when I've been away for awhile, I've paid friends and their kids to walk past the house every day just in case there are broken windows, roof collapse, fires, other signs of unexpected disaster. We also had kids move our bins out to the curb every week so that our place didn't look abandoned week after week.
Speaking of looking abandoned, managing your mail is going to be a thing too ... with the house unoccupied 75% of the time you're going to have big drifts of junk mail accumulating. Not sure how you solve that, but I bet USPS will help you. Does family member need to receive mail at your house? If so, this is more complicated. If not, I bet you can just stop mail for a year and forward it.
Where does cleaning fall? Is family member unable to help with cleaning? If so, you need cleaners. I wouldn't want to clean my house after a year of 25% occupancy with no cleaning. Dust upon grime upon dust.
You are being extremely kind to forgo renting your house so that family member can crash there. Your family member seems to be getting a super good deal. I hope they are able to help you out even if they can't do the work directly.
Viewed with great emotional distance by an internet stranger: you talk about the advantage of not moving your furniture, but based on everything else you've said, my takeaway for you is don't regard your family member's irregular tenancy as a solution to the problem of keeping your house up and ready for your return. At best it mildly facilitates a solution to that problem, at worst it complicates it and in any case it puts you on the hook for paying for two properties.
If you go this route, it sounds like you are doing them a serious solid and getting little back in return. Do what your soul dictates, but don't be under the illusion that you're getting a good deal here, and especially be suspicious of anyone who tells you that this irregular tenancy will be helpful to you.
Relationships should not purely transactional, but some awareness of transactionality is good. Good luck with your new city and new gig.
posted by Sauce Trough at 3:46 PM on July 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
Some of the needs will be super easy -- if you find good yard work people, they can come and go without you ever having to be there. Other stuff will require access to the property.
There are definitely property management firms that will oversee a rental property for you. I have no idea how good these are or how expensive, but that may be the easiest solution if you can swing it financially.
In your position, I would likely draw up a full schedule of anticipated maintenance a year in advance, pre-schedule that maintenance with the people who provide it -- furnace people, plumbing people, gutter people, roof people, etc. Can the family member be trusted to at least manage access to the property for jobs that require internal access? I would be aggressive about maintenance because anything that happens while the house is unoccupied will be worse than if the house were occupied, so I'd want to be proactive about keeping stuff in running order and not court disaster.
I would try to find an emergency contact who can respond if the house is in unusual but predictable danger -- like if your old town has a cold snap and you need to drip your faucets so the pipes don't freeze. In the past, when I've been away for awhile, I've paid friends and their kids to walk past the house every day just in case there are broken windows, roof collapse, fires, other signs of unexpected disaster. We also had kids move our bins out to the curb every week so that our place didn't look abandoned week after week.
Speaking of looking abandoned, managing your mail is going to be a thing too ... with the house unoccupied 75% of the time you're going to have big drifts of junk mail accumulating. Not sure how you solve that, but I bet USPS will help you. Does family member need to receive mail at your house? If so, this is more complicated. If not, I bet you can just stop mail for a year and forward it.
Where does cleaning fall? Is family member unable to help with cleaning? If so, you need cleaners. I wouldn't want to clean my house after a year of 25% occupancy with no cleaning. Dust upon grime upon dust.
You are being extremely kind to forgo renting your house so that family member can crash there. Your family member seems to be getting a super good deal. I hope they are able to help you out even if they can't do the work directly.
Viewed with great emotional distance by an internet stranger: you talk about the advantage of not moving your furniture, but based on everything else you've said, my takeaway for you is don't regard your family member's irregular tenancy as a solution to the problem of keeping your house up and ready for your return. At best it mildly facilitates a solution to that problem, at worst it complicates it and in any case it puts you on the hook for paying for two properties.
If you go this route, it sounds like you are doing them a serious solid and getting little back in return. Do what your soul dictates, but don't be under the illusion that you're getting a good deal here, and especially be suspicious of anyone who tells you that this irregular tenancy will be helpful to you.
Relationships should not purely transactional, but some awareness of transactionality is good. Good luck with your new city and new gig.
posted by Sauce Trough at 3:46 PM on July 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
check your house/home/content insurance and confirm that your anticipated empty periods and a third party staying repeatedly in your absence is actually covered by your policies. If the current plan leaves you exposed amend the plan and/or policies as required.
posted by koahiatamadl at 4:29 PM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by koahiatamadl at 4:29 PM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
If you rent a truck, my experience with Penske has been good. For the love of God, get the insurance.
posted by skewed at 6:44 PM on July 8, 2022
posted by skewed at 6:44 PM on July 8, 2022
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I occasionally see rideshare posts on Craigslist where someone offers the use of their car for someone else who needs to travel from state A to state B, so the first person gets free delivery of the car. Obviously you'd have to feel comfortable with the person you find and it's not risk-free, but I've used rideshare in the past with no problems (if you're comfortable having a stranger in the car with you, the more common way to do it is to split driving and gas costs). But anyway, I wouldn't drive more than 8 hours a day, personally.
posted by pinochiette at 12:21 PM on July 8, 2022