Suggestions on moving to the Villages

[Arbud]

Hi. Have a house in Santo Domingo already for move in. Will be moving at the end of September from the Baltimore area. Have a moving company lined up to bring our stuff into the house once in Fla. Need some advice on what/who you all used since no one here is from Fla, right
After some calculations I would need about a 22' truck or at least 1200sq ft.
Hire a moving company to do entire job. Less packing boxes.
Hire movers to stuff a truck or Pod with our belongings and movers then in Floridas to off load
Just go the Pod route. Bud

[Djean1981]

A lot of people regret bringing a lot of belongings. The atmosphere is different here, so your tastes will change. We brought one piece of furniture (because of nostalgic reasons), and our bed. It's cheaper to re-buy everything. If you're handy, you can order furniture on Amazon and put it together with a powered screwdriver. Avoid used furniture shops here - in many cases their prices are way higher than buying new.

[asianthree]

Our last move, We used a pod and packed ourselves. First in everything we absolutely needed, then what we wanted, then CMD (can’t make a decision) pod warned us to pack completely, not leaving any space, even if it was empty boxes to keep shifting to a minimum.

So last was our Christmas stuff to fill in. Not one item was scratched or broken, (my grandma china in perfect condition) and of course everything was accounted for. Deliver on the window and day we requested, after being stored in Ocala until house was built.

Our oldest who has moved from Mi-IN-NC-FL-Fairbanks to UK, then St Paul, either with self uhaul, (everything arrived safe, but driving isn’t fun) moving companies (lost stuff damaged furniture and outrageous prices) or container ship (no choice and the smell was overwhelming) overseas.

He was so impressed with our pod he is now loading one to move from ST Paul to SC. If you are Military nice discount.

[SusanStCatherine]

We used a full service mover fom Baltimore called Perry's. They damaged everything that wasn't in a box, which included our furniture. They even chipped a piece of crystal they handpacked and boxed. We filed a claim and were paid such that we profited $1600 above and beyond our fee. We had full coverage insurance which was mandatory. Good luck!

[Papa_lecki]

For furniture, bring the essentials (bed(s), sofa, TV stand, table/chairs), with the plan to replace them.
Otherwise you will put yourself under pressure to buy something, plus delivery could be a few weeks/months out.

[Normal]

We replaced almost everything after moving here within a year’s time frame. You may likely find the “Northern” stuff isn’t needed or wanted after moving into a new home here in Florida or it just doesn’t match the newer decor. We gave away, burned or donated a lot of things before moving and still got rid of most things we thought we would need. Remember, living spaces are perhaps a bit smaller than what you may be used to and things you didn’t use up north, perhaps will just be taking up valuable storage space here.

[Accidental1]

We went the PODs route but we didn't bring much. We only used the small (8') POD.

[lpkruege1]

Hi. Have a house in Santo Domingo already for move in. Will be moving at the end of September from the Baltimore area. Have a moving company lined up to bring our stuff into the house once in Fla. Need some advice on what/who you all used since no one here is from Fla, right
After some calculations I would need about a 22' truck or at least 1200sq ft.
Hire a moving company to do entire job. Less packing boxes.
Hire movers to stuff a truck or Pod with our belongings and movers then in Floridas to off load
Just go the Pod route. Bud

Move as little as possible. You'll just get rid of it once you get here. Now is the time to purge. Look at it as a new start. It's a new house, none of your old furniture will fit, the cost to move it isn't worth it. I know too many people that moved it down, only to give it away.

[Marmaduke]

Save yourself a lot of work and expense.
As others have said, if you can wrap your head around minimizing, by bringing only your furniture essentials, you'll be so happy in the long run.

TRULY, if you consider bringing only the necessary other "stuff", you can get by and explore what will fit in and feel wonderful in your new home. Otherwise, you're going to be looking for storage of junk you'll never use.

If you do not believe us, I suggest that you open the T. V. App and look at the interiors of people's homes that are currently Up for Sale! Sadly, you'll see exactly what we mean by furniture NOT fitting into rooms.

Two things you will notice is massive overcrowding on huge furniture as well as what should be light, bright and airy rooms never set up nicely... and now they're going to try to sell their homes and cart this stuff off again.
As far as folks not being able to afford new furniture, if you mindfully take account of the moving expenses, you'll see the offset.

My advice is to save the expense, and labor and be very patient with setting up your new home, you'll be so much happier.

Most of my friends follow the norm of wanting everything, absolutely EVERYTHING to be completely set up IMMEDIATELY the day after arrival.
Some actually begin ripping out plants and begin gardening to perfect their yard on day 2.

WHY? Be mindful, please only yourself and forget about trying to get your home set up for real or imaginary visitors. Let them sleep on the sofa if they must visit immediately.

Enjoy your Epic Journey! This IS one very strong instance where IT'S ABOUT YOU!

May your travels and new life be light and fun!
See you when you get here!

[Fearless]

We had a house that we had bought here a few years earlier and had used for rental for a couple of years. So when we finally decided to move here permanently, the only big items we brought with us were mattress sets from 2 bedrooms and a bedroom suite that had belonged to my husband’s parents (he had refinished it——sentimental value). We sold or gave to our children furniture that we knew we would not use here. It didn't look like furniture we would use in Florida. Since our house here was already furnished, we slowly replaced the appliances and furniture with new items. It was so worth it to not to have to bring it all with us and much easier to pick out items that worked and looked better in our Florida home.

[Remembergoldenrule]

Use blue painters tape and lay out deminsions of new rooms. Make sure furniture will fit.don’t forget to do it for garage too as garages here much smaller. Get rid of all unusable furniture up north. No one buys northern style furniture here and everyone is retired and downsizing too. Rethink all you walk hangings too. No wall space and again style probably won’t go with Florida theme. Look at closet if you haven’t worn it in last year get rid of it. Safe just 3-5 cold outfits and two coats one lighter weight for 30 degrees here and one heavy weight for going home at Christmas. Think bare minimum because a packed house with heavy furnishings makes homes here feel crowded and dark.

[mikreb]

Sell it. Save thousands of dollars on moving and buy new in FL.

[virtue51]

The Villages has a relocation service -- they have three moving companies make an appointment and review items to be moved to The Villages. Each moving company provides you with an estimate for the move and you select the mover. I used the service and had the movers pack the dishes. They arrived on time and furniture was delivered to my home in The Villages on the day that the mover specified. There was no damage to the furniture and not one item was broken in the move. I highly recommend the relocation service!

[JMintzer]

Move as little as possible. You'll just get rid of it once you get here. Now is the time to purge. Look at it as a new start. It's a new house, none of your old furniture will fit, the cost to move it isn't worth it. I know too many people that moved it down, only to give it away.

Pretty broad brush you got there...

We brought our entire BR set. It fits better in or home in TV that it did our home outside of DC.

The decor is perfect for us. Not dark wood, but not that damn fake antiqued, white chalk painted stuff you see everywhere, either...

Or mover (a close friend) told us to figure out what it would cost to replace the pieces we really wanted. If it was more than the move, it's worth moving it.

Our BR set alone would cost more to replace than our entire move cost...

[RCJ61]

We Just bought a house in Newell a few months ago. We are not full time yet but plan to be by the end of the year. We just left after a 10 day visit. We visited a local furniture store on a Monday. We bought a Living room set, Dining room set, Stools for the counter. Also a chair and couch with two rugs. They delivered almost all of it the following Friday. We very surprised it all came so quickly. We spent 10k so a mover would be similar cost I Think

We are planning a second trip in August and we are using UPack to bring things we consider essential. Garage stuff, Nice outdoor furniture we have etc..

We sold our home over a year ago and downsized to an Apartment/Townhome so we purged a lot of the junk already.

RCJ

[RCJ61]

Pretty broad brush you got there...

We brought our entire BR set. It fits better in or home in TV that it did our home outside of DC.

The decor is perfect for us. Not dark wood, but not that damn fake antiqued, white chalk painted stuff you see everywhere, either...

Or mover (a close friend) told us to figure out what it would cost to replace the pieces we really wanted. If it was more than the move, it's worth moving it.

Our BR set alone would cost more to replace than our entire move cost...

Yes, I agree. Every single move is different then someone else's. We Plan on bringing our bedroom set on the final move. We really like the set. We will probably send it with a upack container. for us from Long Island its about $2,400 for one pod roughly 7 x 7 not very big, but packed correctly you can get a lot in there. Nice set by the way. The room looks like ours.

[Karmanng]

The Villages has a relocation service -- they have three moving companies make an appointment and review items to be moved to The Villages. Each moving company provides you with an estimate for the move and you select the mover. I used the service and had the movers pack the dishes. They arrived on time and furniture was delivered to my home in The Villages on the day that the mover specified. There was no damage to the furniture and not one item was broken in the move. I highly recommend the relocation service!

Can you send me the relocation services number please? cg517@hotmail.com..............I have never seen that info

[BEETHOVENMIKEY]

We moved from Westminster (Carroll County), MD in December 2018 to TV. We had used Mayflower several times before, and after getting several quotes, we stuck with Mayflower. Having gotten rid of some of our older belongings, we only filled out half a trailer, so they scheduled and picked up our stuff and combined with two other, smaller loads. We were not in any rush and stayed with wife's folks for two weeks when our stuff was delivered. No damages and all was there.
Since moving to TV, due to the in-laws dying, we've moved twice more, finally landing in Village of Santiago. We've used Village Movers for the two moves within TV. Some of the best group of guys we've dealt with. Highly recommend, rates are great, friendly and very accommodating. And, if we need to move long distance, again, we'll definitely get a quote from Village Movers, as well as Mayflower. Happy with both.

[JMintzer]

Yes, I agree. Every single move is different then someone else's. We Plan on bringing our bedroom set on the final move. We really like the set. We will probably send it with a upack container. for us from Long Island its about $2,400 for one pod roughly 7 x 7 not very big, but packed correctly you can get a lot in there. Nice set by the way. The room looks like ours.

Thanks. Ours is an Aspen model...

Behind me, to the right is a large Armoire, and to the left, at the foot of the bed is a high dresser. Still plenty of room for my wife's makeup table (that was her late mother's) and the bench. It's one of the bigger bedrooms we looked at. The only downside is that it only has one walk in closet...

But my clothes consist of a half dozen pairs of pants, and quarter zips, a dozen golf shirts that are in my "portion" of the closet. A half dozen shorts, assorted gym shorts, t-shirts, socks and underwear that barely make a dent in the Armoire... :p

[MidWestIA]

think about the storage you have here as in none and if you haven't used it in a year or two you won't here

[Garywt]

Lots of tough decisions when moving. Somethings come down to price, is a turnkey move less expensive than piecing it all together. We bought all new when we bought the house, about $7000 at City Furniture and everything worked out great. If we ever decide to sell out northern house we will sell or give away all the furniture there.

[Laurel Maryland]

I moved from the Baltimore area recently and used JK Moving Co. I went full-service and had JK Moving do my packing and moving (both). When my possessions arrived in The Villages, I received many items broken. And some items, such as tools, were not received at all. I know that this company is big & well-known in Maryland, but I would never recommend them or use them again.

[kayak]

It's good advice to get rid of things before you move. I once saw a snow blower listed locally on Craigslist.

[Smalley]

I'm sorry about your bad experience with JK Movers. We used them for packing and moving last October. Everything arrived intact and they got here when predicted. This was our second good move with JK. By the way, the packers do an amazing job packing the kitchen. It's worth every penny that they charge. The packers are talented and quick.

[beckylou152]

Hi. Have a house in Santo Domingo already for move in. Will be moving at the end of September from the Baltimore area. Have a moving company lined up to bring our stuff into the house once in Fla. Need some advice on what/who you all used since no one here is from Fla, right
After some calculations I would need about a 22' truck or at least 1200sq ft.
Hire a moving company to do entire job. Less packing boxes.
Hire movers to stuff a truck or Pod with our belongings and movers then in Floridas to off load
Just go the Pod route. Bud

We drove a small moving truck ourselves and hired people to unpack. But first we heavily downsized! We got rid of 3/4 of our belongings. We brought our bed and mattress and end tables, a few chairs, some clothes, some decorative items but not many, a few tools, etc. we still bought a lot of new furniture when we got to TV! Good luck on your move!

[badkarma318]

Can you send me the relocation services number please? cg517@hotmail.com..............I have never seen that info

The Villages - Florida's Friendliest Active Adult 55+ Retirement Community (https://www.thevillages.com/relocate)

[asianthree]

Jus a thought some of the newer villages and a couple older ones have tight streets especially when turning corners. Have seen multiple times when an out of state moving company couldn’t navigate the street. Couple of time people’s were charged more money when truck arrived because they had to off load and bring in with a smaller truck or bring it in with hand truck.

We noticed that pod delivered with no issues since the truck is easily navigable tight streets.

[Bilyclub]

Jus a thought some of the newer villages and a couple older ones have tight streets especially when turning corners. Have seen multiple times when an out of state moving company couldn’t navigate the street. Couple of time people’s were charged more money when truck arrived because they had to off load and bring in with a smaller truck or bring it in with hand truck.

We noticed that pod delivered with no issues since the truck is easily navigable tight streets.

Another one of Community Watch's duties is to follow the big trucks in and out of TV to see if they damage any property. The gate attendants are supposed call in big trucks to the dispatcher.

[cswett5234]

We went the PODs route but we didn't bring much. We only used the small (8') POD.
Question about PODs, (I know I could hit their website….), how do they charge? I know it’s probably based on the size of the POD and the distance to the destination. We are still a few yrs away from relocating, but we’re already paring down our current “stuff”, hoping to move with very little furniture.

So, those who have used POD, can you give us an estimate of the associated costs? Just a ball-park figure is good, is it $2500 or $25,000? Thanks!

Clint from Freeport, ME

[PugMom]

on a completely different note, ---the best advice i can give for living in the Villages, is not to listen to the naysayers. half of them are uninformed, & the other half are either jealous or resentful. every day is new & exciting, and we welcome you to the best life on earth, (or @ least better than the 1 you had before! lol.) i promise you will not regret the decision. when i 1st got here, i depended on this site to learn about local events & best eateries, or who to hire for an A/C man. WELCOME!!! let us know how the move goes- :MOJE_whot:

[snbrafford]

We moved from Virginia using a moving company but only needed a small truck and they did all the packing and loading - that way they are responsible for any damage. Pricing was all over the board so we picked a well-know name that was somewhere in the middle.
Before moving, we had an auction company come in and take most of our accumulated stuff - furniture, lawnmowers, chain saws, tools, etc. and sell them. Only got pennies on the dollar but no room or use here for them. We decided we were starting a new life here and started off with all new stuff - especially furniture and decorations. Before doing that, we left the kids pick what they might want and were surprised as stuff we had "kept for the kids" that they did not want.
I pass garages all the time crammed full of stuff that will never be used here so and there is no room for cars or gold cart. Some people we know are renting off site storage to keep stuff in.
So my best suggestion is don't bring all your accumulated stuff.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

We borrowed a small trailer that hitches to a pickup truck, belonging to a friend with a landscaping company. Used it, and the pickup truck, to haul whatever we were keeping in 3 trips and drove our stuff down there ourselves. I also stuffed my little compact car with smaller furnishings, the fine china, our wedding crystal and linens, in two trips. We probably spent around the same as we'd spend if we paid someone else to do it for us, but at the time I was just really wanting to get out of our house up north and spend some time in our new house in the Villages. So I turned it into a couple of week-long adventures.

[Buzzerbaby]

Question about PODs, (I know I could hit their website….), how do they charge? I know it’s probably based on the size of the POD and the distance to the destination. We are still a few yrs away from relocating, but we’re already paring down our current “stuff”, hoping to move with very little furniture.

So, those who have used POD, can you give us an estimate of the associated costs? Just a ball-park figure is good, is it $2500 or $25,000? Thanks!

Clint from Freeport, ME

I sent you a private message with the detailed breakdown of our two quotes.

[Pairadocs]

Hi. Have a house in Santo Domingo already for move in. Will be moving at the end of September from the Baltimore area. Have a moving company lined up to bring our stuff into the house once in Fla. Need some advice on what/who you all used since no one here is from Fla, right
After some calculations I would need about a 22' truck or at least 1200sq ft.
Hire a moving company to do entire job. Less packing boxes.
Hire movers to stuff a truck or Pod with our belongings and movers then in Floridas to off load
Just go the Pod route. Bud

Have yet to have a friend or relative who went with PODS give anything but rave reviews, from equipment to staff service, a lot of very happy people.One of our friends actually has booked a river cruise of Europe this summer all paid for with the savings by deciding to give PODS a try... LOL ! Had other friends who decided to move out of the villages permanently, moving to Michigan. Took a "chance" on PODS and they were more satisfied than any move they made their entire careers. Said first time they ever had a move with not a single broken or damaged item, and 100% on time promised. We don't plan to move out of the Villages, but from time to time think about a place closer to the coast, like margaritaville by Daytona, but if we ever really did it, would give PODS a try based on the feed back we've had first hand from friends. BTY, there will be plenty of people on here who mis-read your question/post. They will give you advice on WHAT NOT to bring, not HOW to bring it. I'd say ignore most advice on that. NO ONE KNOWS you, and how you may, or may not, want to create your environment here. If you have good solid wood made in the USA furniture, think twice if you truly want to get "rid" of it for some imported "junk" with glued particle board drawers and backs, and for which you will pay in the many thousands of dollars. If you want a total change, GO FOR IT, it's important to really enjoy your surroundings in retirement. You'll be in your house much more now that you don't have to go to work...LOL... so make it one where you are surrounded with the things and furniture you want. People will tell you how THEY felt, others have great regrets that their new "home" feels more like a home they rented for a vaca, not the feeling of being surrounded by their own possessions. Only you can decide in which category you are ! Happy move !