Please help with out-of-state move!

[PandG]

We are in the process of moving from the Midwest to The Villages (yay!). Our house sold (yay!), the closing is the end of this month (help!), and our new home at TV won't be ready until mid-August. Previously, we have read the threads on TOTV for moving, and I couldn't find all of them just now. I remember one person mentioned Mayflower, while others mentioned Tri-County (but that's local).

The local agents from 2 nationwide moving companies came out this week for an estimate. One said they can't move us when we want, and are trying to see if they can squeeze us in--am awaiting their return call. I followed up with the other agent, and no return call yet. And I'm awaiting our realtor's call to see if the buyer can postpone the closing a few days, which is highly unlikely.

PODS is not an option for us, due to our city's ordinances and a sloped driveway.

Some of the nationwide moving companies have storage in FL, but not near TV. Do we pay extra for them to drive our stuff from storage at these cities to TV? (I forgot to ask that!) Any suggestions for nationwide moving companies is greatly appreciated, since time is ticking away for us. Thanks!

[graciegirl]

We are in the process of moving from the Midwest to The Villages (yay!). Our house sold (yay!), the closing is the end of this month (help!), and our new home at TV won't be ready until mid-August. Previously, we have read the threads on TOTV for moving, and I couldn't find all of them just now. I remember one person mentioned Mayflower, while others mentioned Tri-County (but that's local).

The local agents from 2 nationwide moving companies came out this week for an estimate. One said they can't move us when we want, and are trying to see if they can squeeze us in--am awaiting their return call. I followed up with the other agent, and no return call yet. And I'm awaiting our realtor's call to see if the buyer can postpone the closing a few days, which is highly unlikely.

PODS is not an option for us, due to our city's ordinances and a sloped driveway.

Some of the nationwide moving companies have storage in FL, but not near TV. Do we pay extra for them to drive our stuff from storage at these cities to TV? (I forgot to ask that!) Any suggestions for nationwide moving companies is greatly appreciated, since time is ticking away for us. Thanks!

You can hire people to load and unload a uhaul trailer or truck ...if you feel comfortable driving a truck or pulling a trailer and then you have control over when you move. We were in the same situation and we stored part of our stuff in the garage of the place we rented here while our house was being built... and we stored the rest in a storage unit.

Even if you don't use a do it yourself thing like uhaul, you can still store it in storage place here. They are pretty affordable and so is the labor to move it into new home.

We used a pod too. The storage for it was expensive.

[hotrodgirl]

See if this might help! I wish you luck and am jealous you will be there before me!!
FYI-I think the Mayflower review was just awful, so I would check on others first!
Moving Company Reviews and Ratings by My Moving Reviews (http://www.mymovingreviews.com/)

[jimbo2012]

Did U try Little Johns, he was willing to go to NY, about 1200 miles, has storage too.

[swrinfla]

PandG:

I used Atlas seven years ago. Chose between them, Mayflower and United, all of whom had been suggested by The Villages Relocation Service. They did a good job. I wouldn't have called them "reasonable," but they were several hundred dollars less than the others.

Join us at the Saint Louis Club on 09/05 and virtually every first Wednesday thereafter. 6:00 pm. Savannah Center. BYOB. The Club always caters something in; never paid more than $13 a person.

SWR
:beer3:

[perrjojo]

We moved at the end of April and our mover (Allied) told us that summer move cost a premium due to demand and a lack of drivers. He said we were lucky to be moving before the summer rush. He said Moving companies are not able to retain drivers since homes sales and moves have become fewer. Hopefully you can find someone to meet your schedule. Welcome to TV.

[delima2000]

Too bad you can't use PODs. That was the best for us when we moved from Michigan to TV.

[gomoho]

Take a deep breath and enjoy the ride. Good luck - we just did it and are finally relaxing on our lania with a cold beer and the news.

[bandsdavis]

We just moved in and we used local folks to load us in VA and unload us here (Tri-County) and I drove a 22 ft. Penske truck the 800 miles. Didn't have to deal with storage, but the Tri-county guys are pretty reasonable locally, and the storage rates we looked into here were not prohibitive if we had needed to do that. It's an option to consider. Just an FYI, we saved about $3500 compared to the lowest quote from one of the national movers.

[getdul981]

Stay away from Atlas!! LOOOOONNNNNNNGGGG story!!

[dkrhardy]

We are moving the end of this month, 400 miles from Montgomery AL to TV. The "national" folks wanted an arm and a leg for packing and moving, but a local company (highly recommended) is doing it for a bit more than 1/2 the price. It will still be our highest priced move ... ever ... and we have moved very long distances in the past. We did all of the scheduling far in advance, so we did get the exact dates we wanted.
Don

[asianthree]

our plan is to rent a truck and put in as much as we can and then worry about the rest later, not selling the up north place for couple of years so have time

[shcisamax]

We went through the TV relocation and they offered three companies to come out and give a price. We chose Mayflower. As we sold in mid April and our house wasn't ready until end June, it all went to storage in Ocala. It cost an extra $3000 to unload in Ocala, put in containers for storage, then reload to bring here. I only can suggest to give away or sell as much as you can before you move and then give away and sell more.

[dsned]

Try Little Johns--- I used them to move me and they are great, they will drive to you get your stuff and drive back here. Call them

[PandG]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. The relocation package offered by TV is only when they help sell your house. We sold through an agent here. It looks like Little John's is in CT, and I don't know if they will drive all the way to MO and then FL. I can try calling them tomorrow.

We'll have to put our things in storage for 2 weeks, since that's the amount of time between closing in MO and in FL. After sending the post on Friday, I decided to check on one of the national moving co's we got a bid from. Their FL storage facility is in Sarasota, which is 2 hours from TV -- and the fuel cost will be included in their bid. There was a delay on getting their bid, due to the holiday, and can't wait to compare the numbers.

Our original plans were to rent a mini-van, bring things to the FL house, attend the closing, drive back to MO and get my car, then drive back to FL. Then our house sold quickly, and those plans changed with a July closing. To rent the mini-van one way would cost $1,000+ for the drop-ship charge.

To pay people to help lift things into (and out of) a U-Haul on both ends, plus the cost of gas driving it half-way across the country, could be costly. But we would have to rent the truck for 2 weeks, and don't know the cost.

We think we have finalized something with a national moving company as of late Friday. Also, we are waiting to hear if our buyer will delay closing 1 day (until 7/31), which will help.

Thanks for helping! You guys ROCK! :bigbow:

[jimbo2012]

U can rent a 16' one way from budget etc. with AARP discount for $7-800.
U can join online in 2 minutes

way better deal than that mini van

The national companies are the highest priced of all.

[Bruiser1]

Check with Allied for bid. They will get you and two other moves on one van. If you need storage go to Extra Storage. It is about a mile east of Lake sumter.

Three stories of storage (secured) with pass codes- air conditioned .Piece of cake been there done it.First month is free.

Don't worry about the little things.

[John_W]

We moved from Baltimore to TV one year ago. To avoid all these problems we sold most of our furniture to the buyers of our home for $2500 and gave it away the rest. However, we still packed 71 boxes of clothes and household goods so we needed a mover.

We called Mayflower and they gave us an estimate of $3400. A few weeks later after they picked up the boxes, which I packed myself, and took them to their local warehouse and put them on the scales they called and said it would only be $2700.

We closed on our CYV July 5th and were expecting our delivery two days later. Mayflower had a shortage of drivers and didn't deliver for three weeks, our boxes sat in a warehouse in Baltimore. When they were finally delivered there was almost no damange and we paid the driver with a certified check of $2700. We filed a late claim via email the next day with Mayflower Inc of Chicago and five days later we received a refund check in the mail for $2000, that was $125 for every day they were late. So our entire out of pocket was $700 with Mayflower.

[tommy steam]

See if this might help! I wish you luck and am jealous you will be there before me!!
FYI-I think the Mayflower review was just awful, so I would check on others first!
Moving Company Reviews and Ratings by My Moving Reviews (http://www.mymovingreviews.com/)

good info thanks

[tommy steam]

Check with Allied for bid. They will get you and two other moves on one van. If you need storage go to Extra Storage. It is about a mile east of Lake sumter.

Three stories of storage (secured) with pass codes- air conditioned .Piece of cake been there done it.First month is free.

Don't worry about the little things.

good info thanks

[Ripcord13]

We used United coming down from Massachusetts and it couldn't have gone smoother.

Rip

[Markam]

The following is a rehash of my previous post....

We moved last November and I believe there are two issues here...
* The local agent for the various firms, Mayflower, Bekins etc: They come out to estimate the weight of your belongings and provide the cost estimate - including the packing you want them to do. That determines how much you will pay.
* The actual team that does the work of packing, loading, moving and unloading: This facet is much more important but is difficult to get such a referral. There are probably good teams working for every national firms - an probably enough not so good ones to generate the horror stories we hear about.

We used Atlas and were extremely lucky to have a perfect move. Nothing lost, broken or late. That result was due to the particular team Atlas assigned to our move. If we ever have to move again, I will use only that team - no matter who they are working for (pardon the grammar). I will pass that team's name on to anyone who contacts me via PM.

[dkrhardy]

* The local agent for the various firms, Mayflower, Bekins etc: They come out to estimate the weight of your belongings and provide the cost estimate - including the packing you want them to do. That determines how much you will pay.

The actual cost is determined after they weigh it, unless you accept their estimate, which may be too high. However, some estimate low to get your business and then present you with a bill using an actual weight slip which will increase your cost. Many also depart your home with empty fuel tanks, fill up, and then go to the scales. 200 gallons of fuel adds up to a fair increase on your bill. Once the load is on their truck, they own it until you pay whatever they charge. There are some very unsavory types that gouge folks eyes out ... no pay, they drive away with your furniture. Legally.
Don & Kaz