Villages Relocation Services?
 

Hi everyone,

Pre-planning my move to TV. Has anyone recently used this service? This is a "package deal" with realtors on both ends and movers as well. I'm very interested in hearing about the moving companies selected and how the move went. I really want to use a particular realtor up here in NYC and I'm waiting to hear if they are one of their "selected" realtors.

Thanks in advance!

Kevin

I would avoid. They are using RE agents on your end which are paying 10% of their commission for the lead. The best agents do not have to pay for leads.

Likewise, they are getting a cut of the moving company.

Why not simply shop for the best service at the best price?

I was thinking along the same lines - what I'm most interested in is to hear from folks that have moved recently from NY/NJ/PA/CT - looking for a full-service mover that did a very good job in terms of packing/unpacking, timely delivery, etc.

It’s important to downsize before you move. Movers charge by weight. For the price you pay them you can purchase new furniture for your new home. Florida styles are very different than what you have up north. You will soon be wanting new furniture anyways.

Sell it, donate it, but don’t move it. Only bring warm weather clothes and sentimental items.

Some years ago before we moved here looked into this and too many hands in the cookie jar making it an expensive way to relocate.

An interesting approach but totally foreign to my view. Sort of like a mail order bride.
The trip from NYC to the Villages is fairly easy and compared to the price of a house very little cost. A realtor is another name for a sales person. They will sell the pluses of what they are trying to sell and will not mention any minuses.

Having the mover pack? I did my own packing. I photoed every item put into the box.
Your valuable glass, whatever, packer it was chipped when I packed it. Gold, whatever, we never saw that. I too am an ex-New Yorker. Perhaps, far less trusting.

Aside, many years ago, I did concealed shortages on expensive stuff. Everyone of my boxes was not only sealed with packing tape, they were glued. There is no way as it typically done they could cut the bottom of a box and reseal it.

I disagree. We could never have replaced all of our furniture for the cost of our move (two houses three states apart) down to TV. That said, there were a lot of things I donated before the move that I now regret. I don't regret anything I brought, except for one thing that just wasn't the right size when we got it in the house, but we sold it quickly.

I spent a lot of time & $ choosing that furniture, and I was not about to give it up.

There is a recent thread about long distance movers. My sister worked in accounting for a major mover. No I did not get a discount. I was supposed to get the best crew, by name. Honest etc. They are most like the old jokes about used car salesmen.

Packing and unpacking any of them will do it for a fee. In terms of major long distance movers, they have several crews, some are better than others. Packing and unpacking. They do not take the people who pack with them from NY to Florida. As far as unpacking, not sure what they will or can do. Stuff like glassware. Will they unwrap it? Put it away? Would you want them, expect them, to do that?

Packing wasn't so much more expensive than our last move (to storage when would be gone for a year). The house sold in a couple of hours for the right price, and we wanted to accommodate the buyers, who wanted to have possession before returning to NY. Couldn't pack ourselves in just a couple of weeks.

Unpacking I preferred to do myself--er, ourselves.

I'd expect them to move the furniture into the rooms where they belong, and move the boxes that belong in each room to that room. I'd do the rest.

My experience was great, well coordinated and cost was lower than doing it myself. Similar to my employer relo services.

They suggest realtors who are corporate relocation specialist.

You can select your own realtor.

The move is scheduled from the Villages so if there is a problem, they have corporate influence.

/// duplicate.

I used the relocation service 11 years ago and was glad I did. They lined up two top realtors from different companies to make my choice, and three different moving companies' proposals at corporate rates. And they followed the progress of the ongoing sale.
If they so the same now it makes for less angst.

We moved from Roanoke Va to the villages 18 months ago. Driver got two helpers from Wash DC (250 miles away) and they were great.

The movers sent over a few people for packing and they did a good job on fragile and expensive stuff like TV's.

At the villages he got two helpers from Tampa and not so great. They broke several things and hid the damage from us. Not very expensive stuff so we let it go but did leave a bad taste.

No don’t do it. We did on our move from Michigan to tv and the house was listed by one of their suggested realtor. House sat on the market for 6 months with no one looking at it. Took the listing off and asked the agent and he told us that he had to give part of his commission to the villages. He didn’t want to put the effort in to selling the house. Went with another agent without the villages help and sold the house in one day. This was 12 years ago. Things might have changed

I'd really prefer to use my own realtors - any recommendations on NYC-to-TV moving companies?

Has anyone used The Village Movers (the Fruitwood one) for a long distance move?

We moved from NY (Rockland county) 2 months ago and used both relators and movers suggested by Becky, the relo specialist in the Villages sales office. First, we move once every 40 years or so and don't have either favorite relators or movers. Becky arranged interviews with 2 relators and 3 moving companies. All knew that they were competing for our business. Both relators arrived 3 days after notification with well prepared suggestions. The one we chose used a plan we agreed upon and the house sold quickly for more than the initial asking price.
The movers were local area companies affiliated with major brand names. Again, we made a choice based on competitive interviewing, and are pleased with the results.
If you move frequently enough to already have confidence in a relator or a mover, use those you prefer. If you are like us, moving infrequently, the Villages relo service might be very helpful. We are completely satisfied with our move.
... and if you make allegations of commissions, two things: 1. that's often how business works in a capitalist environment and 2. proof would be a good thing to back up the allegations.

My guess is the first realtor did not put it in writing that he had to share the commission, so naturally there would be no proof. Plus he would also have to share the commission with his broker and another local realtor if that realtor brought in a buyer. So adding an extra commission to The Villages dilutes his commission even further.


We also used a broker suggested by TV for our Michigan home, and they also did nothing. Didn't even advertise it. We took the house off the market, put it on the next year with our own choice of realtor, and it sold in a week. That was 8 years ago, and the market was rather flat in our particular area.


So I believe delima2000's statement is credible. And I also believe that things might have changed.

I found that Reloc Serv was basically a Google search that you pay for. Kinda silly, IMHO.

We used Relocation services. We were given recommendations but not mandated. We had already selected a selling realtor and he was villages suggestion also. But we were given three movers and went with one. We brought our treasured furniture only and so glad we did. At least we had a comfy bed when furniture took forever to be delivered here. Kids and charity got most of our stuff. It still cost a lot of money to ship. Know that if you don’t bring it, it is gone forever so I only brought my expensive stuff. Every household is different.

People are having success with PODS.
Our friends used them. We intend to use them.
They will deliver a pod to your home . You can pack/unpack yourself or hire your own packers or you can have pods pack you. They are organized, efficient, national service

Two years ago I had already sold my home and inquired about help from the Village relocation folks on a mover.

I was told it was a package deal (all or nothing). Unless it’s changed you’ll most likely have to make your own arrangements.

Moved to TV from NJ four years ago. We bought a turnkey so we didn’t need to bring any furniture. We brought about 50 medium-sized boxes.

We used uship dotcom. There were about six movers that responded to our request. I didn’t take the cheapest one, but the movers that had the best feedback.

When the time came, two brawny guys arrived in a sleek truck that was ideal for this move. It wasn’t a giant 40-foot tractor trailer. I had originally chosen another moving company, but had to cancel because the truck was so large it couldn’t get down my street.

Good luck

In today's market houses sell fast . You can use a reputable mover and get three bids with very little effort. My own suggestion still is to take your clothing and nothing else unless you have an extreme sentimental value. It's not the money it's the effort it concern and worry. There is so much used furniture here in the thrift shops you can find something just to put in your home to sit on with no effort. And then take your time spending money at the better stores if that's what you want to do.

TV Relocation Svc
 

Why not get a quote to compare with your own research? There are as many stories, good and bad, as there are folks who have moved here. "Experience" from my brothers, wives, cousins neighbor, who works at a moving company is, well, , , ,

Did use a part of relocation service
 

We used The Villages relocation service to find a realtor for my father-in-law’s move from Palm Harbor to The Villages. We hired college hunks to declutter, packed ourselves and hired a local high rated mover (hourly account only two hours).

When we moved from Michigan we hired a friend (top 2% realtor), and did get a discount on the commission. We were going to sell ourselves but glad we didn’t, it was a feeding frenzy, 26 showings in two days and eight offers. Our realtor referred a moving company or should I say a mover/estimator that was the district manager who knew what he was doing (and got a referral discount).

So if you know a realtor you want to use, do it. The key to finding a good mover is how good & honest the estimator is, one that won’t “cheat” on the weight to get the job. The driver of the moving truck is responsible for the extra weight costs so he can hold you hostage for the extra, even with a “binding cost contract”.

You can use all or part of The Villages relocation, get multiple quotes/interviews.

Happy trails, and remember that your journey ends in a happy place.

I used The Villages Relocation service -- I moved from Bergen County, NJ (outside of NYC) in November 2019. The relocation service has two realtors contact you -- you interview the realtors and select the one that best meets your needs. My realtor was excellent -- the house sold in less than a week. Also, the relocation service has three moving companies contact you -- they each provided a quote for the service. I had the moving company pack the dishes. The movers arrived on the scheduled day at my home early and worked non-stop. The furniture and boxes arrived on the scheduled day in The Villages -- no items were broken and the furniture arrived without any damage or scratches. I highly recommend the service!

One of my co-workers in the same town in New Jersey was selling his home in early 2020. I suggested that he contact the realtor that I had used -- he did contact my realtor and interviewed other realtors. He selected the realtor that sold my home. The home sold on the first day on the market and he received more than the asking price. This was before the pandemic.

I did it 18 yrs ago and was very happy.

As an FYI - Their “selected” Realtor up north must agree to give Properties of The Villages 25% of the Listing side commission to be eligible to be on the list. He/She is not supposed to mention this to you. Use your own Realtor !

Relocation services
 

I used relocation services and loved it. Ask for M.A. Trilla. She is amazing. Yes everyone makes money and that is how it should be when someone is doing the work for you. She found us a great realtor for our sale in California, sent us 3 movers to choose from… helped us with everything. Now we are great friends..

My father used this year's ago and was very happy. He was happy to let them deal with the hassles.

We used them when we moved from NJ back in mid 2019. I'm sure we paid a bit more but the convenience was well worth it. TV Relo gave us 3 movers to interview and choose from. We ultimately went with Atlas and our main contact was here in FL. They set everything up as well as coordinated with a 3rd party to transport a car down here. Couldn't have gone smoother. We tried to sell most of our stuff since it just didn't fit down here. What was left took up less than a quarter of the moving truck ... mostly my tools :coolsmiley:. The movers showed up as scheduled and delivered on the date we negotiated so we could be here when they arrived. We did have some breakage during the move and all I did was take a couple of pics, provided them the estimated value based on web search (no receipts required), and Atlas immediately deducted the net value from our final bill. No debates or push backs.

I would recommend them again. You can always find cheaper but the convenience was definitely worth it. Enjoy and good luck on your move!!

One last point. TV Relo also provided us with the contacts on 3 agents in our immediate NJ area. Supposedly, they were all highly rated and TV Relo had positive feedback for all 3. We interviewed the 3 and finally went with what we thought was the best. Couldn't have been more pleased. The agent we chose pushed back on anything less than asking price and/or which a lot of contingencies. Ended up selling at the asking price, cash offer with no contingencies. :MOJE_whot:

Sop
 

Back in the day I was a realtor (RELO agent that received corporate relocations) and it’s standard operating procedure if your given a referral there is a portion of the commission you share with the referring agent/agency. Your getting 75% of a commission that you would not of had otherwise.

We just moved from PA. We did not bring any furniture because it cost to much. We did bring some things.....we used a uhaul to move. We bought a house partially furnished.

We used them. You have no obligation to use the realtors or moving companies they provide you. In our case, we really liked one of the realtors they provided us and ended up using him. We actually ended up using a moving company our realtor suggested over the ones The Villages provided for us. It was a local mover who was much cheaper and we were very happy with them. It does not hurt to use the relocation service to just get some options to use.

I had a great experience with The Village Relocation Service.
 

I had a great experience with The Village Relocation Service. I was offered 3 real estate companies and ALL of them sent their commercial relocation agents to offer a listing and marketing proposal. After spending several months with minimal action, even after lowering the price and getting a new MLS number the new realtor in Atlanta recommended a price increase and got a viable cash offer within 10 days. We closed with NO issues.

The recommended moving company was a national one, Mayflower. Their price was significantly lower than other quotes because they were a local, Ocala, FL company and our move was a backhaul.

The fact that perhaps the ReLocation service gets a rebate is fine with me as long as I get a better price and better service. The service and price were my main concerns. The quality of the move was excellent. A repair to the minimal damage was done expertly. The only serious damage was covered by insurance and the settlement was quick and fair. In my opinion you can't expect better than that.

I have been several times due to corporate transfers. This was as good as it gets from the sale of our Atlanta home to the move itself.