janj

Does anyone have any experience with a long distance move? We are considering a move from MA to TX (not a relocation, under our own steam) and are wondering about costs involved - both for our household goods and moving 3 cars. I'd appreciate anyone's advice. Thanks.

penguinsix

Are you considering shipping your goods professionally or renting a U-Haul, hooking up one of the three cars and DIY the whole thing? (Do you have 3 drivers?)

Bob

A paid move down to MA from Maine with professional movers, packing, loading, driving down, unloading for an apartment was a good few grand and about a grand a car, but we only had one and drove it down.

Saying that, had some friends move down to NC with a large uHaul truck and a hitch to tow their car for a couple of grand, including hitch rental, insurance, tolls and petrol.

A couple of cars alone will be a couple of grand to move them down there on their own though as you can only really tow one on a hitch yourself.

SagenOnion

We moved from Southern California to Maine in 2003 which is just about as long distance as you can get within the lower 48.

We packed up our old house ourselves and hired day labourers to fill a 53 footer which cost us $6K for the journey. When the trailer arrived at our house in Maine we had hired help standing by to unload it. Whole moving expense was less than 7K. I drove my Jag with 1 kid and 1 dog plus computers and TV and the wife drove her Navigator with 2 kids and 1 dog plus some plates, airbeds, pillows and stuff that we would need for the week prior to our trailer arriving. Fun drive across country but hard work at both ends. I think I would hire someone to do the whole bloody thing next time.

janj

Thanks for the replies.
We don't want to move ourselves. We may not take all the cars, but need someone to pack up and deliver all our house stuff.
Incidentally, sage, how much do you think it would have cost for professionals to do the whole move for you?
We would fly with our two dogs. Kids all grown up now, so traveling 'light' in that respect.

TimFountain

Strange, we're considering a move from TX to MA! Any interest in a house swap (only kidding)? Looking within 20 miles of Norton, MA. I am figuring $20k realtor and $4k for the move, based on a friend who move their whole family from Austin to MA. We are not planning on taking the cars, but we have 4 cats and a dog, and 2 kids....

- Tim

Xebedee

One thing we didn't use was rail to move our stuff across the country.
Knew someone who did and they said its not a bad idea as long as you have a station near the start and end points.

Might be worth a look-see.

Have you thought about driving? Its a fun way to see big bits of this big, lumpy country..........

Bob

that's about 45 mins south of me....nice little, but odd area....Attleboro and Walpole are nice and you've got great shopping in Wrentham up the road. Morning traffic north bound is a monster though.

TimFountain

Bob,
Having not been in that area before, what makes you say it is an "odd area"? One thing is for sure, there aren't a lot of houses for sale, period, and those that are seem to feature 80's striped wallpaper!

- Tim

hobbes79

We moved Dallas, TX to MA

(via england... long story)

janj

Tim,
Where would you suggest we look to live in Austin? Don't want more than 30 minute commute from downtown, like outdoor space and views, don't want 5 bedroom macmansions. Don't want to spend more than 8 or 900K. No kids at home, but need space when they visit. I'm visiting next month so will drive around while hubby is working.
Thanks for any input
Jan

zargof

My wife and I moved from GA to IA a couple of years ago, and we used PODS. Basically they deliver a storage container to your home, you pack it up with all your stuff (or you could hire someone to do that for you) and they'll deliver it to your new place. It was perfect for us as we were travelling for a couple of months in between the move, and they'd stored it during that time. It only cost $2K for three months storage and delivery from GA to IA, which I think is pretty reasonable.

Bob

Very hit or miss, some lovely areas but also very dated and/or crappy areas, crappy in nothing to do and just not that nice compared to a minute in another direction kind of odd.

Wrentham for a start, awesome outlet mall, but the town itself is a bit crap.

And the roads suffer a fair bit of congestion because it's right in the middle for people going southwest to RI and Pawtucket area and people heading up into Boston.

House prices dropped a bomb too so probably find a few bargains but possibly more people trying to rent to see things through.

Plenty of small towns in the area that are worth checking out, so even if you had a job in town, don't forget to check the surrounds

frrussre

We moved from NYC to Ft Lauderdale, FL 3.5 years ago.
30' moving truck took furniture to Queens, big trucks are not allowed in City, they then off loaded it to a bigger truck, took it north to Boston
(Um! yep annoyed me), in Boston they put it on a 53' tractor trailer, then all the way south, to Florida.

Truck arrived one day earlier then planned.

Reg. Frank R.

Englishtart

We moved all our stuff from Colorado to IL about 18 months ago, we hired casual labor to move all the stuff into and out of truck at both ends, they cost about $45 per hour for 2 guys (will look up website if you want it) They were really good and worked hard for the money.

Hubby hired a huge Budget truck, just about fit all the crap we had in storage and he drove that to IL himself. I think fully inc' it cost us around 2.5K...to be honest, I don't think I would ever want to do it again, we were on a tight budget at the time and had no choice, but in future, I would wait, save up and pay someone else for the hassle!

The next move (to SC) in june/july is being paid for by hubby's job