Very few

relocations go

off without a

hitch.

Usually there is

at least

area that

causes TROUBLE..

However, some

people EXPERIENCE

an ESPECIALLY rough

relocation...

WE HAVE COMPILED THE

SCARIEST RELOCATION

TALES, PAIRED WITH

WAYS TO ENSURE IT

Doesn’T HAPPEN to YOU

OR YOUR EMPLOYEES.

As if going through

the homesale process

isn’t a nightmare

enough in itself, imagine the pleasure

of this experience:

I successfully sold my home, had the moving trucks packed, and was ready to move my three dogs and

two kids into our new house. Three days before our new home was supposed to close, I received a call telling me that the person who listed the house

didn't really have full ownership, and therefore couldn't sell it. Turns out, a realtor took the listing, ran ads and showed the home…but neglected to

check who was on the title of the house. So there I was, just having put down $30K on a home, only

to find out that it was actually not for sale.

My relocation had taken a drastic turn. I was forced to take out two storage

units, pay for added U-Haul expenses, and find a hotel that took pets because I

couldn't afford boarding. To make matters worse, I had already paid for a survey, inspection, and appraisal on the

house – all which were now sunken costs.

I had to quickly find a new home. My past mortgage rate of 4.5% was gone.

My monthly went up $18.42 for the next 30 years. While things turned out okay and I am now happy in my new home, I

lost a lot of time and money in the process as unfortunately there are no

laws to protect against this.

Make sure you advise transferees to cover all of their

bases during a homesale – even the obvious ones. Ensure

that they understand what questions they should be asking and have all the

resources they need to avoid any confusion!

THIS TRANSFEREE, RELOCATING TO HAWAII, FOUND SOMETHING IN

ONE OF HIS BOXES THAT

HE DIDN’T remember

packing:

We were gearing up for our move to

Hawaii and the relocation was happening

quickly, so there wasn’t much method to

our madness in terms of packing. We were

trying to get everything into boxes and in

the moving truck as quickly as possible,

assuming we would have time to organize

things once we got to our new location.

Somewhere along the way – through all of

the opening and closing of doors – our cat

got out. We were devastated, but didn’t

have time to look for him as we were on

an extremely tight schedule.

Well…low and behold…

As we were unpacking our boxes a few

days later in Hawaii, we opened up a

box not to find our kitchen dishes, but

our cat! We felt SO bad, but were also

so relieved to find him. He must have

gotten scared during the move and

hidden somewhere he felt safe!

Be diligent with animals! Pets often get frightened during a move and hide in small places to feel safe. Keep a watchful eye on

your pets and have a plan for them as well!

THINK HAZARD LIGHTS

WILL KEEP YOU FROM

GETTING TOWED?

I was moving within Chicago from Andersonville to Lincoln Park – it’s not a

far move, maybe 8 miles. We didn’t hire a van line because it was such a short

distance and just used my parents car to make trips back and forth. We threw on the hazards as we were loading up my

belongings in the old location so our car didn’t get towed.

While that part of our plan worked (we didn’t get towed), we didn’t fully think

through the other parts of our plan. Because we left the hazards on for so

long, the car died. We had to wait nearly 2 hours for someone to come give us a

jump, standing in the freezing cold because we didn’t want to leave a packed car unattended in the middle of the city.

Encourage your transferees to let their landlord know about the move so they can direct them on reserving a spot on the street. Most of the time you can get a place reserved for a few hours for a

relatively cheap price (or for free!) and it will save your employees from the

constant fear of their car being towed or battery dying.

TRYING TO SAVE

MONEY BY BUYING

DISCOUNT FURNITURE

ON A WHIM? BE

CAREFUL...

My husband and I were moving from Ohio to Chicago, and as the cost of living in Chicago is substantially higher than Ohio, we wanted to

buy as much as we could before the move. We found a beautiful couch in Ohio and thought it

would look great in our new home, so we bought it and had it shipped to Chicago. We were waiting for it to be delivered on the day we moved into our new home, but there was

one slight problem…

THE COUCH DIDN’T

FIT THROUGH THE

FRONT DOOR.

We had already spent so much money on the couch and shipping, so we had to find a way to get it in the house. We

ended up having to call someone to come out, tie rope around the couch, and hoist it

up three stories. It was time consuming, stressful, and not to mention expensive.

Since then, I’ve always measured my furniture and the space it has to fit

through, no matter what.

Measure furniture! Remind employees that if they are

buying or bringing new furniture, measure the dimensions it has to fit

through first! This happens all the time with

relocations, and it is an extremely avoidable mistake.

ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE who THINKS “THAT WON’T

HAPPEN TO ME!”

THINK AGAIN.

We were relocating from Tennessee to

Oregon for my wife’s job and we were

packing up the moving van the day of

the final trip. We got through almost

everything, and then loaded in the

mattress, only to find that we had

guests…

BED BUGS.

After finding the bed bugs in our mattress,

we had to unload EVERYTHING, put it

back in the house, clean every single item

we owned, inspect all of our items

afterwards, and then re-pack. It was a

complete nightmare. It pushed back our

move nearly a month and it was extremely

expensive.

Inspect, inspect, inspect. Before your employees pack

everything up, make sure they have taken the necessary steps to ensure everything is mold-free, bug-free, and decay-free. It’s time consuming, but if you find something early on, it will save a lot of time and money

in the long run.

RELOCATIONS CAN BE SCARY, AND

SOMETIMES THERE JUST ISN’T ANYTHING

YOU CAN DO TO AVOID IT.

ONE THING YOU

do

though?

TAKE ALL OF THE

NECESSARY STEPS

BEFOREHAND AND

DON’T TAKE

SHORTCUTS.

LET

URBANBOUND

HANDLE IT!