Moving - Just how impossible is it?

[bosch]

DH is considering a job that would involve moving about 100 miles away.

The practical problems are daunting:

It might well take 5 months to find a buyer and complete the sale of our house

We can't afford to have 2 houses on the go

DH might have to rent a small flat near to
work until we sell our house and buy another. We could live separately for several months

How long would it take to pack up a 3 bed house for a family of 5?

Anyone done this recently? Any advice welcome.

We're attempting it.
The house went on the market yesterday.
We have until end of july to sell, pack and find somewhere temporary to live.
we may have to live seperately too, but it will be me that goes ahead as it's me that has the job.
i have no advice, just that although it's going to be very hard work for the next few months, the changes are being made to improve life for us in the long run.
i guess you have to weigh up the pros and cons.

We're in the middle of this now. DH is working 200 miles away commuting monday to friday. We're planning to move in the summer - just the small matter osf selling the house first! In the meantime he's living in digs, renting a room in a house - which is working well and loads cheaper than renting a flat.

Can't help with the packing up time, I'll look at the replies with interest.

Hope everything works out for you.

PAcking, how long is a piece of string or more to the point how much stuff have you got ?
It takes me a day to pack the kitchen and then another 2 days to pack up everything else, literally 12 hour days though.
Factor the removal costs, stamp duty, agents fees, solicitors etc into the salary DH will get with the new job.
My DH was offered a £30k rise but once he'd paid tax on it and we'd moved frankly it wasn't worth it. If he's unemployed then maybe it is but quite possibly it's better to stay put and accept less locally.

Wow Sorrento.

Am quite encouraged by how quickly you packed.

Would happily accept £30K rise before tax! We'll be moving for less money but more peace of mind!

Think pros of moving an unhappy dh are outweighed by cons of moving to the other end of the country (well, from nearish my family to near his!), cost of move, uprooting children from school and trying to find new schools... (I think there may be a lot more cons but I'll have to get back to you )

Packed up house for family of 6 a couple of years ago for a move 70 miles away.
Can't remember exactly how long it took to pack, but I would advise starting to pack all non-essential stuff fairly early on as it saves a lot of time. Being able to pack without the kids around will also save time so if you can enlist as many granparents/friends/family members etc who can have your kids while you pack, it will really help.
No denying it's daunting, my dh commuted for 6 months while house sale/purchase went through which was tough and moving day itself is that bit trickier with the time it takes to travel longer distances (have plenty of stuff for your dcs to be amused by)but we managed it and all settled quickly and if we can manage it, anyone can!
All the best!

Did this 5 years ago, wished we had moved into rented as then we wouldn't have rushed to buy a house in an area that we hadn't fully investigated.

We moved to this area for an amazing school and although the school is truly amazing we wouldn't have moved onto this street

Local knowledge is not to be underestimated. Even if you get into the school you want there may be streets/areas you may not wish to live.

I have a friend who tried to sell her house, it is stunningly beautiful but if you swing by the house on a weekend you find the next door neighbour fixing cars on his drive for cash in hand If you viewed it in the week you would not know this.

Re packing, if you can get rid of the kids so much the better, I put my son into nursery for a full week (he used to be part time) and I packed a 3 bed house up in 5 days single handed as dh was already working in new place. Ds1 was only 16 months old so all packing stopped at 6pm. Lots of chocolate helped.

Be brutal and use it as a time to chuck/charity lots of stuff. Only last year did I manage to get dh to chuck his books from uni that we had carted from house to house for 13 years and never looked at since the day he packed them

re packing - i paid £400 for 3 bed house to be totally packed up. everything. and dismantling furniture and putting back together again.
best money i ever paid.
bearing in mind dh and i are out of the house 7-6 monday to friday and hes away every other weekend there was no way i was going to do it evenings and weekends alone.

Speaking as someone who has moved every few years, you need to make the decision as to whether your DH wants to take this job opportunity. We have moved multiple times for DH's career and up to now, it has benefited us as a family. If he is in a position to negotiate a relocation package, do so. Life is a risk, especially if he's going to a new company. Yes, it is expensive to relocate but you need to factor in whether this would be beneficial to your family in the long term which may override any financial loss in the short term.

There's always the option of letting your house which may turn out to be your only option if you cannot sell it quickly. This will at least mitigate your mortgage repayments and allow you to make the move. If you have school age kids, it makes sense to move before the start of the next school year so that they can settle into a new school in a new area after the summer. We did this last year but admittedly, we're not exactly risk adverse in this aspect. HTH.

Thanks for some great advice

Am reassured that packing a house is not too unbelievably daunting - am even more pleased to discover that cost of packing service is not too astronomical - dh would be likely to get a relocation package and although I have no idea what it would allow for, I feel sure it would be in excess of £400...

Dh desperately hates his job at the moment and would consider getting a job locally for less money and considerably less responsibility. In the medium to longer term we are likely to have to move if he is to get a job that he wants and will keep us in the style to which we have become accustomed

My initial reaction was to be a bit pissed off because children and I are all happy here, but having had a few weeks to get used to the idea, I can see that there are positives for all of us - though I suspect we'll end up moving the family some time next Autumn/Winter, not ideal but slow housing market etc etc...

Thanks again (any more advice/comments welcome!)

We paid £500 to move and the movers came in and did everything except my knicker drawer which I did myself!

The started on the Thursday and finished on the Friday morning. Drove and unloaded everything on Friday PM. A smaller team came back on Saturday AM to finish everything off and take away the rubbsh.