Moving 200+ Miles Away

anotheruser

Hi

Can anyone give any advice on moving 200/300 miles away from their current home?
Did you leave family? Was that hard?
Did you use a removal company? How much did that cost?
Did you sell some larger house items before moving?
Was house hunting elsewhere hard? Did it cost you a lot of money in driving two and from the new location?
Did you move into rented accommodation in the area then buy?

These aren't direct questions, just things I've been thinking about.
Cheers!

Angela_D_3

I’ve done this serial times and about to do it again but moving back towards family and friends.  

Leaving family shouldn’t be under estimated if you have children.  It is hard.  

I’m selling everything I can up here to move with as little as possible.  Mainly because my stuff is less than 2 years old so I’ll get something for it and I’m downsizing.  

House hunting was a bit of a nightmare,  you have to be strict with yourself about what you’ll view.  90% right or don’t bother.  

When we moved up here we rented for 4 years before buying again.  I don’t recommend that tbh.  6 months tops 

pinkteapot

We moved 300 miles two years ago, away from friends and family. 

Unless you’ve lived in the new area before, rent first. Doesn’t matter how much you’ve visited - it’s not the same. Renting will save you a fortune in the long run if you choose the wrong house and buy. 

We sold our house. When we were near exchange, hubby got an AirBnB up here for a fortnight. He viewed a few rentals, then as soon as we exchanged contracts on our sale he went and did the paperwork for the rental we wanted. He stayed up here while that application went through and got the keys, then came back home. About 10 days later, he moved up with all our stuff - I had to stay with family while I finished my notice period at work, so I drove up about a week after he moved. 

So, our costs were one trip up for him and accommodation for a couple of weeks for that rental-hunting trip. 

We used removals - cost a few thousand. (We has a 4-bed house full of stuff). 

We planned not to look for jobs till after we arrived (this was pre Covid when Zoom job interviews weren’t so much a thing!) but as it turned out perfect jobs were advertised just before we moved, and we both got those remotely. 

The only issue we had was getting a rental without jobs lined up as you have to pass a financial check and can’t with no income - even if you’re going to have 20+ years worth of rent and bills in the bank after selling your house! The rental agency fudged the application through by putting down my salary in the job I was leaving, even though I only had two weeks left. 🤷‍♀️

After a few months up here we started house-hunting. We ended up being in our rental just under a year, and have now been in our own house almost a year. 

Flugelhorn

we moved 300 miles recently - made endless trips to looks at houses couldn't find anything we liked, eventually settled for somewhere that was OK that we would be happy living in until we found the right place. bought that, then put old house on the market, sold that and eventually moved the stuff we wanted to keep - cost about 2.5K -got rid of a lot of stuff too but we were downsizing. Tricky having 2 houses for 3 months at such a distance but has worked out fine.

theartfullodger

It may be a blessed release, especially if you don't give people your new address..

Artful: Moved more than 500 miles once....

babyblade41

I did it and took me 5 years to come back home.

I think I† depends how old you are , I was early 50's .
Within a year I went from 180 miles to 70 and even that was too far in the end.

People say they will come to visit but rarely do so you have to accept embracing a new social circle..something I couldn't do .  I missed family and familiarity of home .

My other fear was getting ill or worse and family not being able to visit often.  I'd rent first before throwing all your eggs in one basket