Moving Advice

[cwbyrvr]

I'm planning on moving about 210 miles to another city soon. My lease at this place is up on August 18th, so I figure I need to figure something out soon. The problem is, I don't have my own transportation to actually get between that city and this one, and I'm not really sure how to go about this. I assume I'll need to be physically present for some of the lease stuff, it was never a problem for me to do that before.

I don't even know fully what I need to ask. I feel really overwhelmed, basically. I want to get out of this city and transfer to a different store for work but I just don't know where to start. The last time I moved a long distance (about 240 miles), I had a couch to crash on for a month to find work and a place to live, and I don't have any buffer like that this time. Is there any way I can get this done without having to take a trip down there? I guess I could take greyhound and have someone meet up with me to help me look at places and get lease stuff done, but I don't want to take off work to do that if I don't have to.

Pretending to be an adult is hard.

[rowan]

Well, I would say step 1 is: put in for a transfer to work if you haven't.

After that, step 2 is:
* find out if you konw any people to tell you neighborhoods to avoid/try to live in.

* since you will have a job, it's not as bad of a deal to find a place to lease. You have proof of employment & a paycheck.

* However August is tricky if this city has a university because EVERYONE will be signing for a lease then.

* Look on cragislist or in university papers or in..oh like, what, apartment.com or something. Or if you have people you know there ask if they know of places. Every city is kind of different as to what's the "norm" for renting. Here, heat is typically included. When I was in AZ, electricity and cooling were.

* Schedule a bunch of appointments for a saturday/sunday morning. Drive there Friday night, come back Sunday evening. Rinse, repeat, for several weekends in a row if need be.

[octarineoboe]

Often you can rent a car in one city and return it to the same company in another city. That might help the transportation issue.

On either end, I'd say make use of your friends! I lived in six different places in the past four years (all in one city though - yay college) and I could never have done it without shamelessly begging people who had cars to help me. Offering to buy them food usually helped persuade them.

And good luck!

[Mathmo]

If you have a specific 'another city' in mind (which I'm assuming you do?) talk to people about the fact that you're planning to move there. You never know who might say "oh, my sister used to live there - she was in such-and-such an area, because it's a nice area but not super-expensive". Even if you don't know anyone who lives there, you might only be one-contact away from someone who does, who can help you out with inside info. I find Facebook is a really good way to do this kind of thing (but obv depends on if/how you use FB).

MrM and I are going to be moving to a new city in August, and we've been looking at properties to rent online - there's lots of stuff online here, I don't know if it's the same where you are? It's been really good because we now know what we should expect to pay for what we want (in our case 2 bedrooms, central-ish, parking space if possible) so if something comes up we can tell if it's a good deal or not. Same as what rowan was saying, really.

Can you use Google Streetview to check out areas (once you've narrowed it down to a few to look at)? We've been doing that and it's really helpful to see that this is a residential area, or that place is next to a huge factory, or on a super-busy main road, or whatever. Gives a bit of the feel of the place without having to actually go there - although I do think that you should definitely try to visit a place before signing a lease.

And agree on the try to find a friend with transportation issue especially if you're able to pay for gas/food - it might not work out because it is rather a long way to go, but you might find someone who is happy to do it (and long trips are more fun with other people).

[cwbyrvr]

I do know a couple of people who live there, yeah. I've looked at places online, there's definitely a lot there and for less than I've been paying. I hadn't considered the university students thing, there is a major university there, yeah.

It does seem like I'll actually have to get there for a little while, which is going to be rough. In addition to not having a car, I don't even have a license. But I can take a bus if I can't pester someone to help out (though hopefully I can find someone to drive me around once I get there, heh). I usually work weekends but I could request some time off to get this done if I do it soon, I guess.

I think the main thing was I was pretty sure but not certain if I'd have to make the trip down there before moving in. I assumed I would, it's just going to be a headache to organize. I'll figure something out.

[kelsa]

Work transfer! Once you get a start date at the new location, haul your shit down via friends or bus, and stay at a hostel or find a month long sublet while searching for a long term apartment. Or go down for a weekend and sign the first acceptable apartment for the shortest term lease you can get, then you can explore/find a better situation while you're there and have money coming in and no travel issues.

[rowan]

Oh, well you don't have to go on a weekend. Most places would be happy to show things during the week. Go when it's convenient. But two days or so together would be better than just one day.

[monk]

If you know when you're going you still might want to rent a car(the cheap ones here rent for $20/day ymmv). I know you said YOU don't have a license but if you know someone who does and maybe they don't have a car you can rent the car for them to drive you around. I can't stress how convenient not relying on public transit is for situations like this. This applies for friends where you live now and for friends where your moving since rental cars usually have unlimited miles.

Also, if you're talking to someone and they say "I would totally help you if I had a car..." you can say, "hey, that's great I will rent us one, thanks for volunteering!"

[cwbyrvr]

I think I'm going to more or less do what kelsa has suggested and decide where I want to transfer, get the transfer set up, then figure out a way to get down there with all my stuff and find some temporary place to stay until I can find something more permanent. I'm getting a little less overwhelmed feeling and more excited now, so thanks.

Already told a manager at work I plan on leaving soonishly (not giving official notice, but someone else just quit, so I figured I should let them know I'll be leaving soon so they know to rush on getting new hires trained), so I guess that's why I feel a little more like it's actually happening, heh.