Finance
February 2, 2024
Anyone who has ever in their life had to move from one home to another knows that it isn’t a pleasant task. First, you’ve got to start planning. Going through all your stuff, packing away what you want to take with you, and disposing of the items that didn’t make the cut often takes significantly more time than people have to give. All physical labor aside, it can be a very emotionally taxing task, too. The above inconveniences can make moving a daunting prospect all on their own, and then you need to factor in the true costs of the process.
Actual Moving Costs
One of the biggest single expenses you’ll likely face when moving is hiring a moving company. Whether their services are all-inclusive (may even come with packing materials, boxes, tape, etc., plus loading, transporting, and unloading your items) or you’re looking at a piece-meal or do-it-yourself approach, this expense is likely to be significant.
You can check out a moving cost calculator like this or this to get an idea of what your particular move might cost. You can expect to pay about $200 per hour.
The average intrastate move using a moving company costs, on average, $2300 according to the American Moving and Storage Association. Average interstate moves cost nearly double that at $4,300. This doesn’t even take into account other expenses such as waste removal, potential storage needed between properties, and the like.
Even if you use a rental truck or with the help of friends and you’re not going far, packing materials, gasoline, rental fees, consolation prizes for your friends, and maybe a trip to the chiropractor for the sore back that hauling your furniture around may give you will likely add up to $500 or more for a move within 10 miles or so.
Utility Transfer Costs
When you move into a new house, you generally have to put down deposits for each utility. You may be shelling out $100 each or more to get natural gas, electricity, municipal water, trash service, or any other utilities you need. Utility deposits will likely cost you at least a few hundred dollars by the leanest estimates.
Stocking Your New Home
Remember all that stuff that you threw out at the old house at the beginning of this article? You’ll definitely want to replace some of that. Things like spices, food, and cleaning supplies like trash cans will likely cost you at least a couple hundred dollars.
Moving: Adding it All Up
All told, moving will likely cost you several thousands of dollars. And that’s before you’ve even paid for your new house. If you’re moving because you need money, the numbers might be a slap in the face.
If the physical, mental, and monetary costs of moving combined are too much for you to bear, you should know that you have another option. If you own your home, you need to sell it, but you don’t really want to move, consider a residential sale-leaseback agreement. This basically means that you would sell your home, converting the equity you’ve built up into cash, and continue to live in it as a tenant.
Key Takeaways
When getting ready to move, there are a lot of additional costs that most people aren’t aware of or prepared for. If you’re looking to move soon, it’s important to know what to expect to have to pay before you get the bill. Talk to your financial advisor or real estate agent to get a full picture of what you’ll be paying throughout the process.
