The 411 on Easy Moving: Home Insurance, Moving Companies and More!
If there's anything in life more aggravating than moving, I haven't found it yet. Okay, that might not be entirely true. Regardless, moving does come with a great deal of hassle, aggravation and paperwork for your home insurance coverage. Here's how to take some of the pain out of relocating your home,
Moving can be a giant hassle-but it doesn't have to be!
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And your homeowners insurance.
The first tip I share with every homeowner before they start thinking about packing is to sit down and make a master list of everything they need to do. A typical pre-moving list looks something like this:
· Fill out a change of address form with the post office.
· Notify your creditors of your change of address. (This is a big one-otherwise, your bills won't be forwarded to your new address and you may fall behind. It happens all the time.)
· Make arrangements to turn off your utilities.
· Find out what you need to do to transfer your children's school records.
· Contact the new school and ask for a registration packet. This can save you a LOT of trouble after the move.
· Talk to your home insurance agent and see what you need to do to transfer your homeowners insurance policy.
· Make reservations for either a moving company or a U-haul.
· Sort everything in your home, sending what you're not using to charity.
· Pack everything you're not using.
· Clean.
· Pack everything else and hit the road!
Moving companies can be more than a little expensive, but when you start talking about the amount of aggravation and headache they can save you in the long run it can be worth it-especially if you're going to be hopping state lines, since that's a headache in and of itself! You have two choices when it comes to moving companies: 1) You can hire them to pack for you, or 2) You can have them come in and load up your boxes for you. (You can also hire a POD, but that comes with a little more fine print than they show on their commercials.)
Now, on to the issue of your home insurance. Hey, this is an insurance site! You knew it was coming!
Your home insurance information is almost always going to change when you move, and it's good to get homeowners insurance quotes ahead of time so you know what you're getting into. Moving is a great time to create a new, itemized list of the belongings you want to insure, since you're going to be sorting through everything anyway. Theoretically you should have the basic information about your new home before you ever load up the U-haul, so making arrangements for a new policy should be a piece of cake.
If you're going to be buying your first home insurance policy, let me give you a few words of advice. First and foremost, there are plenty of things that can save you money on your insurance rates. Talk to your insurance agent to see what you qualify for. Second, start your hunt for home insurance quotes with your auto insurance company. Most car insurers offer home insurance as well, and a multi-policy discount can be a beautiful thing.
Good luck with your move!