An informational source for people who are relocating, with a particular focus on moving to the Carlsbad area of North County San Diego (and nearby coastal communities), with advice, guidance and true stories to help you on your way and make it a great journey, from a REALTOR� with plenty of personal (4 major moves, most recently from Boston to Carlsbad, California) and professional relocation experience. Are you running into problems selling your home? Need to find a new one quickly? Never moved before and haven't a clue? You'll find some great tips on how to solve your relocation issues here. Or ask me a question any time and I'll share some solutions or tell you where to get more information.
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A relocation, especially to a very different part of the country, represents a significant change - a move from the familiar to the unfamiliar, and loss of close contact with neighbors, close friends and maybe family.
But why not turn this into an adventure and make the most of your move, especially if you are driving to your destination?
Plan your trip so that you have time to visit friends or family along the way - they'll love seeing you and hearing about your trip and your new home (what a pleasant way to save on your hotel bills - maybe you can buy or fix dinner!)
Make sure you take a digital camera to record whatever appeals to you along the way - we took photos of interesting sites in every state we drove through (I think it was 13) on the way from Boston to California, including the first glimpse of our new home when we walked in. You can then upload them to the Internet (Snapfish or Kodak, for example) and share all your photos with your friends, neighbors and family, plus enjoy them yourself.
You might also take a bunch of photos of the new house, inside and out, so that others can see your new home and "welcome" you. Take some pics right away, and then update the photo gallery on-line as you make improvements.
If you have the time, I suggest also planning to visit some of the tourist sites along the way. It helps to break up the trip, and you might not find your way back to those areas again. We stopped at the Grand Canyon (worth every minute of the 3 hour round-trip extra drive north), Santa Fe (again, out of the way but spent the night and had great food and wonderful shopping - we will go back!!), and the wine country in Temecula, CA (took a wine tour).
For food along the way, consider options that are not the typical - farmer's markets, neat little cafés along the road or unique restaurants - we ate at the Road Kill Café in Seligman, Arizona...the food was decent, not stellar, but what a great photo op that was, plus the old jail and similar buildings next door!
I mentioned this before but it's worth bring up again. We used AAA to plan our trip across the country. Not only did they provide the maps showing us the complete route, but also gave us guide books for every state. This was great for planning side trips, looking for restaurants, and determining where to stay since we had 2 cats and pet-friendly hotels are noted.
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A relocation, especially to a very different part of the country, represents a significant change - a move from the familiar to the unfamiliar, and loss of close contact with neighbors, close friends and maybe family.