Top Ways to Save Money When Moving to Orlando
Here are my top tips to help save you some money when youare moving to Orlando.
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Furniture. Should it stay or should it go? From my personal experience, which was an international move, I sold most of it, but I kept some of it, and the stuff I kept really never got used. It doesn’t fit, it doesn’t fit in with the style of my house now, and to quote Marie Kondo -- it doesn’t bring me joy anymore! It would have been a lot less expensive if I had left it behind. If you’re moving internationally and you don’t know America yet, well we have a “garage sale” culture here where people sell their unwanted items on the weekends. I’m going to show you a photo of my actual bedroom. I bought this super nice set on Craigslist when we first moved here for $1000, and I even got a copy of the receipt from when the seller bought it for $8000 maybe a year before they ended up having to sell it due to a divorce. Not that i like profiting off of someone’s misfortune, but it’s a great way to pick up furniture at a great price. And if that’s not enough, let me reassure you that the sofa that you bought because it looks awesome in your current home probably won’t look awesome in your new one. Then you’re stuck with trying to buy a home based on a sofa that you don’t want to sell because you’ll be out a few hundred dollars if you try to sell it now...and you’re basing your whole home choice on it. Of course, keep your family heirlooms, but I would beseech you to consider unloaded.
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Similarly, clothing and personal items. Guys, you’re moving to Florida. One winter coat will suffice. If you’re coming here from up north, you’ll probably still be swimming long after the locals have closed up their pools for the year. You will be completely impervious to the ever so slight cold that we sometimes get here in Central Florida. Keep it mind, pack accordingly, save yourself time and space in your new home.
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Boxes, paper and supplies. You’re going to need boxes, right? Lots and lots of boxes. My favorite place to find boxes include craigslist, the Nextdoor Neighbor website, LetGo, and facebook marketplace. People hate throwing away boxes once they’ve moved, obviously it’s a really huge investment as some of those bigger boxes will cost you as much as $20 per box -- I’m talking about those big boxes -- if you buy them from your moving company. Oftentimes people who have recently moved are glad to give them away and let them be re-used, and then you can do the same when you’re done with them. For paper to wrap valuables in, of course you can use newspaper, if you can find enough, but with the advent of online news that’s becoming harder and harder to come by. Can’t exactly wrap your valuables in a webpage can you? Another idea is to go to one of your wholesale clubs like Costco, BJs or Sam’s and buy meat wrapping paper. I’ve seen it for $30-$40 per roll, and you’ll get quite a lot. I saw 720 feet for sale. Another tip - pick up wrapping paper in January when it’s sitting in bins for $.50 per roll.
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Appliances. Take them or leave them? Well, generally speaking most of the appliances in the home you’re going to buy will stay. That includes your dishwasher, stove, over the range microwave or range hood, and garbage disposal. The refrigerator also normally stays although some people like to take them along, although frankly they are a huge hassle to move, very often wind up getting dented and sometimes don’t fit in the next house, or are the wrong color. The Washer and Dryer are usually negotiable, and out of all the appliances, those two more than anything are NOT included in the sale. They are fairly easy to move and a lot of people just get attached to their washer and dryer and want to take them along. My suggestion is to leave yours behind, save yourself the hassle and let us negotiate them into your next purchase.
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Where to stay when you get here? My top hack in this category is to tell you to go ahead and search AirBnb and VRBO for a short term rental. Especially right now, many owners will be glad to have a longer term short term rental because it means less cleaning, also a lot of vacations have been postponed and so vacation rentals are down right now. Believe me, as an airbnb owner, I can tell you assuredly do NOT hesitate to reach out to an owner, explain your situation and ask if you can get a discount for a longer stay. It happens all the time. Other options include executive housing, and extended stay hotels, but I think youll find the best deal and the most flexibility with airbnb.
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What I’ve already discussed is but a drop in the bucket compared to point number 5 and that is making sure to reach out to me. You need an expert real estate advisor on your side because this is probably the biggest financial decision of your life and you want to make sure you have someone on your side who is working for you to make sure you make the right choice in terms of location, school district, price, and everything else that is wrapped up with making this very large decision.
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