I’m moving. What do I need to know?

A veteran mover offers some tips to stay out of trouble during switch from one home to another

Freelance writer Carola Vyhnak is leaving her rural home north of Cobourg for a smaller place in a nearby town. In the seventh instalment of her downsizing journey, she struggles to make all the right moves.

Weeks to go and moving house is turning into one big sticky ball of tangled packing tape.

The acting director of operations is a man named Murphy, who delights in dreaming up myriad ways to muck things up. (Hmm, there should be a law against that. Although to be factually correct, the pessimistic aerospace engineer Edward Murphy didn’t make things go wrong, he just anticipated them.)

Predictably, things start to go awry when I search for a professional moving company to lug everything 50 kilometres to my new digs. With the busy season already in full swing, transporters and dates have become moving targets.

One company I call in late May is booked through till the end of July. Another has few openings — none useful — and, in the end, I shift to a later day.

(Chalk up one smart move: allowing a buffer of several days between closings on my purchase and sale properties.)

Locking in a moving date doesn’t mean you’re home free. One industry veteran shared a cautionary tale about last-minute snafus. Mike O’Hara, the main man behind “Your Belleville Mover,” said, in a recent week, he saw three pending deals “go south” over financing issues, even though the buyers had been pre-approved for a mortgage.

(Pre-approval does not guarantee you’ll get the loan you need when the transaction is finalized.)

In one case, the clients had to put their stuff in storage and relocate three times, turning an $1,800move into an $8,000-calamity, said O’Hara, a helpful, upbeat sort, who has 32 years in the business.

His tales from the trenches bring back memories of a real estate disaster years ago when I got caught in a legal-financial foul-up at the sellers’ end. I had to put a houseful of stuff in storage and rent a cottage for two months.

When one deal falls through, there’s a domino effect on everyone involved. O’Hara says he does what he can to ensure a smooth transition and he has some universally useful pointers.

■ Don’t assume, he warns, that the keys will be handed over in time to move on closing day. Finalizing legal and banking matters takes time, so it’s a better plan to move the next day or later.

■ For budgeting purposes, typical moving costs range from $1,800 to $2,200, plus tax, for an average three-bedroom home that could take about 10 hours altogether.

■ In the GTA, you can expect to pay up to $250 an hour for professional movers, depending on the company’s pricing policy and how many bodies carry your contents on and off the truck.

■ It’s also important to ask what services are included, such as taking beds apart and reassembling, shrink-wrapping furniture and lending wardrobe boxes.

And here’s a time-saver before and after the move: having dressers wrapped means drawers don’t have to be emptied of clothing and nonbreakable items.

Tipping movers, while not expected, is appreciated, say industry insiders. Typical amounts are 10 to 20 per cent of the total bill or $20 to $50 per person, depending on the number of hours they work.

Finally, the pros advise wrapping up the packing process well before the truck arrives, lest the chaos of moving day activates that pesky law.

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