Moving advice needed - ASAP!

[seawitch]

So, we put up our house for sale at the start of the summer while we went to go stay with my mom in another state. A couple of days ago we got a phone call from our real estate agent that the house had an offer; we signed a contract and we have to basically get our stuff out of there by the end of December. We have most of our stuff kind of heaped into the garage there and need it re-packed (we just kind of threw things into boxes without padding, etc. - total rush job!!) and packed up for a long distance move to, well, here, I guess.

HOW do I go about getting our stuff out? I can hire a moving company to come in and pack everything up and ship it out... but how do I find one that is trustworthy? We don't have any crazy expensive things there but we have a few things that are irreplaceable (a computer that has data on it), one or two electronics (like a TV, some gaming stuff) as well as sentimental stuff - photo albums, baby clothes, that sort of thing. We also don't have a huge budget - we'll make do with whatever it takes to get it here but it's not like I can go all out and hire some really ritzy company, either.

The person who was supposed to supervise said packing job (a friend of mine) isn't able to do it now, and the real estate agent said he doesn't have time to sit there all day and make sure the people do it right. We can't fly back to our old house to supervise. We don't know anyone else in that area that we could ask.

Do I just go with the most reliable rated people through the BBB and cross my fingers everything gets here in one piece?

Argh. What can I do? Anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this jam? The clock is ticking and I'm freaking out?

[ollyoxenfree]

Wow, that's stressful. Moving is stressful anyway, but this is extra tough. 

I'd first try to get some personal recommendations for moving companies: 

- ask friends and former neighbours in your former hometown

- perhaps post in the Tribes forum here and ask MDC members to pm you with any suggestions

- be very careful about Craigslist advertisers - there's a popular scam to quote a lowball price, pack up someone's stuff, and then hold it all hostage on a truck until the owner pays a huge extra sum to have it unloaded at its destination on spurious grounds like "It took longer than estimated" or "It was heavier/bigger job than expected" or some other false excuse. 

If you can't return and don't have a reliable friend to supervise the move, consider hiring a professional organizer or personal concierge service to sort through your things and get everything organized before the moving company comes in to pack it up. It may sound like you are hiring two companies to do the same job. Most moving companies that I've dealt with seem to want to get things packed and shipped. They don't really put a lot of thought into it. I usually spend a lot of time before they arrive, sorting through things and organizing the move. You may want to hire someone to do that step for you, if you can't and if you can't trust the moving company to do it. 

Good luck with everything.