The average homeowner owns roughly three homes during their lifetime. And when you add in all of the apartments and rental houses that frequently precede home ownership, you’re likely move close to a dozen times in your adult life. The question is, does it have to be so hard?
These Apps Make Moving Easier
Believe it or not, you can start the moving process before you even list your current house! Begin by decluttering, moving items into a self-storage unit, and cleaning your existing home. Then, when you finally do sell and close on another house, you’ll be ready and able to make fast, smart decisions.
.
Here are a few apps that make moving efficient, painless, and cost-effective:
.
1 Zillow
Though Zillow might frustrate real estate agents to no end, it’s the single best real estate app available. It’s the industry standard, providing users with an easy way to shop and browse listings, see pictures, schedule showings, view home data, explore financials, and more. One of the best features about Zillow is that you’re able to create a profile. Within this profile, you can save homes, claim your current home, study comps, and track all of the information you need to make the home search process easy and stress-free.
.
It often takes a move for people to realize how much stuff they have. Facebook Marketplace can be a great resource for selling or giving away the items you no longer want or need. And because the marketplace is attached to the core Facebook platform, you don’t have to feel like you’re buying and selling from strangers. You can do some basic due diligence prior to meeting.
.
3 Sortly
While it’s primarily used as an inventory management solution for small businesses, Sortly can also be leveraged as a tool for streamlining residential moves. It allows you to:
- Create a visual inventory of all of your items
- Easily decide on what to keep and what to get rid of
- Create detailed notes so that nothing is forgotten when moving
- Add and categorize items by location
- Create searchable notes and tags
- Mark boxes with scannable QR codes
.
While premium features in the app require a monthly fee, most of the simple tools used for a move are included in the free version. Give it a try and see what you think.
.
Before listing your house, you probably have a punch list of things that need to get done. This might include patching holes in walls, repairing wood rot, unclogging a drain, pressure washing siding, or fixing a broken kitchen appliance. Whatever the case may be, you can use the TaskRabbit app to find and hire people in your area. You can even see pictures, browse ratings, and get an idea of pricing before hiring anyone.
.
5 Nextdoor
One of the toughest parts of moving into a neighborhood is meeting your neighbors and getting accustomed to your new surroundings. (The latter part is especially difficult if you’re moving to a new city or area of town.) However, the Nextdoor app makes it effortless. Nextdoor is a private social networking app that includes more than 145,000 different neighborhoods around the country. Whether you need to find a babysitter, ask a question about the neighborhood pool, or find out more about a recent break-in, Nextdoor is your go-to app.
.
Not sure where all of your furniture and decor will go in your new home? Unclear on what will fit, where you’ll need to buy items, or how you’ll organize things upon moving in? Well, MagicPlan is your answer. The MagicPlan app helps you create a simple, yet accurate 3D floor plan of your new space. You can then decorate the rooms (all from your phone) and come up with a design plan. Upon move in, you’ll simply have to implement the plan.
.
Plan Ahead for Your Next Move
Don’t wait until closing day to get started. The sooner you think about your move, the more manageable the process will be. Hopefully these apps will give you a few ideas and make the actual process of moving from one house to another much easier than normal. Good luck!
