This may not be a million dollar question but definitely worth several hundred $s!!!
[Since I have seen many visits to this page, doing some re-organization of the page so that you don't freak out when you see this page :-)]
For the checklist of TODOs, please see this page first...
http://r2idiaries.blogspot.com/2011/09/sample-checklist.html
One word here - start early!!. What is 'early' - depends on your situation but following can be one of your situation:
Family with school going kids,especially grown up kids: Definitely advise to start a year n-advance. First priority goes to school admission - filtering down a school that is close to work place, close to the area you want to stay, possibly the need for kids to take a test etc takes good amount of time and planning.
You own a home in US: In the current real estate market in US, getting out of a home can take good amount of time and make or break the move decision - you can always rent the home but that is extra work that you need to do and timing of the rental needs to align with the move, which could be a challenge as well. One year is advisable here as well.
Family that hasn't cleaned up or moved in a while: Even if you don't own the home but haven't moved for a while, you are bound to have good amount of surplus items, which you can sell. At least start 6 months in advance.
You need ample time to sell of items that you don't need - we had kid's car seats that we hadn't been using for few years and collecting dust. If you start selling these items early, you can pick & choose the price at which you want to sell - there are always buyers for these items and it is just the question of time - good amount of time and patience to hold on until you get a good buyer. If you start selling towards the move date, you are under pressure to sell things off at whatever price you get since you are in the cleanup mentality. having said that, I personally feel we could have sold off more stuff than we did if had started even earlier - there is always the thought of 'we might need these items' but those items really become a headache towards the end and you think I should have sold of these early.
You need ample time to sell of items that you don't need - we had kid's car seats that we hadn't been using for few years and collecting dust. If you start selling these items early, you can pick & choose the price at which you want to sell - there are always buyers for these items and it is just the question of time - good amount of time and patience to hold on until you get a good buyer. If you start selling towards the move date, you are under pressure to sell things off at whatever price you get since you are in the cleanup mentality. having said that, I personally feel we could have sold off more stuff than we did if had started even earlier - there is always the thought of 'we might need these items' but those items really become a headache towards the end and you think I should have sold of these early.
You are staying in a rented place and no kids: This could be much easier. However, 6 months of prep work would be still needed. If you have to look for a new job, that takes a good amount of time. If you are simply relocating with the same work, you need to negotiate at work and find a suitable position in the counter part in India etc.
Worst case - you have a family with kids, own a home, need to look for a new job or finalize relocation etc and you have few months pending: Better to stay put and wait out for a year or so and start early towards end of this year. It wouldn't be worth the hassle and tension to complete all of these in a hurry. If your kids are rushed up and not satisfied with the school or you don't a find a place/job that you like, you will be looking west before you know ! Even if you are an Indian and have stayed here, adjusting to the conditions here takes time, trust me!
Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...
No comments:
Post a Comment