Moving Bites

September 26, 2007 By CJ
Posted in Life in the Military

Well, it does. There are so many things involved in a military moves; so many moving pieces. Our packers showed up on Monday - both of them!! I have a four bedroom home and they send two packers to get my house ready for the pick-up scheduled for yesterday. Needless to say, they didn’t get it all done and said they’d be back early the next day. Early to them was 0845, but they didn’t show up until almost 1000.

The movers show up in a U-Haul! They said their truck had broken down and that they are going to load as much as they can into the U-Haul, transport it to their trailer (two hours away) and then come back for the second load. By the time they were finished with the first load, it was late and they asked if they could come back for the rest early this morning. Most of our stuff was loaded yesterday and really all that’s left are the beds, tables, and a couple of shelves. They said they’d be here at first light so they could beat the traffic. I told them I had a PT test this morning and asked them to hold off until 0730 so I could be here. I also had an appointment at 0745 to take my van in for a service before we take it on the road. I didn’t get home until about 0815. Lo and behold, NO MOVERS!! It is now 0915 AND STILL NO MOVERS!!

We live in military housing so in order to leave I have to clear housing. To clear housing I need to repaint the rooms we painted earlier, clean and defrost the freezer and fridge, vacuum the carpets, and do make sure that the house is generally clean. My final inspection is tomorrow at 1300! I can’t clean my floors because there is stuff all over. On a positive note, the kitchen is clean and I only have the downstairs bathroom left to repaint.

Add to that frustration the fact that my dislocation allowance has not yet come through. Dislocation allowance is money given to military families to help defray the costs of having to move. It helps pay for hotels, laundry, deposits on apartments or rentals, and other costs. Since we no longer have any way of cooking food or washing and drying clothes, this money comes in handy. It also helps to pay for the gas and other expenses associated with a move. Thankfully, we have some money on hand that is helping. We anticipated this move and prepared a little better than previous moves. But, the nearly $400 it costs to pay for the service on our van is putting a big dent in that. Granted, it’s a self-imposed expense and not one really covered in the allowance, so I can’t use that as a basis of complaint.

On another note, I got a spot of good news yesterday. I called the VAMC and spoke with my loan agent, Nate, and asked him for an update about where we were. I had to fax him some more information that popped up a couple of days ago. No issues. I asked him what the realities of closing are. We tentatively have a 5 October closing date set on the house we’re buying. He said that all they were waiting on was the termite letter (to ensure the house isn’t infested) and the appraisal. I talked to Ron, my Realtor, and he said both of those were done yesterday and would be sent today. Nate said once he has those he can close us in a matter of one to two days. It’s possible to move into the home as soon as we arrive on/about 1 October!! That’s good news for us.

We were a little worried about having to stay in cramped guest housing until the closing date so we asked Ron to get with the seller and possibly sign a short term rental agreement so we could live in the home until closing. Ron spoke with the seller and said the seller agreed to let us stay until closing at the house…for a price. He (the seller) wanted a $1500 deposit and would charge $30 per day until closing that would be deducted from the deposit and the remainder refunded upon closing.

I don’t know what kind of experiences you all have had with renting, but I’m a homeowner with rental property. I’ve been renting my home in Georgia since 2004 and I’ve had three renters in there (deployments suck!). The deposits I require do add up to $1500 if I put them ALL together!! That’s INSANE!! I can understand at most a $500 deposit. Hell, I’m buying the house. Our closing is scheduled for 5 October. The homeowner has already moved out of the house. Naturally, we’ve decided to stay in guest housing until closing. Let me make it clear that this was not Ron’s fault. He’s just the unfortunate messenger and has done well for us.

I suppose things were just going too well for awhile and we were due this recent frustration. Thankfully, Nate is working hard to help us close earlier than anticipated. I really can’t enough good things about how hard he has worked to get this done for us. He has simplified the process to a second grade level for us to understand, which is only one grade higher than my comprehension, so we’re doing well.

Well, I better get to painting that bathroom. See ya on the other side.

P.S. I passed the PT test by the way - of course!!