Adventures in moving cross country- Volume 7: Next Steps

*disclaimer* this post has waaaay less pictures and jokes than it should. All efforts will be made to rectify this for future posts.

Going to Michigan to check out the house and surrounding area was great fun, but there was plenty to do once we got back for all parties involved.

With the house that we're pursuing not being "move-in ready", we have had to be creative with how we went about getting all the pieces in place so that we can purchase the house along with all the hard work and resources that needs to go into it to make it ready. Creativity can't be just making a plan and sticking to it, so between AO, our friend John and his business partners in Michigan, James and myself, many conversations and email threads have been taking place to hammer out just how we can make sure that all parties are getting what they need out of this project.

When looking at a project with such HUGE scope to it, we needed to be able to think in terms of what our budget would be so we could see what could get done.

• AO needed to get back the money she put into the purchase of the property, the related insurance and the interest she's paying on those funds.

• John and his team needed to be able to make a certain profit for this it to be a project worthwhile for them to put the time, energy and risk into. 

• The Brainses needed to have a safe and somewhat livable house to be able to move into when they got to Michigan in June for a total purchase price of $130k. 

With all of these pieces, we were able to establish that the budget for the renovations, including labor and supplies, would be around $45k. Now that we had a budget established, we had to establish what was a priority with the house in order to make the most of the budget and get it to a place where we could get a lender to approve the mortgage. 

Gotta start somewhere-the eventual list was less colorful but more practical.

Other things we needed to complete in order to ensure that the risk in this venture is being shared fairly: 

• A purchase agreement that basically gave us all the security in knowing that the Brainses would definitely be buying the house for the amount and it wouldn't be sold to anyone else. This would also include the renovations that we would require in order to be able to purchase the house. 

• A business contract between AO and John's team to ensure they had an interest in the house that would ensure they would be getting the payout they needed upon the sale. 

• A down payment from the Brainses to make sure that we had more than just signatures invested, but also to help with some of the upfront costs of the renovations.  

• A mortgage needs to be approved by a lender.  

This is the plan at least and we're still in the midst of working through these steps.  Much of how we're doing it is through emails and google docs.  Being in different time zones and relying on written communication, which can get misconstrued or confusing, have definitely been hurdles that we've all had to work through.  All in all, we have a good group of people and are genuinely trying to make this a win-win-win situation, which has helped immensely!

The other piece about moving cross country that has little to do with the actual house has been trying to figure out how in the heck we're actually going to do the physical move.  AO has been renovating her house here in Eugene in preparation for renting it. We've all been paring down our stuff in hopes of saving with the costs of moving it cross country- but DANG it is still expensive to ship stuff from one place to another! 

We've explored PODs, renting a U-Haul truck, adding a hitch to the Prius and renting a U-Haul trailer, Amtrak, teleportation and just plain wishful thinking. Options have ranged from around $1-4,000 in full. 

So far we've got a plan to get James and Bucky out. They will be flying into Milwaukee for a the Midwest BrewHaHa and James' mom will meet them out there to help with Bucky during the tournament and then they will all drive to Michigan. AO will also be going out for the tournament, and is planning on coming back before we are moving, which also offers some flexibility in options for getting some stuff out there as she may drive.

We are definitely going to have a HUGE yard sale to get rid of as much stuff as possible and will donate what we can't sell. We aren't bringing any furniture, but we do have a really nice washer and dryer that we won't be giving up.

If you have any tips on the cheapest and easiest way to move across many states- comment below!