When you’re relocating, a checklist can reduce moving stress considerably. In a recent blog post, one author recommended specific items for a checklist.

This article is especially valuable because the author identifies different checklists you need at different stages of the move. I’d add you also need a career planning checklist.

Moving checklist phase 1: Make a master plan. Decide what you will need and what you won’t need. It’s never too early: when you plan ahead, you can sell unwanted items on Craigslist or Amazon, getting cash to offset the investment in your move.

During this phase, round up your important papers and put them in a safe place. You will be asked to show all sorts of identification as well as documents related to your home ownership or lease agreement.

If you are moving for a job, make sure you have a written offer. Get a written clarification of the terms of the offer and of relocation. If your new company pays the move, review exactly what you are being promised. For instance, a relocation signing bonus is not the same as relocation expense reimbursement. These items may be handled differently for tax purposes and may be regulated differently by your new company.

Moving checklist phase 2: Collect phone numbers and URLs. Have a list in one place of the numbers you will need to

– turn on utilities at the new home and turn off utilities in the old home
– change addresses
– be kind to the new resident as well as the environment: Change addresses on all your catalogs (often these changes take up to 3 months to process).

For your job, know exactly where you will go on your first day. Map the directions and if you are driving, it’s not a bad idea to take a test run the day before. It’s easy to make a wrong turn that will cause you to be late on your first day. (I know: I did this once and missed an hour of orientation!)

For additional tips on relocation, visit http://www.RelocationStrategy.com
For career change tips, click here.

My experience with rental life in South Florida

WHY I BOUGHT A HOUSE
The Rental Experience in South Florida

Readers: This is based on a true experience — only slightly exaggerated — part of my life of adventure.
If I had read my own book, Making the Big Move, and followed my own advice, none of this would have happened! A word to the wise …

To: Cathy Goodwin
From:Agony Arms Rental Homes

Welcome to Agony by the Sea! We are so pleased you have chosen to rent from us. You will love our beautiful grounds, our fully-equipped fitness center and our sparkling swimming pools. The residents are a friendly group and we know you’ll enjoy meeting them at our many social events. Enclosed are brochures proclaiming our commitment to Superior Service Quality. We are sure you’ll be happy here.

Before you move in, we need to have the following monies in certified funds. A few drops of blood on the contract wouldn’t hurt either.
Cathy Goodwin – Apt 501.
Security deposit $750
Non-refundable pet fee $400
Pet deposit $400
Processing fee $75

For your convenience, here are numbers for electricity, telephone, newspaper and that all-important cable service. Please arrange to turn them on before you arrive.

To: Cathy Goodwin
From: Agony Arms
Now that you’ve arrived to move, and all your utilities are hooked up, here are some documents for you to sign. Even though it’s ninety degrees and your cats are roasting in the car, you must sign everything now before we give you the keys. We deny any liability for anything that may happen, on or off the premises, in connection with Agony Arms.
Notice these documents are blank. We will fill in the amounts after you sign them all and send you copies so you’ll know what you signed.
P.S. Here’s your own personal card for the Agony Arms Gate. If you lose this card, we charge you $50. And here’s your own windshield sticker with your own number. We recorded this number in your file. Don’t lose it!

To: Agony Arms
From: Cathy Goodwin
Last Friday evening I tried to get into the fitness center. It was locked. Don’t all Agony Arms residents have access to this much-advertised facility?

To:Cathy Goodwin
From: Agony Arms
Surprise! Before you can use the fitness center, you must pay a $50 deposit for a key. Bring your money during office hours: 9-5 Monday through Friday,.

To: Agony Arms
From: Cathy Goodwin
My publisher just told me they sent a big package three weeks ago. Someone named Andrea Addled signed for it. Where is this package now? Why hasn’t someone called me?
And, more important, what happened to the cookies that my best friend sent a month ago? They were supposed to be a surprise.

To: Cathy Goodwin
From: Agony Arms
Remember all those papers you signed after you moved in? Well, we included a waiver of liability from anything associated with packages in any way, including our own gross negligence. Our lawyer, Big Tony, had a lot of fun with this one.
Our definition of Superior Service does not include notifying the residents of packages as they arrive. That is the responsibility of UPS, FedEx or whatever carrier the sender chooses. We recommend you advise people to send you packages only by US Mail, as the mail carriers won’t let us anywhere near their packages anymore. The Postal Inspectors are a lot less forgiving than the UPS drivers.
You may come get your packages during our office hours, which have been reduced to 10-5 Monday-Friday.

To: Agony Arms
From: Cathy Goodwin
My publisher is furious because I missed a deadline. Instead of cookies I got a package of crumbs and a thank you note from the ubiquitous Florida ants. The nearest post office is five miles away.
Then again, maybe I could walk down there and get some exercise. The fitness center, which is guarded with those $50 keys, was vandalized and none of the machines work. The downstairs speakers are broken. Instead of fixing them, you play the upstairs speakers extra loud. And the music is so awful that nearly everybody wears earphones to drown it out.

To: Cathy Goodwin
From: Agony Arms
I’m afraid we have so many tenants we just can’t be bothered to phone them each time a package arrives. We started out as a couple of fourplexes and saw no reason to add staff as we added a few hundred more units.
However, if you do not wish to have us receive packages, we will accommodate your wishes. We will go through each day’s shipment, check for your name, and refuse to accept anything addressed to you. In other words, we are willing to spend time and energy to deny you service, but not to offer you any service in the first place.
As for the fitness center, nobody else has complained. We choose music that most people like. Earphones? They’re probably listening to a stereo version of the radio station we chose for the speakers.

To: Agony Arms
From: Cathy Goodwin
Last night the tenant below me blared his stereo so loud the floor was shaking. He didn’t answer the door when I knocked. That’s when I learned that the only security after 6 PM is a minimum-wage rent-a-cop who couldn’t hear me over the party in the guard shack.
Just out of curiosity, why do you give us windshield stickers if nobody patrols the grounds?

To: Cathy Goodwin
From: Agony Arms
Some things are mysterious and unknowable.

To: All Tenants
From: Agony Arms
To update our database, we need to know your parking sticker number, your car’s license number, your unit, the day your lease expires, and your astrological sign. We need a list of authorized visitors as well as the purpose of their visit: business, social or family. If you do not return this form to us in five days, you may not be allowed on the property even if your lease is paid in full.
Note that residents of Agony Arms cannot be out of town for more than three days, because we need to be able to send you surprise notices at all times. And we want to keep track of your visitors. Think of us as your housemother, not your landlord.

To: Agony Arms
From: Cathy Goodwin
When I turned in my form, I noticed some new brochures announcing a non-refundable “redecorating fee” as part of the security deposit. Is this something new? Or are my eyes still recovering from deciphering the questionnaire that was printed in six-point type on bright turquoise paper? I enclose a get well card for your data entry clerks.

To: Cathy Goodwin
From: Agony Arms
Didn’t you read the fine print on the sales brochures in the lobby? Part of your security deposit is indeed non-refundable. True, we didn’t say anything when you viewed the property or signed the lease. However, this is the sort of thing that everybody is expected to understand.

To: All Tenants
From: Agony Arms
OK, who changed our sign from Rental Homes to State Prison? Don’t let us catch you.

To: Agony Arms
From: Cathy Goodwin
I came home Friday evening to find a note on my door accusing me of Failing to Pay a Pet Fee. Sounds like something out of People’s Court, which is where we may end up very soon. Since I had to provide certified funds before moving in, I assume that your very aggressive “leasing consultant” checked the amount as well as the form of my check.
Even if I owed this money, do you really believe a hand-scrawled note taped to the doorknob Friday morning, demanding payment by 5 o’clock Friday evening, delivers the “professionalism” and “Superior Service” that you keep promising? Your note says if I do not pay up I will be considered delinquent and my credit destroyed forever. Don’t you usually send a bill first? Don’t any of the other tenants ever work past five?

To: Cathy Goodwin
From: Manager, Agony Arms
Oh, silly me! Our bookkeeper just got carried away and made a little error. I’m sure you can overlook this minor inconvenience.
Please note that the redecorating fee covers the little things we do to make the apartment ready for the next tenant: shampooing the carpet, scrubbing, etc.

To: Agony Arms
From: Cathy Goodwin
Your gung-ho leasing consultant told me that the pet deposit is supposed to cover replacing the entire carpet, not just shampooing. Apparently even a single cat hair is sufficient to render the entire apartment unsuitable for the next tenant. Do you plan to shampoo the carpet before you throw it away? Anyway, the lease says I am supposed to leave the apartment in the condition I found it. What does that leave you to do? There’s no evidence that anything was decorated in this apartment in the last ten years, let alone re-decorated.
Oh yes, attached is a copy of a water bill which came out of nowhere. My lease does not say anything about paying a water bill. True, buried in all the documents I signed under duress, I found a line about authorizing you to add utility payments to my bill on thirty days notice. No notice, no check. End of discussion.
I seem to spend more time defending myself against bogus bills than doing anything else. Why don’t you change your slogan to Agony Arms, the work-creating community?

To: Cathy Goodwin
From: Agony Arms
As we said before, some things are mysterious and unknowable.

To: Leasing Agents
From: Manager, Agony Arms
Who let this woman into Agony Arms? You are supposed to screen out tenants who can spell “duress,” let alone those who know there is an Attorney General in the State of Florida. How did we slip up?

To: Cathy Goodwin
From: Manager, Agony Arms
Surely there’s a more suitable home for you somewhere in Broward County, elsewhere in the State of Florida, or even Central America. We hear Mongolia is nice, too. Just give us a little notice, pack up your cats, take your deposits, and go. We’ll help you pack.

To: All Tenants
From: Agony Arms
Henceforth we will no longer keep parcels more than a day. If you happen to be working on the day your package comes, you’re outta luck! Your package will be returned to the sender before you can say, “Call home!”
We have no social events scheduled for the month of December, following the pattern established in July, August, September, October and November. However, our monthly Pest Control visit remains as scheduled. The exterminator is a nice guy, and Pest Control can be considered a social event in South Florida.
As Christmas approaches, we are grateful for each of our tenants. Each of you is a blessing and we hope you stay a long time. In fact, if you recommend a new blessing who signs a lease, we will enter your name in a drawing for a prize — one month’s free rent! We’re not desperate or anything. We just hope you’ll share your Agony Arms experience with as many people as possible!

To: Agony Arms
From: Cathy Goodwin

I’m outta here.
Please give my sincerest condolences to my replacement, as well as this extra set of earplugs to cope with my stereo-loving neighbor. You can bet I’ll share my experience a lot.

Signed,

Cathy Goodwin
Your blessing in Apt. 501.

Nearly every career coaching client negotiates a balancing act between location and career choice. Many people invest more time setting up a moving van than asking themselves, “Can I be happy here?”

One of the most stressful relocation decisions comes when you get an exciting job offer. At first it doesn’t seem like a problem…unless you live in the Midwest and they want you to move to Los Angeles (or vice versa). You wonder if you will find a comfortable home, a place to buy your favorite foods, and even a new friend or two.

The best way to decide is to visit the city on your own, not with a real estate agent or company representative. As you look around, imagine you are an anthropologist studying the local culture. Talk to as many people as possible. Don’t ask for advice.Ask for information and first-person stories.Often you will realize your decision has been made when you hear yourself saying, “Sure, I can handle a two-hour commute,” or, “Of course I can downsize to a 500-square-foot studio apartment for me, my St. Bernard dog, my three cats and my fiance.”

This is not the time to grit your teeth and mutter, “I can do this!” You’re planning a life, not trying to survive the Marine Corps Boot Camp.

After you’ve explored awhile, don’t be surprised if your offer looks different. You may realize you’re getting a great deal. Or you may realize you need to negotiate for a signing bonus. Occasionally you can make your acceptance conditional on finding a place to live.

And now I invite you to learn more about the personal side of moving – because you can’t pack your life into a box. http://www.RelocationStrategy.com

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Sarah Needleman writes about companies who mis-handle employee firings. It’s hard to say which is more cruel: getting a phone message, getting invited to a meeting to be told the company will be dissolved or simply ordered out on five minutes notice.

But you can’t control how a company chooses to fire you. You can control how you will prepare for your own worst case scenario.

Diagram your play before you need one.

Imagine a basketball team that’s down by 10 with 3 minutes to go. The coach has a play already diagrammed and ready to go. Even if your team probably won’t win, you know what to do: cut into the loss, hope to pick up free throws and bring out your best 3-point shooter.

You need to be your own coach, although you may hire “assistant coaches” like the pros do.

So let’s say you’re recruited away from a terrific job to head up marketing for a new product line, like one manager in today’s story. You have to move a thousand miles away, uprooting your family. And then the company decides not to move forward with the product line.

I encourage my clients to anticipate being stranded. People do get fired within 6 months of a big move. It happens more than most people realize, at every level of corporate life.

If you’re in a secure position when you’re recruited, you may be able to negotiate a contract or letter of agreement to pay a lump sum if the position falls apart.

You may decide to leave the family and commute for six months while you scout out the situation. You might have a working spouse or a start-up plan for your own business.

Of course, you can probably think of at least a dozen more options if you go into brainstorming mode.

But I recommend taking stock every 3 to 6 months. What will you do if your job disappears tomorrow? There’s no easy answer. But you can set up resources to call, build a network, and create an emergency fund.

And you can come up with a set of questions to ask your new employer before you sell your home and move your spouse, kids and dog across the country or around the world.

Just came across a book Grown-up’s Guide to Running Away From Home: Making a New Life Abroad by Rosanne Knorr.

The title of this book is somewhat misleading: it’s really a detailed guide to overseas relocation. Knorr’s book gets 5 stars simply because it does what it promises: offers a straightforward guide to those who are considering an overseas move but have no idea where to start.

The book is heavy on checklists, which I usually don’t like. But it’s got lots of text and the checklists are more comprehensive than most.

However, I would recommend (a) reading multiple guides and (b) talking to folks who have been there. Try to find someone who’s been in your situation. A 60+ retiree won’t benefit from talking to a twenty-something; a single person needs to understand how a culture interprets her lifestyle.

I spent a few years in Canada on a “landed immigrant” visa (equivalent to a green card) as a business school professor. It’s been awhile, but I would say the info here seems accurate and balanced. The author assumes her readers will be concerned about safety and health care. Your beliefs, values, and interpretation of events will influence your own priorities.

But for a starting point, you could do a lot worse.