Solano Real Estate Scene: Moving up, down or out without stress or hassle

First, the title is meant to be funny because moving from one place to another is never totally stress- and hassle-free. A loan officer, escrow officer and real estate agent work together to make the transition as easy as possible but moving and making change is hard for most folks and thus procrastination happens. I have two boxes of golf balls and miscellaneous crap that I promised Mary I would move out of my garage two years ago and it sits there today as I write this column. Here are my Top 10 tips to help with fear, stress, laziness and procrastination. 1. Get your financing totally figured out before you pack a box and find your new home. 2. If you are concerned about selling your existing home and not being able to find a suitable replacement home, talk to your agent about selling your home with a contingency of finding your new house. 3. Buy your new dream home first and then sell your departing residence later. An experienced local lender can help you with a bridge loan or temporary financing until you get the money from the sale of your old house. 4. Sell the old house to your kids at a discount and a possible lower property tax rate in exchange for them allowing you a month or two rent-free while you move into a new house. 5. Make your kids help you pack and move as they owe you their lives. 6. Hire professional movers to pack and move you to avoid physical injury and exhaustion. 7. Whichever spouse is most motivated to move should oversee the moving process and should agree to handle the entire process without any complaining. 8. Hire a junk expert to pick up all your crap and haul it to the dump today and donate all the good stuff you no longer need or use to local charity. You don’t want to move all this stuff to your new home, might as well do it now. This will not only reduce stress, but it will build your self-esteem and might even improve your marital happiness. 9. Take deep breaths and consider meditation. Use the loan officer and the Realtor to keep you calm and happy. It is their job to make you happy and successful so that you refer lots of friends and family in the future. They want to help you, answer your questions and guide you. 10. Use a local lender that you can see, touch and hold accountable. A local lender’s livelihood and long-term success is dependent on your happiness, reviews and referrals.