Everyone has a scary relocation story. Learn about a few of the most horrifying relocation stories others have experienced and ways your relocating employees can avoid the same nightmares!

2. Very few
relocations go
off without a
hitch.

3. Usually there is
at least
area that
causes TROUBLE..

4. However, some
people EXPERIENCE
an ESPECIALLY
rough
relocation...

6. WE HAVE COMPILED THE
SCARIEST RELOCATION
TALES, PAIRED WITH
WAYS TO ENSURE IT
Doesn’T HAPPEN to YOU
OR YOUR EMPLOYEES.

8. As if going through
the homesale process
isn’t a nightmare
enough in itself,
imagine the pleasure
of this experience:

9. I successfully sold my home, had the moving trucks
packed, and was ready to move my three dogs and
two kids into our new house. Three days before
our new home was supposed to close, I received a
call telling me that the person who listed the house
didn't really have full ownership, and therefore
couldn't sell it. Turns out, a realtor took the listing,
ran ads and showed the home…but neglected to
check who was on the title of the house. So there I
was, just having put down $30K on a home, only
to find out that it was actually not for sale.

10. My relocation had taken a drastic turn.
I was forced to take out two storage
units, pay for added U-Haul expenses,
and find a hotel that took pets because I
couldn't afford boarding. To make
matters worse, I had already paid for a
survey, inspection, and appraisal on the
house – all which were now sunken costs.

11. I had to quickly find a new home. My
past mortgage rate of 4.5% was gone.
My monthly went up $18.42 for the next
30 years. While things turned out okay
and I am now happy in my new home, I
lost a lot of time and money in the
process as unfortunately there are no
laws to protect against this.

13. Make sure you advise
transferees to cover all of their
bases during a homesale –
even the obvious ones. Ensure
that they understand what
questions they should be
asking and have all the
resources they need to avoid
any confusion!

15. THIS TRANSFEREE,
RELOCATING TO HAWAII,
FOUND SOMETHING IN
ONE OF HIS BOXES THAT
HE DIDN’T remember
packing:

16. We were gearing up for our move to
Hawaii and the relocation was happening
quickly, so there wasn’t much method to
our madness in terms of packing. We were
trying to get everything into boxes and in
the moving truck as quickly as possible,
assuming we would have time to organize
things once we got to our new location.

17. Somewhere along the way – through all of
the opening and closing of doors – our cat
got out. We were devastated, but didn’t
have time to look for him as we were on
an extremely tight schedule.
Well…low and behold…

18. As we were unpacking our boxes a few
days later in Hawaii, we opened up a
box not to find our kitchen dishes, but
our cat! We felt SO bad, but were also
so relieved to find him. He must have
gotten scared during the move and
hidden somewhere he felt safe!

20. Be diligent with animals!
Pets often get frightened
during a move and hide in
small places to feel safe.
Keep a watchful eye on
your pets and have a plan
for them as well!

22. THINK HAZARD LIGHTS
WILL KEEP YOU FROM
GETTING TOWED?

23. I was moving within Chicago from
Andersonville to Lincoln Park – it’s not a
far move, maybe 8 miles. We didn’t hire a
van line because it was such a short
distance and just used my parents car to
make trips back and forth. We threw on
the hazards as we were loading up my
belongings in the old location so our car
didn’t get towed.

24. While that part of our plan worked (we
didn’t get towed), we didn’t fully think
through the other parts of our plan.
Because we left the hazards on for so
long, the car died. We had to wait nearly 2
hours for someone to come give us a
jump, standing in the freezing cold
because we didn’t want to leave a packed
car unattended in the middle of the city.

26. Encourage your transferees to let their
landlord know about the move so they
can direct them on reserving a spot on
the street. Most of the time you can get
a place reserved for a few hours for a
relatively cheap price (or for free!) and
it will save your employees from the
constant fear of their car being towed
or battery dying.

28. TRYING TO SAVE
MONEY BY BUYING
DISCOUNT FURNITURE
ON A WHIM? BE
CAREFUL...

29. My husband and I were moving from Ohio to
Chicago, and as the cost of living in Chicago is
substantially higher than Ohio, we wanted to
buy as much as we could before the move. We
found a beautiful couch in Ohio and thought it
would look great in our new home, so we
bought it and had it shipped to Chicago. We
were waiting for it to be delivered on the day
we moved into our new home, but there was
one slight problem…

30. THE COUCH DIDN’T
FIT THROUGH THE
FRONT DOOR.

31. We had already spent so much money on
the couch and shipping, so we had to
find a way to get it in the house. We
ended up having to call someone to come
out, tie rope around the couch, and hoist it
up three stories. It was time consuming,
stressful, and not to mention expensive.
Since then, I’ve always measured my
furniture and the space it has to fit
through, no matter what.

33. Measure furniture! Remind
employees that if they are
buying or bringing new
furniture, measure the
dimensions it has to fit
through first! This happens
all the time with
relocations, and it is an
extremely avoidable mistake.

35. ARE YOU ONE OF
THOSE PEOPLE who
THINKS “THAT WON’T
HAPPEN TO ME!”
THINK AGAIN.

36. We were relocating from Tennessee to
Oregon for my wife’s job and we were
packing up the moving van the day of
the final trip. We got through almost
everything, and then loaded in the
mattress, only to find that we had
guests…

37. BED BUGS.

38. After finding the bed bugs in our mattress,
we had to unload EVERYTHING, put it
back in the house, clean every single item
we owned, inspect all of our items
afterwards, and then re-pack. It was a
complete nightmare. It pushed back our
move nearly a month and it was extremely
expensive.

40. Inspect, inspect, inspect.
Before your employees pack
everything up, make sure they
have taken the necessary steps
to ensure everything is mold-free,
bug-free, and decay-free.
It’s time consuming, but if you
find something early on, it will
save a lot of time and money
in the long run.

41. RELOCATIONS CAN BE
SCARY, AND
SOMETIMES THERE
JUST ISN’T ANYTHING
YOU CAN DO TO
AVOID IT.

42. ONE THING YOU
do
though?

43. TAKE ALL OF THE
NECESSARY STEPS
BEFOREHAND AND
DON’T TAKE
SHORTCUTS.

45. LET
URBANBOUND
HANDLE IT!