No matter how much you love your new home, packing up your belongings and moving them is a royal pain in the ass. If you’re a regular reader, you know that I am in the process of moving to my new home across the street from the beach in the Outer Sunset.

To be frank, moving sucks. As a REALTOR here in SF, I am in the business of making people move. Whether you’re selling your home, or buying a new one – you’re going to be forced to move, and I am the one putting all of the pieces together that eventually force you to do it.

So if you’re a past, current or future client of mine – I’m sorry! I’m sorry for being a part of the process that makes you pick up your life and move it to another shelter.

But I’m only a tiny bit sorry because for the most part, our reasons for moving are usually for the better. In my case, I moved into a home that I’ve been in the process of remodeling for almost 4 years (including the planning and building phases, that is.)

All “movers” have a different reason to move.

Maybe it’s moving into the first home that’s their very own.
Maybe it’s moving into a home that will let them create thousands of memories in a space that the entire family can enjoy.
Maybe it’s it’s downsizing once the kids have left the nest.
Maybe it’s upsizing into a home where they can indulge in some extra little luxuries so that can enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Maybe it’s about getting out of an investment that they can no longer afford due to biting off more than they can chew when mortgages were given out like the prize in a box of Cracker Jacks.
Maybe it’s about cashing out on an investment that appreciated 570% in 11 years. (A client recently purchased a a home for $1.5M that had sold for $280K eleven years prior!)

No matter the reason to move, most times the move is for the better. So while the move itself and the turmoil it causes in your life make you want to stop halfway, sell all of your belongings and live a minimalist existence in a cave – the payoff is a living situation that is for the better.

One day, probably not too long after your move, you’ll wake up in your new home, the moving boxes will have have been passed on to others (rather than just recycling your moving boxes, post an ad on Craigslist, give them to a friend that’s moving, or have your REALTOR find the boxes a new home – remember it’s “reduce, reuse, recycle” – in that order), and you’ll be able to look around your new home and take a deep breath and think how lucky you are to be where you are living.

Even amidst the boxes I’ve buried myself in, I’m already feeling pretty damn lucky to be in my new home. It was definitely a move for the better. But I sure will feel better when I can find where I packed my toothbrush!