We moved from Bel Air, MD to Bellingham, WA in January. (My husband's family lives here.) My story worked for me but is a bit unusual.
I knew exactly what I wanted in a house. I specified single level, two bedroom, two baths, in a nice neighborhood in the city, near a bus line, small yard, and with a grocery story on the corner. I bought a single level, two bedrooms, two baths, small yard, in one of the best city neighborhoods, two blocks from the bus line and five blocks from a major grocery store. I did this through the internet, sight unseen except by my husband's family. His brother is a "slum lord" with multiple rentals for the students at the local university. The house I bought had a movie type virtual tour on the internet that was almost as good as being there.
This more than worked for us; it may have been the best move we ever made. Our house in Bel Air was on the market and wasn't moving despite the BRAC advantage. I got a very good bargain on the Bellingham house. Since all I wanted was to break even on the houses, I was able to drop the price on the Bel Air house to a price that was an even bigger bargain than the one in Bellingham was for us. It sold in a week.
We closed on the Bel Air house on 11 Nov 2010 and on the Bellingham house on 1 Dec, all Bellingham transactions via the internet. I retired 31 Dec and landed in Seattle 10 Jan 2011. We rented a car, drove to Bellingham the next day, met one of the brothers, returned the rental car and went to the car dealership and picked up our "retirement car" which was pre-purchase via the internet a couple of weeks before the move and sitting on the lot waiting for us.
We only shipped our important papers, mementos, a rocking chair, and two bedroom sets (without mattresses). After picking up the car we purchased mattresses, a couch, food and a few kitchen utensils. Within a week we were all set except for TVs which I ordered from Costco via the internet so they would be delivered in my house. The mattresses were delivered that first afternoon (and the couch).
Of course, I had planned the financing of the move in advance and was able to pay cash for everything out of my special fund augmented by a slight profit on the house exchange.
I covered the risk of the house exchange by initially taking out a no closing, low rate 5/5 ARM through PenFed. They do not penalize early payment. I enjoyed having PenFed skin/expertise in the game on the title search, etc. This bought time if the Bel Air sell ran into a problem. This was cheap but not free. I currently own the new house outright.
I must reveal that I did pay to have this house inspected thoroughly and hired expert inspectors for anything that was a potential show stopper for the purchase. Having a slum lord in the family helped to make sure the inspectors were on my side. For example, upon arrival, the first thing I did was to arrange to have the entire house rewired from ungrounded to grounded wiring. The house had a carport and a one car garage and I have converted the carport into a comfortable covered patio area. I still need to get an energy inspection and, perhaps, add additional insulation. This is not so big a deal in this area. At this point my moving fund is down only slightly more than the cost of the car so I have plenty to put into even frivolous things for the new house.
My husband and I still talk about how lucky we were to find and buy this house. It enabled us to reprice and sell our Bel Air house in a bad market. We flew two humans and a dog across country and had a life already set up for us. No temporary dwellings and storage of furniture. One move, not two.