PhD/PsyD Moving Cross-Country for Internship

[NY-Psych-Dream]

Hi all,

I'll be moving from California to New York City for internship. My family is moving with me and we're trying to figure out details. My NYC friends and colleagues have been helpful in tips on looking for apartments, but the move itself has been difficult to plan. We don't intend on taking cars and would prefer not to drive across the country with a toddler.

For those of you who have done this long-haul move, I have some questions:
Did you move your furniture or sell it?
If you took your furniture, how did you move it?
Any pointers, tips, etc?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[psychrat]

If you plan on staying in NYC for just the year, you could always put your furniture in storage and rent a furnished place. Then you would just have to worry about bringing clothes and smaller stuff for the year.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Securing an apt in NYC can be a unique experience because of the window of time (short) apts usually are on the market. Most of the people I know who have moved to NYC have used a broker….but they were all staying longer than a year so it made sense to pay the $ to find the right place. For internship, I'd probably ask your site where interns have previously lived. Many may be local (happens quite a bit for NYC sites), but hopefully they'll have some suggestions that will fit your budget/needs.

I would strongly suggest considering bringing as little as possible if you are fairly certain you aren't going to stay in NYC and/or move back to CA. A cross-country move can get pricey quickly, so it is often cheaper to sell everything and start over. Also, having a car in NYC has similar considerations.

 

[tpink]

I moved from the Southeast to CO for my internship. I took everything with me. I didn't want to sell it because some of it had sentimental value and I didn't feel like buying new stuff when I got to CO. I booked a penske rental and drove across the country over 4 days. I towed my car on the back of the truck. All in all, I probably spent $1600 on the move, including truck rental, gas, and hotels. If you choose to go this route, book your truck rental now. The price jumps significantly (a couple of hundred) the closer you get to the move date. I drove with my boyfriend at the time and we stopped in several big cities and made a BBQ road trip out of it (Kansas City BBQ is aammmmaazzziinnggg btw. lol).

I'm originally from NY, and living there is so expensive now. You'll probably have to go through a broker if you choose to live in one of the boroughs. Depending on where your site is, you may want to look in Jersey (West New York, Union City, etc). You can easily take NJ transit into the city. Plus, the prices are going to be significantly cheaper compared to living in BK, Manhattan, and some parts of Queens.

Hope this helps!

Edit: I second Therapist4Chnge's comment on having a car. It is not worth it to bring it. Parking is a rip off, and finding parking in the street is just as ridiculous. This will be anywhere in the boroughs, unless you get an apartment with a garage or designated parking space. However, that will probably only happen with an apt in NJ.

 

[NY-Psych-Dream]

Thank you all so much! Great suggestions. My husband plans to go in May and secure a place for us before we all move. Things are complicated because we have a toddler with us and driving cross-country isn't an option.

We plan to stay in NY for a couple years, but I completely understand about just starting over. I think we may just sell as much as we can, put the rest in storage, and get new stuff...plus apartments are so small that a lot of our suburban apartment stuff won't fit.

Have any of you shipped things cross-country? We have some baby things that we need to keep.

 

[PSYquailman]

Thank you all so much! Great suggestions. My husband plans to go in May and secure a place for us before we all move. Things are complicated because we have a toddler with us and driving cross-country isn't an option.

We plan to stay in NY for a couple years, but I completely understand about just starting over. I think we may just sell as much as we can, put the rest in storage, and get new stuff...plus apartments are so small that a lot of our suburban apartment stuff won't fit.

Have any of you shipped things cross-country? We have some baby things that we need to keep.

I replied to the other thread, but essentially shipping things across country is very expensive, and you should closely weigh the cost of shipping those items versus putting them in storage or selling them and then renting or buying cheap stuff for the few years you'll live in NYC. When my gf moved from the South to NYC, she used Allied and they put all of her stuff in a crate and delivered it to NYC. That cost, IIRC, around 2500. That included insurance, them packing and unpacking, moving miles, etc. It was a 1 BR apartment.

If you need any other advice about where to live, etc., feel free to PM me and let me know where your internship is so I can help out with best areas for your commute on a budget. I've been living in NYC the past 4 years for grad school. I'm sure you have lots of people giving advice already, but just in case you need another opinion.