School is almost out – time to move?

Wow! Time flies when you are having fun, doesn’t it? Can you believe school is almost out? And it seems you just started talking about moving when school let out. No, wait. That was last December. Where did this year go already! Now you have less than three months to find a new home near the new school you want your kids to go to, put your home up for sale or notify your landlord you don’t intend to renew the lease for another year, get a loan approved, buy a home and get moved. Overwhelming? It certainly can be.

I am a list person. I make lists so I remember things and they help me get organized. Well, I suggest you sit down right now and make a list of things you need to do right away!

First, find an Realtor who works in the area you want to move. Need help? Give me a call and I can help you find one. Unless you are moving to MY area of course, in which giving me a call will find you talking to your Realtor. Next, start the loan process. Your Realtor can help with this. We all work with various lenders depending on what type of loan you want or need. We try to match you up with loan officers we know and have established a good track record of taking care of our clients. You may not know this, but Realtors, when they are representing you as their clients, really try to get you the most house for the least amount of money in the shortest period of time. At least I do…

Next on your list? Start cleaning house. You can find all kinds of helpful articles on the Internet. To make it easier for you, just follow me on Pinterest. I have tagged a lot of good articles covering everything from tips to moving, to moving with pets and kids (does an “and” really go in that sentence? My pet is my kid!) But I digress.  What you don’t want to do is pack and move stuff you don’t want to keep. I used to do that. Back when the Army was paying for my moves. I was always under my weight limit, so I had the luxury of being lazy – foolishly. I always wished I had held a yard sale or given half the stuff away when I found myself unpacking things at the other end. “Why did I keep this?” I would ask myself as I was putting that large ricemaker away. A year or so later when I was unpacking after the next move – there it was again. I don’t favor steamed rice and had never used it in 2-3 years! Guess what? When I had to move it at my own expense, it finally found a new home. So what am I trying to tell you? Don’t be as foolish as I was – get organized and get rid of stuff you don’t need in your new home.

This blog is short. Just really wanted to touch based and give you the link to my Pinterest boards where I have already done some research for you and found great tips for getting ready for the move and moving. Why not take a look at them?

And since you are going to need a Realtor, give me a call at 404-903-7653. If you are coming to my area in Henry or Clayton County, GA I’ll help you myself. If not, call me anyway and I will find you a good agent wherever you are moving……

Your Child’s Educational Move

As a parent, moving your child into a new school district, new school, and new classroom is one of the most difficult things to do. You are pulling your child out of their familiar surroundings and into a scary, uncharted territory and you have no idea how this will impact them. This is why it is so important to know where your options for your child’s school system and there are plenty of resources to allow you to get to know the school system and what opportunities your child has in this wonderful new place! As we are based in Henry County and are Making Henry our Home I will take you on a tour through Henry County Schools web page by highlighting a few major features I see on the first web page followed by some needed to know information and helpful links to save you time and research.

On the Henry County Schools Homepage, the first item I see to date is a forum for Stopping Human Trafficking. This is such a large issue and for Henry County Schools to not only keep aware of the issue, but bring it to light for you as parents in the community and to create a public awareness. For a school district to show such compassion on a heartbreaking issue speaks volumes and concern for your children. The second item I see is the school calendar for the current year and even the 2016-2017 school year that has been approved. This shows organization, planning, and consideration for the county’s faculty and staff, as well as the parents and students. The third item viewed are the school session times for elementary, middle, and high school students which is excellent for you to know so you can be aware of transportation needs: if you need your children to take the bus, what times your children need to be taken to school, or to plan a carpool system with family or neighbors. The Homepage also lists so much needed to know information such as if there are dates coming up that you child does not have school and highlighting education professionals that deserve an acknowledgement for their hard work and compassion for their students.

In the upper left hand corner of the Henry County School Homepage is a scroll down menu that allows you to look at any school in the county and see what is going on at the school and any personalized information you might be looking for in order to make a better decision about selecting a home in a specific school zone.

On the column of links in the right hand section of the homepage are many links to make your research easier, even including how to enroll, enrollment zones, after school information, lunch information, etc. The website is so user friendly and allows busy parents such as yourself to save time and easily access what information you need.

There is also a map available to show you what school is located where in Henry county and  how close they are to other schools (Is the elementary, middle, and high right next to each other or will they be far apart if you have multiple children throughout grade levels?). I have provided the link to this in the list of links below.

I hope this post helped break down Henry County Schools for you, that you would make a great decision for your children for their education, and that you receive a great experience in Making Henry your Home as we have with Susan Carroll at BHHS Georgia.

Here are the links that I discussed:

Stop Human Trafficking- A Public Forum

2016-2017 School Calendar

Henry County Schools Map

Henry County Schools Homepage

The Move with my Fur Baby.

We love our animals! Dogs, cats, gerbils, hamsters, fish, horses,  even our lobsters.
Lobsters? Pets? Just kidding.
But seriously! Pets are family and we know you are going to take them with you, so how can you best cater to their needs in the midst of chaos? You cannot communicate with them what is going on like your children, so how can you keep them comfortable and give them security in the fact that you are not leaving them behind?

1. Treat them the exact same. You do not want to baby them and create them to be needy in your new home, but just like a child you want to create emotional stability in the change of living spaces.
2. Make sure they still have their sleeping arrangements set and that does not change until the actual move occurs. Too much change, especially with their sleeping habits will not create a swift transition.
3. Take them to the new house! Let them get acquainted with the sounds, smells, and every new room, or part of the yard. Do not rush their “inspection” and allow them to smell everything for how ever long they need too. Smelling is a primary sense for them and it is required for them to get to know their new home.
4. For yourself: Make sure you receive all your pets’ health information if you will be needing to acquire a new veterinary office.
5. Do not feed your pet for a few hours before you leave on the moving day. The fact is your pet will be nervous and you do not want them getting sick and creating to your stress as you are traveling and moving into your new home.
6. Be prepared with your fur baby’s favorite things to make the Move more enjoyable for them.
7. If at all possible, for your convenience and your pet’s comfort try and not have them at your new home while moving. The constant moving, the multiple people, chaos everywhere, will not put your pet at ease, and will cause stress on you while you are moving items and constantly going in and outside. The last thing you want is your pet to be hurt while you are moving in large furniture or to slip out into an unknown neighborhood and for them to get scared and lost.

Please share with me your Move with Fur Babies experiences so we can better new First time mover’s experiences!

This blog post was co-authored by Christy Bonner.

Susan Carroll

Phone Number

Cell: 404-903-7653

Office Main: 770-692-8050

Office Fax: 678-833-2413

Email Address
susan.carroll@bhhsgeorgia.com

“You.. you’re… gunnnaa… leave me here?!?! *Loud sobs, crocodile tears, and chest heaving occurs*

That is exactly what Amelia did to her mom as Laurie and Richard broke the news to their four year old daughter. Amelia, like most children her age, is very literal minded. She heard the first part of the sentence her dad said, “Hey sweetie, your mom and I have been talking and we are going to be going to a different house soon…” Little Amelia automatically interpreted that as her parents moving without her.

Kids are fragile, vulnerable, compassionate, and very susceptible to change, no matter if they are moving at the age of 1 year or 25 years old. The fact is though, change occurs in our lives daily, and we want our kids to be able to adapt and overcome change not panic and run away from it. With this being said, we want to watch your kids move in a healthy and exciting way! We know there is heartache, stress, and hurt feelings with moving, they have their whole lives changing, but we want them to think of the benefits too, sometimes it takes kids a long time to see the benefits, but one day they will wake up ready to go to their new school, ready to play with their new friends, or look forward to living so close to grandpa and grandma now.

So the Move is definitely happening. How can I make the transition easier and more exciting for my children?

1. Talk to them! Even if they are as young as Amelia. Seeing boxes filled up with their things leaving their house is frightening! Communication about every step of the process will make them more comfortable and help them understand what is happening better.
2. Let them see! Take them to your new house when it is empty. Allow them to explain their dream bedroom to you and talk about what can be done to  make it theirs. It will bring excitement and ownership.
3. Have a timeline or calendar put up in your house to make it something to look forward to. A countdown, having a list of what will be done when, before, and during the Move will contain less surprises for the kids and help you plan everything out so it will not be as stressful.
4. Let them help! Decide on a charity, or family in need to donate some of their unused toys to. Create a joyous time of downsizing all of their toys and clothing in order to help someone else. Allow them to label, tape, load the boxes up into an organized fashion for the movers or into the vehicles. If you have a few kids, put the oldest on babysitting duty, to give them a helpful responsibility to them. Let them know you are counting on them so you can be productive.
5. If you hire a moving company, introduce the movers to your kids. Let your kids be hospitable to them, bringing them drinks or a snack. This will eliminate the fear of the movers from taking their things away from them and show your kids that they want to help them, mommy, and daddy.
6. Before you pack everything up, make sure their most treasured belongings and favorite clothing are easily accessible (I hope this doesn’t need explanation or a reason why.)

I hope all of this helps! I am sure there will be more helpful tips in the future. Feel free to comment and share your tips, I look forward to learning from your experiences good and bad!

This blog post was co-authored by Christy Bonner.

Susan Carroll

Phone Number

Cell: 404-903-7653

Office Main: 770-692-8050

Office Fax: 678-833-2413

Email Address
susan.carroll@bhhsgeorgia.com