If you’re preparing for a big move this year, you may be overwhelmed by the timeline to be expected. The good news is that if you have a timeline in advance, you can plan your life around that much easier.

It’s not only important to know the important deadlines for the move, but it’s good to know if you’ll need any time away from work or if you’ll need to say no to any opportunities that come up this year. While the speed will vary for everyone, you can base your timeline on the typical timeframes it takes to move while remaining flexible if things change. Here is a look at the typical time it takes to move.

Finding your new home and selling your current

The first part of determining your timeline is to look at how long it will take you to sell your home and find your new one. This is likely to be the longest part of your move because it’s determined on when the perfect home becomes available and when you can find a buyer.

Finding the appropriate home for your family could be as quick as a week or could last a couple of months, depending on what you’re looking for and what the market is like in your area. You’ll need time to determine what you’re looking for and what your budget is, as well as finding a realtor to help you through the process and getting a pre-approval for your mortgage. Once you’ve found the home, you’ll need around 10 weeks to transfer ownership, between the negotiations, surveys, and closing.

When it comes to selling your home, you’ll have to factor about two months, if everything goes smoothly, to list the home with cleaning, staging, surveys, and showings before closing with the right offer.

Getting paperwork

Next, you’ll need to take some time to get all of your paperwork in order. You’ll need school records to take to the kid’s new schools. You’ll need to transfer your driver’s license and register your car in your new state. You’ll need to obtain your medical records and pet records, as well as gather records related to your property, financial documents, and any other personal documents. Don’t forget about changing your address with the USPS and transferring utilities. Give yourself a month to do all of these tasks.

Hiring movers and packing

Once you know when you’re going to move, you can hire movers and get packed. Give yourself a week to secure a moving crew, another week to organize and purge unwanted items, and up to a week to pack the house. You’ll only need a couple of days for a smaller space and a week for a 4-bedroom home. If your residential movers are packing the home, they can have even a 4-bedroom home packed in a day.

Moving day and unpacking

Lastly, give yourself a week for final moving preparations, up to a day to move, the length of time you’ll need to travel to your new home, and as long as you’d like to get unpacked. A move into an apartment will look much different than one into a large home, while a move across town will look much different than a move out of state.

How long does it take to move?

All in all, your moving process will average about 3 months but could happen as quick as 2 months depending on what areas move more quickly than normal. Try to give your family a break for the approximate 3 months it takes to move by saying no to things that come up, taking time off work, and allowing yourself plenty of time to take care of each task that needs completed. This is an exciting change and one that can occupy an entire season of the year!