Moving Guide and Checklist
This checklist has been carefully designed to help get you organized and ready you’re your upcoming move. 
8 Weeks before move:
___
Look into getting moving and/or storage insurance to cover your items during the move. Begin to get estimates from moving companies. Shop around as much as possible to get the best rate. Remember to be as accurate as possible when giving information for your estimate.
___
If you plan to move yourself, now is the time to reserve a rental truck. Again, it pays to shop around
___
Get estimates for shipping your car.
___
If you are moving overseas, check on possible quarantine and/or vaccination requirements for your pet.
___
If you have small children, be sure to research child care options in your new area. Select and register children for local schools in your new area. Arrange transfer of immunization and records and transcripts.
7 Weeks before move:
___
Make a Moving File to store receipts, records, and important papers related to your move.
___
Check with accountant about which moving expenses are deductible.
___
Begin removing unwanted or unneeded items from your attic, garage, basement, or storage.
___
Plan to donate or sell.
___
Check to make sure you have returned all borrowed items including video rentals and library books.
___
Gather important documents (birth certificates, immunization records, insurance documents, etc..) and place them in a briefcase, strong box, or other secure place to insure that they do not get misplaced during the move.
___
If you’re using a mover, get in touch with your chosen moving company and set a date for the move. Fill out any necessary paperwork, and be sure to get moving insurance if you need it.
6 Weeks before move:
___
Check that your car registration and driver’s license are up to date.
___
You may also need to notify your auto insurance.
___
Make item donations, and collect receipts for tax purposes. Or, try selling your unwanted items online.
___
Have garage sale.
___
Notify your doctor, dentist, veterinarian, accountant, and financial planner of your move and ask for referrals in your new area. Collect records from them.
___
Be sure your medical insurance covers the professionals in your new area.
___Forward or cancel any monthly services, subscriptions, or memberships.
5 Weeks before move:
___
Contact current utility companies to cancel or transfer accounts to lower Keys utilities.
___
Decide where you are going to stay your last night in town after all your items are packed for moving.
___
Make sure you have transportation arrangements for your pet.
4 Weeks before move:
___
Fill out an official change of address with USPS online.
___
Notify all important business and personal contacts of your new address.
___
Fill out changes of address for creditors and magazine subscriptions.
___
Leave a forwarding address with the next owners or tenants of your home if possible.
___
Buy boxes and packing materials if you are moving yourself.
___
Reserve elevator, if necessary, for moving day.
3 Weeks before move:
Start packing! Begin with rooms of the house you don’t use often and finish with the kitchen.
___
Choose a room of the house to serve as a temporary storage area for packed boxes.
___
Make an inventory of important and/or expensive items in your home as you pack. Try to take photographs of these items, if possible. You may need this inventory for insurance purposes in the event items get lost or damaged in the move.
___
Check into storage options for those items you cannot move immediately and may need to store temporarily.
___
Start involving your kids in the move. Make it exciting by having your kids pack some of their own things. Give them their own box to pack. Let them figure out new layouts for their rooms.
___
If you have young children, arrange for a babysitter on moving day. You can concentrate on the move knowing your children are being cared for safely.
2 Weeks before move:
___
Close any local bank accounts and open new ones in your new location. Try to get checks printed with your new address as soon as possible.
___
Drain gas from any gas powered equipment before you pack it up. Try to make disposal arrangements for any oil, gas, old paint cans, or other hazardous substances you will not be able to move, use, or give away.
___
Verify schedules with Realtor.
___
Arrange to have your new home cleaned before movers arrive.
1 Week before move:
___
Make backup copies of important files on your computer before packing it up.
___
Service your car, especially if you’re driving to your new place.
___
Donate food items you don’t consume to a shelter or food bank.
___
Cancel newspapers.
___
Confirm any travel plans or reservations you may have made for moving day (flights, hotel, rental cars, etc.)
___
Confirm arrangements with your moving company.
___
Give plants a loving home
___
Return cable boxes for TV.
Moving week:
___
Be sure to have some cash on hand for the day of the move. You may need it to tip movers, buy snacks, etc. Keep in mind that many businesses do not accept out-of-state checks.
___
Begin cleaning your house. Make sure you defrost your refrigerator and freezer.
___
Pick up your rental truck and any moving equipment you may need (dollies, carts, furniture pads, etc.).
___
Keep your pets confined on the day of the move. Make sure they are in a safe place away from the hubbub of the move with plenty of food and water.
___
When you’re finished, do a final walk-through of your old residence, checking closets, drawers, etc.
___
Turn off all lights, turn off hot water heater, lock all doors and windows.
PACK THESE ITEMS IN A BOX TO GO WITH YOU
___A wall phone.
___Cell phone and charger.
___Extension cords, batteries.
___Tools-hammers, screwdrivers, nails, screws, scotch tape, duct tape, and a tape measure.
___Address book or PDA.
___Suffiencit cash or traveler’s checks.
___Personal ID – driver’s license.
___Cleaning materials-especially paper towels.
___Hand wipes and toilet paper.
___Light bulbs, a small lamp, flashlight.
___Alarm clock.

AT YOUR NEW HOME
___Take doors off hinges, clear paths for movers.
___Have your REALTOR suggest a local food delivery service for lunch/dinner on moving day.
___Make sure you have a cooler of drinks and toilet paper available on moving day
___Check each item off your inventory that movers bring into home
___Send in claims for damages during the move
___Make grocery shopping list for new home
___Test security and smoke alarms
___Obtain local emergency numbers and post them
___Take back rental truck with full tank of gas
___Get a professional to set up appliances (gas, electric or plumbing)
___Change locks on all doors. Call Realtor for locksmith referral.
___Find the right cellular phone service for your needs
___Feng Shui your home
___Go to the DMV for new plates and registration of vehicles
___Get a new propane tank for the grill and fuel for gas-powered tools
___File real estate documents in safe place-copy closing statement for accountant
___Join new homeowners association if there is one
___Buy new plants and flowers
___Throw a house warming party
___Find a new veterinarian, doctor, dentist, hair and nail salons. Again, your Realtor is the best place to head for recommendations.

KAREN ANGLE
REALTOR®
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
11050 Overseas Highway
Marathon Fl, 33050
(305) 289-6504 Business
(305) 731-6219 Cell
(305) 743-7012 Fax
1-800 366-5181 Ext 6504
E-MAIL
www.allfloridakeysrealestate.com

_{»crosslinked«}

Community Links

• Islamorada Chamber of Commerce
• Key Largo Chamber of Commerce
• Monroe County
• Florida Dep’t of Law Enforcement
• City of Islamorada
• Florida Real Estate Network
• Coldwell Banker Schmitt
• City Electric
• Clerk of the Circuit Court - Monroe County, FL
• FEMA Storm Watch
• FKAA (Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority)
• FKCC (Florida Keys Community College)
• Monroe Council of the Arts
• Monroe County Cooperative Extension Service
• Monroe County School District
• Monroe County Sheriff’s Office
• Monroe County Tax Collector
• Monroe County Tourist Development Council (TDC)
• National Weather Service Office (Key West)
• NOAA Weather
• OMI Wastewater Treatment Facility
• Southern Building Code Conference International
• Key West Citizen
• The Keynoter
• Miami Herald

The Marathon area is primarily an outdoor community; there’s no   reason to relocate here, in my opinion, if you don’t love the water, either for play or for work, whether on weekdays or weekends, since you can’t get away from it even if you wanted to, and if you work you’re going to drive across a lot of it whether headed up or down the Keys.

And Marathon thrives on its central Keys, watery environment.  Marathon has excelent swimming beaches (not common in the Keys), and good diving and snorkeling, from novice to experts, at all water depths.  Some divers think that some of the best parts of the coral reef along the Keys are right here.  The Sombrero Key Lighthouse area is an example.

Fishing can be either oceanside or Backcountry (gulfside), with your own boat, on party boats, or with a personal guide.  There’s plenty of flats fishing, as in the rest of the Keys, but oceanside offshore fishing (excelent) prevails, since there’s not quite the same extensive range of backcountry options as elsewhere in the Keys, given there’s fewer islands and the area isn’t quite as wild as having Everglades National Park for your backdoor neighbor (like Key Largo).

Boating in general is a little different here. Most boating is fairly open water or along the Overseas Highway and Keys chain; there aren’t as many protected areas (think multiple islands for kayaking or canoeing) as there are in either the Upper Keys or the Lower Keys or Key West.  And waters seem to have more of a chop more of the time here, too.  On both sides the water gets deeper faster.

But if you want to be on a canal with a big boat tied up at your back door, this is a good part of the Keys to be in: lots of deep canals, and easy Ocean access.  (Most of the deep canals and good big boating access is on the south, or Oceanside, part of the islands.) It’s also one of the few spots in the Keys where you can easily get a big boat or a sailboat back and forth from Bay to Ocean.

In addition to these water-based sporting activities, there’s  9-hole Par 3 golf at Key Colony Beach, plenty of tennis, some nightlife particularly at the resort hotels, and a variety of restaurants where you can eat outside under the sun or indoors in air-conditioned comfort.  There’s also Islamorada  and Big Pine just short drives away for variety.

KAREN ANGLE
REALTOR®
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
11050 Overseas Highway
Marathon Fl, 33050
(305) 289-6504 Business
(305) 731-6219 Cell
(305) 743-7012 Fax
1-800 366-5181 Ext 6504
E-MAIL
www.allfloridakeysrealestate.com

Geographically, the Middle Keys stretch from the southern tip of Islamorada at the high-rise Channel 5 bridge – which has, in both directions, perhaps the most beautiful and stunning views in the Keys – to Marathon’s improbable, spectacular Seven Mile Bridge connecting Marathon to the Lower Keys.  Most of us have seen this famous 7 mile bridge in movies (True Lies) or television commercials.  It neatly divides the Atlantic Ocean on the East from the Gulf of Mexico to the West, a mere thread of concrete across the 75-100 square miles of azure and green seas and “flats” and islands that your eyes encompass simultaneously.

As a practical matter, the Middle Keys basically refer to the “large” incorporated town and bustling commercial center of Marathon and the nearby expensive housing areas of Hawks Key (Duck Key), Key Colony Beach, and Long Key. The other islands in the Marathon region are Boot Key, Knight Key, Hog Key, Vaca Key, Stirrup Key, Crawl and Little Crawl Key, East and West Sister’s Island, Deer Key and Fat Deer Key, Long Pine Key and Grassy Key.  Marathon’s metro area sits between mile markers 48 and 55 and has a non-tourist residential population of more than 13,000 (it feels bigger than that), with a median age of 44.

Marathon is centrally located 80 miles south of mainland Florida  and more or less just 50 from Key Largo and 48 from Key West.  Marathon  is served by bus lines to Key West and the Mainland, and by the sleek Marathon airport offering connections to Miami and Ft Lauderdale and from there to anywhere in the world.

Employment
The primary industries here are:

• Arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services
• Retail trade
• Educational,health and social services
• Construction

The Marathon area is definitely a destination point and has hundreds of small and medium size business to support it.  It is fairly self-contained, too.  It’s not necessary to go anywhere else, because everything you really need is right there, including shopping and services, police and fire, healthcare facilities including a modern full service hospital, all the usual municipal functions, and outdoor recreational activities like boating, fishing, and diving.

If you want to work in the Keys in the construction trades or certain kinds of services or consulting, Marathon can be a good location, because it is centrally located – jobs and commissions from Key Largo to Key West are pretty easily reached on a within-day commuting basis.

This sense of Marathon as a sort of “hub” for the whole middle section of the Keys, including the edges of the Upper Keys and Lower Keys, goes back a long ways.  In the early 20^th century Henry Flagler built a large work camp and supply base at Marathon while constructing his “railroad that went to sea”.

KAREN ANGLE
REALTOR®
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
11050 Overseas Highway
Marathon Fl, 33050
(305) 289-6504 Business
(305) 731-6219 Cell
(305) 743-7012 Fax
1-800 366-5181 Ext 6504
E-MAIL
www.allfloridakeysrealestate.com

My Real Estate Services

Karen Angle
REALTOR at Coldwell Banker Schmitt, Inc, specializes in the sale of fine Homes and Condos in the Lower Florida keys. Since 1997, she has provided buyers and sellers with in-depth professional assistance in the sale and purchase of residential property. If you are interested in buying or selling a home, and want the professional assistance of a seasoned expert, who will work diligently in an effort to satisfy your needs, please call Karen anytime at 786-282-8117. Hopefully, you will find this web site to be comprehensive, interesting, and informative. Please bookmark this site (http://www.allfloridakeysrealestate.com), for fast and detailed real estate information at your fingertips.

To my Buyers:
As a buyer of property, you will receive personalized, professional assistance in both locating the property that suits you, and in negotiating the deal. Before buying any property, you will be an educated buyer, having learned sales prices and asking prices of comparable properties in the area of your choice, so that you have the necessary information to make an educated decision.

To my Sellers:
As a seller, your property will be marketed locally, nationally, and internationally. Your property will be featured on more than 6 real estate web sites. A full color brochure will also be produced. Plus there will be effective target marketing of your property to financially capable prospects.
These are just some of the many marketing tools that will ensure that your property is “SOLD”.

Karen Angle is one of the Top Producers in real estate sales, is admired by her fellow realtors, and has earned the respect of buyers and sellers who have come to her, to seek the assistance of an expert in Florida Real Estate.

Siding: Look for dents or buckling
Foundations: Look for cracks or water seepage
Exterior Brick: Look for cracked bricks or mortar pulling away from bricks
Insulation: Look for condition, adequate rating for climate (the higher the R value, the more effective the insulation is)
Doors and Windows: Look for loose or tight fits, condition of locks, condition of weatherstripping
Roof: Look for age, conditions of flashing, pooling water, buckled shingles, or loose gutters and downspouts
Ceilings, walls, and moldings. Look for loose pieces, dry wall that is pulling away.
Porch/Deck: Loose railings or step, rot
Electrical: Look for condition of fuse box/circuit breakers, number of outlets in each room.
Plumbing: Look for poor water pressure, banging pipes, rust spots or corrosion that indicate leaks, sufficient insulation
Water Heater: Look for age, size adequate for house, speed of recovery, energy rating.
Furnace/Air Conditioning: Look for age, energy rating. Furnaces are rated by annual fuel utilization efficiency; the higher the rating, the lower your fuel costs. However, other factors such as payback period and other operating costs, such as electricity to operate motors.
Garage: Look for exterior in good repair; condition of floor—cracks, stains, etc.; condition of door mechanism.
Basement: Look for water leakage, musty smell.
Attic: Look for adequate ventilation, water leaks from roof.
Septic Tanks (if applicable): Adequate absorption field capacity for the percolation rate in your area and the size of your family.
Driveways/Sidewalks: Look for cracks, heaving pavement, crumbling near edges, stains.
www.REALTOR.org/realtormag Reprinted from REALTOR® Magazine Online by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® . Copyright 2003. All rights reserved

KAREN ANGLE
REALTOR®
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
11050 Overseas Highway
Marathon Fl, 33050
(305) 289-6504 Business
(305) 731-6219 Cell
(305) 743-7012 Fax
1-800 366-5181 Ext 6504
E-MAIL
www.allfloridakeysrealestate.com