How to find moving companies in Los Angeles
The days of flipping through the Yellow Pages are over – naturally, in this day and age, the easiest way to find moving companies in Los Angeles is via the Internet.
A Google search will bring up tons of options, but it can be a real drag to go through and request an individual quote from each mover, filling in the same details over and over. That’s where websites like Moving Feedback come in.
They compare data from real customer reviews and experiences to offer you hand-picked quotes for local, long-distance, and nationwide moves, giving each mover a star rating so you know exactly what kind of service you can expect.
How to prepare for your LA move
Moving house is never going to be a totally stress-free experience, but being well prepared can definitely make the process a lot smoother. The best idea is to print out a detailed moving checklist, but you’ll find a few key takeaways below.
8 weeks in advance
Start researching moving companies in Los Angeles, using Moving Feedback for an easy way to compare the services they offer.
6 weeks in advance
Figure out your budget, get estimates, and schedule your movers 6 weeks before the big day.
4 weeks in advance
Plan your packing strategy – it’s time to start boxing up non-essentials and seasonal items and putting them in storage already (yes, really!).
2 weeks in advance
Start transferring your utilities and set up forwarding for your mail.
On the day
Take an inventory of all your belongings for your records, do a final sweep of the house to avoid forgetting anything, and don’t forget to take plenty of water with you for the ride – dehydration is the last thing you need on such a strenuous day.
Moving house with your pet
Pets are more popular than ever nowadays, and it’s really important to take into account your furry friend when hiring movers in Los Angeles, as moving can be a very stressful experience for them. Here are a few pointers for our most popular pets: cats and dogs.
Try to keep your pet’s routine the same as usual while you pack and on the day – as much as that’s possible, anyway. This gives them a sense of safety and control. If you can, leave your cat or dog with friends or family or in a kennel/cattery on the day of the move, then bring them into the house later when everything is a little more settled.
Stay as calm as you can, as your pet will pick up on your signs of stress and may mirror your agitation. Introduce them to their new environment gradually, giving them time to habituate themselves and allowing for any toilet accidents during this period of upheaval.
Budget alternatives to moving companies in Los Angeles
If you’ve compared quotes for full-service moving companies in Los Angeles and you’re struggling to find one within your budget, you might be considering the cheapest option: relocating with a self-drive rental truck. The pros of this option include great flexibility with truck size and timings, plus the opportunity to rope in friends and family to help out.
The downside, of course, is that driving a large truck on LA’s traffic-clogged freeways can be a very stressful experience. You’ll also be responsible for finding somewhere legal to park the truck at either end, as well as loading and unloading all your belongings.
To cut a long story short, hiring a truck to move in LA is usually the cheapest option for smaller, shorter moves to other LA neighborhoods or nearby towns. For long-distance moves, it can cost almost as much as hiring movers in Los Angeles, so it’s a good idea to consider your individual circumstances and do some shopping around to work out if this is a viable option for you.
A brief guide to Los Angeles
Moving to LA and keen to find out a bit more about your new home? We’ve got you covered. The city is the second largest in the USA after New York, with around 4 million inhabitants making up its diverse, multiethnic population.
LA can stake a pretty good claim to be the country’s entertainment capital, home as it is to Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the Sunset Strip, and these attractions, as well as its iconic beaches – think Venice Beach – make it a magnet for tourists. With an unbeatable range of dining options, cultural experiences, and outdoor pursuits nearby, the city has everything you could ever need, although its popularity does have at least one downside: the traffic, which is famously bad. At least the weather makes up for it, though: the climate in Southern California is often described as perfect, with temperatures ranging from mild to pleasantly warm and sunny throughout the year. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Best neighborhoods in Los Angeles
With a city this sprawling (the county covers 4,751 square miles in total!), you might want a little help choosing which neighborhood to live in before you start looking for movers in Los Angeles. We’ve broken down some of the top areas below.
Culver City
Once home to the studios of MGM, Culver City is steeped in cinematic history, but the area isn’t stuck in the past: with a huge outdoor mall called Platform and a mouthwatering selection of restaurants, it has a bustling energy.
Beverly Hills
The name conjures up images of money and mansions, and it’s true: this is one of the richest areas in the United States. With high-end shopping, fine dining and celeb-spotting galore, Beverly Hills is worth considering if you have the budget to match.
Pasadena
A great suburban option for families, Pasadena boasts wide, tree-lined streets that feel a long way from the hustle and bustle of downtown LA.
Echo Park
Offering an eclectic, somewhat hipster vibe, Echo Park is handily located near the Silver Lake Reservoir, an ideal spot for exercising with its 2.25-mile loop around the water.
Employment prospects in Los Angeles
If you’re looking for a moving company in Los Angeles, you might be wondering about your job prospects there. The good news is that, with a city so large and diverse, pretty much every industry you could think of operates in LA. With a median salary of $67,215 as of November 2020, the city offers pay well above the US average, albeit with living costs to match and fierce competition for many roles. Naturally, the entertainment industry is a huge employer in the city with companies such as MGM, Paramount, and CBS, but LA is also booming as a tech hotspot, with more tech job postings than San Francisco thanks to the presence of giants such as Deloitte, Boeing, and Amazon. Other popular career options in the city include aerospace and defense, trade and logistics, and healthcare. Whatever your business, there’s a good chance you’ll find it in LA.
Cost of living in Los Angeles
Before you even get to the cost of a moving company in Los Angeles, there’s no way of sugar-coating it: LA is expensive. The main contributing factor here is housing: the median purchase price is high at about $700,000, and around two thirds of residents rent their homes. This leads to low rental supply and thus higher rates, with the median rent coming in at around $2,500 a month for a 1-bedroom place downtown.
Away from the housing market, the good news is that groceries are priced comparably to the rest of the US, but you should still budget at least $500 a month. Meanwhile, the city’s wonderful Mediterranean climate means that, for most people, neither heating nor air conditioning are required, keeping monthly utilities down about $30 below the national average – a typical energy bill comes in at around $130 to $180. As for transport, LA is a city of drivers, and running a car for a month might set you back from $230 to $320 depending on how far you need to commute every day and what kind of parking charges you have to pay.
Getting around in Los Angeles
Once you’ve found your moving company in Los Angeles, your thoughts might turn to moving around the City of Angels itself. The Los Angeles Metro is the city’s main urban transport service, with six rail lines and two bus lines. The Metro can take you to most of the city’s main attractions, including Hollywood, Chinatown, Santa Monica, Long Beach, and the airport. It’s also relatively affordable and easy to use with a reusable TAP Card that you can buy and reload online – you can even use it via an app on your phone.
Due to the city’s sprawling size, however, a lot of people prefer (or need) to get around by car, hence LA’s legendary traffic jams during rush hour. If possible, avoid traveling from 7-9 AM and 3-7 PM. A good GPS and some forward planning as to the most efficient route will also go a long way to making your journeys more enjoyable.
Why move away from Los Angeles?
If you’re enamored with Los Angeles, you might be wondering why anyone would ever leave: dream weather, endless entertainment, every kind of outdoor pursuit just a short drive away… The fact is, though, that plenty of people do say goodbye every year in search of greener pastures – a 2020 report indicated that 33% of apartment hunters in Los Angeles were looking to move out of the city.
The key factor is often the cost of living, as mentioned above, with the combination of housing, transport, and traffic convincing some people to seek out an alternative. Other major metropolises such as Phoenix and Denver offer city living at a more reasonable price, so if you’re looking for moving companies in Los Angeles to get you out of Southern California, why not give one of them a whirl?
