Your lease ends on the 31st. The closing on your new co-op was set for the 28th, and on the 20th your broker calls: the board has not scheduled your interview yet. Or the lender needs one more document. Or the seller is not out. Whatever the reason, the date you planned your move around is gone, and the date you have to leave did not move with it.
A delayed closing is one of the most common reasons a NYC move changes shape in the fall, and almost none of it is in your control. What is in your control is what happens to your furniture in between. Here are the three ways we handle it, what each one costs, and how to book a move when you do not have a closing date yet.
The short version:
- One night late: your things stay on our truck overnight and come off the next day.
- A week or more: we move you into our storage on your original date and deliver once you have keys, usually the next day.
- You find out on moving day: we switch the plan with you, on the spot.
Why a delayed closing is so common in the fall
Summer is when the most NYC apartment contracts get signed, and a co-op purchase usually takes two to three months from contract to closing. Condos tend to move faster. That math puts a lot of summer deals at the closing table in September, October and November, which is exactly when we see the most plans change.
The usual reasons a closing date moves:
- The board. A co-op purchase needs board approval, and the review and the interview run on the board’s calendar, not yours.
- The lender. A missing document or an appraisal question can push the date a week or more.
- The seller. If the seller’s own move slips, yours slips with it.
- Paperwork. An estate sale or a missing original document adds steps nobody planned for.
Your attorney and your broker own the closing date. We cannot speed it up, and we will not pretend to. What we own is the truck, the crew and the storage, and that is enough to keep a delayed closing from becoming a delayed move.
Your three options after a delayed closing
Which plan fits depends on how long the gap is.
Plan 1: the closing slips one night. Your things stay on the truck.
If the gap is a single night, storage is the wrong answer. We load on your original date, the truck stays loaded overnight, and we deliver to the new apartment the next day. Overnight service is an added charge, priced at the quote, and it costs far less than moving everything into a warehouse and back out again.
Plan 2: the closing slips a week or more. We hold it in our storage.
We pick up on the day your lease ends, bring everything to our storage, and deliver to the new apartment once you have keys. Storage starts at $195 a month. Once you close, we can usually deliver the next day, and sometimes the same day if we have a crew free. Here is how our storage works.
Plan 3: you find out on moving day. We switch the plan with you.
Sometimes word of a delayed closing comes while the truck is half loaded. That is fine. We can change course on the spot and take the load to our storage instead of the new address. It becomes Plan 2, priced the same way.
The storage plan is two moves plus storage. Here is why we say it up front.
When your things go through storage, the job is two moves: one from your apartment to our storage, and one from our storage to your new home, plus the storage time in between. Everything gets unloaded at the warehouse and loaded again when you are ready, so every piece is handled twice. Each leg is priced the way any local move is priced (what movers cost in NYC).
We quote it that way from the start, because the alternative is a surprise on the second invoice, and that is not how we work. If you hear “a delayed closing is no extra charge” from anyone, ask them what happens at the warehouse.
Three things keep the storage version smaller:
- Do not store what you need. Pack an in-between bag and keep it with you: two weeks of clothes, your work laptop, documents, medication, chargers. If the gap runs past two weeks, file a temporary change of address so your mail follows you instead of piling up at the old building: USPS mail forwarding.
- Do not store what you are getting rid of. A delayed closing is a good excuse to edit. Everything that never goes into storage never has to come back out.
- Ask your landlord first. If your landlord will give you a few more days, you may not need a plan B at all. It costs one email.
How to book a move when the closing date is not set
- Book the date you know. Your lease end date is fixed. Build the move around it, not around a closing date that can still move.
- Get both versions priced at once. Ask for the straight move and the storage version in the same quote. If you end up with a delayed closing, you switch with one call instead of starting over.
- Tell us the moment the date firms up. Delivery out of storage is usually the next day, sometimes the same day.
- Plan the delivery for a weekday. Many co-op and condo buildings only allow moves on weekdays, inside set hours, so the delivery date has to fit the building’s rules as well as your closing.
- Check the calendar. If your new date lands near Marathon Sunday (Nov 1) or Thanksgiving week, look at the moving dates in NYC this fall before you lock it in.
The building side: what we handle and what you handle
Moving into a co-op or condo means your new building has a say in your move day.
What we handle: the certificate of insurance. Add us to the email thread with your building’s management, with you in CC, and we sort the COI out with them directly. Here is what a COI is and why buildings ask for one: certificate of insurance for movers.
What you handle: the building’s move-in approval, any move-in deposit, booking the service elevator, and confirming the move hours. Here is how to reserve a moving elevator in NYC, and our Queens moving guide covers how co-op move-in deposits usually work.
One rule above the rest, especially after a delayed closing: get your move-in date from the building in writing before you lock the delivery. The building’s date, not the closing calendar, is the one the truck has to meet.
Buying a house on Long Island instead? House closings run on a different rhythm, and our NYC to Long Island moving guide covers it.
Delayed closing FAQ
How fast can you deliver once I close?
Usually the next day. Sometimes the same day, if we have a crew free.
How much is storage?
Storage starts at $195 a month. The move into storage and the move out are priced in your quote, in writing, before we load.
My closing slipped by one day. Do I need storage?
No. Your things can stay loaded on our truck overnight and come off the next day, for an added overnight charge. It costs far less than two moves.
Can I change the plan on moving day?
Yes. If news of a delayed closing comes while we are loading, we can take everything to our storage instead. That turns the job into the storage plan: two moves plus storage.
Will you deal with my new building?
We issue the COI and can be on the email thread with management, with you in CC. Move-in approval, deposits and the elevator booking stay with you.
Get your plan B priced before you need it
Send us your current address, the new address, your lease end date and the closing date you have been given, even if it is a guess. Listing links help: with a link, we can see the building and the stairs in seconds. We will price the straight move and the storage version side by side, in writing, before we load, so a delayed closing is one phone call instead of a scramble.
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Magical Moving & Storage. USDOT 4144902, MC 1589978, NYSDOT 42311. (212) 933-9959.
