Moving In: Moving Day Disasters and How to Avoid Them

Thousands of homebuyers across the U.S. are moving in to new homes this summer, thanks to the homebuyer tax credit. After the gantlet of contracts, credit checks, offers, counteroffers, inspections and title searches, the journey should be exciting and fun.

For your life's possessions, though, it's not about the journey -- it's about the destination and getting there without a moving-day disaster.

About 12 years ago some friends of mine were ready to move into a house they'd bought in L.A. after returning there from Virginia. An employer already had arranged to have their furniture trucked across country and put in storage, while they'd shopped for a place. A local moving company had just finished the last leg of the job, they thought, when they got a call from the California Highway Patrol. There was a mattress on the side of the freeway with their name on it. The CHP wanted to know what to do with it.

You don't have to surf very far on the net to find similar disaster stories, and worse.