Surviving Moving September 1st in Boston

Sept 1st in BostonSeptember 1st has become an infamous day for moving in Boston. It is by far the busiest moving day of the entire year. The main cause is the city’s large population of students. Many leases begin just in time for students to move in for the fall semester. As a result, a significant number of leases in Boston begin on September 1st. A recent statistic released by RentJuice found that 79% of Boston’s rentals have availability dates at the beginning of September.

Relocating on this date can be a concern if you are moving downtown or in surrounding neighborhoods; such as Allston, Brighton, Cambridge, or Somerville. Commonwealth Avenue often becomes gridlocked with moving trucks. The time required to move into and out of apartment buildings increases as movers attempt to maneuver around other relocating tenants while elevators are at a premium. The city has even asked some universities to avoid scheduling dorm move-ins on this date.

In true Boston fashion, residents still find a way to make the chaos amusing. Those in the neighborhood of Allston have dubbed September 1st “Allston Christmas” because the sidewalks are littered with abandoned furniture. Check out this article on hilarious tweets from last year’s September 1st moving day.

Planning is the key to a successful move on September 1st. Be sure to secure a date with your moving company or reserve a rental vehicle as early as possible to ensure availability. Follow our packing tips to make sure you are fully prepared for when the movers arrive. Check with your building to confirm the rules for where the truck can park and usage regulations for the elevator.

Back to School with Olympia Moving & Storage

Olympia helping students move in

Boston and Washington DC are home to some of the most prestigious universities in the country. For many years, Olympia has been a proud service partner for a number of these universities. Whether it’s relocating faculty and professors or moving offices, Olympia appreciates our role in assisting the educational institutions in our markets.

As the fall semester approaches, Olympia is gearing up for another year of moving students into their dorms. Move-in day is exciting and hectic, but Olympia helps to ensure the process goes smoothly. This year we’ll be helping students move in at Northeastern University, Boston College, and numerous others. It will be a big relief for many parents to see an Olympia crew member ready to help them unload when they pull up to their child’s dorm!

Olympia has also worked with College Boxes for the past decade. At the end of every school year, Olympia picks up thousands of student boxes from dorm rooms and keeps them in our storage facilities for the summer. When the students return for the fall semester, they will find their boxes waiting for them in their new dorm room, already delivered by Olympia.

Best of luck to all the Boston and DC area students for a successful fall semester! Study hard!

How to Deduct Moving Expenses From Your Taxes

There are a lot of expenses inherent to the relocation process. These expenses are, however, tax deductible in certain scenarios.  You can deduct moving expenses if you are moving for the following reasons:

  • You are a retiree moving from another country
  • You are a member of the army relocating due to military adjustment
  • You are moving in order to start a new job
    • AND you work full time for at least 39 weeks during the first 12 months after your move
    • AND the distance between your new home and old home is at least 50 miles more than the distance between your old house and old job (i.e. if you were to commute from your old house to your new job, it would be 50 miles further than your old commute).

You can claim moving expenses on your taxes if the expenses exceed moving reimbursements from your company.

Here are examples of moving expenses that you can deduct from your taxes:

Talk to a tax consultant about the specifics of deducting these expenses. The forms for deducting these expenses are:

How to Get a Parking Permit

As a moving company located in the Boston, MA and Washington, DC areas, Olympia does a lot of moves on busy and/or narrow streets without a lot of parking availability. Failure to obtain a required permit can delay the process and add significant cost.

If you live in the cities of Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, or Somerville, chances are that you are going to need a parking permit. The same applies if you live in the cities of Washington D.C., Alexandria, or Arlington.

Olympia can arrange for the requisite permits for between $110 and $160 contingent upon the specific city that you live in, OR you can obtain these permits on your own. If you are going to request that Olympia obtain these permits for you, please provide at least one week of lead time. If you plan to obtain the permits on your own, we have provided some useful links below for markets in which Olympia conducts a lot of business:

Massachusetts:
Boston
Cambridge
Brookline

Virginia:
Washington D.C.
Alexandria
Arlington