Is it true that a mover will always be outside until they have pinged you?

[Last_bus_home]

Sorry to create a new thread, but I couldn't find enough information on this and I thought I'd rather hear it from a few people. When I'm looking for a mover, is it true that once they have decided to move they will always be outside until they have pinged me and I have told them yes/no? If this is true it would save me a lot of stress and bother saving and reloading until I have had a got all my villagers out of their houses and had a chance to run by them! (Also if it's true, I feel a bit silly!)
Thank you all so much in advance!!

 

[charade501]

In my experience, this is untrue. I've had to reload to find villagers that were moving (when another villager tells me they're thinking of moving).

 

[Breath Mint]

The mover will be outside when you first load up the game on a given day, as long as they are awake. They won't stay outside the entire time until they ping you, however.

 

[Last_bus_home]

Thanks guys! That's especially helpful breathmint! Is it worth the risk of just talking to the villagers outside do you think or should I keep on as I have been? Right now I keep a checklist and I make sure I get them all outside, unoccupied and run past them all a few times to be on the safe side! It's driving me a little batty!

 

[Breath Mint]

You don't have to worry about it every day, since it takes 5 days for a villager to be in boxes. What I do is I start up my game, run past my villagers who are outside, and if I get a non moving ping, talk to a villager or two a few times to see if they mention that someone is planning to move out. I usually get a villager wanting to move once every 4 days or so.

 

[wolfie1]

In my experience, the villager who wanted to move out was outside but only the first day. The following days they'd be randomly inside, outside or in the museum, shopping...

 

[stitchmaker]

Last year Miss Lolly was celebrating her birthday when I got the rumor that she was trying to skip town.
A couple of time Miranda has been in the store when I found out she was a rumor mover. Save/quit so she would get out of the store.

I did have a problem with one villager. He was the first ping of the day and no mention of moving. Played for an hour, got rumor talk so I quit/saved. Played again later in the evening and he pinged to move.

I walk pass all the villagers and wait for the ping. Once I have a ping and it not a mover I check in with all the villagers outside and inside their houses. The villagers inside can sell the mover out fast. I usually do 4 talks in one inside visit to see if they'll give me rumor mover or just rumor talk. Get enough just rumor talk than I safe to end of the night.
I started keeping track of my movers in a notebook because I have 3 towns.

 

[Candy83]

You don't have to worry about it every day, since it takes 5 days for a villager to be in boxes. What I do is I start up my game, run past my villagers who are outside, and if I get a non moving ping, talk to a villager or two a few times to see if they mention that someone is planning to move out. I usually get a villager wanting to move once every 4 days or so.

I think it's really five [05] days at a minimum.

Today is April 01, 2016.

Say, with using today's actual date as my game date, that I receive a ping for a move by a villager I will retain. It won't be for five more days, April [06,] 2016, on which I will receive another villager's ping for a possible move.

 

[laineybop]

I've had villagers leave with no notice, leave without pinging, ping for a 5 day move out window, ping for a 3 day moveout window, ping for a 2 day moveout window. They're all different...

 

[HMCaprica]

I find this to be very untrue, I have kept my game on the same day for quite a few days in a row and it took literally 4 days for someone to FINALLY ping that they wanted to move. There is no concrete proof that your mover will ALWAYS be outside waiting to ping you. In my case(and in others as well), there were NO sick villagers, NO birthdays, NO events NO NOTHING. it just can really take that long. AND it has happened several times not just to me but to others as well. The only sure fire way is to go around to all your villagers MANY times to find out if they are moving. Go around once. then save and quite and repeat this many times to be sure. This could really take up to 45 minutes or so if you ARE expecting a mover. I have yet to lose any villagers this way. I never had an unexpected move doing it this way either. My longest streak of having all villagers has been 2 years 5 months and a few days. It is a myth to just assume that the villager that wants to move will just come up to you ALL the time. If this was the case you wouldn't hear so many sad stories of people losing their beloved villagers so unexpectedly. For what it is worth. Take it or leave it but this is based on what I and others know, have tested and have seen.
this comment was towards Breathmint.
I also wanted to add you can very well have at least 2 movers in 1 week.

 

[Meliara]

You can get movers two days in a row. You can also have 10+ days between movers. From my experience the mover will be outside(if it's their waking time) the first time I load the game on the first day they are thinking of moving. I wouldn't depend on that though. I try to keep track of how many days it's been since the last person pinged. The earliest someone can be boxed up is 6 days after a day someone pinged. (Since there could be a new mover the next day after a ping and they will be boxed up 5 days after they first think of moving.) If it's getting too close to that date I make extra effort to find the mover or chat with villagers until two villagers talk about rumors, before switching the day.
Since it's hard to know for sure when the first day a person is moving is, it's hard to know if one of the outside people is your mover. (There are exceptions to this with TTing where you would know the exact day you have a new "mover.")

I apologize if none of that makes sense. I shouldn't try explaining things.

Edit to add: You can also have the same person be your mover twice in a row.

 

[Skyfall]

I've had villagers leave with no notice, leave without pinging, ping for a 5 day move out window, ping for a 3 day moveout window, ping for a 2 day moveout window. They're all different...

This is true. I've had a few villagers move out with no warning. And yes, my friendship level with them was high, I talked to them every day. They didn't ping me nor did another villager warn me about the move.

The only thing to do is, if a lot of days has passed and no one has pinged you in a while, don't ignore your bad feeling! Walk around, take some time to either get the ping or have another villager ping you. I know a few people who track days since their last ping. Might be worth doing if you have villagers you really care about.

 

[Red Cat]

From my experience, they are always outside until they ping you, but a lot of other people claim this is not true, so I don't really know.

 

[kcarly11]

for some reason, all of my movers are ALWAYS outside, until they ping me ANDi talk to them (and tell them if they can move or not). even after they're normally always outside up until their exact moving date.

 

[Breath Mint]

I've had villagers leave with no notice, leave without pinging, ping for a 5 day move out window, ping for a 3 day moveout window, ping for a 2 day moveout window. They're all different...

If you don't talk to a specific villager for over a week, they will not ping you before they move. The day a villager moves isn't five days after the ping, it's five days after the game selects them as a mover. You just didn't happen to get the ping the first 2-3 days after they decided they were moving. That's why you got a smaller window of time.