Amber is currently happily employed at Pay Plus Benefits and has no desire to relocate… unless she wins the lottery and can afford to buy her own island paradise.
The sun beat down on the water making the breaking waves look like little camera flashes. This was the kind of weather I loved and I was grateful for my sun block and bug eyed sunglasses. As the little ferry pushed against the rapid current carrying us across the river, I thought about my experiences in the city and began wondering about actually living there.
Who hasn’t occasionally thought about relocation? In reality it happens all the time. Maybe your company is expanding and your employer asked you to move to an area that would be impossible to commute to from your current location. Maybe you just need a change of scenery. Whatever the reason, before you uproot everything and sell your house let’s look at some things you may want to consider before making your decision.
As I sat on the ferry, looking over my shoulder at the city, watching it grow smaller and smaller as we moved away, I began to ask myself some of those questions.
Could I find a job? At this point my love for the city was in that purely romantic stage where I swore to myself that I could do just about any job and be happy there. Shoot, I’d walk dogs during the day and wait tables at night if need be! Of course searching for a job via the internet would be a whole lot easier and there are a plethora of job listing sites, http://www.monster.com/ , http://www.indeed.com/ , and http://www.snagajob.com/ just to name a few. There are also more specific local listings available in several cities. Of course now that I was already in the city I had a few more options like stopping by the visitor’s bureau, grabbing the local papers, and of course talking to the locals.
I had looked over the two main local papers the day before and also talked with my friends and had learned that as long as I could manage to speak passable French, one of the local languages, there were plenty of job opportunities available to me that don’t require the use of a pooper scooper.
My next question was a little more difficult to ascertain, mostly because I just plain stink when it come to math. How would I figure out the cost of living adjustment? Could I even afford to live there?
After we got back to the house I fired up my laptop to do a little research. The information was a bit overwhelming at first but luckily there are a few resources out there that will do the math for you. If your move is within the US try http://www.bestplaces.net/col/ or http://www.payscale.com/cost-of-living-calculator. If you are moving outside the country things get a bit trickier and there is some math involved. Much to my chagrin, since I was looking to move to another country I would have to do the math myself. I figured somewhere out there, someone has to have some experience with this and that’s when it hit me, real estate agencies! If possible contact an agency in the area you are interested in moving to and get some numbers from them. They often have other valuable information like school and church locations, estimated utilities costs and commuting times.
As I clicked through the listings of houses, condos and apartments in the city and surrounding suburbs, I found that the cost of living was slightly higher than where I currently resided. I would either have to find a job that paid significantly more or learn to live off Ramen noodles and pop-tarts.
Undaunted I continued my research, this time in regards to how I would get around. One of the biggest changes I had become accustomed to here on my vacation was the use of public transportation. There was little to no use for a car here in the city and surrounding areas. Everything was well connected via the metro using buses, subways and commuter trains, which is a good thing because I'm not sure my current vehicle would actually pass inspection. In the US 18 states have a vehicle safety inspection program and under the Clean Air Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Air_Act) many cities who have air quality control problems require that vehicles undergo an emission inspection program. I would be moving outside the US to a country that had fairly strict emission and vehicle safety standards. No problem, I was totally coolio with taking the metro.
It's probably clear to you at this point that I assumed relocating would not really be a problem for me. The thing is, there are a few other people and questions I had to consider. I've been married for several years and I've kind of got a good thing going there. If I didn't want to mess that up I better consider my husband also. Or for that matter, the three cute as a button children I have and the stinky dog.
Stinky dog aside, I was fortunate that the company my husband works for just so happens to be headquartered in this city so, assuming that with my nagging encouragement he could master French, a job would be no problem. Of course we would have to look into work permits, get the kids passports, etc.
In the end, as much as I loved that beautiful city and it's equally beautiful people and culture, relocation wasn't a viable option for me... but the research sure was a lot of fun!
Do you have experience with relocation within or outside of the US? Share your stories and resources with me, because hey, a girl can still dream can't she?
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