Realistically, how hard is it to move to a new state?

Pretty difficult. You're gonna need a big saw and plenty of extra blades.

Other than that, it is pretty much just a big jig saw puzzle.

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After timing job changes, selling the house, and finding a new place to live how hard of a transition is this? Is this something I need half a year to plan?

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I decided July 4th weekend to move to Houston. My last night in LA is Friday.

My situation is unique though and that's a big part of why I'm moving. No kids, no house, taking my job with me due to remote work right now.

I do see a layoff in my future though and I hedged my bet that if I'm going to get laid off, I'd rather be in Houston when it happens. I have enough saving to scrape by if the poo hits the fan and I'm laid off as soon as next week. Everything else is bonus after that.

It's a blind leap of faith though. Just signing a lease 6 hours away at an apartment complex I've never laid eyes on was nerve wracking.

I'd recommend renting at first, even if you are pretty sure about the area.

When my wife and I moved we got an AirBnB for two nights to give us a place to crash while we unpacked and set up furniture and such.

A few months later we were pretty confident in the area we wanted to buy and ended up breaking the lease early to do so, but our mortgage payments were much lower than the rent so we came out ahead in the end.

We made the move the day we closed on our house in BR, so we timed the rental accordingly once we had a closing date set.

My wife was already working from home and my then job let me work remote for a while as well, so no concerns there, which was really nice.

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After timing job changes, selling the house, and finding a new place to live how hard of a transition is this? Is this something I need half a year to plan?

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not hard if you just get a short term rental or accept the fact to rent for a year.

we moved across the country and just rented a townhome with a two car garage and used the garage as storage for all of our stuff (along with selling a good bit of extra furniture/crap before the move just to downsize)

it was nice because then we were able to explore all the different areas of the city and find the neighborhood we wanted, and then because we were in the rental (and could go month to month once lease ended) there was a no time rush to find the perfect house, and then once we did didn't have to worry about any contingencies when putting bids in

downsides are the cost of the rental...living in less space...not feeling fully settled (basically living out of boxes because didnt want to unpack anything) and having to "move" twice (even though the second move was still easier because left majority of stuff packed

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After timing job changes, selling the house, and finding a new place to live how hard of a transition is this? Is this something I need half a year to plan?

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Depends.

How far are you moving? Do you know anyone there? Single or moving with a significant other? How extroverted are you?

When we moved, I can tell you it wasn't easy. We knew no one, had basically 2 days to find an apartment on a trip up to find a place, etc.

But I wouldn't change it for anything.

It all depends on your situation. I moved from Chicago to Philly back in early 2018 with only 4 weeks between deciding to move and the actual move.

But I rented and had an expiring lease, didn't have kids, and didn't care about not having a job lined up immediately (the SO did, which was the reason for the move). Not everyone has that flexibility

ETA: her new company flew us out for an apartment hunting trip and set us up with a realtor, which helped a lot. We also had two close friends in Philly that had moved out a few years prior (one grew up there), and a handful of other friends in NYC and NJ, so it wasn't like we had to start over socially.

If its just you, not hard at all.

We did it a few years ago. There is a reason moving is ranked so high on the stress list. Outside of finding a house, hood, etc. you have to deal with auto transfers, changing addresses, and for us this was all in a new area. I highly recommend a full service move if you can afford it. We moved 12 hours away and 4 bedroom house was about 9k. But they wrapped, boxed, and loaded it all.

If moving to Louisiana, keep your cars registered in your current state as long as possible. Taxes to transfer tags will set you back thousands of dollars and your car insurance will triple. If you don’t have any relatives that will let you use their address in your current state, consider buying a crack house there for a few thousand dollars just to use for your car registration.