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I did it. Des Moines to Phoenix Nov 2013. I spent a good 2+years researching where I wanted to go, and Phoenix wasn't at the top of my list at first. But, as the other cities I was considering started to get eliminated, it rose to the top.
I chose the main thing I was looking for in a new home...the weather...and went from there. I knew that if I could just get away from winter and move somplace much warmer, I could deal with whatever else I needed to.
So far it has worked out for me. I can't say it is for everyone, but it can be done. I don't think I am really all that brave, I was just at a place in my life where I was ready to move and did it. As someone else said, visiting and living someplace are really 2 diferent things. You need to be in the new place doing "ordinary" stuff like driving to work and grocery shopping to REALLY know what it is like to live there.
No place is permanent. I figure I can decide to move on if it doesn't work out here.
Good luck!
ElleTea,
I admired you just from reading someone's post who said that you moved sight unseen from Phoenix to Iowa (or was it the other way around?) I've done a move sight unseen also (discussed below).
To OP, I was fresh out of undergrad school with my degree in hand and I moved to NYC, of all places, never having been here before. It had always been a dream of mine to live here so I up and did it! This was in the mid 90's before Internet was really big in my experience so my research consisted of a Frommer's Guide to NYC. Like another poster said, it's expensive to visit some places beforehand, if you're not in a position to do so financially. I was a poor college student. I tried once to visit NYC on my spring break before moving here but there was a horrible snow storm that spring. My road trip got as far as Ohio before we were turned back. Who knows, maybe had I visited first I wouldn't have moved here. At any rate, I came sight unseen and looked at it as an adventure. I was young and adventurous. If you're in that frame of mind, then move to a place without visiting. However, if you're more selective or have very strong feelings for what you like/dislike, will/won't tolerate, then I would recommend at least spending a few days visiting the potential new city or town. Best wishes.
I admired you just from reading someone's post who said that you moved sight unseen from Phoenix to Iowa (or was it the other way around?) I've done a move sight unseen also (discussed below).
To OP, I was fresh out of undergrad school with my degree in hand and I moved to NYC, of all places, never having been here before. It had always been a dream of mine to live here so I up and did it! This was in the mid 90's before Internet was really big in my experience so my research consisted of a Frommer's Guide to NYC. Like another poster said, it's expensive to visit some places beforehand, if you're not in a position to do so financially. I was a poor college student. I tried once to visit NYC on my spring break before moving here but there was a horrible snow storm that spring. My road trip got as far as Ohio before we were turned back. Who knows, maybe had I visited first I wouldn't have moved here. At any rate, I came sight unseen and looked at it as an adventure. I was young and adventurous. If you're in that frame of mind, then move to a place without visiting. However, if you're more selective or have very strong feelings for what you like/dislike, will/won't tolerate, then I would recommend at least spending a few days visiting the potential new city or town. Best wishes.
Well like I said, it would be very odd and suspicious for a professional accountant like me to just pick up and leave to a new city with no job lined up. Employers do not like that kind of behavior because it shows lack of commitment and lack of stability.
Well like I said, it would be very odd and suspicious for a professional accountant like me to just pick up and leave to a new city with no job lined up. Employers do not like that kind of behavior because it shows lack of commitment and lack of stability.
Of course a job is EXTREMELY important in this day and age. I did my move-to-a-new-city-sight-unseen-with-no-job back during the good ole' gravy train days. Jobs were plentiful and easy to get back then. I found a full-time temp job on my first interview. Within the week of starting at a financial firm, I was asked if I was looking for a permanent position. No, sorry not in finance (stupid me, I was young). Within that same month, I interviewed with and was offered a full-time job in another creative profession. I started there and never looked back. After several lifetimes since then, I was in a different professional field and hated it so I left not realizing that the job market and economy had changed drastically since I was last job-searching. I couldn't find a f/t job to save my life. I remained unemployed or underemployed from Sept. 2011-Nov. 2012. Worse financial move of my life. It took me such a long time to recover financially that I'm still not where I'd like to be. That's why I wholeheartedly agree with you about not moving anywhere without a job lined up. Well paying employers take notice of things like that and may bypass your resume while low-paying ones won't. Explains why it's easier for unemployed people to move to an area and find a job paying $10 hour or less than it is for them to find a job paying $40K annually or more.
Of course a job is EXTREMELY important in this day and age. I did my move-to-a-new-city-sight-unseen-with-no-job back during the good ole' gravy train days. Jobs were plentiful and easy to get back then. I found a full-time temp job on my first interview. Within the week of starting at a financial firm, I was asked if I was looking for a permanent position. No, sorry not in finance (stupid me, I was young). Within that same month, I interviewed with and was offered a full-time job in another creative profession. I started there and never looked back. After several lifetimes since then, I was in a different professional field and hated it so I left not realizing that the job market and economy had changed drastically since I was last job-searching. I couldn't find a f/t job to save my life. I remained unemployed or underemployed from Sept. 2011-Nov. 2012. Worse financial move of my life. It took me such a long time to recover financially that I'm still not where I'd like to be. That's why I wholeheartedly agree with you about not moving anywhere without a job lined up. Well paying employers take notice of things like that and may bypass your resume while low-paying ones won't. Explains why it's easier for unemployed people to move to an area and find a job paying $10 hour or less than it is for them to find a job paying $40K annually or more.
Yeah, I agree with you entirely. I actually think there is a double standard, depending on the type of labor a person does. For white collar professional jobs, it is highly recommended to have a job lined up before moving anywhere, unless you have at LEAST $100K in cash saved up or something. However, for minimum and low wage workers or blue collar workers, I think it's more acceptable to just get up and leave and move somewhere new and look for work. White collar workers are held to a higher standard of character and commitment, and employers expect that from job seekers. In fact, I was rejected for an interview from a particular company one time for no reason other than the fact that I quit my previous job with no job lined up. It simply didn't sit well with them. Of course, I was fortunate enough to find work just a couple months later, but it just goes to show that white collar employees had best have a job lined up before relocating to a new area.
Visiting a place will not give you a true picture of what it would be like to live there. This really falls under the old saying "The grass is not always greener on the other side!"
I visited Seattle several years ago to see if I would like living there after having been offered a job in Seattle. I visited in July, it was beautiful the entire week I was there.... i fell in love and moved out there in October.. I didn't see the Sun or Mount Rainer until the next Spring.. and I moved away the following fall. Now, I am glad I lived in Seattle for that short time but my 1 week visit hardly gave me an idea of what living there would be like..
Let me guess... it rained every day too from October till spring when the sun finally came out?
So you moved away because you didn't see the Sun or Mt. Rainier for... 6 months?
Do you think it's a good idea to pursue employment and plan to relocate somewhere that sounds good on paper, but you've never visited even once?
A couple years ago, I did tons of research and concluded that I wanted to move to Denver. However, when I visited Denver afterward, the general area did not appeal to me at all. I was a bit shocked at how hippie/liberal it was, and my research didn't quite paint an accurate picture enough as to how the place was in real life. I mean, I KNEW that it was a liberal environment, but just the way people carried themselves, their appearances/styles, flannel shirts, guys with long hair, goth girls, snow hats, etc. just weren't quite captured in my research. I just couldn't see myself fitting in there culturally. I spent hours looking at various spots in the area on Google Maps street view, but in real life it just appeared and felt different than I had imagined. So I decided not to move there.
But now my research is telling me that a few places in the country might be good for me, but I've never been to them. So I don't know what to do.
What would be your best advice on this matter?
Didn't you just answer our own question here?
Then, again, it depends on how okay you would be with moving again if you don't like where you landed.
One thing I did before even visiting a new place was to get their local newspaper delivered to me. You can get a feel for a place through the Opinion section, letters to editor, the type of news the paper runs, etc. But, I also did at least visit once before moving somewhere.
Well like I said, it would be very odd and suspicious for a professional accountant like me to just pick up and leave to a new city with no job lined up. Employers do not like that kind of behavior because it shows lack of commitment and lack of stability.
I also work in accounting. When I began interviewing here, no one seemed to think there was anything "odd" or "suspicious" about my move at all. They asked about it, and we moved on. I don't understand your thinking. I had no job when I moved. No problem. I had 3 job offers after about 10 days of interviews.
Accounting is a fairly easy field to relocate in (compared to some others). They are needed everywhere.
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I admired you just from reading someone's post who said that you moved sight unseen from Phoenix to Iowa (or was it the other way around?) I've done a move sight unseen also (discussed below).
Iowa to Arizona. I moved for the weather.
I have spent time in Las Vegas, so I knew I liked the desert. I had just never visited Phoenix before arriving here at my new apartment (rented sight unseen from the internet).
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I also work in accounting. When I began interviewing here, no one seemed to think there was anything "odd" or "suspicious" about my move at all. They asked about it, and we moved on. I don't understand your thinking. I had no job when I moved. No problem. I had 3 job offers after about 10 days of interviews.
Accounting is a fairly easy field to relocate in (compared to some others). They are needed everywhere.
Yeah but you must have had a nice amount of cash saved up to make the move. I am assuming you are older than I am (I'm 29). Right now I only have about $60K in cash. I would be afraid to make a move with no job with limited savings, especially since I've only been at my current job for 11 months after being unemployed for 7 months. I mean, what do you think employers will think of me for wanting to relocate AGAIN, after I already relocated to my current area just one year ago?
My background is almost entirely in corporate tax accounting. So I have always worked in the tax department of a corporation doing things such as tax research, lots of fixed assets depreciation stuff, estimated tax payments, quarterly tax provisions, dealing with tax notices, etc. I have experience in the hedge fund, insurance, utilities and airline leasing industries.
Yeah but you must have had a nice amount of cash saved up to make the move. I am assuming you are older than I am (I'm 29). Right now I only have about $60K in cash. I would be afraid to make a move with no job with limited savings, especially since I've only been at my current job for 11 months after being unemployed for 7 months. I mean, what do you think employers will think of me for wanting to relocate AGAIN, after I already relocated to my current area just one year ago?
My background is almost entirely in corporate tax accounting. So I have always worked in the tax department of a corporation doing things such as tax research, lots of fixed assets depreciation stuff, estimated tax payments, quarterly tax provisions, dealing with tax notices, etc. I have experience in the hedge fund, insurance, utilities and airline leasing industries.
You have $60K? Yeah, that should suffice. I moved with MUCH less cash! MUCH MUCH less!
I guess it boils down to this...if you want to move, move. If you don't, stay put. Sounds like you want to stay put.
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Understood
I didn't see the Sun or Mount Rainer until the next Spring.. and I moved away the following fall. Now, I am glad I lived in Seattle for that short time but my 1 week visit hardly gave me an idea of what living there would be like.. 
