? 4 those who moved to LA from out of state (buying a house, job market)

[Andromeda76]

Hi,

For those of you who have moved from out of state to LA.

Did you move to California first to find a job?

Or did you already have a job lined up prior to moving?

My job experience is in Human Resources (or at the least a secretary). I'm concerned that a company many not pay for me to move out of state.

What did you do?

[uptown_urbanist]

We moved to LA because my husband had a job offer; they paid partial relocation. This was about 4 years ago. The job market in LA is very tough right now, with many, many people laid off or with hours reduced. It's hard enough to find a job as it is, and your skills will have to be very in demand if you want a company to not only hire you, but also pay for relocation. It's a bad time to be on the job market in CA. Unfortunately I think your chances of getting relocation are extremely slim, and I'd think very carefully about moving right now without a job lined up, especially if it means that you'd be giving up something wherever you're living right now. If you can maybe put off the move for a bit, build savings, and hope that the job market improves by next year.

[ZenMaster2008]

I moved here in early 2007 before the economy tanked. I came here without a job lined up but had about 6-8 months in savings and a place to stay for free. I found a job after about 6 weeks. Have been there since. I would have never done it without a job if I didn't have my savings and a free place to stay.

[mellabella]

My husband got a job transfer and a relocation pkg. Our budget given for the relocation was 60K.
It covered our selling realtor, the physical move(2 cars included), duplicate housing(6 months), a house hunting trip and some misc. expenses. We aren't buying a house in LA so we do not need to worry about the purchase realtor commission. It wouldn't have been enough if we were buying again though.
We have had other relocation pkgs where they just covered all the expenses of selling, buying , moving , house hunting trip and temporary accomodations without being on a budget.
We weren't going to complain about it this time though! Just happy to be employed!!!!

[timelesschild]

We got the job before committing to the move.

[Lake Conroe resident]

Unless you are coming from NYC or the like I don't see how many folks can move to CA from another state as its like swimming upstream. The cost of housing, taxes, fuel, utilites etc will certainly be way more than where ever they have come from. I can certainly see how someone sitting in the mid-west would fantasize about moving to CA, but unless some company is offering up a pile of cash to them how does anybody make it? There would simply be too many lifestyle compromises.

[Morphous01]

Originally Posted by Andromeda76

Hi,

For those of you who have moved from out of state to LA.

Did you move to California first to find a job?

Or did you already have a job lined up prior to moving?

My job experience is in Human Resources (or at the least a secretary). I'm concerned that a company many not pay for me to move out of state.

What did you do?

When I moved I though I had a job lined up but it fell through. Me and a bud moved to LA with the company we worked for telling us they would transfer us. Well, the managers in the state we were leaving lied to us because I did not get a transfer and my bud did not get the same job until about 3-4 months and that's only because he bothered them so much after he moved there.

[Morphous01]

Originally Posted by Lake Conroe resident

Unless you are coming from NYC or the like I don't see how many folks can move to CA from another state as its like swimming upstream. The cost of housing, taxes, fuel, utilites etc will certainly be way more than where ever they have come from. I can certainly see how someone sitting in the mid-west would fantasize about moving to CA, but unless some company is offering up a pile of cash to them how does anybody make it? There would simply be too many lifestyle compromises.

Yes, I agree.. I had to start my own business to survive out there and only then I started to get ahead (Slowly) but even then it's still tough so I cashed in my chips and set up shop in the East coast were the cost to live is cheaper.

[Andromeda76]

Ok, I'll get a job first before I move. Thanks for the advice.

[LaEscritora]

We moved here not having jobs lined up, but we did have quite a bit of money saved up. My boyfriend job a job almost right aways (he's in social services) but it took me nearly six months of interviewing and temping to land a steady gig (I'm in entertainment). I'm not sure how wise it is to come without a job in the current economic situation, but if you have savings I think it can be done.

For what it's worth, we moved from Chicago.