A Dilemma, Might be Moving Back To Philly & Torn (Philadelphia: apartment, rent)

[NativeClevelander]

First let me say I'm a native Clevelander and lived in Philly from '01 - '05 and really liked but my wife really missed Cleveland (I did also) and moved back 5 years ago.


Hello and good evening. Well I have a dilemma on my hands here. My wife has been out of work for 10 months since the economy is the way its is.

She has been looking and looking but no luck and we're doing ok since I have my job at the Crown Plaza downtown but now money is starting to get tight. When we lived in Philly my wife worked at the University of Pennsylvania as a Administrative A'sst which she loved and made good money.

Anyway she was talking to a friend in HR there who we have kept in contact since we moved back to Cleveland 5 years ago and she told her about her job situation and her friend offered her a Administator position back there starting Feb 1st. Everyone liked my wife when she was there before and would welcome her back and the money is better than it was before and great benefits.

When she told me about I was like thats nice and tell her we said thank you but its a little far to commute daily I said jokinly. My wife says I think I want to take it. I'm like what? Plus I was surprised because she was the one who wanted to move back to Cleveland really bad. I told her that plus we have a house which I remodeled myself and took me almost 3 years to do and we have our family and friends here and so on. She has to let them know her decision by Jan. 15th and of course we'll have to find a place. We told all our friends in Philly and of course they would be happy to see us return and offered us a place to stay till we found a place of our own. Our one friend has a brother who owns an apartment house in Ardmore, which is on the Main Line, very nice area and lots to do since we would visit there when we lived in Philly. Its a large 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath in an old house but its completely renovated and said his brother would give us a good deal since I know him and he doesn't want it to sit vacant for long and will be availible Feb 1st also

Also its means we'll have to pay a mover to move all our stuff and all the packing which is a pain (I'm going to be 44 in Jan. and don't feel like doing all that work) and now with our house. My wife suggested we can rent it out and have our relatives watch over it and when things get better we can get jobs back here in Cleveland and we can just move back in it.

Now with my job. There are Crown Plazas around in Philly and I could transfer to one of those properties.

The plus side of moving back to Philly would be the later night life which I do still enjoy,better public transportation when I don't feel like driving and being with our friends there and maybe experience a city winning a championship now that the Phillies have Halliday,Lee,Oswalt & Hamels and some great batters. Don't worry I'm still a Cleveland sports fan,LOL

The downside, leaving my family & friends here and my hometown of Cleveland,would miss the Rapid, our sports teams even though God only knows when one of them will win a championship although I'll still watch and root for them.

I don't want to deny my wife an opportunity like that but at the same time I don't what to pull a LeBron and I'm very happy living in Cleveland.

We're going to discuss it more over the holidays and we haven't told our family & friends yet and if we do go they'll be sad but of course we can do what we've been doing the last 5 years since we moved back, hopping a plane to visit our Philly friends 6 or 7 times a year and we can to the same to visit Cleveland since its only an hour flight.

Anyway, I need some advice from Philadelphians here. Should we or shouldn't we? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Paul

[Jeanie Beanie]

Hmmm, let's see: you have jobs, you have an apartment lined up, you have close friends in the area, you know you like living here.

Welcome back!

[Avalon08]

Maybe it would help to run the numbers -- her salary v. moving expenses, increased COL in Philly, possibly carrying two mortgages if you can't rent your place, etc.? And are you 100% sure you can get a job here in Philly? Also, take into consideration the odds of your wife finding a job in Cleveland after 10 mos. of searching. So, perhaps you should look at how long it will take to recoup your expenses in moving v. whether your wife could find a job in Cleveland by that time. Might help to be more analytical about it and take some of the emotion out of the decision, which granted, is a big one. However, it does sound like, despite your trepidation, you've found quite a few "pro's" about moving back to Philly.

[BPP1999]

Good luck in your decision. It sounds like you already have laid out the pros and cons of each.

I think this is more of a personal decision for you and your wife and less of a decision for us.

[pman]

can't help with the decision but Penn's a good place to work. FYI-they have a mortgage program that allows grants ($5k or $8k) on properties within a certain area. Cleveland isn't that far, maybe a 7 hour drive?
FWIW-Ardmore has good train service to Philly, on weekends it now runs until 1:45 am. you may find it hard to move back though, especially if Penn offers a pension, etc, cleveland may become your retirement home.

[Padugan]

if this was last week and you substitute the Phillies for U penn, i'd have said you were married to clif lee....

[NativeClevelander]

Originally Posted by Padugan

if this was last week and you substitute the Phillies for U penn, i'd have said you were married to clif lee....

Thats a funny one. Although Cliff Lee would have to be a hot looking woman like my wife for me, LOL.

[NativeClevelander]

Thank you for your advice everyone. As I said before we love Philly but Cleveland is our home also. Right now its looking like we're going to be moving back to Philly but its not set in stone just yet.




We talked about it last night and we came up with a tenetive plan. If she does take it, we 'll just take stuff that we need for now and put the rest in storage and since UPenn has an excellent pension, we might be there alot longer as one of our friends told us and if we do stay for a real long time we can send for it later. The note on house we don't have to worry about. Its paid for free and clear, just have to worry about taxes. I had an Uncle who was never married and he was just like another Father to us and he had alot of possessions so when he passed 12 years ago he willed the house & HO train collection to me, his classic mint condition 1955 Chevy to my brother and my other Brother got his rifle & coin, stamp collection and my 2 Sisters got various Antiques and one Sister got his regular car, a 1990 Town Car and the money assets were divided evenly between all 5 of us. He knew I always loved the house and HO trains.

When we were in Philly before, we let my Sister and Husband live there rent free so they could save for a house, so that was good but now they have their own place. So this time, I figure I might as well make some money. Of course it will be work but I'll make sure I find a good tenant, not just rent to anybody. Plus the money I get from it, I'll put aside for taxes and use the rest for the rent in Ardmore. I know I'll be a landlord and tenant but I'm sure I'm not the first person to ever do that.

My wife had her nose to the grindstone looking for a job and nothing. Its a shame and I hate to admit this but I have to agree when people say that jobs are leaving Northeast Ohio and its a shame. As I said in my original post my wife really missed Cleveland bad and I did also so I'm surprised she wants to do this. I asked why and she said she would like the job,its a new challenge for her and plus the money so she thinks she can deal with it. Myself I know I can get a job. Being in hotel restaurant hospitality there's always a job and Philly is a big restaurant town so I know I'll have no problem if I can't transfer to a Crown Plaza there.

This Saturday we're having our Christmas party at the house and requested all of our family & friends to be there and told we have an announcement. We'll tell them about we might be moving back to Philly and her job. My Sister asked if we're having baby and told her no, its good news but I don't know if its good news they will want to hear.

I know they will say to us to stay in Cleveland and our Philly friends are encouraging to come back so that why its a dilemma and I'm torn but with the internet,email and cell phone and texting,we'll still be close. So wish me luck.

[NativeClevelander]

Originally Posted by Avalon08

Maybe it would help to run the numbers -- her salary v. moving expenses, increased COL in Philly, possibly carrying two mortgages if you can't rent your place, etc.? And are you 100% sure you can get a job here in Philly? Also, take into consideration the odds of your wife finding a job in Cleveland after 10 mos. of searching. So, perhaps you should look at how long it will take to recoup your expenses in moving v. whether your wife could find a job in Cleveland by that time. Might help to be more analytical about it and take some of the emotion out of the decision, which granted, is a big one. However, it does sound like, despite your trepidation, you've found quite a few "pro's" about moving back to Philly.

We did the numbers crunch thing and as I said we own our house free & clear and the money she'll make makes it worth it. You're right about finding the pros about moving back to Philly, I really did like living there before and when we decided to go back to Cleveland 5 years ago I was sad to leave our friends there. After our Christmas party this weekend and tell everyone, we'll have to get going because she has to let UPenn know by Jan 15th and be in Philly by Feb 1st if not a few days before and I'll have talk to my manager and HR to see if I can transfer and give my 2 weeks and of course pack what we're taking and what we're putting in storage plus we have 3 cars but I'll leave one with my Brother for now and get it later and get the other 2 to Philly somehow and before this we were planning on flying into Philly between Christmas & New Years to see our Philly friends so we can see the apartment in Ardmore which looks very nice from the picture's our friend's Brother had sent us and get that squared away. I'll keep you all posted and thanks again for the advice.

[algia]

OMG I wish we were you........slight envy crosses my keyboard....