Relocation: SE Michigan to Cherry Hill (Philadelphia, Penn: renting, house, buy)

[martinman]

Hi Everyone,

People have recommended that I post in the PA forum due to CH being a 'burb of Philly. Anyway, I have an interesting dilemma that I hope you can help with. That is, to relocate from Michigan to Cherry Hill, NJ. I work in the auto industry for the healthier of the "Detroit 3", and all things considered have a pretty secure position in the company. Technically, I'm not looking for a job, but of course, I never turn down a conversation. I love what I do, and I generally like the people I work with. Anyway, this 'conversation' turned into a job offer with an aerospace / defense contractor in Southern NJ (just outside of Philly). It was quite the whirlwind over the past few months dealing with them. The offer is outstanding - $15k to go back to school, 25% increase in salary, relocation benefits, signing bonus, etc. The only issue is that they won't buy our house (they'll cover realestate commissions, etc.). We're not in that bad of a situation housing wise - we bought in 1999 and made a few changes. Of course, we'd be out our equity ($50k, plus maybe another $5-$10 out of pocket just to get out of our house). Renting just isn't an option. All things considered, it's a great offer. However, I haven't been able to get over the whole living outside of Michigan thing...

I've been in Michigan for 30 year of my life. Grew up here, parents here.. Heck, my whole family is here. My wife and are just starting a family (one daughter with hopefully more coming) -- I want my kids to know her family, grandparents, great grandparents, cousins, etc. Sure, NJ is not that far away, and they'd come visit, but it's just not the same. I seem have this nagging guilt that if we move away that my kids will be loosing something not being close to their family. I'm hoping to hear from other people who have gone through something similar. Really the most important thing for me at this point, is the health and safety of my family. It's nice to have options too for them grown up (not sure where Michigan will be in 5-10 years). Lots of changes ahead. Leaving friends and family was never in the plan, ya know??

However, with that said, my wife and I agree that a change would be good, and while nothing is perfect, the situation that I'm presented with is darn near close (however, we always thought of moving out west - never really considered NJ). I love Michigan (well, for 9 months out of the year anyway... I have a love / hate relationship with the other 3). Wife and I are avid outdoors people - lots of summer activities. We do have family in PA (about an hour drive), so we wouldn't be totally isolated, but still. I never went away for school, so I haven't been able to develop this sense of independence that most people have... Probably a big part of it too is fear of the unknown. I'm comfortable here. Will our house sell in Michigan? Will the auto-industry recover? Would it be ok to stay and just ride out the storm? Ok, enough rambling.

Any suggestions / comments are more than welcome!

[ooodsie]

Hey Martin,
Your story sounds eery-similar to my fiance's. He moved here from South Eastern Michigan 5 years ago for work, and moved to Cherry Hill as well. We're relocating to Bucks County in the next year but in the meantime are in S Jersey still. He adjusted well here and we go to visit MI occasionally, it's a little less than 10 hour drive and we tend to stop along the way for fun in places like Cleveland to see the Rock n Roll hall of fame, or in state college (I went to Penn State) just to make it interesting and not a straight drive. Overall I think there are more opportunities for a family here in NJ/PA than there are currently in MI, things just seem depressed over all there. South Jersey is nice, it's convenient to a lot of the major roads, you can get to NYC in about an hour and a half, Atlantic City in about 45 minutes, Center City Philadelphia in about 15, and Baltimore/DC area in a couple hours. There will be lots of culture around for your kids growing up and they will have a lot more opportunities here than in MI, so I think you're making a good decision for your family. 10 hours driving (1.5 hours flying) is not far, and you can go back and be with family as often as you can afford to .. Or maybe your parents will end up doing like his are planning to do in the next few years and join us in PA!

[orrmobl]

If you have a good job and live in a nice area in MI, I would stay. The QOL there is not comparable to NJ. South Jersey is fast paced, expensive, and the Cherry Hill area is mostly concrete and subdivisions - hardly an outdoorsman's delight. PA is more wooded etc and I would actually recommend you move there over NJ just for better access to the outdoors - of course Jersey has the wonderful shore but I would guess there are comparable lakes where you are.

The Cherry Hill area is no place to raise kids IMO. They grow up fast and spoiled, you will be fighting to instill your Mid-West values in your own and to find similar families.

Again, if you are committed to the move, move to PA, but I would really recommend you stay put...or move to MN!

[ericsinphilly]

Most of this doesn't necessarily apply to Cherry Hill, but are the observations of someone who lived in Southeast Michigan and made the move Philadelphia.

My wife is from Michigan and is currently experiencing withdrawal from her family and ... snow. Being from Florida I don't understand missing snow, but then I didn't grow up in Michigan. Since we have lived in PA (8 months), we've been back to MI only once so far, and the drive took us about 10 hours straight to get there, and about 11 hours back due to a wreck in the mountains. Next time we will definitely fly, and I plan to send my wife back as often as monetarily possible so that she can spend long weekends and holidays with her family, and so that they can know their grandchild during his early years.

It is most definitely a different type of life. Michigan moves at a slower pace in general. It's much less expensive to live in MI all around. In looking for a house here in PA, we've found that the prices are about two to three times what we would have paid in MI for something comparable. I'm pretty sure the same will be the case in South Jersey.

Depending on what part of SE MI you are from, you may miss the trees and multitude of lakes, possibly the corn and soybean fields . There is a lot more concrete and asphalt here.

Compared to any place in MI that we lived (Lenawee, Lansing proper, Haslett, and Jackson), the traffic here is downright horrible. The vast majority of people are very polite when talking face to face, much more so than folks in the Midwest, but as soon as you climb in your car, watch out! Those same people will try to run you off the road so they can get to where they're going 30 seconds faster.

We did not have the luxury of having great jobs or job opportunities in MI, however, and this is where PA beats MI hands down. It took me all of a week to land a job paying significantly more here after losing my job in MI, where-as I was hunting for over a month in MI without even a single call back -- and I am a well-qualified IT pro.

We have one very young child at the moment and are also looking to add to the family. We've decided against living in the city due to our experiences with crowding, traffic, trash, and daily news reports of someone getting shot or robbed somewhere nearby.

In researching the area, I've found that some of the best schools in the nation can be found in the suburbs around Philadelphia.

In retrospect, if the job situation/economy were better in MI, we would still be there for the slower pace of life, boating on Lake Michigan, camping in the UP, and I guess for the snow , but since we are here now, we've decided to make the best of it, invest in some property, and see what happens with Michigan's economy over the next few years.