The big decision: Should you relocate?

December 7, 2000 —

You're being lured away from your Smoky Mountain home to work for a Silicon Valley
dot-com. Is it worth taking the new job for a much larger salary? A host of new
Websites such as VirtualRelocation.com
and Monstermoving.com (the Monstermoving.com
site had not yet launched at the time of this writing) can help you make a more
rational decision.

Tina Wyszynski, manager of Monstermoving.com, said money is only one consideration
when making the decision to move or not to move. Monstermoving.com will show you
there's actually more crime back home, and in San Jose you'll get 162 clear days a
year, as opposed to 90 back in the Tennessee mountains.

According to Wyszynski, the biggest challenge in relocating is "finding time to get
familiar with the new area." If you're moving to a high-tech job, chances are you won't
have a lot of getting-acquainted time. Sites like Monstermoving.com can give you a good
look at what your new surroundings will be like.

After you sell your 3,000-square-foot home, come down from the mountains, and head
for California, you may be in for a surprise. If you're lucky, you may be able to make
a down payment on an 800-square-foot cottage. And as for rentals --there aren't any.
For every apartment you apply for, there are 100 other people ahead of you, most of
whom make more money, are related to the owner, and/or have delivered a substantial
bribe.

If you don't know the area, it pays to have a guide. Often, new employees (as well
as the companies that hire them) use the services of a relocation expert. Kate Yates,
president of Corporate Rental Connections in Boulder, Colo., helps members of Boulder's
burgeoning high-tech community find homes. "Some of the companies I work with offer
[the service] to every one of their employees," said Yates. "Just about all of
them need a service like this. It's almost impossible to come to Boulder, and find a
rental or buy a house without some aid of someone who's been around for a while."

You also probably won't get the type of housing you're used to. Yates said, "People
see these pictures of Boulder, or they've been to Boulder twenty years ago. When they
know they'll get to live here, they say, 'Oh, I want this adorable little cottage in
Mapleton,' and then they want to spend $1,500 a month for it. Well, it's $3,000 for a
tiny little Victorian."

More than just housing

Of course, there are many other economic considerations when one relocates. The cost of
taxes, insurance, utilities, food, and transportation will vary depending on your
destination.

The bottom line is that a bigger salary won't necessarily lead to a better
lifestyle. Free moving sites like Monstermoving.com let you compare cities against
national averages and get details about quality-of-life issues such as weather, commute
time, and others.

Let's compare, for example, Johnson City, Tenn., and San Jose, Calif.
Monstermoving.com tells you Johnson City's cost of living is 70 percent of the national
average, while San Jose's is 151 percent. A 2,000-square-foot home in Tennessee costs
$168,000 -- in San Jose, the same house costs $380,000. Your property taxes will be
$2,332 higher in California, and you'll pay more state and local income taxes as
well.

As Wyszynski put it, "There's a crazy amount of information to sift through."

ITworld.com