Moving to a new home or apartment can be an exciting, yet stressful, time in your life. One of the biggest sources of that excitement/stress is choosing where to move. There are a nearly endless amount of options, each with their own pros and cons.
But whether you are moving into some downtown Dallas apartments across the city from where you live now, or to a whole new city across the country, there are some important considerations to make, and this article is going to take a closer look at a few of them.
The Cost of Living
The cost of living is something everyone should make a note to consider before they move. This includes things like rent/mortgage, groceries, the cost of gas, utilities, the gym, and anything else you might spend money on.
If you don’t do this, you may be surprised when things that were once relatively affordable to you are now quite pricey. This is especially true if you move from a small town in the midwest to New York or San Francisco.
If you want to see a breakdown of how the costs differ from one place to another, an online cost of living calculator can be a good thing to refer to. They may not be perfect or 100% accurate, but can certainly help you get a better understanding about certain costs.
If you are moving to a new neighborhood, many costs may be the same but some (such as rent/mortgage, parking, and even dining) might be different.
How Safe is it?
The safety of your chosen neighborhood or city is also something to think about. This is always important, but especially if you have children. You don’t want to feel unsafe in your own home, so always consult crime stats of an area before deciding to move there.
Most cities have some way to check stats like this, so you can break down areas you are comfortable with, and ones you want to avoid. You can also ask residents who live in the area about their experiences with crime and if they have ever felt unsafe living there.
Traffic and Commute Times
An underrated thing to consider, you need to take time to think about traffic. No one likes to spend a ton of time in traffic, but most people do it each and every day. The average one-way commute to work for Americans is nearly 30 minutes, and in many cities or areas it will be far higher than that. This is a lot of wasted time, so always try to live somewhere that shortens your commute and reduces your need to deal with traffic as much.
In a similar vein, ensure you are familiar with how far certain things are from where you will be living. If you are surrounded by things like your gym, grocery store, your child’s school and the mall, it can be much easier to go about your life without dealing with constant traffic.
Before you ever consider moving to a different city or neighborhood, these are three of the most important things you need to consider.
