Making the Move to Move

Deciding to make a long distance move is not something we took lightly - especially when there was no job transfer on the table. There were years of light discussion. Wouldn't it be great to live in...? And then months of extensive research. Could we see ourselves living in...?

Most people end up where they are due to a job opportunity, proximity to family members, etc. Not us. We are just two kids looking to make a better life for ourselves.

Here are the facts:


The husband works from home, meaning that he keeps his job (and more importantly, his salary) as long as he has a decent internet connection.

Although I had a fairly good job, it was nothing I was ever passionate about and the commute was becoming increasingly stressful for me with each day that passed (over an hour each way).

We want to buy a house. Housing in our area is incredibly expensive and basically impossible for us unless we compromised on size or neighborhood. Really compromised. If HGTV taught me anything, it's that good real estate isn't that hard to find, as long as you don't live near NYC.

Less important, but still noteworthy -- We hate the cold. In fact, the husband likes to pretend that winter doesn't exist by refusing to dress appropriately. The man doesn't even own a decent winter coat, just some crappy fleece jacket. Logic, he has it. And well, with my cold urticaria I could do without the brutal New York winters.

With that in mind, we began city hunting. We narrowed our list down to a few geographical locations which pretty much consisted of anything along the east coast and Texas. The husband was (and still is) fascinated by Texas, but having never lived more than a 3-4 hour drive away from my family, I was worried about making such a huge move.

There are a few cities in Texas that are still on the table if Charlotte doesn't work out for us, but for the meantime, I needed something a little closer to home. We did extensive research into various parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Every city offered its own unique set of pros and cons, but at the end of the day, Charlotte checked off a lot of the things on our wish list. Warmer climate, a lower cost of living and an abundance of nonstop flights back to New York.

We weren't ready to make a decision sight unseen and so earlier this year, we hopped on a plane and headed down to Charlotte, North Carolina.