If you were near debt free, would you move to HCOL area?

[Lawyer&Mom]

We moved to Seattle for a job. My husband has since found another job he prefers. He gets contacted constantly for new positions in the area. There is just so much tech going on here. In my opinion, there is a real range of housing prices here. (But I come from an even higher COL area...) If you are willing to commute a bit it might be more affordable than you imagine. We have younger family members here who own houses as teachers, nurses etc. I'm not sure they have the best public schools where they live, but if you plan to homeschool that might not be an issue.

[Carol in Cal.]

One nice thing about the WA state high schools is that they have excellent, easy to access joint programs with the local community colleges; so it's not hard to get a high school diploma and an AA on the same day.

[bettyandbob]

 

First, get a job. Worry about a long term move later. A job in a HCOL area beats being unemployed in a LCOL area.

THIS. Get a job. Live separate if job is in another location. Then figure out moving or looking for a different job if new job is not a good fit.

[Janeway]

I think that he should take a job, not wait around using up savings. Whether that would mean moving the family could be decided later. After periods of Husband's unemployment we one time all moved to a high COL place; once lived apart whilst Husband weekly commuted to the high COL place; and once he went freelance and I took a full-time job.

He already turned it down. But, after posting and getting everyone's feedback here, he emailed them and asked it the position was still available. We will see.

[Arcadia]

Rejecting a relocation is very low priority on things that people gossip about. My hubby's reason to reject the relocation to upstate New York was simply that the office is too rural and I can't drive. Also the school district was worse than our current district so we would have to stay far from the office. We can walk to the public schools here so I had walked to pick up my oldest whenever he puked. His former colleagues remembered why even two years later and no one though it odd.

 

What people do remember very well and talk about are colleagues who are being investigated for criminal issues and colleagues who are loudly argumentative about salary.

 

Good luck

[Crimson Wife]

I don't see mortgage debt as being in the same category at all as other debt. It's more like forced savings.

 

To me, "debt free" is about not having consumer debt, rather than having a paid-off house. Of course, it's great to have $0 in consumer debt plus a paid-off house, but I wouldn't let needing to have a mortgage be a factor in whether or not to make a move.

[*LC]

My college senior will live in that HCOL area after graduation. She was choosing between it and another HCOL area where she interned the last two summers. She would be working for the same company in either location. One of the things that swayed her decision was the fact that the location you are considering does not have state income tax, which will save her money over the other HCOL location. (She was not looking at LCOL places at this time.)

 

Good luck in finding the right place.

He already turned it down. But, after posting and getting everyone's feedback here, he emailed them and asked it the position was still available. We will see.

 

As I understand it, he turned down an in-person *interview*, not a job itself  Interviewing is a difficult skill, especially if you haven't done it in a while.  I would recommend taking every reasonable interview, if only to improve interviewing skills, and learn more about what actual employers want.  Don't borrow trouble, and worry about what his salary might be or where you might live before even the interview happens.  If he really wants to work in this field, he's likely going to need to do a bunch of interviews.  Once you have a job offer in hand, with a salary and benefits, then worry about all this other stuff.