{"id":1095,"date":"2021-05-19T21:42:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T21:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/s37407.p1377.sites.pressdns.com\/resources\/6-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-you-move\/"},"modified":"2021-05-19T21:42:18","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T21:42:18","slug":"6-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-you-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/6-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-you-move\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Move"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><em>This content is provided courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usaa.com\/?wa_ref=synd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USAA<\/a>.<\/em><\/h4><p> Thinking about moving to a new home or a new part of the country? Whether you&rsquo;re retiring, considering a new job or simply longing for something different, ask yourself the following questions to determine if you&rsquo;re making the right move at the right time. Especially if it means leaving your great <a href=\"\/babysitter\">babysitter<\/a> behind. <\/p><h4>1. Can You Afford It?<\/h4><p> Sometimes, the excitement of a big move can overcome your ability to think logically &mdash; and financially. Estimate the cost of living in your new home, then consider these two guidelines: <\/p><ul><li><strong>Your total housing costs<\/strong> &mdash; including principal, interest, property taxes and insurance &mdash; shouldn&rsquo;t exceed 28% of your total, pre-tax monthly income.<\/li><li><strong>Your total debt payments<\/strong> &mdash; including your mortgage, auto loans, credit card payments and other obligations &mdash; shouldn&rsquo;t exceed 36% of your total, pre-tax monthly income.<\/li><\/ul><p> Beyond these factors, you&rsquo;ll also need to consider what it will take to furnish and maintain your new home. <\/p><h4>2. How Does the Cost of Living Compare?<\/h4><p> Before committing to a move, it&rsquo;s important to understand how far your dollars will take you in your new location. Use an online <a href=\"https:\/\/www.payscale.com\/cost-of-living-calculator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cost of living calculator<\/a> to see if your move is a financial plus or minus. <\/p><h4>3. How Will My Family Be Affected?<\/h4><p> Moving has big implications for every member of your family &mdash; new friends, schools, churches and recreational options. If you currently live near extended family, consider how that separation will affect your family dynamics. <\/p><h4>4. How&rsquo;s the Real Estate Market?<\/h4><p> If your move involves buying or selling a home, you&rsquo;ll need to decide whether the conditions are right. If it&rsquo;s a tight market, you may want to sell your current home before buying the new one &mdash; avoiding the budget-busting possibility of carrying two mortgages at once. <\/p><h4>5. Does the Community Address Your Key Needs?<\/h4><p> Make a list outlining all the attributes of a location that are important to you, in order of importance. If you&rsquo;re married or have a family, ask each member of the household to create their own. Among the things to consider: weather, recreation, hobbies, churches, schools, sporting events, concerts, restaurants, medical care and proximity to airports. <\/p><h4>6. Will it Require a Change in Lifestyle?<\/h4><p> If you&rsquo;ve lived in the city all your life and are daydreaming about quiet country living &mdash; or vice versa &mdash; make sure that&rsquo;s really what you want. To properly sample your new lifestyle and location, consider taking an extended vacation in the new area. Retirees may even want to rent a furnished home or apartment for a few months before making the leap. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This content is provided courtesy of USAA. Thinking about moving to a new home or a new part of the country? Whether you&#8217;re retiring, considering a new job or simply longing for something different, ask yourself the following questions to determine if you&#8217;re making the right move at the right time. Especially if it means <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/6-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-you-move\/\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":968,"featured_media":7535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"enable_toc":false,"care_reviewed_by":0,"care_post_updated_flag":false,"care_updated_date":"","last_update":"2021-05-19","view_count":2783,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"member-type":[4],"vertical":[6,17,13],"platform":[2],"class_list":["post-1095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","member-type-all","vertical-children","vertical-child-care-advice","vertical-kids-health-safety","platform-resources"],"acf":[],"created":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/968"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1095"},{"taxonomy":"member-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/member-type?post=1095"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=1095"},{"taxonomy":"platform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/platform?post=1095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}