Resources For Planning Our Move | Moving To Florida
There are a lot of things to take into consideration when planning a move. Whether you’re going across the state, across the country or somewhere else entirely, there’s stuff you need to know before you start packing boxes. That’s why we wanted to take some time today to focus on resources that we’ve used when planning our upcoming move. Since this is far from our first move, we wanted to give anyone out there who might be curious, a sense of where we look and what it is we’re looking for during the planning phase. Naturally, everyone’s situation is going to be a little bit different; this might offer a few ideas of where to start though!
So let’s jump right in!
Bankrate - Cost Of Living Calculator
There are a lot of things that happen simultaneously when planning a move or even just thinking about one. Right at the top of that list, at least for us, is looking at the lost of living for a place compared to wherever it is that we happen to be moving from. Checking the cost of living is one of those things that not everyone will prioritize when planning a move, but we personally think that it should be. While it might not change your decision to move to a particular place, having an idea of what you’re getting into once you do arrive plays a huge role in setting yourself up for success. Don’t forget, there is a big difference in the cost of living depending on where you are in the United States and having a grasp on that can help you figure out things like how much you can afford to pay for housing or what you need to look for during a job search.
If you’re thinking about moving from somewhere within the United States, there are a lot of easy to use cost of living calculators out there for you to choose from. We stumbled upon the Bankrate cost of living calculator some time back and have found it to be very useful. Simply plop the information it asks for into the form and you’ll be given an estimate of what it would cost in your new location to maintain the same standard of living you have now. While this won’t give you a full itemized breakdown of what everything costs, this is a good way to get a sense of what it might cost you to live in that new place and how much you’ll need to bring in when searching for a job.
Apartments.Com
Once you’ve settled on a place you’d like to live, the next step is to try and work out exactly where you’ll be moving to. Whether this is something you’re doing because you’ve got a move date in mind or you’re just trying to get a sense of what’s available, it’s good to get eyes on potential homes. Now, what exactly that home will look like varies based on wants and needs. However, if you’re wanting to try a place on for size before going all in on buying property, renting is the way to go.
When looking for rental properties, the website we gravitate towards the most is Apartments.com. For us, Apartments.com has been very useful in searching for apartments and similar rental properties during our last couple of moves. However, we want to make it abundantly clear that Apartments.com has not been useful to us for anything beyond research purposes. While it initially seemed useful, we soon learned that it was connecting us with a 3rd party that was unreliable and rarely got us in contact with the apartment complexes we were trying to contact. In fact, during the move we made in September 2021, we weren’t contacted back once by an apartment complex we reached out to through Apartments.com and ended up having to contact the complexes directly. As an alternative, we use Apartments.com to find out what’s available and then do our own leg word to get information about as well as contact apartment complexes directly.
Moving To Orlando
Next up on the list we have a YouTube Channel that we referenced a lot during the beginning of our search. Moving to Orlando is a YouTube Channel and website that features a lot of information regarding real estate in the Central Florida area. From home tours to discussions about things you need to know when moving to the Orlando area, Moving to Orlando was one of the first places we started our research process when we finally settled on the Central Florida area.
It’s important to note that Moving to Orlando is a company that sells real estate, which is something that future home buyers might be interested in. However, if you’re not considering purchasing a home you shouldn’t skip this channel. There’s a lot of useful information tucked away in these videos that might be useful to you. . . . might not. . . but it will get the wheels turning.
Moving to Orlando is also a useful channel when it comes to deciding which neighborhoods you might want to live in, even if you’re not considering purchasing. One of the things we really appreciate about Moving to Orlando is their honesty and openness about the areas they talk about. If you’re looking for a “all that glitters is gold” type of channel, this isn’t it. Want to know if a neighborhood you’re thinking about is a good one? Chances are Moving to Orlando are going to give you an honest opinion of that neighborhood, which is something we really appreciate.
While it might seem like a somewhat small list, these resources honestly played the biggest role when planning our move. This, of course, is also because we knew what information we were looking for. That said, different people and/or families have different priorities when it comes to making the major decision to relocate. On the most basic level though, we found that these resources [along with traveling to Orlando and taking a look around ourselves] gave us the best idea of what we would be getting ourselves into. Of course, we hope that it does the same for you!