We’re Moving
Not now, but in about two to three months.
We have been living in New Jersey for the past 13 years, moved a few times, but always in the state. Probably because of having been here for so long, we kind of like where we live. We think we are going to stay in NJ forever (OK, maybe not forever since nobody can see that far, but at least a long time), but it looks like that the time to leave has come earlier than we expected.
Early this month, my wife’s employer informed them that their location will be closed at the end of the year and all positions will be transferred to a location in northern Virginia. However, the move isn’t mandatory. Only those accepting the offer will go. For those who don’t want to move, they will eventually be let go if they can’t find a position within the company in the next few months. According to my wife, the rumor of consolidation has been around for quite a while, but it’s a little unexpected that it came down in this way. The company basically won’t provide any other assistance, except giving them $5,o00 to cover the moving cost. Not time off for relocation and, of course, no salary adjustment. It makes me wonder whether her employer really wants them. It’s more like just a tactic to get rid of a bunch of people.
Anyway, after evaluating our situation and comparing where we live now and the DC metro area, we decided that it’s better for my wife to take this offer and keep her job. Having gone through two economic downturns (the current one and the one eight years ago), we know that good jobs in our area are getting harder and harder to find. Maybe there will be more opportunities if we move. Also we have been to that area many times and we think it’s a nicer place to be. Living cost will be higher, but schools are better 
Our House
Making the decision seems to be the easy part. What’s difficult is moving the whole family. Unlike previous times when there were just two of us and we could move with just a couple of days of notice in advance, we now have two children and a house that we have to sell, in a bad, bad housing market, on top of our things to do list.
For the house, our first option is sell it, even though we won’t need the money to buy a new house in at least 6 months. We have already asked a few agents to give us an estimate on the current market value of our house and based on the information we received, the price could be around $260K, slightly higher than the price we paid five years ago. One agent told us that one unit similar to ours was sold at nearly $275K in 2005, one year after we purchased ours. But 2005was almost at the peak of the housing market. Now, the market has gone back where it was five years ago. Even if we can price it a little lower (we didn’t do much upgrade since we moved in, only replaced the floor, the carpet, the refrigerator, the stove, and the furnace), selling it won’t be easy in a buyer’s market. Our agents told us that on average, it could take two to three months to sell a house like ours right now. We will be lucky if we can sell it before we move.
Another option we have been considering is to rent it out if we couldn’t find a buyer. One realtor’s estimate is $1,800 to $1,950 per month for our 3-bedroom townhouse. That’s more than our current monthly mortgage payment plus management fee. While it will be nice to have the house generate some income for us, there are some risks and difficulties associated with this option. Since we are going to be a place 250 miles away, we won’t be able to manage the house ourselves. Of course, we can always heir somebody to manage it for us, but that will cost us something around 10% of the monthly rent according to the realtor. That won’t leave us too much after the mortgage and fees. Plus, we can’t turn the house into a rental property completely, because soon we will need the money to buy a house in a place where houses can only be more expensive. So the best is to sell the house, even if it means we will make less from it.
Our Jobs
My wife’s employer won’t say anything about her position even after the move, so we don’t know what will happen later, with her being in a new environment under a new manager, though she will be doing the same job as she’s doing now as she was told. Since the new location is much bigger than the one in NJ, maybe she can find other opportunities. As for me, I have started looking for a job in that area and got a couple of phone calls already. Seems things went pretty well so far, though there isn’t an offer yet.
There are a lot of things we need to do before we pack and leave the Garden State. Actually, once we made the decision, we feel actually a little excited about going to a new place
photo credit: MattHurst
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I sense an uphill battle here…but why not rent in DC for a while? Prices are still coming down and it will be cheaper to buy a house in 18-24 months than it is now.
Also, have you factored in the cost of living? You say it will be higher, but housing costs last I checked are almost double there from what you state your NJ house is worth. That’s again why I recommend renting.
If you give me the “stability” argument, just be forewarned I bite.
I have lived in my current rental for nearly 5 years, and during that time, the landlord has only raised the rent a total of $100/month ($25/year every year; my 5th anniversary comes up in August.) Finding a good landlord is key.
I plan to move in July to San Diego (long-distance move!) and there are a ton of great single-family homes on the market. We’re currently looking at a 2400sq.ft. place about a mile from the beach, for just 60% of what it would cost us to buy.
-Erica (happy high-net-worth renter)
Sun, good luck to you and your family !!!
I know you don’t need financial advice from me, but good luck will be helpful especially in this economy
@Erica We definitely plan to rent first for 6 months to one year to see where the market is going and use the time to know the area a little bit more before we can decide where to settle. Prices have come down quite a bit recently, but it may still have room to go even lower. We are going to take a wait-and-see approach before jumping into the market.
Our townhouse is relatively cheap, but the price of 4-br single family houses in this area are in the $400K and $500K range, not too much lower than those in VA (of course it depends on the location). But property tax in NJ is much higher (we currently pay nearly $6,000 a year). We have prepared to move to a bigger house anyway, so house may not necessarily be a bigger burden for us when we move to VA.
I heard daycare in that area is much more expensive, could be twice as much as what we are paying for our two children now in NJ. So in general I feel the cost of living will go up, but not to the level that we can’t afford, as long as we have jobs
@STLPlace I will need a lot of luck for sure
Sun, Good luck with the move. I agree property tax in NJ is really high. However I am not sure the schools in the DC metro are better unless you are talking about places like Bethesda,MD.
Lower cost of living, smart move
My only concern in what you wrote is your wife’s company’s inability to commit to what the job situation will be in the NoVA office…I would definitely recommend renting someplace relatively convenient (15-20 minute commute at most) from that office location at first. NOVA traffic is just horrible…and you need to get used to the routes & gridlock patterns before you commit to living somewhere else farther away. When I moved there, I rented an apartment just 7 miles from my office, but I didn’t realize that it would take 35 minutes to traverse those few miles due to other commuters’ getting to 66…I couldn’t even ride my bike due to the dangerous road! Good luck and keep all your options open!
Sun – holy cow! Big change for you – good luck with all the changes!!