Moving to a New City: What to Expect
When my family and I moved cross country last year, we made notes about what we would need in our new city. The list of what to expect and what we wanted included expectations for where we wanted to live, whether we wanted to be in a walkable area, proximity to my husband’s office, as well as technical issues like who our internet provider would be. We wanted to be sure we had a service that supported my working from home, often on video calls, and my husband’s hybrid schedule, and if the need arose, we’d also look into residential VoIP services.
If you’re moving to a new city, here’s what to expect.
Moving to a new city was not a foreign idea to me but what was new was that I moved from Phoenix, AZ to Charlotte, NC without ever having visited the city! I researched and joined social media groups, subscribed to the newspaper, and registered for newsletters highlighting local places to visit and events. When it came to business, I went back to what built in the beginning; I researched networking groups and associations in the area.
- Talk about your preferences. After you decide that you’re moving, talk to your family about their preferences. Do you want to be in a walkable area? Do you want parks nearby? Do you want to live in a standalone home or condominium? Do you want to rent or own? How far are you willing to drive for work, school, date nights, and networking meetings? These are all questions we asked in the moving process. It helped us narrow down neighborhoods and house listings pretty smoothly.
- Connect with a real estate professional. Because ours was a work-related move, we relied on the agent the company recommended. Through emails and phone calls, she was able to find homes that we liked, many of which we loved. It really came down to where in the city we wanted to be. Knowing this was a starter home of sorts, we decided on a condo downtown. The area is safe and walkable. There are parks, stores, salons, dry cleaners, theatre, dining, coffee shops, and sports within a 15-minute walk, just what we wanted!
- Explore the area. Once we arrived, we began to explore the city. From restaurants and coffee shops to parks and plays, dove right into experiencing the city. Through that exploration, we’ve met others who enjoy what we do and recommend other places. I was researching coffee shops and ended up at a hybrid coffee shop art exhibit restaurant; it’s hard to explain so I’ll just have to take you there!
- Join Something. As an introvert, I tend to shy away from events where I don’t know anyone. I knew in order to meet people, I couldn’t rely exclusively on my husband and his work friends to be my social circle. I found a group for women like me who just moved to Charlotte and love wine and dining. While they aren’t my best friends forever, it helped me get out of the house to meet people. Since then, I’ve met people in our condo association and found a Wednesday Wine group of other neighbors that meets at a local bar weekly. So far, it has been a mix of terrifying my introvert and fun for the extrovert parts of me.
- Get the house set up. A big move meant getting a new house set up. While we had gotten rid of a lot before we moved, we still had more to either give away, throw away, or temporarily store. We also set up internet and because the service is reliable, we’re considering residential VoIP services. It’s an internet phone and would be helpful; in the event we didn’t have our smartphones, we could still use our VoIP phone or laptop for service. It’s easy to use, calls are clear, and service can move with us to our next home.
While we’re not moving anytime soon, it’s important to consider where we’d go, what kind of home we’d have, and access to fast-speed internet for our residential VoIP services.