Moving apartments and cities can be an intimidating process. Spending hours on Zillow is much more fun with no budget or reasonable living considerations. However, when you find yourself in the position of needing a new place to live, understanding the basics of things to consider is a good place to start. My primary motivation for moving locations is based on graduating and job searching. As I share some of the moving factors I am considering, my hope and desire is that my thought process throughout this change will help others as well while making your big move.

Location: I have primarily been applying to job positions around Indianapolis, therefore, I am searching for apartments in the area. Because Indianapolis is a large city with many cities immediately around it, there are almost endless possibilities with various driving times to and from work, which can be good but also a bit overwhelming. Aside from the work commute time, another major thing I am considering while looking through housing are the differences and highlights of each neighborhood. Some have pools, parks, sidewalks, etc. while others include only what is needed to live. One additional factor I am looking at is how close the city is to my family. Living closer is a high priority for me.

Style of Housing: I currently live in a small house that I rent with my husband. We have agreed that downsizing would be difficult for us as we already own some furniture and value space for entertaining. While some apartments are reasonably sized for our purposes, they are a little out of our ideal price range. Townhouses are a decent option for us but are limited in location and quality. Renting a house is another decent option for us based on preferred size and price, but the location and exteriors are not always ideal. It will be interesting to see if we end finding our ideal style or whether we will end up needing to making some compromises.

Furniture: As we look to move all our possessions to a new location, we will have to consider what is worth keeping, how we will move the items, and what needs to be purchased. We have been saving money to purchase new living room furniture, so ideally, we will not have to move those to a new location. However, if I cannot sell the furniture on Facebook Marketplace or offer it to someone else, the furniture may have to move with us. Since we do not own a truck, we will have to reach out to friends to borrow a truck, rent a truck, or hire movers to get our items to the new location. Finally, we will have to take time after we move to shop for new furniture. This could mean not owning everything we want for some amount of time, so creating a timeline for moving and purchasing furniture will be important.

The Unexpected: While researching some key parts of moving, I came across several things that I did not expect. First, if you already live in a rental property, you need to cancel the utilities that you are in charge of paying. Along with that, you may face a set-up fee for your new utilities. Another potentially unexpected side of renting a property is the rental deposit. This could be a full month of rent paid in advance or something more similar to a security deposit for the property. Finally, you can give ‘change in address’ in the Post Office so that they know where to send your mail if something gets sent to your old address.  

Overall, my major considerations for moving include affordability, location, style, furniture, and the unexpected. These factors are important when making any move: from dorm to apartment, parent’s house to apartment, apartment to house, or house to house. I attached some resources that helped me think through these various factors for moving, and hopefully they can help you too.

Mei, M. (2014, April 11). 17 questions to ask yourself before moving to a new city. Thought Catalog. Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://thoughtcatalog.com/mei-mei/2014/04/17-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-moving-to-a-new-city/. 

Pirulis, A. (2020, April 30). The essential to-do list before moving out of an apartment. CoStar Renterverse. Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://www.apartments.com/blog/the-essential-to-do-list-before-moving-out-of-an-apartment. 

Top 10 things to consider when relocating. Zeus Living Blog. (2021, September 21). Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://zeusliving.com/blog/top-10-things-to-consider-when-relocating.