Relocating to the Texas Hill Country

Moving is an exciting proposition -- it's also wrought with risk and unknown factors. Getting as much information before you take the plunge can make the difference between the best decision you've ever made and the mistake of a lifetime.

I thought it might be helpful if I recapped how I went about making our life changing decision.

Step 1: explore the possibilities

What makes you miserable about where you live now?
What do you love about where you live now?

Answering these two questions will make your search so much easier. God forbid you move, only to find you gave up a bunch of stuff you loved about your old spot. Your goal is to rid yourself of things you hate and keep the things you love.

Here's how I answered these two seemingly simple yet powerful questions:

I've had enough of the endless gloomy days; I hate the traffic. I hate that I can't sit out front and enjoy a cup of coffee without hearing a dozen, small children screaming out in the cul-de-sac. I hate that real estate is so expensive that I can't afford to move to a house with a bigger yard and more distance between me and my neighbors. I hate that my son will be starting junior high and have a 30 minute bus ride. I hate my job.

I love the friends we've made. I love the school district and that my kids go to school with the same kids they started with in kindergarten. I love knowing where to go and shop and get the best stuff and the best price. I like feeling safe in my home and in my community. I love the new public library they just built. I love that a policeman lives on my street.

Then I boiled all of these down and prioritized and came up with my criteria for a move. Each of these was an absolute deal-killer if the statistics for the area didn't meet my standards. It also made it really clear what I was missing from our current location, sunny days and affordable housing.

Safety
Education
Climate
Cost of Housing
Economy

Then I started doing massive amounts of research. And for anyone that knows me they know that when I do research, it's a total, all-encompassing passion. I read books, visited websites, took planes to travel and scope out what I was reading about. I formulated spreadsheets and analyzed the data.

I recommend the books, Best Places to Raise Your Family and Places Rated Almanac they provides an excellent methodology for making your decision. I also recommend the interactive website Find Your Spot. I love this website, it has great information, it's free and forces you to think about what you really want in a location. It also made me smile at some of the absurd locations it said would suit me -- I think Arkansas came up. It did give me some great information on Austin. The site requires some personal information (name/address) before they'll display your results but I didn't get spammed when I did this.

Ok, you've narrowed it down -- now what? >>

Flower