Factors to Consider If You're Thinking About Relocating

The pandemic has forced many people into working from home permanently. Because of this, many people are considering relocating.

Whether you want to save money, be closer to family, or are looking for a safer neighborhood, you might want to read this post first to see some factors you need to consider before deciding to move.

Work From Home

Proximity to one’s workplace has always been one of the major determining factors when choosing a new home. However, the pandemic continues to change our perspective on things. Even work culture has been modified, and employers have realized that remote work is feasible for many positions. Suddenly, it’s possible to work from anywhere!

However, it’s necessary to factor in how effectively you can work from home long-term. Will you be able to deliver the same quality of work despite being away from the usual office setup?  If you’re a team leader, can your team function if you are only managing via emails or Zoom calls? Ideally, a great-working team can deliver the best results no matter the conditions, but there is something to be said for being in-person.

If you do move places, will you be able to attend in-person meetings if the company requires you to? What would happen if out of an entire team, you’re the only one who works fully remotely due to your new location? These two questions can greatly affect your value as a team member.

If your company does function well working remotely, you have the wonderful opportunity to relocate from a central area to a more suburban location. Things are uncertain during these times, but you can succeed with a well laid out plan. While it is important to live in the moment and address your immediate needs, don’t forget that you have to make decisions that will help you thrive and succeed in the long run.

Career Opportunities in Your New Location

You have to accept that moving might close opportunities for you. You may also want to consider if you are likely to switch to a different career in the future. If so, perform in-depth research on what opportunities your new location can offer you.

You should consider moving to a location that has a stable job market for your chosen path. It can ensure that you have a fallback if things don’t work out with your current company. You can also look for firms that are willing to employ remote workers even after the pandemic. That way, you’ll have both the place of your dreams and job security.

Your partner’s career is also an important factor to weigh. Will they be able to find job opportunities just as easily as you? The move should still offer both of you access to income.

Salary vs Cost of Living

One option for moving is simply vacating the big city and moving to the suburbs. However, you need to keep in mind that the suburbs can be pricey, too. It’s important to do research and look for a desirable neighborhood that will actually decrease your overall cost of living.

A few things to consider are differences in transportation costs, utility costs, and food and entertainment costs.

Since you’re not in close proximity to your workplace, you might need to drive to your office from time-to-time to attend meetings. This could also cost you a lot once quarantine restrictions are lifted and businesses go back to normal.

You also have to survey the average cost of necessities in the neighborhood you’re looking at. There might be a significant difference in utilities, recreation, and even grocery prices. You might think these are small differences, but they can add up over time especially because these are essential monthly expenses. 

Quality of Life

So do you really want to leave your current home? You probably chose that place because you love everything around it. The walkable shops, the nearby parks, even the weather. Do these things still bring joy to your life? You either have to wait until you can fully enjoy them again once things go back to normal, or move on and start a new life elsewhere.

The relationships you’ve made in your neighborhood also matter. Your personal network might also affect your decision to move. Is moving far away from your friends going to significantly affect your life? Or maybe meeting new people isn’t an issue with you at all?

Your kids’ lifestyle is also on the line. They might have to change schools, meet new friends, and grow up in a totally different environment. Do you think your children can handle this sudden shift? Not all kids can adapt easily, and this move might greatly affect their future.

For more great relocation tips, visit CORE Finance Group.

Related Links

• U.S. mortgage rates fall to all-time lows this week

• Majority of Young Adults in the U.S. Now Live With Their Parents: Report

• Spike in lumber prices boosts construction costs

Stunning Wallpaper Transformation, As Featured in the West + Main Home Magazine

Check out this stunning, simple remodel from West + Main Creative Director Madeline Linder!

PAINT + WALLPAPER

We refreshed our 90's bathroom by first painting the orange oak cabinets using Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations. It's an easy kit that requires almost NO sanding! You first use a de-glosser, then prime, paint and seal. The color looked almost exactly like the box! We used a remnant from a granite yard of quartzite for the countertops and they measured and installed in just a few days. Using a remnant (or left over piece) saved us a ton of money. We picked up the new sink and faucet at Lowes and installed ourselves. The whole bathroom got a refresh of paint in Benjamin Moore Shoreline(1471) and then the peel and stick wallpaper went up in under an hour. Finishing touch of the mirror and a new shower curtain and it feels like a whole new space!

-Madeline Linder

WALLPAPER

Hygge & West, Otomai (Red) $60/set

CABINETS

Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations Kit

(Night Fall) $84.48

MIRROR

IKEA Stockholm Walnut $59.99 

SINK + FAUCET

Lowe's (Kohler)

Countertops

Quartzite Remant 

For more remodel inspo, take a look at the first edition of our West + Main Home Lifestyle Magazine.

U.S. mortgage rates fall to all-time lows this week

Record lows: The average 30-year fixed rate is 2.86% this week, and the 15-year is 2.37%, Freddie Mac says

The average U.S. rates for a 30-year and a 15-year mortgage fell to all-time lows this week, Freddie Mac said in a report on Thursday.

The 30-year average is 2.86%, breaking the prior low of 2.88% set in the first week of August, and the 15-year average is 2.37%, beating last week’s record low of 2.42%, the mortgage financier said.

The rates are driving demand in the housing market, helping to counter-balance an economic slowdown that showed signs of worsening after the COVID-19 pandemic flared in some of the nation’s largest states in recent months, said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

“These low rates have ignited robust purchase demand activity,” Khater said.

U.S. home sales surged at a record pace in June and July as purchases that were delayed during pandemic lockdowns – which occurred during the spring home-buying season that typically is the busiest time of the U.S. real estate cycle – were shifted to later in the year.

Seasonally adjusted existing-home sales jumped 25% in July, beating the prior record monthly gain of 21% set in June, the National Association of Realtors said in an Aug. 21 report.

The supply of homes on the market was the lowest for any July since NAR started tracking the data about five decades ago, said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

Existing home sales in 2020 likely will total 5.4 million, a gain of 1.1% from last year, Yun said. Sales of new houses probably will rise 17% to 800,000, Yun said.

Early in the pandemic, before it was clear the Federal Reserve’s intervention in the bond market would drive mortgage rates to all-time lows, Yun projected home sales in 2020 would plummet 15% this year.

“The buyers are coming in because of the low interest rates – that’s the No. 1 reason in my view,” Yun said in an interview.

If you are wondering how current national and global situations might be impacting your property’s value, your neighborhood, or the Real Estate market in general, we are happy to provide more specific information.

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search for Homes in Colorado

Search for Homes in Oklahoma

Majority of Young Adults in the U.S. Now Live With Their Parents: Report

As COVID-19 swept the country this year, millions of young adults retreated to familiar territory: living at home with mom and dad. (Tiime)

A majority of young Americans ages 18 to 29 are now living with at least one of their parents, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Current Population Survey data. About 52% of this age group, 26.6 million people in total, were living with their parents in July, compared to 47% at the same time last year. This number surpassed the previous record of 48%, which was set in 1940, during the Great Depression.

Since the proportion of 18 to 29 year olds living at home hit a low of 29% in 1960, the number has risen over the decades, jumping to 36% in 1990, to 38% in 2000 and 44% in 2010. However, the increase this year is notably sharp, and tracks with the trajectory of the pandemic; while about 46% or 47% of young adults lived at home through 2019, in 2020 the number jumped to 49% in March, 51% in April and 52% from May through July.

This increase in living with parents has affected a broad swathe of young adults. Although the biggest surge was among white young adults (who made up 68% of the increase) and people ages 18 to 24, the share of young adults living at home rose in both urban and rural areas, across ethnic and racial groups and across the four big regions covered by the census, according to Pew.

Young adults were also the age group who were most likely to move as a result of the outbreak. About 9% moved temporarily or permanently because of COVID-19, compared to 3% for the overall population, according to Pew polling conducted in June. However, young adults hit the road for a variety of different reasons. Among all of the adults who moved as a result of the pandemic, 28% said that they wanted to avoid the spread of the virus; 23% moved because their college campus closed; and 20% wanted to be closer to family.

Money also seems to have played a big part in young people’s decisions, as young Americans have shouldered some of the worst financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In April and May, 40% of workers ages 18 to 29 reported that they’d lost their job or taken a pay cut. According to the June poll, about 18% of all adults who moved because of COVID-19 said that the biggest reason was related to money or losing their job.

If you are wondering how current national and global situations might be impacting your property’s value, your neighborhood, or the Real Estate market in general, we are happy to provide more specific information.

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search for Homes in Colorado

Search for Homes in Oklahoma

Spike in lumber prices boosts construction costs

Higher lumber costs are adding about $16,000 to the price of a new house, NAHB says

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused lumber prices to skyrocket more than 160% since April after a spike in home renovation by cooped-up Americans, according to the National Association of Home Builders. (Housing Wire)

Higher prices are adding about $16,000 to the cost of a new house, said Robert Dietz, NAHB’s chief economist.

“As people started nesting in response to the pandemic, they started undertaking all sorts of home renovation projects,” Dietz said. “At the same time, sawmills started shutting down and have only partially reopened because of social distancing concerns.”

The lumber industry lost 6,000 jobs as a result of the pandemic, and has gained back – on a net basis – only half of those, he said.

“Growing demand for lumber met insufficient supply, and the result has been escalating prices,” Dietz said.

While the lumber industry has only partially reopened, imports from Canada, which supplies about a third of the lumber used in the U.S., are still being hit with 20% tariffs put in place by President Donald Trump three years ago.

“One thing that would help is if the Trump administration would temporarily suspend tariffs on lumber coming from Canada,” Dietz said.

The U.S. and Canada in 2006 signed a trade pact, the Lumber Softwood Agreement, that expired in 2015 without a replacement.

In 2017, Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian lumber imports as part of his “America First” economic policy aimed at reducing trade deficits. Subsequent tariff hikes were aimed at goods coming from China, South Korea, and other countries.

Trump, a self-proclaimed “tariff man,” has often said the countries manufacturing the goods pay the tariffs, and that American consumers aren’t getting hit with the bill. But, the tariffs are collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents from importers when goods enter the country, who usually pass on the cost to consumers.

Another word for a tariff is a tax. Traditionally, Republicans have been opposed to tariffs, saying they interfere with free trade.

“The cost of getting lumber with that tax, combined, makes it very expensive,” Dietz said.

If you are wondering how current national and global situations might be impacting your property’s value, your neighborhood, or the Real Estate market in general, we are happy to provide more specific information.

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search for Homes in Colorado

Search for Homes in Oklahoma