Has anyone on DW ever moned to a new city - cold?

I'm having trouble imagining a situation in which you would want to buy a house in a new city with no immediate job prospects. It seems like the kind of thing you'd typically sort out beforehand. Being a student, I haven't really moved anywhere yet, so I'm curious, what would entice you to do so?
 
I moved to South Florida in 1993, wife and kids in tow, with no job secured ahead of time. I moved from DC where I had a job making $80,000+ to Florida and as a commercial photographer I had no employment.

I had to start over from scratch but I knew I wanted out of the DC area. The first year I made only $15,000 and blasted through all my savings. The second year was much better.

I have been self-employed since 1987, so it wasn't as nerve racking as it would have been had I been an employee all my life, but...

When we moved to Atlanta last year, it was supposed to be for a job but then after we got here it didn't work out. I went 4 months without work and just like in the early 90's, we went through our savings but it worked out.

I will say that it's much easier without little kids. Both kids are 20 and 19 and off in college so my wife and I are very flexible when it comes to moving.

We're thinking about moving to Austin, TX next.
 
Moved to Vancouver in the late 90's with my band, we only had 2 contacts out there. Were in a place within a week, all working within a month.

Early 00's moved to London Ontario with a couple guys I knew who were going to school, although the place we stayed was set up, work was not. Turns out the guy living in the apartment next to us needed another guy at his work - again, within a month I was employed.

5-6 years ago I moved to Toronto, slept on couches, got a job from a different branch of the company I worked for in London. Took an apartment above a friends clothing store.

All of these moves involved saving money beforehand to support myself for a couple months while I looked for work, they also all had some sort of support / contact in place to help with the transition. Don't get me wrong, these were never "easy" times, but in a world where it's more who you know than what you know, having these contacts in each place proved quite beneficial.

In most of my examples, times were kinda tough for the first few months, but once I secured a place to live and income, things started looking up.
 
This may be long…

I’ve moved like this a couple times…although not exactly as cold as you described.

A few years ago I moved from Florida to Seattle after I left the Air Force. My wife had already lived there for a year or so and I loved it more than Florida so away we went. I did have a job lined up but on the way there I received a call that they weren’t hiring at that time and were pushing back the hiring date several months. Nice, huh? It gets better…

Since it was February, we took a slightly southern route to take in some sites and avoid snow/avalanches, etc. Well, somewhere in New Mexico, the transmission went out in my truck that my wife was driving. We made it to Flagstaff, AZ where we spent an unplanned 2 day break from driving. $800 later we are back on the road.

Eventually, our luck improved. We got to Seattle and I landed a pretty good job within about a month. Then a little over a year ago I was offered a position on an Air Force base in Nebraska doing my old job as a civilian. Pretty sweet. The only catch was…it’s in NEBRASKA. Not wanting to let the chance go by, we again loaded up the family (2 cats and 1 dog) and moved to Omaha.

This move gives a whole new meaning to the word ‘cold’. I’ve never seen so much snow and ice during a winter before; and I’m from the Midwest originally. My wife is from Minnesota and even SHE’S cold here during the winters. Brrr… At least it’s summertime now and we don’t have to worry about shoveling snow…until next month.

I don’t know where the next move will take us but we hope it’s someplace that doesn’t have such a harsh winter. Maybe Antarctica…
 
I did, sort of.

I graduated HS in May of 2008 and picked up and moved to Boston (from Atlanta) My girlfriend also moved with me, but other than that, and a cheap apartment I'd found through a family friend, I had no guarantees. Took me a couple months to find a job, got into my school, and have since been making it through.

I don't really like it though. A tough change from the South to New England! And no, I don't mind the weather, it's the overarching attitude of people that gets under my skin. And the fact that I can't seem to meet anyone with a tolerable taste of music!
 
This may be long…

I’ve moved like this a couple times…although not exactly as cold as you described.

A few years ago I moved from Florida to Seattle after I left the Air Force. My wife had already lived there for a year or so and I loved it more than Florida so away we went. I did have a job lined up but on the way there I received a call that they weren’t hiring at that time and were pushing back the hiring date several months. Nice, huh? It gets better…

Since it was February, we took a slightly southern route to take in some sites and avoid snow/avalanches, etc. Well, somewhere in New Mexico, the transmission went out in my truck that my wife was driving. We made it to Flagstaff, AZ where we spent an unplanned 2 day break from driving. $800 later we are back on the road.

Eventually, our luck improved. We got to Seattle and I landed a pretty good job within about a month. Then a little over a year ago I was offered a position on an Air Force base in Nebraska doing my old job as a civilian. Pretty sweet. The only catch was…it’s in NEBRASKA. Not wanting to let the chance go by, we again loaded up the family (2 cats and 1 dog) and moved to Omaha.

This move gives a whole new meaning to the word ‘cold’. I’ve never seen so much snow and ice during a winter before; and I’m from the Midwest originally. My wife is from Minnesota and even SHE’S cold here during the winters. Brrr… At least it’s summertime now and we don’t have to worry about shoveling snow…until next month.

I don’t know where the next move will take us but we hope it’s someplace that doesn’t have such a harsh winter. Maybe Antarctica…

Check out McKenna's in Omaha. I used to play there in road bands. Also, a good weekend trip to Kansas City, complete with a trip to Knuckleheads is mandatory. The winter in the wasn't typical; we get one of those about every ten years.


Mike

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I'm having trouble imagining a situation in which you would want to buy a house in a new city with no immediate job prospects. It seems like the kind of thing you'd typically sort out beforehand. Being a student, I haven't really moved anywhere yet, so I'm curious, what would entice you to do so?

If you are a working musician, eventually you will hit the ceiling as to what you can acheive on your local scene and your local scene is dying off, you have to make changes. There are ways to handle the living arrangements before hand, by the way. I also have some thoughts on where music is headed so now is the time to take action.

Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
http://www.dominoretroplate.com
http://www.patentcoachmike.com
http://www.youtube.com/drummermikemccraw
http://www.myspace.com/drummermikemccraw
http://www.facebook.com/mike.mccraw
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemccraw
http://twitter.com/mikemccraw
 
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