If you move

Become familiar with your new location before buying. You don’t want to find out too late that you don’t like the new home or the neighborhood.

• Check homebuyer's guides, drive around and survey the market. You don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a home and find out later there was another home in a nearby subdivision that cost a lost less and still had the features you wanted.
• In addition to the expense of a new home, determine how much it will cost you to move to a new location—maintaining new amenities (pools, garage doors, lawn care, heating and cooling more space, etc.), personalizing the new place, movers, transportation to a distant location, registering vehicles in a new jurisdiction and local taxes.
• Make sure you get a home inspection of the new residence, whether it’s new or resale. Know up front that everything is “up to code” and if you’ll need to be replacing appliances or making repairs shortly after moving in.
• Speak with current residents of the prospective new neighborhood. Find out what they like and what they don’t like about it.
• Know the cultural and economic climate of your new location—available resources such as libraries, parks, entertainment, schools, social services, health care. At your new location, will you have to pay for services that are available at no charge in your current neighborhood?