Finding a place to live
Just so we’re clear, all of the posts where I mention relo stuff are based on my experience the first time. I’m not sure if these benefits are standard (though I think they are). Your experience may vary from mine, so don’t quote me if something is different.
Once I accepted the offer, we were given a house hunting trip, to find a place to live. We flew out to WA, and MS put us up in a local hotel. We spent an exhausting, frustrating four days driving all over the eastside, getting lost, trying to see houses. At the end of our four days, we were wiped out, and hadn’t found a house we would like to live in. We started panicking. My wife found a house that looked acceptable by searching online, and we signed a lease.
Then, when we moved, we went into temp housing for 30 days. What we didn’t realize at the time, or at least didn’t put together, and which ended up hurting us, was that we could spend that 30 days in temp housing looking for permanent housing. Most rentals, especially houses, don’t stay empty for months on end (in my experience). Most landlords are looking for someone to move in right away, not after a month or two months of the house being empty. Rental housing doesn’t stay on the market for long; the market is very volatile.
My suggestion is, if you get a house hunting trip, spend that time checking out areas, or cities/towns. Find some areas you’d like to live in (like Redmond, or Bellevue, or Sammamish). Then, go into temp housing expecting to spend your free time during that month finding a suitable place to live. If, for some reason, you don’t find a place, you can extend your stay at temp housing (at your own expense).
If you are moving into an apartment, you might be able to accomplish more during the house hunting trip. Apartment complexes generally have places coming available every month, so even if the specific apartment you look at is gone, another will probably be available after your time in temp housing.
We also left temp housing early. Try not to. Every day you stay in temp housing is a day you aren’t paying rent or mortgage. Take advantage of that time. If you can stay an extra week, you might save hundreds of dollars that you would otherwise spend. We intend to stay in temp housing as long as we can this time, so we can maximize the time spent without a housing expense.
Hopefully my experiences will help other folks who have relocated to WA for a Microsoft job.
