As with any major life decision, it’s easy to find reasons NOT to change anything at all.  The familiarity of our surroundings – no matter how frustrating they are – can provide a level of comfort.  Whether you want to call it “lifestyle inertia,” say that “the devil you know is better than the one you don’t,” or use some other cultural cliché, the bottom line is that if change is tough, a lifestyle overhaul can be a tremendously difficult journey.  However, without taking a serious look at both sides of the “move/don’t move” equation, we wouldn’t be making a wholly informed decision.

Said differently: Be as familiar with well-supported arguments against your preferred viewpoint as those that support it.  In fact, in the case of a decision that has a heavy emotional angle, it’s probably more important to objectively study the opposing viewpoint.  So, for the sake of discussion, let’s take a look at a few of the  solid, well-thought-out reasons that we should just stay put?

Jobs

The DC job market is probably the biggest reason we shouldn’t leave.  Let’s face it – regardless of what administration is in town, the government is always hiring.  If you’re fortunate enough to have a security clearance, it’s a safe bet that you can stay employed, even if your skills and abilities are toward the baseline.  Of course, you might need to downgrade your expectations and glamour factor a bit, but you’ll have food on the table and a roof over your head.  Usually, it’ll even be nice food and a nice roof.

I’ve noticed that in both contractor and governmental circles, the security clearance tends to be a very convenient safety net.  When someone here changes jobs, I’ve noticed that they seldom even consider going to a job that doesn’t also require a similar clearance to the one they already hold.  The real irony is that as long as you know what it takes to get and maintain a clearance, getting one back is not (usually) too difficult a prospect.  Don’t start using or dealing meth.  Don’t do things that could put you in jail.  Keep notes when you travel overseas on dates and locations you travel.  There are, of course, more factors to consider, but you get the idea.

Even when looking at the job opportunities within the DC area that don’t require a clearance, there are always going to be government employees that need goods and services.  The fairly constant and predictable flow of customers provides a healthy job market.  Especially given the recent economic turmoil, that’s a tough thing to walk away from.

Housing

Selling at or near the bottom of the bell curve sucks.  Buying there is ideal.  Moving generally means doing both simultaneously.  In our case, we’ve got one leg in each of two vastly different housing markets.  We’ve had to keep eyes squarely on the equity in current home and how that translates into buying power in another market.  We’ve had to remain disciplined enough to focus on the fact that we’ll be lucky to get what we paid 5 years ago for the current house, despite putting a lot of time, money, and effort into some extensive improvements.  That’s a tough pill to swallow, but the real key metric is equity and the percentage of down payment it equates to on a new – and far less expensive – home in a new location.

Uncertainty

The question “What is the worst thing that could possibly happen?” has become something of a mantra for us.  The fear of the unknown is powerful, and has certainly held back countless potential great things from happening throughout history.  In our case, of course, we’re “just moving,” and our little experiment won’t hold up as one of the riskiest gambles ever undertaken.  However, for our family, it’s likely to be one of the more significant life changes we’ll make aside from retirement.  Things could go horribly awry – we may not find jobs, maybe we won’t be able to afford the new mortgage, and/or our current house might not sell for what we need or at all…  However, by methodically calculating the risk we’re taking on, we can determine how much of a financial buffer we need to have before taking the leap.  The unknown shouldn’t be a reason to stop planning, but a staunch motivator behind our planning more completely for possible failures along the journey.

DO IT

All in all, these are some really good reasons for us to stay put and figure out a way to mitigate the frustrating aspects of living in the DC Metro area.  We’ve considered these and a lot more – very heavily.  However, even after all of the deliberation, consideration, and re-consideration, the course of action was clear: it’s time to head to the beach.

In our case, we’ve now personally committed to moving to the Delaware beaches within a year.  This is where things start to get interesting.

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