Giving up a great job and moving for a better life?

[dglvrk2]

This has been weighing on my mind for a while....

My husband and I own a second home in the mountains about four hours from the large metro area where we live. We bought the home about 10 years ago and have been going to the second home on weekends, for vacations etc ever since. It’s in an amazing area that we love. When our state put SIP ordinances in place and H and I had to start working from home, we essentially moved to the second home. We’ve grown to appreciate it even more. We love our neighbors, the space (it’s twice as large as our small home in a big city) and peacefulness here. H would love to move here more than anything. We are both happier here than in our primary home and our kids love it too. I think long term, it would be a better place to raise our children too. The schools are good, the cost of living is low and there are a lot of fun outdoorsy and community-oriented activities that are easily accessible.

What’s holding us back from making this move is our jobs. My job more than H’s. I’m a school principal. There are few schools in this region and administrators/principals hardly ever leave. Same goes for teachers. (I’d love to go into teaching again....there’s lots I miss about the classroom.). I’ve looked for jobs up here and applied for a few teaching positions. So far no word on interviews. (No turn downs, but no interviews either.) I’m starting to cast my net wider and applying for management positions with a couple of local non-profits too. Again, no word on timelines etc.

My contract for my current job ends at the end of June. If I were to leave after that, it looks really bad.....yes, I could, but it’s not as professional. THat leaves me in a bind. If I don’t get a job by the end of the month here, what do I do? Note - I also *really* like my job. Best job I’ve ever had.

Having a job is important to me for a few key reasons: I’ve worked very hard to get where I am so taking a break mid-career seems really scary. It’s a big part of who I am. With H’s work situation, the money is helpful too, although he’s usually the primary bread-winner and we could make ends meet on only one of our salaries.

H is in an industry that allows him to work remotely almost all the time. In his current job, he can work from our second home all the time. However, his company is a bit unstable and I worry about his job security. He assures me he could find another job pretty quickly if his company folded. (This has happened once before and he was out of work for hardly any time at all.). Still, if I quit work, didn’t find something soon and he lost his job, we could be in more questionable situation.

What cushions us is we have at least 6 months salary in the bank and the COL in the mountain town/second home is far lower than in the big city where we currently live.

Sorry for the long spiel.....in a nutshell, would you give up a great job for a possibly even better, happier life?

[xctsclrx]

In your situation I would consider it. However if you if you are truly can't concerned about the break then can you make that your goal for next year? Job search through the school year and see if you can make the jump at the beginning of next summer?

Your mountain home sounds wonderful, but I am not a city person so there isn't a draw there for me.

[sdlaura]

I’m pretty risk averse and it doesn’t seem like there’s a time crunch to make a decision, so I would probably continue to job search seriously and move after I found a new position.

[mommyatty]

Yes, but I would make it a goal for the 2021-2022 school year, not this one. It’s a crap time to be looking for a job, selling a house, etc. So I would wait a year.

[twinmomma]

Jun 2, 2020 6:03:22 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

Yes, but I would make it a goal for the 2021-2022 school year, not this one. It’s a crap time to be looking for a job, selling a house, etc. So I would wait a year.

This. It would give you a year to get everything in order before you make the leap. You can keep your ear to the ground for retirements, maternity leaves, etc. 

[rere]

I probably wouldn't leave without an offer. However, during this time, I have never appreciated my quiet, rural home more. It's been a serene place to spend the last several months, so as soon as you can, go for it.

[keh2oblue]

I agree with the others. Make it a 1 year goal as a compromise. Also, have you considered online schools? In our state we have a state virtual charter school. My daughter’s classmate’s mom is the middle school principal.

[erinshelley21]

I'm in the same boat as the others. I'd make it a goal for the next school year for job search reasons, but would definitely move. I've lived in a small town my whole life (with the exception of a college dorm and a rental house for my second year of college) and cannot imagine life any other way. It would be nice to have everything I could ever want and need within a mile or two, but I wouldn't trade our peaceful, not crowded, quiet little town for anything.

[waverly]

Yes, I agree I would try to find a job now, but it's unlikely to do it before June ends. So I would compromise on a year. I agree with you though that living in a large city during a pandemic is not ideal, and we certainly appreciate that we have a small yard and a bigger house than we did when we lived in the city. And I am definitely glad we moved out of NYC.

[supertrooper1]

What does the substitute teacher situation look like where you would be moving? If there were plenty of sub opportunities, I would move without a job knowing that it could provide some income to supplement your emergency fund if it came to that and it would get your foot in the door for future jobs.

[shakinros]

Jun 2, 2020 10:32:12 GMT -5 supertrooper1 said:

What does the substitute teacher situation look like where you would be moving? If there were plenty of sub opportunities, I would move without a job knowing that it could provide some income to supplement your emergency fund if it came to that and it would get your foot in the door for future jobs.

I’m here. I think given the economic situation, I would not walk away from a secure job right now unless I had some way to make at least part-time money. Even if your H can get back to work quickly, it’s not going to be as fast as prior times given that lots of companies are unstable.

[shakinros]

I should add though that if it were me, I’d likely do it anyway. Despite my previous advice lol.

We have moved cross country twice in relatively spur-of-the-moment fashion. It felt worth it both times. Our retirement savings is basically nil though so the trade offs to just going for it are real and long-lasting.

[rere]

Jun 2, 2020 10:32:12 GMT -5 supertrooper1 said:

What does the substitute teacher situation look like where you would be moving? If there were plenty of sub opportunities, I would move without a job knowing that it could provide some income to supplement your emergency fund if it came to that and it would get your foot in the door for future jobs.

Good thought.  I know here, former teachers who are subs tell me they can work every day if they wanted.  Most have to turn away work regularly. 

[mustardseed2007]

It sounds amazing. I would definitely work hard to find another job first, but I'd make it a a high priority to do that.

[k3am]

Just wondering.. Would you need to sell your city home or plan to keep it? Rent it out? Something else? Have you included funds from that in your estimates at all?

I would 100% make the move. But I'm not sure I'd do it now. 6 months savings sounds like a lot, but it's really not. If you and YH ended up jobless, you'd blow through that fast. And finding a teaching gig won't be any easier mid-year than it is right now.

[k3am]

If DH and I were in your situation (and.. I mean, we have a wonderful mountain place 4 hours away that I would love to do it in!), if we sold our rented our primary home out, the cash flow from that alone would be enough to make me say let's do it now, which is why I asked the question above. But if we were planning to keep the home and keep it unoccupied, there would be too much risk.

We actually know someone who did this. They moved into their vacation house in the mountains for a few months while she was working on her dissertation and her husband worked remotely. They basically never left. They rented out their house here as a hacker house, which more than covered their mortgage on the vacation house (I'm pretty sure their "city" house was paid off since he inherited it), and just stayed there. Eventually the hacker house got shut down by the HOA, but by then, they were too in love with their new lifestyle, so they sold the hacker house and started a business locally.

[divanerd]

It sounds like your work is ending in June. Can you work there next school year? I say enjoy the summer as best you can and revisit in 6 months given the state of jobs.

Thats awesome to be able to WFH indefinitely elsewhere.

[dglvrk2]

Jun 3, 2020 10:53:34 GMT -5 k3am said:

Just wondering.. Would you need to sell your city home or plan to keep it? Rent it out? Something else? Have you included funds from that in your estimates at all?

I would 100% make the move. But I'm not sure I'd do it now. 6 months savings sounds like a lot, but it's really not. If you and YH ended up jobless, you'd blow through that fast. And finding a teaching gig won't be any easier mid-year than it is right now.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!  It certainly validates my feelings.  I agree that focusing on finding a job in the next year and staying put for now is prudent.  I am talking with a principal of a wonderful looking elementary school about a long term sub position (all year).  It’s about 45 minutes from our house.  I was hoping for something closer and more permanent, especially with the uncertainty of our times and H’s work situation.  Still, it shows signs of hope.

k3am, we actually rent in the city.  We’ve never been able to afford to buy there.  Our landlord is super chill and I’ve considered offering to sub-let our home and manage it for a small fee.  We could definitely get more rent than what we are currently paying him.


Thanks again, everyone!

[campermom]

As an admin I think you have to be really careful not to break your contract. It’s one thing for a teacher to do so but it’s a whole different ballgame for the disruption of a principal to leave outside of the contract dates.

If it’s in the same state, you may be subject to having your state certificate pulled for a year if you break contract-that’s how it works in my state. So basically they make it so you can’t leave mishear for your own state. Look into that, it’s usually if your districts HR tends to recommend that action to the state superintendent.

I’d focus efforts on how you can make connections in your desired school system. Do they have any leadership associations you could join? Like a “western PA admins association” when you might live in southern PA instead, or something like that for example? Are you close with anyone in that district who can tell you news about positions?

I know it’s really hard to get your foot in the door at that level. I’d be looking at the next year.

[dglvrk2]

Jun 4, 2020 4:30:34 GMT -5 campermom said:

As an admin I think you have to be really careful not to break your contract. It’s one thing for a teacher to do so but it’s a whole different ballgame for the disruption of a principal to leave outside of the contract dates.

If it’s in the same state, you may be subject to having your state certificate pulled for a year if you break contract-that’s how it works in my state. So basically they make it so you can’t leave mishear for your own state. Look into that, it’s usually if your districts HR tends to recommend that action to the state superintendent.

I’d focus efforts on how you can make connections in your desired school system. Do they have any leadership associations you could join? Like a “western PA admins association” when you might live in southern PA instead, or something like that for example? Are you close with anyone in that district who can tell you news about positions?

I know it’s really hard to get your foot in the door at that level. I’d be looking at the next year.

Exactly.  That’s why this month is so critical.  My contract for the year ends at the end of this month and the 20-21 contract begins July 1, so I need announce a departure by June 30 if I do not plan on returning next year....