Hello Kind, Wise, Physically Attractive Mustacians,
I'm 27 years old, and I've spent nearly 100% of my life with twenty miles of Atlanta, GA. I'll be graduating from college (yeah, it took me a while) after this summer, and after copious frugal celebration, my plan is to move to Denver. Why Denver? Well, I want to sort of start with a clean slate, escape my childhood environs, find myself, all that jazz. Plus, I have a couple close friends in Denver and I've lived there for a couple months at a time over summer breaks, so I know that I like the city well enough. Plus, mountains.
ANYWAY. So I'm planning to move. Work is not really a problem. I've worked for Starbucks for five years now, and while not the highest paying job in the world, it does offer good benefits like cheap health insurance and a 401(k) with five percent match. Another benefit is the ability to transfer to any other store in the country, so I can pretty simply and reliably request a transfer to a Denver store and I'll be employed. Plus, Denver has a much higher minimum wage than Atlanta, so I may even get a raise out of the deal.
SO ON TO THE REAL ISSUE. How... does one go about landing an apartment across country? Physically moving is not really an issue. I've always been a semi hardcore minimalist, so I can pretty much fit anything I might need in my sexy 2007 Ford Focus hatchback when I drive there and buy whatever else I need once I'm settled. I'm also single and have no pets, which both work in my favor. But seriously, WHERE ON EARTH do I start to go about finding an apartment in a city 2000 miles away? Has anyone ever done this? How do I sign the lease? How to I view the apartment before I sign? So many questions, and yet I have no idea. Any advice would be INCREDIBLY helpful.
Also, this might be obvious considering which forum we're on, but money isn't really an issue. I currently have about $25k in savings and investments, and I'm expecting to have about $40k before I actually pull the trigger and relocate.