What to Know If Moving to Silicon Valley – San Jose, CA:

There are some people who do everything they can to finally make the move to Silicon Valley. Then, there are others who stumble upon this move by chance, either through a career opportunity or a relationship. It does not matter which category you fall into if you’re moving to Silicon Valley, there is a good chance that you don’t know everything you should about the area.

Be Prepared for the ExpertsEveryone seems to be an expert on some topic in Silicon Valley, even if they have no idea what they are talking about. The good news is that those in the technology industry have a way of being able to filter out the fakers.

Try not to get too annoyed, and don’t feel you need to engage in a debate just to prove your point. You will merely exhaust yourself and someone else will quickly take their place. Just ignore those self-professed experts that pop up everywhere; you have more important things to do.

The Area is Not as Uptight as You ThinkMany people have this vision in their mind that Silicon Valley moves at a fast pace; everyone is busy and always on their way to an important meeting. You will quickly learn that this is not the case, so if you are one of those people who enjoys being stressed and overloaded all day, you may want to start meditating, or take a yoga class.

There is actually a calmness and relaxed feeling about the area. Sure there is hustle and bustle as folks are rushing to punch a time clock, but don’t expect to see everyone working through their lunch hour every day just to climb the corporate ladder. People here want to be comfortable and happy, not stressed and overworked.

It’s Who You KnowSilicon Valley is not the place to be a loaner. Sure, you can enjoy your alone time, and you certainly do not need to make an appearance at every event you are invited to, but this is a place where you want to network and build professional relationships. You never know when a contact will come in handy.

Folks are FriendlyFor some reason, many people associate the area with snobby, stuffy and rude people. This is far from the case. Just because there are some highly educated, brilliant and gifted minds living here does not mean that they are not capable of being friendly too. You will find a fantastic community here. You may feel like a small fish in  a big sea, but the other sea creatures are surprisingly welcome.

Shoe String Budgets Will Not ThriveThe cost of living here is expensive; plain and simple. It is estimated that the cost of basic necessities here is over 60 percent more here than the national average. You will be lucky to find a decent apartment for under $2K a month. Therefore, if you are moving here and plan on landing a job when you arrive, make sure you consider the higher expenses, so you can have an appropriate nest egg to work with.

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Moving to a Smaller Home Tips:

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A relocation is about many things to be planned and foreseen. One of the specific types of moves that you may need more help with is the move to a smaller home. Downsizing has its reasons – perhaps you cannot keep up with the bills of a larger home, you may want to save money, a member of your family is moving out and you don’t need a home this size, you might have accumulated lots of stuff in time, etc. Either way, moving to a smaller house or apartment is a challenge in its own way on which we are willing to help you.

Tips on Moving to a Smaller Place

The most difficult decision regarding how to move to a smaller home comes with determining what items to take along. On the one hand, a move could be rather costly and taking fewer things saves you money. On the other hand, there may be lots of things you wish to keep because you value them. So, how can you decide what to do? In order to answer this tough question, a good idea would be to begin from the most obvious – things that are broken, torn apart, worn out, etc. These are household goods that you will surely not need and use, so just plan how to dispose of them – whether you would like to throw them away or recycle is up to you. Without any garbage around you will more easily determine among the rest of the things you have what to take.

After that decide on what to do with the rest of the stuff in your home. If you have things that you haven’t used for more than a couple of years chances are you won’t do it ever at all. You should ask yourself for every time in your home which you are wondering whether to pack – do you really need it? With time you may have been keeping things you were thinking of using “just in case” and often this “case” never occurs. But the stuff keeps taking up space in your home. That is why think of some options for donation of those things or who you could give them around to neighbors, friends, etc. Of course, a possibility is the moving sale in your back yard or in your garage. Sell those items you want to get rid of and make some money for your move! You have also websites like Craigslist, eBay, etc. which you could use for that purpose.


When downsizing, pack to move selectively. To begin with, you will most probably not have room in your new home for everything you have now.
Items that are of high emotional value to you or that are expensive and you wish to keep, will need to find its new place in your next home. Where will you place them? When moving to a smaller property you may not have space for everything that there is in your current home. That is why you could use storage for your excessive stuff. It is a great option, just remember to prepare your belongings for it and after you’ve packed them, to place them in a separate area/ room in your home for relocation to storage. Storage is good also for things that won’t fit in your new place. Once you’ve prepared your floor plan, there will be furniture for which you won’t have room so you will have to deal with it somehow as well. Storage could be your last resort because it costs money and eventually you will have to figure out what to do with the items you’ve put there. You could use them some time later or keep them in storage until you manage to sell them. But if this is the case, perhaps you could ask friends, neighbors or relatives to keep these items for you until you find a buyer for them.

Next, when thinking of downsizing, the best help and advice you could get to guide you through the move is from movers. Professionals know best how to move you to your new, smaller home efficiently. One company could handle at the same time your move and your storage. If movers handle the organization of your move, they will quickly pack your items and take special care of your fragile items, antiques and other delicate household goods. Even when downsizing your home, it is still worth pondering over the matter of getting professional assistance as it has many advantages.

As a last tip, remember to look for the positive aspects of your move – the new job, friends, colleagues, etc. that are all awaiting for you to enjoy! Moving to a smaller place may sound like a stressful task to complete also because you have a bigger limit of what you can take. But anyway, do your best to find the good things about the change you are going through and the transition will surely be less stressful for you.

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