We Moved to an Apartment Across the Country Without Seeing It in Person

I’m a planner by nature, so it’s ironic that my husband and I moved from Portland, Oregon, to the Boston area without ever visiting the town we would live in.

We’d visited Boston as tourists back in 2013 and loved it, and had been to other parts of Massachusetts dozens of times to visit my aunt. But when she had a severe stroke, we decided to move across the country to be with her.

Since we both worked remotely, we had the flexibility to leave Oregon. However, we were banking our PTO for the actual move, and couldn’t waste it on apartment tours. So, we decided to move sight-unseen.

We found what we thought was the perfect apartment

Our original plan was to move to Boston, but after a quick scan of rental listings, we realized this wasn’t in our budget.

So, we started looking at the suburbs, focusing on finding a walkable neighborhood and an apartment that offered a 3D virtual walkthrough.

Eventually, we found one about an hour outside the city. It had an on-site gym, remote-work hotel booths, and what appeared to be a walkable downtown nearby.

From what I could see online, it seemed perfect. I even looked at Google Maps for reviews of the complex and checked out the satellite images.

After we signed our new lease, we packed our belongings into a moving truck, flew across the country with our cat, and shipped our car off to our new home, all within two weeks.

When we arrived in Massachusetts, we were relieved to find the apartment looked exactly like it did in the 3D walkthrough.

However, we soon discovered a few drawbacks that neither a virtual tour nor photos could convey.

For example, based on my research, I knew our apartment was right next to the commuter rail tracks. But unfortunately, I couldn’t have predicted how loud it would be when the train thundered past our windows 10 times a day, blowing its horn.

It was maddening, and within three weeks, the noise alone was enough to make me want to leave.

Plus, after moving from a house to an apartment, we soon discovered there wasn’t enough space for all our belongings. We knew the building came with storage space for tenants, and even tried to get the dimensions ahead of time, but we never received them.

Only after we moved did we realize the space could only fit a few boxes, not our grill and smoker like we’d originally intended. So, we had to rent a storage unit, which was an unexpected monthly expense.

We’re happy now, but we learned some important lessons

The minute our one-year lease was up, we moved into a quieter house with lots of storage — and we’re happy in our new home.

But although I’m glad we made the move to be with my aunt, the whole experience taught us some hard lessons about relocating sight unseen.

If I could do it over, I’d sign a six-month lease instead of a year, even if it cost slightly more a month. This would’ve given us an escape hatch when we realized the original apartment wasn’t the right fit.

I also would’ve built the cost of a storage unit into our initial budget, especially since we were downsizing from our home in Oregon.

Overall, moving to a new place without ever visiting can be risky, even with good 3D walkthroughs and careful planning.

There are some things you just can’t know until you’re there — like just how window-shakingly loud the 6 a.m. commuter train will be from your bedroom every morning.