dreaming of moving out of state... scared

I'd do the job thing first. Better to have that lined up. Have you ever lived or visited the area you are looking at?

I don't have any experience, but I think you should at least try. If you don't try, you'll always be wondering, "what if...". 
The whole picture and plan is really overwhelming when you imagine doing it all at once, but when it's broken down into small steps it isn't so bad. 

I would advise getting the job first, and hopefully they will have a relo package.

If you are excited about it - do it! I love the adventure of moving. Life is what you make it. I hope it works out for you and your family.

Florida schools are very hit or miss.

One way that is fun to look is to pick areas in which you are interested and then use the trulia.com site. Every house listing will show you the school ratings. That's a good way to get a feel for the housing market and schools at the same time.

And in so far as the heat and humidity, one of my girls has lived in central Florida and here. One summer she came home and the entire summer it was hotter and more humid here than it was in central Florida. She's since kept track of it and the difference in humidity is non-existent and the difference in temperature is not that much different. So complaining about heat and humidity in the summer in Florida is no different than complaining about it here, the difference being that you don't have to shovel heat for 6 months of the year.

DH and I moved from WA to CA. He did have a standing job offer for a few years and the first time we considered it decided not to because we couldn't afford to buy the same type of house in the same type of neighborhood so felt it would be a backward move financially. Two years later the numbers were very different and we made the move with no regrets. 

Are you happier? I wasn't unhappy in Seattle and we still maintain very strong friendships that we had there. We have been back to visit and have had numerous friends visit us here, some multiple times. When friends ask why we don't move back closer to family, DH and I always answer "weather, weather, weather." (ironically we are having a very typical Seattle rainy day today)

As we are getting closer to retirement age, we have had a number of friends buy winter homes in Phoenix and Palm Springs area so some we will be seeing even more often.

I am very happy to be removed from the day-to-day drama of DH's family (he is even happier).

The con is definitely not being closer to my parents as they age, but we were never going to move to the same city as them even if we had staying in WA. We do visit every summer and DH and I independently go see our parents a couple of extra times a year.

Transition We did rent when we first moved here, but in a neighborhood I thought we'd want to buy (mostly based on schools) and it was a good decision for us. It gave us time to get to know the area and proximity to major highways is really important to DH.

New friends/feels like home
It took at least a year for it to feel like home, maybe longer. It took us almost 2 years to buy our house as we patiently waited for the right one to come on the market, but the area was already "home" before we bought. We moved in Oct and if my parents hadn't visited and wanted to go Christmas shopping I might have completely forgot about Christmas that first year as there were no weather/seasonal cues telling me it was winter. 

DS(7) adjusted quickly, DD(9) had a difficult transition. It took her about 2 years before she stopped wanted to move back.

Finding friends takes time and have come from different sources. Most of DH's have come through work and most of mine have come through actively getting involved in something I like to do. After 6 months here, I went to a LSS monthly challenge club and found my people. The store is long gone, but 8 of my dearest friends here came out of that group. Doing things I wanted to do like volunteering at the local art museum has also been the source of a couple of friendships. We are friendly with a families through the kids' schools and activities but they are more casual friendships.

Another friend of mine moved from PA to CA when all her kids left the nest. It had been her dream for years and she decided to just do it. Neither her or her DH had jobs when they came, but both were working quickly. Two of her adult children followed her out here within a couple of years.

I would definitely have your DH contact recruiters in the area you are looking and national recruiters that specialize in his industry. At least then you will have an idea of what kind of jobs are there and how often they come up. If doesn't commit you to moving, but will give you concrete information on jobs & wages for the area.

I lived in the same area for 35 years of my life. I never wanted to live any where else. Then in 2002 we decided to move 250 miles south. We are in the same state but at the opposite end. At first it was very scary. It was very exciting as well. That first year was a big adjustment. It was hard, it was cold (a lot colder than the north end of the state) It was a large drop in income. It was hard on our cars (one died) but in the end we all were happier. We all loved it here. now 13 years later we are still here loving it. We have grown as a family. We are closer now than we ever were up north. I am further away from what little family I have left. I have no thought of moving back north. 

When we decided to move I was a SAHM and husband had quit his job the beginning of that spring (do to too much stress and it affecting his health) and since we were going to have to start over we decided to really start over in a new location. It was meant to be because he got a job offer that he couldn't refuse. It was not near the money he was making at the old job but it was much less stress. I was grateful that he was going to have less stress. The first job was ok and he loved it but the owner of the business didn't run it well and decided to close shop and so husband went to the owner of the shop (same company didn't owner different location) and when they heard that the other location was closing they couldn't hire him fast enough. They have been working together since 2004 and he was made partner after 5 years. They are now working on buying a second location. They have grown the business.  I am grateful that we decided to make the move when we did. 

Our little family is so much better here. We are happier. Healthier. and our daughter has grown up knowing that no matter what happens in life and no matter where we live we will always be a close family. 

Do what is best for your family. If you are wanting to move then move. I would make sure that you make choices that will make all of you better. Make sure that you have jobs in the new location. You don't want to relocate and not be able to support the family. Decide on where you want to be and when you want to be there and make it happen. If it is meant to be then all things will fall into place. 

I suggest that if you do it, rent for the first year. We had neighbors that moved down, bought a house, and then decided they hated it here by the end of the year. Their house was put on the market, but they just couldn't find a buyer. If you rent and hate it here, it would be a lot easier to go back.

I happened to be mucking around youtube last night and came across this www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQI0nNb0pys. She and her family are moving from Chicago to Florida.

I grew up outside of Philly. My parents were both born and raised in that area. When they'd go to our back to school nights, it was like high school reunions for them, with all of the people they grew up with who moved "away" from the city to the suburbs. I always just assumed that I'd be like that, and would stay local to where I grew up.

I was REALLY wrong.

DH and I both graduated from college, and we moved from Philly to north Florida, so he could go to grad school. After that, his jobs took us to Ft. Lauderdale, then Sonoma County, CA, then northern NJ, then back to southern CA, where we've now been for 6 years. 

Moving away from family the first time was hard, if I'm honest. But I was also 22 years old and had never been away from home. The other moves, though were much easier. I made friends where I wound up working, and always (for the most part) enjoyed where we lived. Have I been happier? It depends. There are times that I'm very glad that my parents have never been close enough to just pop by. But there are times that I miss them too.

Each time we've moved, it's been because of a job that DH has gotten. We've always done some research on our own but then worked with Realtors to help us see homes and deal with the paperwork. Since moving to California this time, we've been renting homes (we were in one in Orange County for 5 years, and now in one in San Diego for almost a year now), but have looked for long-term rentals that would have our daughter in good schools. When we moved to San Diego last year, we chose this house specifically because it's in walking distance to one of the best high schools in the are (and state, for that matter). Schools really have been one of our biggest concerns and focuses when looking for a house. Heck, we chose this one even though it doesn't have central A/C because of its location. 

I've always looked at our moves as new adventures and embraced the opportunity to live in new places. This last move, to San Diego, has been the only one where I haven't really made any friends. With Erin now in high school and me working from home, there just aren't as many opportunities to make them. But that's OK... At this point, I'm busy enough that I don't feel like I'm missing that much, so that's fine. It IS home here, though, and that's what matters. 

As for the kids, the older they get, the less they'll probably view a long distance move as a good thing. Moving here right before Erin started high school was REALLY hard on her. She'd had her heart set on going to high school with her friends in Orange county. Her first few days at her new school were nothing but miserable. (Think of her crying in the bathroom during lunch, texting me that she hated it there, would never make friends, etc.) But soon she made a GREAT group of friends and recently told me that she's glad we moved.

I would definitely get a job nailed down and THEN plan the move. For one thing, the company may help pay for it (yeah!). But for another, you don't want to go through the expense of moving and then not be able to find a job. That's not a good situation to be in. Depending on what your DH does, a recruiter may be able to help, but these days, many of them work primarily for the company they're hired by, rather than representing the candidates and "selling" them to companies. (I'm a recruiter. LOL!) But searching on the major job boards, LinkedIn, and looking at big recruiting agencies' websites could provide him with some good leads to get him started. 

20 years ago we left Calif and moved to the Midwest - no jobs just knew we needed a better place to raise our young kids. DH found a job within a week and I was working within a month. Never looked back and love where we live.

I think in this day and age with internet/social media and recruiters DH should be able to connect with someone to help him

We left DH's family behind and some of my family but my mom, brother and sister and their families had already moved here so we were lucky we had family here

We recently moved from Los Angeles to Vancouver, Canada. It was for my husband's work. It has been been an adjustment for the kids (11&14). They went from knowing everybody in the schools and neighborhood to knowing very, very few people.

Some friends of mine moved from Florida (Miami area) to Seattle because they were having a tough time getting work. Be sure to investigate if your industries are flourishing in Florida and if the schools are comparable to the schools where you are now.

In our 26 years of marriage, we have had 4 major moves. We both grew up in Europe, married in OH. Three months after we married, we moved to South Carolina. Neither one of us liked the cold or the snow. Hubby wanted to get his Master's degree so we moved there. He went to school, and I worked. I found my job prior to our move. Hubby then graduated and was hired by my company. We then left that company 9 years later, and hubby's new company moved us to Austin, TX. We never felt at home there. It was nice but not the Carolinas. We lived in TX for 14 years but we always wanted to move back to the Carolinas. It was our prayer. Hubby hired a recruiter to redo his resume and helped him find his current job. Hubby told the recruiter that ideally he only wanted a job in the Carolinas. Wow were we blessed. We had never heard of Hickory, NC, and we LOVE it. We both loved it the moment we moved here. We are an hour from Charlotte, the mountains, Asheville, and Winston-Salem. All of our moves were paid by companies. If hubby did not have a job, we would not have made the move. So, I highly suggest getting the job first. A recruiter can be a tremendous help. In fact, hubby's job was unlisted. The company did not want it known that they were hiring for this position except through the recruiter. Had we not hired this recuiter, we would have missed out on an amazing opportunity not to mention a wonderful place to live. So the moving part really isn't hard. It's the finding the job in the area you want and the right salary. Be open to other places. You never know how you may be blessed!

I know people that moved South for the warmer weather. They kept their home and rented it out for the first year so that they could see if they liked it.