I guess you must be single or young....Reasons not to leave your area: owning a house, family, friends, not wanting to pull kids from school during critical times (or mid year), established connections, and a lot more tech jobs in Seattle than 99% of the rest of america, outside silicon valley? "Sell your house" and then you pick up a house that is also overpriced but pay much higher property taxes. Income tax is *zero* in Washington...Also, this is actually Redmond, not Seattle proper.
When did people get to be such pussies about moving?
Hell, when I grew up, this was a common thing....you moved to where the best job or new opportunity was.
Fun? No.
PITA? Yes
But families did it as a matter of how life is/was....
I remember as a kid moving a number of times
...as my Dad career progressed.
I myself have moved....
Do people today believe that as grown adults they STILL have to live near Mommy and Daddy?
Friends? Well hell, there's a TON of ways to stay in touch that weren't there when I was young....you only had phone calls and snail mail growing up and if they were real friends....you stayed in touch.
Today it's a piece of cake to keep in touch.
When I grew up, most people I knew hit the road at 18yrs or so and often it was to a different state for college and jobs....no one had to stay in same town as Mommy....but then again, we never too "Mommy" out on job interviews like they apparently do today...