As you enter into the world of online dating, you'll soon find out that you can search for your potential mate from 1 to 2,000 miles away or more. While this gives you a wide range of choices, it also can present a wide range of problems.

If your long-distance relationship has succeeded and you fall in love, the next obvious course of action will probably be that one of you will make the commitment to relocate to be closer to the other.

Here are some things to consider before you hire the moving van and pack your bags.

Depending on how settled you are in the town you live in, you may be giving up little or you may be giving up much. There is little risk of loss if you currently live in an apartment, but there are potential risks should you own your own home. You should consider the following if you're a homeowner:

• What will it cost me financially to sell my home? Will I gain or lose in the current marketplace?
• What expenses will I have in selling my home? Will the cost of a realtor eat up any equity I may have gained?
• Will I need to invest money to make any repairs to make my home marketable?
• Will the proceeds from the sale of my home give me enough cash to get started in a new location?
• Does it make more sense for me to keep my home as an investment and rent it out, just in case I need to return?

What you leave behind is important, but where you're headed is as well. Here are things to consider should you decide to relocate to a new location:

• Do you have the money to move? Will you haul it yourself or hire a moving company to do so?
• Have you thoroughly checked out the housing situation in the town you're moving to? For example, rent pricing, housing pricing, location, schools, shopping. What is the housing market like? Is it thriving or in a down swing?
• If you decide to move in with your new found love, what will you do with all your furniture and other items? Will you bring them? Will you store them? Will you sell them and just move with essentials?

Career issues are just as important. If you're not getting married right away, how will you take care of yourself? Have you checked the unemployment rate in the area you're moving to? Have you checked the median salary ranges for your career job type? Does it make more sense for you to relocate or for your partner to relocate? Who has the most and least to lose if they quit their job and relocate? Will you move first and find a job second? Or will you find a job first and then move second? What will you do about benefits should you move without a job? What will you do if you can't find work?

There are tons of questions you should seriously consider in the area of jobs and career when deciding to move for the sake of love.

What about your family? Will you be breaking ties locally with close family members? Do you have the desire to do that? What about your lover's family? Will you be moving close to them and will they accept you as part of their world? What about children? Will you be relocating your child or children to a new area, new schools, and having them leaving their friends behind? What kind of support system will you give your children in the relocation process?

The fact that this relationship started on a long-distance note, gives it extra challenges for survival. Before you decide to relocate, you should be extremely certain of the following:

• Have you spent enough time with this individual to truly know who they are?
• Do you have a commitment for marriage or are you going just hoping it will come to that?
• Have you thoroughly checked out this person, done background checks, etc. to make sure you're not being scammed?
• Do you like their family and friends?
• What will you do if after you move, it doesn't work out? Do you have a Plan B in place or any contingency backup plan?
• Has this person committed to helping you in your relocation or will they let you sink or swim?

The author has personal up-front experience on relocating for love. Having done so myself, I met someone online who lived 450 miles away. We became engaged after 8 months, and I eventually made the decision to move to be with him. His career was more settled than mine, and he wanted me to move instead of him. So for the sake of love, I sacrificed a brand new home, a wonderful job, a thriving business on the side, and my son's senior year in high school. The outcome? Three months after I moved, he got cold feet. I spent the next 18 months dating him, but couldn't find a job. The town I moved to was economically depressed, small, and I was an outsider. No one would hire me. He gave me no financial support, so I lived off of retirement money later eaten up by penalties and taxes so I could live. Still cold in his marital commitment, I finally decided to return to my hometown and restarted my life. After my return, I found work and our relationship died.

Before you make the decision to even start a relationship with someone who lives long distance on an online dating site, please consider the points above. There are success stories, and yes, some relocations do work out. However, not all relocations for love are successful, and there can be consequences you hadn't thought about.