Considering moving in with your partner? Have these crucial conversations first

LOS ANGELES -- Hillary Chang had been dating her boyfriend for three years when he asked her a question that would change their relationship forever: Do you want to move in together?

He'd been offered a new job in tech sales, which would require him to move from their current city of San Diego to Los Angeles. Their relationship had been going well, and he wanted her to join him.

At first, Chang, now 29, was hesitant: "In my head, I was like, 'I don't know if I'm ready to uproot my life for somebody else.'" She'd never lived with a partner, and she loved her life in San Diego, where she'd been living for more than half a decade.

When Chang brought her concerns to her boyfriend, he told her he'd find another job so they could stay in San Diego together. "In that moment, I kind of had an epiphany," she says. "I was like, 'OK, if he's willing to sacrifice an opportunity for me, what's the worst that can happen?' As a partner, I need to be willing to make some sacrifices of my own." In December