From England to America!!! i need advise please! (Phoenix, Gilbert: property taxes, insurance)

[Aisha Florez]

Hi, im thinking of moving to the USA within the next year and was looking for advise from people who actually live there (who better?) lol.

I'm living in Luton, London, UK and am fed-up with it to say the least! This place has gone from bad to worse (street gangs, violent, high cost of living) and to top it all off if we are lucky we get about 5 days of sunshine a year, im not joking! I also have 2 children now a boy and girl aged 4 and 1 and trust me this isnt the type of place you want to raise a family in!

Anyway ill get to the point i was thinking of the warmer parts of america where its warm, or atleast mild the year round (cant stand the cold!) like southern California or Arizona. Safety is a HUGE must (no more gangs!) as is a friendly community. I'm not to bothered about the night life etc but i don't want it to be totally dead either! so im guessing maybe the suburbs of a smaller city? I'm looking to spend £300,000 (not sure what that is in dollars, about $600,000?) on housing. Not looking for a huge mansion but somewhere where myself and my 2 kids can live comfortably a proper garden (back yard i think you call it in the states?) would be a bonus too.

Any advise anyone has is greatly appreciated !!!

P.S Alot of the threads mention Hispanics? i haven't really heard of this before. I am a native of Spain as both my parents are Spanish. Would i and my children be considered Hispanic? Random, but would be interesting to know!
Aisha x

[suzanne7575]

Hi from Scotland

Iam presuming you have fully researched all the visa options and have a plan for your move to the US. Unfortunatly the US is very hard to move to unless you are loaded or have a skill in demand or are married to a USC. I am a nurse and am using my skills to get (hopefully) a green card for myself and my family anmd it is pretty much guarenteed I will be working in Arizona.

Not being from Az I am not in a position to answer yur questions realy but from what i have researched you will be able to get a very nice house, probably with a pool for the money you have, and in a very nice community too. Unfortunatly crime is also rife in Arizona as it is in many states but as long as you do your research I'm sure you will be fine as long as you stay away from the bad areas.

Not sure about your hispanic question I'm afraid, it usually relates to those from the southern american states such as mexico.

[MotleyCrew]

You might check on the city of Peoria. We moved here two years ago from N. California and love life in AZ. We are actually in N. Peoria and find it to be a wonderful clean city. $600,000 would buy you a very nice home here in Vistancia and you would have many builders to choose from as well as some great resales right now. If you go to www.vistancia.com you can see our community. There is an elementary school right in the middle of it and we are soon to have some very nice small commercial shops surrounding us, as well as a new Safeway shopping center at the entrance. You can walk to the store! If you need to drive to Phoenix for work, it will be rough, lots of traffic going into Phoenix. We have heard nice things about parts of Gilbert, which is closer to Phoenix. Good luck to you.

[sablebaby]

$600,000 will buy you a VERY nice home anywhere in AZ. Not to worry about that! Will you be working? If so, where do you need to be near, a downtown with industry?

I'd say take a trip here (if you can) and take some time to explore everywhere. There are too many places to list that might suit you (just in the phx metro area). But you can be anywhere. I wouldn't worry too much about crime if you live in a nice area.

The hispanics (which, is it even the right term?) we are taking about are really mexicans (legal and illegal) as we sit on the border of Mexico. So, we have a huge amount of them here.

[tfox]

With your housing budget you could live just about anywhere, though your housing will certainly go further in Arizona than it would in California.

As for Arizona, it is plenty warm and sunny here, so I'm sure you will like the climate at least in the wintertime. However, you need to be aware that the summertime is very, very hot. (in celsius, think 40-45 degrees on a regular basis). It may be hard for you to imagine that it could be too hot, but it can. Many people love the heat, but others can't stand it. I suggest you come and visit in July and experience for yourself.

As for gangs and crime, Phoenix area does have a bad reputation for gang violence, so if you're looking for a crime-free community, Phoenix (at least) may not be the one for you. That being said, it's a huge and very spread out area with dozens of towns and suburbs, so you're going to have parts that are virtually crime and gang-free, and other parts which are frightening. I'm sure others will be happy to point you to the right direction.

If you do enjoy the smaller-town life, there are options in Arizona which are not part of the Phoenix area as well.

As for your question about being Hispanic, I'm sure your language skills in Spanish will be an asset to you in this area. There is some animosity toward Mexican immigrants both legal and illegal, but I think it's highly unlikely anyone would put you in that category. And the number of people who are truly prejudicial against Mexican people on the basis of their ethnicity is really quite small.

[TerraAustralis]

Originally Posted by Aisha Florez

Safety is a HUGE must (no more gangs!) as is a friendly community.

I'm an Aussie, and I'll give a Pom a bit of advice. Definitely bypass AZ and southern CA. The crime rate is higher than where you are right now, and AZ is dead after 5 PM. There are definitely better choices regarding safety and entertainment. I do think that it's quite possible that many will mistake you for a Mexican, and from my time in Phoenix, that is not considered a positive thing amongst many of the residents there unfortunately.

[MoMark]

Originally Posted by Aisha Florez

Hi, im thinking of moving to the USA within the next year and was looking for advise from people who actually live there (who better?) lol.

I'm living in Luton, London, UK and am fed-up with it to say the least! This place has gone from bad to worse (street gangs, violent, high cost of living) and to top it all off if we are lucky we get about 5 days of sunshine a year, im not joking! I also have 2 children now a boy and girl aged 4 and 1 and trust me this isnt the type of place you want to raise a family in!

Anyway ill get to the point i was thinking of the warmer parts of america where its warm, or atleast mild the year round (cant stand the cold!) like southern California or Arizona. Safety is a HUGE must (no more gangs!) as is a friendly community. I'm not to bothered about the night life etc but i don't want it to be totally dead either! so im guessing maybe the suburbs of a smaller city? I'm looking to spend £300,000 (not sure what that is in dollars, about $600,000?) on housing. Not looking for a huge mansion but somewhere where myself and my 2 kids can live comfortably a proper garden (back yard i think you call it in the states?) would be a bonus too.

Any advise anyone has is greatly appreciated !!!

P.S Alot of the threads mention Hispanics? i haven't really heard of this before. I am a native of Spain as both my parents are Spanish. Would i and my children be considered Hispanic? Random, but would be interesting to know!
Aisha x

I'm excited by your enthusiasm!!!! I say follow your dreams and best wishes to you!! Arizona has been a bit chilly this winter..snowstorms, etc., but even so..if you can stand the summers, well...why not? I lived in Las Vegas five years (similar to Phoenix in temperatures) and I loved it. Highest temp was 49C!
Phoenix seems to have some of the issues you're trying to avoid. Though, that amount of disposable cash should buy you a nice home in most of America. And yes, currently 300,000 pounds roughly equates to $600,000.
As for the term "hispanic" applying to you. I think it technically would, however, in the U.S. it usually applies to people of mixed Spanish/native American ancestry from Latin America, Central America, and Mexico, or in the U.S. You might also consider parts of mid to southern Texas. Extremely cheap housing (but good housing) and Austin, San Antonio, etc. are nice cities. Texas is really misunderstood by many, especially foreigners. It can be a bit toasty in the summer... but I like it! Check out RealtorDOTcom for houses. You can look on that site anywhere in America.
New Mexico has challenging areas too. I think if it were me I'd be careful about where in Arizona I settled, same with New Mexico. Parts of California are very nice too, it's just incredibly expensive.
Texas seems to have a lot of everything. Florida is a place where the last person out has been asked to turn out the lights it seems. Lot's of people love it, but for homeowners, the skyrocketing home insurance rates and the soaring property taxes are making life difficult for many. Neither Texas, Florida, or Nevada (my personal favorite state), have income taxes
Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!

[jerrycat]

Hi it is very expensive in soCal you should be looking at alot more money then that, i know i'm looking. LA has same probs as London etc as do most big cities, you must have ajob to come to or family here you cannot just come and stay! As for the hispanics i am not sure who they are refering to there are many cultures here as in the Uk. take atrip before you decide.I too am from the UK

[Ponderosa]

I have deleted several posts that were turning this thread into an argument about Hispanics in the southwest. While that may be a subject for discussion, this thread is not the place. Thank you for your understanding.

Mod

[Aisha Florez]

wow thanks to everyone that has given the time to reply, its been very helpful suzanne unfortunatly i do know how hard it is to move out to America. So like you i will be opting for a visa, even if it is just for 1 or 2 years, and then see what my options are after that. I wish you the best of luck in the states, and will hopefully be joining you out there soon

I am in health care so im guessing i wouldn't have to rely on a big city as far as work is concerned.

Thankyou MoMark for your advise about Texas as i hadnt given it much thought and after some research came across a place calld Sugar land (didn't sound real atfirst lol!) it seemed beautiful with great housing opportunities but does anyone know what its really like?