Moving to Bellevue for 60k-Family of three- Will it be Livable ? (Seattle: for sale, coupons)

[Jennibc]

Sorry I am coming to this so late - my husband, my infant son, and I tried living off of 65K in 2002 there and we barely scraped by. We were making 100K by 2008 and decided we couldn't get ahead and left. I cannot believe they are only paying you 60K in 2011 - unless you are a fresh out of college with no experience under your belt, for the tech sector, that almost seems exploitative.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

Sorry I am coming to this so late - my husband, my infant son, and I tried living off of 65K in 2002 there and we barely scraped by. We were making 100K by 2008 and decided we couldn't get ahead and left. I cannot believe they are only paying you 60K in 2011 - unless you are a fresh out of college with no experience under your belt, for the tech sector, that almost seems exploitative.

And therein lies the reason for some of the tension within the tech industry between H1(b) and US citizen employees. While some companies truly cannot find enough skilled help and need to look outside the US, many are simply using it as an excuse to bring in cheap labor. It's deviated from its intent to become an "I can't find any Americans to work for below market wages, so I need to look elsewhere" program.

Of course, the IT sector is hardly alone in this. In my opinion, it is exploitation. I'm a betting man. I would put my money that the company hiring the OP has a stack of resumes from people with similar skills seeking employment. They just expect a fair wage.

All that said, this is a larger issue that has nothing at all to do with the people from other countries taking advantage of these opportunities. I would never have tolerated employees giving such people a hard time. They're just doing what many of us would do if we were in that situation.

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by Capo

Save your savings for your wife's schooling (hopefully) or if you lose your job (worse case).

Schooling yes. But if he loses his job, his savings won't really do much for him, since he'll be sent back out of the country at that point (if an H1(b) loses their sponsorship, they have to return home).

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by CarawayDJ

All that said, this is a larger issue that has nothing at all to do with the people from other countries taking advantage of these opportunities. I would never have tolerated employees giving such people a hard time. They're just doing what many of us would do if we were in that situation.

And that's what a lot of IT people get mixed up on. You can't be mad at the person who came here to take the job...they're just doing what's best for them. The overall anger needs to be directed at the company that would stoop so low as to hire the worker in the first place, because (especially in this economic climate) they have to commit fraud in order to do so by claiming they couldn't find someone qualified locally.

Take OP here. Telecomm engineer. I don't think anyone could say with a straight face that the city which is home to T-Mobile, Mitel, has a huge AT&T facility, is home to Clear, and still has most of the old US West engineers that stayed with the company after the Qwest buyout didn't have an unemployed telecomm engineer available to take whatever position OP is about to take. It's impossible. But that's not OP's fault that the job is his. I'd do it too, if I were him. It's the company that's hiring him that deserves the rage.

[gwix98]

Do not take all the discouragement on this board stop you from pursuing your dream to come to the
Seattle area, and work on your career. As I mentioned before, many live on far less the 100K or more
you see mentioned here. While I do not live in Bellevue, there are many other neighborhoods close by where the $60K will go a long ways. We are in a poor economy here and if you have a secure job, and
watch your expenses you will do fine. As I said before, do not be discouraged. You learn to live within your income. I know many who live on the east side and survive on similar incomes.
Yes, you will not be buying a home, but it's not likely you will want that anyway.
Hang in there in do not be discouraged.

[gwix98]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

Sorry I am coming to this so late - my husband, my infant son, and I tried living off of 65K in 2002 there and we barely scraped by. We were making 100K by 2008 and decided we couldn't get ahead and left. I cannot believe they are only paying you 60K in 2011 - unless you are a fresh out of college with no experience under your belt, for the tech sector, that almost seems exploitative.

If you could not make it on $100K in 2002, something was out of whack...IMHO

[barooq]

gwix98
We are not even contemplating buying a house for now
That is something to consider once you are a permanent resident and we're far away from that.

And I am not discouraged. Thanks to very nice people like you Infact I am looking forward to move. Hopefully, in 2-3 months I will be bugging you all for rentals, car deals and "where to buy what" questions.

[choliscott]

I figure I would chime in.

Power bill amount changes from Spring/Summer & Fall/Winter (different pricing per Kilowatt hour), so our bill could be $70 durning the warm time & $150 during the cold.

Internet anywhere between $40-$60 (depending on the speed you want or want the fastest speed at the best price point)

Phone - Land line between $20 & $40 (for normal phone) or even VOIP

Cable - Probably around $80-$120 (depending on what extra's you want)

Food - Hard to say. Since our Fed chairman Helicopter Ben is going to print $650 billion dollars, not sure what that will do to food pricing. A small example, a 20 ounce bottle of Coke Cola was around 99 cents at the grocery store not that long ago. Now the same bottle is around $1.69

Originally Posted by barooq

Thats good to hear. As long as its workable i'd be willing, rather happy to move.

Also, about the approximate cost of living and expenses, can you provide an estimate/month ?
For example my basic schema is as under

Rent: 1200-1400
Car payment + Car Insurance : 500
Fuel: 200-300
Bills ( Gas, Water, Electricity): 100-200
Groceries+Food : 500-700
Internet + Phone + Cable TV : 300 ( both me and my wife as tech addicts+ I am a sports nut and my wife cant live without cable TV... Frankly, so much so, I am a little jealous of Don Draper )
Emergencies+ Eating Out : 300

Total: 3100 - 3700 / month
Am I missing something here ? Are my estimates off the mark?


I also have a saving around 30K, but that I personally want to use for my wife's PHD in psychology ( if she feels up to it once we are there )... Otherwise, it can be used as emergency fund and emergency fund only

Waiting for your response

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by gwix98

If you could not make it on $100K in 2002, something was out of whack...IMHO

Reread what I wrote. We scraped by on 65K in 2002 as homeowners with an infant. We were making 100K when we left in 2009. We were getting by fine on 100K we just didn't have money to save anything beyond what was going into our 401K and that didn't feel that being in our forties that boded well for our futures. A sixty thousand a year gross income for a family of three in Seattle or Bellevue in 2011 is going to be tight, I don't think there is any denying that.

[gwix98]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

Reread what I wrote. We scraped by on 65K in 2002 as homeowners with an infant. We were making 100K when we left in 2009. We were getting by fine on 100K we just didn't have money to save anything beyond what was going into our 401K and that didn't feel that being in our forties that boded well for our futures. A sixty thousand a year gross income for a family of three in Seattle or Bellevue in 2011 is going to be tight, I don't think there is any denying that.

I did reread your post and indeed did miss that it was 2008 that you were
making 100K. My wife and I make about $110K now and have for about 5 years, so back to about 2005. I max out my 401K (she has a DB pension plan). We also save about $700 each month for emergencies and a cushion.
I'm sorry to hear you had to leave Bellevue, and did not feel you could make it. We had two kids to help through college during the last 5 years, and covered roughly half their expenses (UW and WWU).
We take at least a couple nice vacations a year.
We have moving financially forward each year, for which I am thankful,
and we have never faced a layoff. (Health care industry).
We have been very fortunate, and at least part of it I believe is due to
careful planning and living under your means.
I live in Edmonds, and IMHO not really not all that much cheaper than Bellevue. My daughter and her husband live in the heart of Bellevue.
Nice apartment for $1000 a month. Small but very comfortable.

Is it an easier go in Austin? I bet $$$ go farther there?

I hope barooq does OK. Many locals do not like foreigners coming in and
competing for jobs. In health care and especially nursing, its pretty common here. Most are very hard workers, and I respect them for that.
Just so long as everything is above board and legal.

I don't disagree that it might be a a bit tough on 60K. At least if his wife
is a stay at home mom there won't be the child care issue.
Regards,

gwix