Hi all,
My wife and I we have recently won the GC Lottery and are thinking about a possible move to the US. It is all nice winning the lottery though once you are among the winners you have to make a choice on where to go
US is such a big country.
We have already found a lot of info on the forum but we would really appreciate some direct advice or suggestions.
Our current criteria are the following:
- nice weather all year round
- reasonable cost of housing
- lots of employment oppies
Taking into account those criteria we ended up with the following options:
1) CA (LA, San Fran, San Diego)
2) TX (Houston, Austin)
3) AZ (Phoenix, Scottsdale)
4) Florida (Tampa, Miami))
We have been to CA before (Los Angeles) so we know about the nice weather, beaches, ...etc but this was holiday so real time world will be different.
We have read that CA is not the ideal place for the moment due to very high cost of living, decreasing employment oppies and high crime rate. At the end of the day the real value for money is much lower compared to eg TX (we see lots of people on the forum from CA moving to TX).
We don't have any kids, we are both in our late 20ies, and already have a couple of years of international work experience. I have like a Sales background and my wife has a background in the Travel & Tourism Industry. When we move we will also bring our huge neopolitan mastiff so we would probable need to go and look for a house with a garden (apt is not an option
).
Texas seems to be more affordable in terms of housing and apparently Houston is one of the biggest cities in the US with lots of growth potential and thus loads of job oppies. Also weather should be OK as it is close to Gulf of Mexico.
Arizona is mainly due to the nice climate over there and due to fact that it is close to California
. But we have no idea about employment oppies and cost of living in eg Phoenix.
Finally, Florida, again the nice climate though we think that salaries are a lot lower compared to the States mentioned above. Housing should be OK there, nevertheless it depends of course on the area you choose.
We have already checked realtor and craigs list to get an idea but we would appreciate some good advice from people who are currently living in those areas.
We are also open to alternative regions as maybe there are some other nice States (Carolinas) to keep an eye out for.
Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions !
Greetings from France, Europe.