Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S.
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Thread summary:

Move to US: nice weather, reasonable costs of housing, employment opportunities

 
Old 06-09-2008, 10:08 AM
 
10 posts, read 17,452 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

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.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-09-2008, 10:23 AM
 
Location: Northern Arizona
329 posts, read 1,272,438 times
Reputation: 279
Hi Joasal, you are correct the US is a very big country with lots of options. I live in Northern AZ and love it! I doubt you would find employment opportunities up here. the Phoenix metro is a different story. The thing you need to understand about Phoenix/Scottsdale is that it gets very very hot in the summer and the intense heat lasts for 4-5 months. I have also lived in Florida and there you have the humidity. In addition to Tampa and Miami I would add Jacksonville to the list. I am not very fond of Miami. It is densely populated, high crime and very humid a good part of the year.

It seems odd that you would apply for a GC with so little idea of where you want to go.

Good luck on your search.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-09-2008, 05:13 PM
 
Location: Western Mass.
605 posts, read 2,375,162 times
Reputation: 311
Congratulations on winning your GCs! Many would give their right arm to be in your position right now. However, as I am sure you are aware the economy over here is in particularly bad shape at present and job opportunities may not be what they once were. If I were you I would scope out which companies might be the major employers in the industries in which you have experience and direct your geographical search accordingly. Unless your skills are both great and uncommon it will be tough to get an employment offer (or even any interest from potential employers) until you actually live over here, so you should probably bank on having at least 6-12 months' living expenses on-hand before you move over (above and beyond your moving expenses). Even then, be prepared to accept the risk you are taking.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-10-2008, 01:10 AM
 
Location: Chandler
191 posts, read 609,686 times
Reputation: 63
Default Arizona is the place to be!

Congratulations! How exciting for you!
The climate in AZ is amazing for 9 months out of the year. For the three summer months it is pretty uncomfortable, but everywhere is air conditioned. There are many activities that have easy access such as: concert venues, pro and amateur sports events, hiking, golf, boating etc... The price of housing here is at a low point and sellers are anxious to negotiate. The Chandler area is a mini Silicon valley with Motorola, Freescale, Intel all located here. What kind of employment would you be looking for?

Moderator cut: removed as per request

Last edited by autumngal; 06-10-2008 at 11:12 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-10-2008, 02:22 AM
 
835 posts, read 2,296,304 times
Reputation: 250
San Diego.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-10-2008, 03:10 AM
 
10 posts, read 17,452 times
Reputation: 10
Default Difficult choice

Hi all,

many thanks for the reactions so far...

As stated it will be important to find a good job first. Inflation, worse economy, ...etc will not make our choice easier.

California I think will not be the ideal plcace to move to as prices are very high according to users on the forum.

We would prefer considering Texas or Arizona were we would possible get more value for money

Then again we need to see if there are enough possibilities to build up a good life. Houston we heart is very good economy-wise, only a very humid climate but hey we are looking for mild winters. My wife hates cold weather ! The hotter the better

Arizona seems also very nice but we are not sure about good employment oppies compared to Houston or let's say Austin/Dallas.

San Antonio is also grwing on us, seems like place with several possibilities and nice weather, not too humid neither.

We are planning a trip to TX and AZ end of Sep beginning of Oct so we can check it out.

Of course any advice or suggestion is much appreciated

Thanks,
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-10-2008, 06:18 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, USA
3,131 posts, read 9,334,940 times
Reputation: 1111
1) CA - high cost of living. Great weather.
2) TX - affordable. It gets very hot.
3) AZ - very hot weather most of the year. I don't know about the job market, maybe its good.
4) FL - people are leaving because its so expensive. The heat and humidity are murder. Friends living there say the natives stay in the house all the time running their air conditioning. Probably you could find work.

If I could move anywhere it would be North Carolina or Georgia. Charlotte, Raleigh in NC., Atlanta, Savannah in GA.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S.
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top