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Whatever related posts I saw in this forum, were like 2-3 years old and hence I am posting another one just to know about the scenario now.
I am moving with my husband (no kids) to New Jersey around end of november 2011. His work location is Iselin, but he will also need to travel to New York at customers' offices from time to time. He is getting transfered there permanently and not on a project for a few years. He is on L1 visa and I will be on L2 visa which permits me to work in US as well.
Please help me with the following questions -
1. He will be getting a salary of around 65k-72k. Is this enough for having a decent lifestyle there or we will have to cut-corners??
2. What will be his take home salary after tax deduction? considering his salary is 65k.
3.What areas can we look for apartments to rent? We are inclined towards Edison for now.
4.How do we go about looking for apartments? Is it possible to book one from India, considering we do not have SSN.
5.How much will be the rent there per month, considering a good apartment with basic amenities, good condition, safe and nearer to station so that he can easily commute.
6. What will be the average expenditure per month? Can we actually save some amount?
7. How difficult will it be for me to find a job there, considering I am from one of india's best college and have work experience in one of the best companies in the world.
8. Lastly, how is the social life there , esp in the Indian communities. Are there any good movie theatres considering we both are movie fans.
Please help us find answers to these questions asap as we are really confused about moving.
Whatever related posts I saw in this forum, were like 2-3 years old and hence I am posting another one just to know about the scenario now.
I am moving with my husband (no kids) to New Jersey around end of november 2011. His work location is Iselin, but he will also need to travel to New York at customers' offices from time to time. He is getting transfered there permanently and not on a project for a few years. He is on L1 visa and I will be on L2 visa which permits me to work in US as well.
Please help me with the following questions -
1. He will be getting a salary of around 65k-72k. Is this enough for having a decent lifestyle there or we will have to cut-corners??
2. What will be his take home salary after tax deduction? considering his salary is 65k.
3.What areas can we look for apartments to rent? We are inclined towards Edison for now.
4.How do we go about looking for apartments? Is it possible to book one from India, considering we do not have SSN.
5.How much will be the rent there per month, considering a good apartment with basic amenities, good condition, safe and nearer to station so that he can easily commute.
6. What will be the average expenditure per month? Can we actually save some amount?
7. How difficult will it be for me to find a job there, considering I am from one of india's best college and have work experience in one of the best companies in the world.
8. Lastly, how is the social life there , esp in the Indian communities. Are there any good movie theatres considering we both are movie fans.
Please help us find answers to these questions asap as we are really confused about moving.
$65,000 would be fine in many areas of the States, however you are looking at one of the most expensive places to live in our country due to proximity to New York. You will be cutting corners, not to mention coupons. However, it is doable. Especially if you can find a job also. With two incomes, you will enjoy a much nicer lifestyle.
You will have some difficulty renting an apartment without a SS number, as most landlords want to do a credit check. If you can bring whatever proof you can come up with that you are a good credit risk, that will help. I do not believe you can do this from afar, you will need to fly in for a few days to take care of this. It will be much easier in person. Because of time and circumstances, you are advised to secure a local real estate agent to help you find a place to live expeditiously. The commission is one month's rent, and in most cases you will have to pay it. You could try to find an apartment on your own and avoid the commission, but you don't have a lot of time, and someone with local expertise would be worth the commission. Occasionally the landlord will pay the commission, but not usually. Look for an agent based in Edison, they will be best able to assist you.
You can do a preliminary search online using www.realtor.com, then use the "BirdsEye" view of maps on www.bing.com to get a nice view.
You should be able to find something decent for $1,200-$1,400 per month. Edison and surrounding towns have lots of movie theaters, restaurants, shopping centers, etc. It's a nice location in general, and you should enjoy living there. Good luck!
Couple of things:
1. On reading the other related posts, I saw that people with salary $55k with a family have been advised that they can live and survive quite comfortably well. I know it was in 2009 but I know that inflation in US is not that high. I am wondering that how is it that in $65k both of us will find it difficult to survive.
2.Good advice on getting a realtor and searching a house. I also found that you need a guarantor who needs to sign the lease. Is this true? What happens if you do not know anyone in US who can guarantee you?
I think you can live alright for 2 people on 65K. You may not be going out every weekend for dinner and movies, but if you live reasonably frugal, you'll be fine.
One of the first things you'll do after coming here is apply for SSN. You may not be able to book an apartment from there but makes sense to look for hotel stay deals in the area, for the first 2 weeks at least. Even if you did find an apartment, you'd take atleast a weekend to furnish it with basics. Getting around, that's a bigger problem that needs to be solved. There is a large Indian population here, and we do have a few movie theaters that play Indian movies. How much you save obviously depends on your lifestyle but practically speaking setup costs will defer this for some months, I'd think.
Middlesex County, NJ, has one of the highest proportions of Indians and Indian-Americans in the US (especially Edison, Iselin, and South Brunswick), so if you're looking for things like Indian restaurants, movie theaters that show Indian films (and have samosas available at the concessions stands) then you should be fine. Also, in that area you shouldn't have any more trouble finding work than anyone else would--the fact that your degree isn't from an American university shouldn't be a problem at all, for example. I would expect a decent apartment in that area close to a train station to run $1200-1600 for 1 bedroom or a small 2 bedroom with 1 bathroom, maybe a balcony but no yard, in a decent complex.
I would say your husband should talk to the office of his job that's arranging the transfer, they probably have more experience with things like the apartments than I do! When my husband moved here he sublet a room in an apartment at first (so someone else's name was the main one on the lease, and he paid the money to that person), but he was single. Not so easy for a couple!
If you want to live in an apartment in a relatively nice area and have one car, not a very expensive one, and do inexpensive things for fun (like movies, moderately priced restaurants, and out door things like hiking), then $65K should be fine. I would count on losing between 1/4 and 1/3 of that to taxes and things like your health insurance premium, retirement savings, etc., but you should be able to save a bit each month. If you were to have kids, or want to buy a house or even get a bigger apartment or nicer cars or eat at nice restaurants and go to the theater, then $65K would be tough.
I think you can live alright for 2 people on 65K. You may not be going out every weekend for dinner and movies, but if you live reasonably frugal, you'll be fine.
^^^^^^This
Figure at your lower scale of $1200 for rent, you will still need 1st month rent, last month rent/security and realtor commission(usually 1 month's rent).
Then add some basic overhead
*Food Cost - $500 month (about $18 a day total for both)
*Home Electric/Gas - $100 month
*Public Transportation into city (assuming 1x a week to NYC) - $120 month
*Transportation to and from work, assuming 1 car for the two of you -$150/month lease
*basic cell phone plan - $70/month for both
*making some assumptions:
$1200 base + $940 basic overhead: $2140/month
annual overhead spend: $25,680
On a 65k salary, figure you yield about $37,000 for the year after taxes.
So that would leave about $11,320 or about $950 month.
But remember you still have the $2400 to cover for security deposit + realtor fee. I'm also not including basic amenities like TV/Cable, internet service, buying furniture, clothing, supplies, or misc spend, etc. So that 'surplus' can likely be spent very easily unless you live on basic amenities and stay on the cheap. Very little left over for nights out on the town, movies, dinners out, and savings. A second income, no matter how small, would be a pretty significant lift in what you can save.
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