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This is my first post so forgive me if I am in the wrong section.
I have been offered a role in South San Francisco but I have to get myself and my family over to the US from the UK. The company will sort the visa's etc but everything else is on me (cost of moving, flights, accommodation etc).
So I am trying to work out if we can afford it and if we will have a decent quality of life if we move there. My salary will be in the region of $140k which has to provide for a family of 4 - myself, wife and 2 children under 8. Reading around and this salary would seem to be a little low for the area but colleagues who are working and living in San Francisco are telling me it's more than what they are currently on. We have been advised to look for housing in San Mateo, Foster City area as apparently it's relatively affordable, has good schools, good local amenities and is an OK commute for work.
I am putting this question out to the locals - is it doable? At the moment we don't have an extravagant life here in the UK but we are comfortable, can afford holidays and nice things every now and then. We would be looking to rent a 3bed house, get 2 cars, put the kids in school. I don't want to move my family to the US and then we struggle to afford anything, I would hope we could afford to go out for food, go to the cinema that sort of thing.
We have some savings which we will use to get us there and for startup money (deposits, furniture etc). I was hoping for a bigger salary from the company but they are saying that's it and this is going to be the only opportunity we have for this move (which is something we have wanted to do for a long time) so we are still wavering on the side of going for it. But I want to make sure we have researched as much as possible in advance.
Any advice is very much appreciated. Any suggestions for nice areas to look with good schools and such that are affordable (it seems the average for a 3 bed is $3500)?
I'll be honest with you I think it might be a bit of a struggle on that salary especially as you have to fund the move yourself. Do you have savings you can use for that? The cost of moving is fairly inconsiderable.
I'm from the UK, moved here 3 years ago (3 kids) and my husband also works in South SF.
If you have lived in London or the greater London area then your expectations of what you can get for your money will be lower, however if you have lived anywhere else in the UK the sticker shock here will be huge. You will struggle (though not impossible) to get a 3 bed house for $3500 in a decent area with decent schools. $4500+ is far more realistic and for that you will be looking at around 1500 - 1800 square feet. Don't come with expectations of living in a big place. You definitely wont get anything for that price in Burlingame which has the best schools in that part of the peninsula. But San Mateo has fairly decent schools - you were given good advice there - I'd start your search there.
I have found the cost of living with a family here to be very expensive. You'll be amazed at how much you will pay for things like entry into museums, galleries and for things like phone contacts which are astronomical here. I hope your company will pay health and dental insurance? Fuel is about the only thing that is cheaper.
In the interest of balance I'll say the positives are you wont pay as much income tax. Despite what you might hear about the California school system, it's better than the education my kids were getting back home (IMO). Your kids will mix with kids that will be better behaved and more polite than you are used to and you will be mixing with people with higher expectations also. The weather is always great. You can travel to mountains and go skiing easily, so if you are into outdoors activities, this is the place.
Also consider homesickness which is something you need to think about carefully. How often are you going to want to go home to see family? With plane tickets at somewhere around $3000 a pop depending on when you go, can you afford that or will you just stick it out?
Sorry I'm being realistic with you - I wish people had been more realistic with me - I might have had different expectations in the beginning. I think you need to think about the reasons you are coming. We looked at it as an adventure - that we would give it 3 years and if it didn't work out we could always go home. After 3 years and we are still here and not planning on going anywhere and we are glad we came. To be honest, we are living on a bigger salary though with significant benefits and I still find everything expensive.
I think you just need be realistic with what you will be able to afford and what your expectations for quality of life will be.
My advice would be to try to do a longish visit first. Rent a car and have a good drive around as many areas as possible. Make an appointment to look at as many homes in your price range as you can while you are here. Although its a big outlay I really think it will be worth it to help you make a decision.
Use http://www.greatschools.org/ to help you decide whether you want your kids to go to the local public school. 10 is best obviously but I wouldn't drop below 7 as a rating. Look at high schools particularly.
I'll be honest with you I think it might be a bit of a struggle on that salary especially as you have to fund the move yourself. Do you have savings you can use for that? The cost of moving is fairly inconsiderable.
I'm from the UK, moved here 3 years ago (3 kids) and my husband also works in South SF.
If you have lived in London or the greater London area then your expectations of what you can get for your money will be lower, however if you have lived anywhere else in the UK the sticker shock here will be huge. You will struggle (though not impossible) to get a 3 bed house for $3500 in a decent area with decent schools. $4500+ is far more realistic and for that you will be looking at around 1500 - 1800 square feet. Don't come with expectations of living in a big place. You definitely wont get anything for that price in Burlingame which has the best schools in that part of the peninsula. But San Mateo has fairly decent schools - you were given good advice there - I'd start your search there.
I have found the cost of living with a family here to be very expensive. You'll be amazed at how much you will pay for things like entry into museums, galleries and for things like phone contacts which are astronomical here. I hope your company will pay health and dental insurance? Fuel is about the only thing that is cheaper.
In the interest of balance I'll say the positives are you wont pay as much income tax. Despite what you might hear about the California school system, it's better than the education my kids were getting back home (IMO). Your kids will mix with kids that will be better behaved and more polite than you are used to and you will be mixing with people with higher expectations also. The weather is always great. You can travel to mountains and go skiing easily, so if you are into outdoors activities, this is the place.
Also consider homesickness which is something you need to think about carefully. How often are you going to want to go home to see family? With plane tickets at somewhere around $3000 a pop depending on when you go, can you afford that or will you just stick it out?
Sorry I'm being realistic with you - I wish people had been more realistic with me - I might have had different expectations in the beginning. I think you need to think about the reasons you are coming. We looked at it as an adventure - that we would give it 3 years and if it didn't work out we could always go home. After 3 years and we are still here and not planning on going anywhere and we are glad we came. To be honest, we are living on a bigger salary though with significant benefits and I still find everything expensive.
I think you just need be realistic with what you will be able to afford and what your expectations for quality of life will be.
My advice would be to try to do a longish visit first. Rent a car and have a good drive around as many areas as possible. Make an appointment to look at as many homes in your price range as you can while you are here. Although its a big outlay I really think it will be worth it to help you make a decision.
Thanks for your response. Very detailed and informative, I really appreciate your honesty.
We have savings which will cover the costs of the move and should cover initial start up costs as well.
We lived in London for over 10 years in some small and grotty places. As we moved out the zones we did get bigger places but nothing palatial. We now own our own very small bungalow in West Sussex which is too small for us now and does not have enough bedrooms. Our expectations are OK for what we will be able to rent in the bay area.
Homesickness should not be much of an issue for us as we actually met while backpacking 13 years ago and neither of us ever felt the need to go home. We are not from the UK (we are both Irish) so although we now consider the UK home I don't think we will pine to get back there.
Luckily I have been to the US many many times with work and I spent a few weeks in San Mateo last year so I am OK with the surroundings. I will also be back in SF in a few weeks and I have a weekend planned of visiting various areas, driving around and just trying to check out as much as possible.
But being completely honest I have done a fair bit of research on costs etc and although I think we should be able to afford the move it will be tight. As I said before we do not have an extravagant lifestyle now but we are comfortable. I just want to be able to maintain that level.
Offer letter is in and salary is slightly more than initially discussed - closer to $150k than $140k plus some help with the move costs.
All going well with the visas etc we will be moving late July/early August.
I have just got back from a long stint in the US a portion of which was spent in the Bay Area. One weekend I rented a car and drive around a few areas and we have decided on San Mateo as our place to live. Only problem is the choice of rental accommodation is decreasing while the costs of what is available is increasing.
Offer letter is in and salary is slightly more than initially discussed - closer to $150k than $140k plus some help with the move costs.
All going well with the visas etc we will be moving late July/early August.
I have just got back from a long stint in the US a portion of which was spent in the Bay Area. One weekend I rented a car and drive around a few areas and we have decided on San Mateo as our place to live. Only problem is the choice of rental accommodation is decreasing while the costs of what is available is increasing.
Congratulations and good luck with the move! Housing for both sale and rent is in chronically short supply here in the Bay Area, so rents and prices vary from sky high in bad times to stratospheric in good times. The economy in the Bay Area has been pretty good the past few years (compared to the rest of the country), so a lot of that extra salary and moving costs you got may end up going to rent. The rents have really skyrocketed the past few years, unfortunately and show no sign of abating.
Congrats and I'm sure you'll find yourselves very welcome in the Bay Area. It has a large Irish expat community (along with hundreds of thousands of Irish-Americans). I hope everything goes well for you and your family on your California adventure.
Hey!
I'm new to the board also and was actually looking for something else when I stumbled across your post. I am from the UK originally so I figured I would throw in my 2 cents.
I moved here last January with my husband. He is originally from California and was living with me in the UK. He got offered a position with his company in Cupertino so we moved. Luckily, his company paid for all our relocation, so that took care of a good chunk of money - without it, it would have been pretty expensive.
So, we have no kids (except a furry panting one) and up until now, we have been living on his salary of $75,000. After taxes, he brings in around $4000 a month. Sounds pretty good, but believe me, it goes quickly. So originally we were living in San Francisco near union square...a 450 square foot apartment for $2000 a month! That's half of that money gone straight off the bat. After bills, his student loan payments and food, it probably left us with around $500 a month. Not a whole lot to do stuff with. We managed, but we certainly weren't going out a whole ton. Luckily for us we are quite happy just walking around.
We moved to San Jose last November as it was closer for my husbands work. We got a a 900 square foot, 1 bedroom place in downtown San Jose for $1500. Much better in the price department, but honestly, there's a reason it's cheap - it's San Jose...not the greatest of areas.
I agree with the poster who said that whilst you may find somewhere for $3500 don't be expecting a a huge house or anything. Landlords charge a ridiculous amount of rent in the Bay area. It's not like in London where it's expensive in the middle and then cheaper on the outskirts - it's expensive in the outskirts!!
As far as cost of living...it's expensive! It's different living here than coming for vacation - trust me. I had been here many times before, for longer stretches, before we moved here. But it's not the same as living here. The thing is, when you come on vacation you are always mentally working out the dollar to pound ratio in your head when you buy stuff, so it always seems cheaper than it actually is. When you are dealing in dollars as you main currency, you realize it's not that cheap. You'll also find that things like cellphone plans are way more money here.
Now, there are always things you can do to cut back on costs, and you'll figure it out as you go along (store reward cards, coupons etc).
Is your company paying for your families medical insurance? Because if not, that's another thing to consider. Be aware that any visit you make usually has a copay attached to it - not like the UK when you just turn up!
I think $140k for your family is doable certainly, but I you're definitely going to have to make a big point of actively saving for things like vacations and stuff like that. It might be worth going on a salary checker site (if you haven't already) and seeing what your take-home is going to be after tax each month. I believe you would be claiming for 3 dependents when it comes time to check that part. That way you can see what you have each month and use it to get a better idea of how much you want to be paying in rent and work back from that. You can get an idea of prices for cellphones and internet, tv etc online, so you can put that in the mix. I don't know how you are with electric/water/gas bills - we don't pay for water or trash here, but we do pay for electric and gas and the bill is average $60 a month. That reminds me - you don't pay a council tax over here, so unless it's included in the rent, you will be paying separately for sewage and trash! Maybe use what you pay now for food as a guide for what you will pay here (although it may be a little higher), check out cars and get an idea of what you would pay for that including insurance, schools, other transport etc. Once you've worked out (roughly) what each monthly outgoing will be, then you can have a better idea of what you will have as disposable income.
I think that's the best advice I can give you. It's a much bigger move than you probably think, and honestly, for you to make an informed decision requires a good amount of research to weigh up the pros and the cons. It's a great experience and would definitely be one for your kids, and there are a lot of great things about moving here, but be realistic! It's not an extended holiday at the end of the day!!
Oh, and San Mateo seems like a nice area, if that's where you decide to move!
You will be at a huge disadvantage at $55k/yr. People making a good bit less will have subsidized housing options and people making more will be able to afford market-rate rents.
Theres no way you can afford to live in the city unless you get room mates. You could always take a $25k pay cut and then see if you can qualify for welfare and subsidized housing.
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