Planning a move to seattle (sales, apartments, for rent)

[TarAldarion]

Hello evryone

My name is Aldarion im 22 yrs old and live in Oslo, Norway.
Im planning on moving to seattle and live a couple of years(Maybe forever) and have some (many) questions.

1.What is the average rent prize on appartments in seattle.(about 40-50Squaremeters). of course a decent area .i pay about 1200$ in oslo

2.How much to buy an appartment in same size.(Costs about US700.000-800.000$ in Oslo)

3. And if i want to buy can i get a loan in US or do i have to take up a loan in Norway.

4. How is the job market in seattle? is it easy to get jobs there as a chef or cook (is educated cook).

5.Whats the average salary per. month.(i earn about 3500$a month wich is 20$an our)

6. Were do i apply for an work permit. (US embassy?)

7. How much does it cost too live in seattle(food, taxi, subway, electrisity, etc.) in average a month.

8.and lots of other questions.......

plz just give me whatever info you have, that you think i should know about because i know pretty much nothing.

Thank you......

Aldarion

And also, im sorry for my bad writing. talk much better then i write.
And how about taxes?

[jabm67]

Critically important is that you will have to demonstrate to any potential employer that you are authorized to work in the US. That means a visa of the right sort, and I think you apply for those via the US Embassy in your country. I think a work permit and work visa may be the same document, but I'm not certain of that. I do not know what sort of hurdles there are for getting a work visa. I have the impression it's difficult, but I don't know for certain. If you've got a work visa, then I think the other stuff (loans, etc.) is easy. Otherwise, there's no point.

My understanding is that there is something of a glut of trained cooks & chefs in Seattle now. There are some major chef-training schools here, people tend to like it here and want to stay, which makes for too many cooks spoiling the job market.

45 square meters is about 500 square feet (remember this benighted country uses the old English unit system for most things). In general, the ads don't list the square footage of apartments; instead, they'll list them by count of bedrooms and bathrooms, with the descriptor "studio" being a codeword for an apartment where there is no wall & door between living area and sleeping area. I think you'd have no real difficulty finding an apartment for rent at $1200 a month.

The best way to check this sort of stuff out is looking at the local newspapers. Seattle has two major daily newspapers: the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Seattle Times. Google for them, and you should be able to find their ads for apartments and jobs.

My understanding is that taxes in the US are lower than taxes in western Europe, but our level of social services is also distinctly lower. There is US federal income tax. Washington has no state income tax. There is a state/county/city sales tax that I think is 8.3% of all non-food non-prescription drug sales now.

Transportation in Seattle itself ... there is no subway, but Seattle has a good (for the US) bus system. It is very difficult to get along in the US without a car, however. Only in a few of the largest cities is it reasonable to try. Seattle is one of those, but even then living car-less is more difficult than you might initially believe.

If you really make $3500US a month here, you're in OK shape, as long as you aren't stupid about your expenses.

[TarAldarion]

thank you so much for the answers...if there are any other s who got some godd tips please just let me hear them....!

[niques]

Coming from Oslo, you will find that apartments are HUGE!! and INEXPENSIVE!! :P Seriously, most one bedroom apartments (meaning one bedroom, one living room, kitchen and one full bath (shower and toilet), are about 800sq. ft. and cost would be about $1000/month and up depending on the location.

[Woof]

Ballard is where most people of Scandinavian ancestry live.

Here are some chef jobs in the Seattle Times: http://jobs.nwsource.com/js.php?q=ch...ieds&x=14&y=14

I think costs seem to be similar from what you've said, but you will pay much less for heating of course.

[TarAldarion]

a bunch....and where is ballard, near seattle?

[scirocco22]

Originally Posted by TarAldarion

a bunch....and where is ballard, near seattle?

Inside Seattle the city limits, actually. It's just north of the "ship canal" and west of Phinney Ridge. It it much more diverse than it once was, yes, decades ago it was predominantly a Scandinavian population.

--'rocco