Scared - Advice Please

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Seminole
Just want to echo Julie's comments. An extended vacation is really just that. If it were possible to volunteer to assist someone in the kind of business you might be interested in buying for at least half of your vacation stay, that would be extremely valuable. Pay careful attention to Julie's advice as she has walked the road you are contemplating. If relocating to Florida is a serious prospect, the very least of your concerns is how the immigration official will treat you.

Florida property values are escalating and certainly much more quickly in the last couple of years than previously. But I don't think it is a bubble, Chrizzy, as Florida is a magnet for many wealthy Americans planning to retire as opposed to Massachusetts. UK buyers aren't driving up the price as much as American baby boomers beginning to retire and relocate to Florida. The most direct effect is on the coast, especially east coast, in which even affluent UK buyers have been priced out of the market. Many UK E2 visa holders I know are surprised at the increase in the relative cost of everything and how tough the business environment is in Florida. So, please, carefully do your homework before making the decision.
[/quote]

Remember I live on Cape Cod...the playground of the very rich.....and I've been told the bubble busts here on and off........ and people expect to pay over the top prices to have the kennedys as neighbours.....

If the baby boomers stopped buying on the Cape...our house would drop in half in price over night...and it has done in the past.....and many people from here....who are well off...are now not buying a second home in FL like they used too because of the cost......more people are also buying to retire on the Cape because they are more willing to pay the larger prices for a Cape home then they are for one in FL......

[esprit]

Abosultely right Seminole. This isnt a cheap country to actually live in , especially with gas ( petrol) now at $2.08 and worse to come apparently, Yes I know it is still cheap by UK standards but we do miles more mileage here than we ever did in the UK. Other expensive things are gas and electricity, insurances of all types and health insurance. And the supermarket prices are going up and up with the low echange rate now seriosuly starting to affect the price of imported food and goods.

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by esprit
Abosultely right Seminole. This isnt a cheap country to actually live in , especially with gas ( petrol) now at $2.08 and worse to come apparently, Yes I know it is still cheap by UK standards but we do miles more mileage here than we ever did in the UK. Other expensive things are gas and electricity, insurances of all types and health insurance. And the supermarket prices are going up and up with the low echange rate now seriosuly starting to affect the price of imported food and goods.
[/quote]

Our gas is at $1:70
Bills.....enough said.........

If I had a warm winter home it would cost me over $350 a month.......

[Seminole]

Julie, more and more small business owners in the US are grappling with profound increases in the cost of doing business. I know you've dealt with the absurd cost of mandatory worker's compensation insurance premiums. Health insurance is simply driving many people out of business now. If you are self-employed in the US, your monthly premiums can be more than your mortgage payment. I am aware of one gentleman with a non-life threatening "pre-existing condition" that the health insurer will cover but he has to pay nearly $20,000 in premiums for coverage for his family and himself as a self-employer. In the last ten years, employment law has become a ridiculous tangle and largely incomprehensible to small US employers let alone someone coming from the UK on an E2 visa. The benefit of a non-union environment is off set by the numerous rules and restraints on non-discriminatory work environments and you can imagine that a UK visa holder must be extremely careful in dealing with employees who may feel that your status can give them certain "liberties" in the work place.

[esprit]

Dont get me on the topic opf workers comp. Funnily enough the business brokers never mention its exitance so I knew nothing of the fact that it was an huge problem umtil I arrived. It is like that with everything. Business brokers are on commission. They are hardly likely to go out of their way to tell you, are they?