Scared - Advice Please

[esprit]

Visa considerations aside, spending the Summer here on a visa waiver and still on holiday will not in any way prepare you for living and working here permenantly. It is not only the weather considerations to be looked at here. That is the least of your worries when you move here. I could have lived here for 6 months on a B visa and would not have known what it was like trying to make a living here. The reason being quite simply that on a B visa or visa waiver, you cant work, you dont have a social security number, you still rely on your UK income and credit rating and you probably still have UK travel insurance so dont need US health insurance ( in fact, cant get it). You are going to have a great extended holiday and will probably be raring to come back to settle at the end of it. But it doesnt in any way give you a true picture.

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by esprit
Visa considerations aside, spending the Summer here on a visa waiver and still on holiday will not in any way prepare you for living and working here permenantly. It is not only the weather considerations to be looked at here. That is the least of your worries when you move here. I could have lived here for 6 months on a B visa and would not have known what it was like trying to make a living here. The reason being quite simply that on a B visa or visa waiver, you cant work, you dont have a social security number, you still rely on your UK income and credit rating and you probably still have UK travel insurance so dont need US health insurance ( in fact, cant get it). You are going to have a great extended holiday and will probably be raring to come back to settle at the end of it. But it doesnt in any way give you a true picture.
[/quote]

The first 6 months of moving over still felt like a holiday ....then the extra money you had from selling up in the UK flies out the window....and you have to live on wages alone......thats the day you work out living in the States is not a lot different from living in England.....I don't think any one should be put off trying to move over.....but the problems in the UK are the same ones you'll face in the USA......but with extra costs.....

[esprit]

Too true. We both keep telling people it is as dear to live here as in the UK if you are earning in dollars ( as we both are). It is great for those earning in £ with usch a great exchange rate at present. We earn in dollars and treat each dollar like a pound and we are about right.

[george]

Julie.
If I did that the wife would still get all the money!It's a bank holiday today so I might get extra pocket money for an ice cream!!!

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by esprit
We earn in dollars and treat each dollar like a pound and we are about right.
[/quote]

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by esprit
Too true. We both keep telling people it is as dear to live here as in the UK if you are earning in dollars ( as we both are). It is great for those earning in £ with usch a great exchange rate at present. We earn in dollars and treat each dollar like a pound and we are about right.
[/quote]

Thats what we do........thats why I think $300k is a lot to pay for a home......its like paying out three hundred thousand pounds on a home in England.......

[caroline]

Chrizzy - you've been gone toooooo long, around London you can barely buy anything for £300K

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by caroline
Chrizzy - you've been gone toooooo long, around London you can barely buy anything for £300K
[/quote]

I keep reading on the BBC news that people can't afford to buy homes in England anymore.....

A lot of local people in Orlando are going to be in the same boat soon.....the only good thing is a lot of Brits are not interest in the older homes that are still selling at normal prices.......and Brits are not buying up houses outside STR areas....keeping those price affordable for the locals.....my husband is on 4 time the average wage for our area in Mass.....but he would still find it hard to find and then buy a nice house right now at todays prices.......without a large deposit....living in a holiday area is becoming a nightmare for local people who are selling up and moving on.....its OK for us we have homes we were lucky to get before the prices doubled over night in both Mass and FL......but our kids could never get a foot on the ladder.....and thats when the house of cards comes crashing down....if you have no starter home buyers......then everything comes to a stand still......unless you have outsiders coming in.....when they stop buying house prices fall...if my Cape house had carried on going up in price like it was say 7 years ago..it would be worth $700k by now....but prices fall in the USA very quick...people stopped buying rental homes on the Cape...so prices fell.....now our area is rising in price again...making our home worth $340k......but we can only get that kind of money from retired outsiders......no one on the Cape brings home the kind of pay to buy a house much over $175k.....and you'd not get a garden shed for that........a house is only worth what people can pay for it.....I just worry whats going to happen to people who paid a lot for a FL home if the people from England stop buying......maybe people from out of State.....but they'll only buy cheaper homes because most have moved to FL because they are out of work and can buy a home outright there....if the houses cost to much......those people will look somewhere else......most STR homes are way out the pockets of locals....to keep the prices going up.....the buyers from England can't dry up because if it does.....there'll be no-one who can afford to buy the homes.......... but thats just my 2 cents.....only time will tell....I'm all doom and gloom cus its raining here and it just like being in the UK again.........but without Eastenders and custard creams........

[msncry][msncry][msncry][msncry][msncry][msncry][msncry]

[Rhosyn]

Much the same as over here chrizzy a two up two down is around £110,000 My kids will be living with us for years to come rent of the same property is around £450 a month the bubble will have to burst some time. I only hope my kids the same as yours have the same opportunity that we had and can afford to buy their own.… I think I sould have dm this to you. sorry for anybody if I have taken up a slot.
May add its cheap where i live.
Beryl

[esprit]

Its raining here too Chrizzy though at least its warm rain!!

[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.