mpala

Hi There

My wife and got the Green card lottery (DV) we have got our immigrant visas and looking to move to the US, I work for an American financial services firm based in the UK at the moment.

In terms of location we are thinking of the State of California, very broadly of course. What is the financial hub of CA? is it San Francisco.

I know the job market is really bad in the US but trying to get a transfer within. Are state taxes very high in California?

Ok so narrowing down to LA (West LA or Studio city), San diego, San Francisco, or if you have any suggestions would be great!!!

In terms of rent, How much are apartments to rent per month? 2 bedroom, With 30 minutes of commuting to work?

What is the average price of property? say a 3-4 bed house in the suberbs, 2500 sqft. With 30 minutes of commuting to work?

Do most cities in CA have public transit?

How much vacation do people get per year (compared to the 6 weeks in the UK)

We are looking to start a new life, looking for places that we can find jobs in, decent weather, affordable housing, low crime, and a place that we can fly to asia for holidays. If you have had similer experiances please do give details.

Thanks

m pala

Bob

Welcome to BE.

Moving when not having a job, that's risky, but whatever floats your boat.

Rent ain't cheap, certainly in a nice area within a decent under side of an hours commute of anywhere.

Taxes are high in CA, and depending on where, you might have local taxes on top of the federal and state taxes.

Public transport, generally, if it's offered, it's shit and not something to be relied on, certainly without having a car as back up, though you could probably get away with it if you lived down town San Fran and worked somewhere near public transport sort of thing.

holiday, well have a search of the forums, depending on the sector and how senior, you can be looking at nothing and then getting 5 days after a year or starting at a year. Highend jobs tend to offer around 20 days, but that doesn't always mean that public holidays are on top or that it is paid or that there is sick leave on top.

Anyway, I wouldn't say affordable housing would be a reason to move to CA...it's generally not great, sure prices are going down, but there's a reason for that...

Mummy in the foothills

I love San Francisco but we can't afford to live there.
you can look at homes here
www.realtor.com lots of different agents all on one site.

notacrime

I can speak to San Francisco, as I lived there for 6 years and for 5 of those I worked in the finance industry.

San Francisco is the financial capital of the west coast. Most of the financial firms in SF are fund managers, hedge funds and private equity rather than investment banks. There are investment banking operations, but they tend to be M&A and dealer branches servicing west coast businesses.

The big players in SF are Barclays Global Investors, Wells Fargo (Wachovia), Charles Schwab and Union Bank of California. Bank of America have some operations, as do many other commercial banks. And there are dozens of smaller asset managers and hedge funds.

San Francisco is serviced by the BART rail system, ferries and commuter buses. Using these you can reach SF in less than an hour from much of the SF Bay Area. A 2 bedroom flat in a decent neighborhood within 30 mins of downtown SF would range from $1600 on the lower end in Oakland or Berkeley, to $2200 and up in SF itself. We lived in a 2 bedroom flat in Noe Valley, one of the nicest neighborhoods in SF, and paid $2150 a month for a 2 bedroom flat with a garage. Prices have risen slightly since then, but not drastically. Most flats are rented privately and are advertised on craigslist.org

Most companies will give you 10 days vacation, plus public holidays and some 'personal' days (usually about 3 days that you can use at short notice, but that cannot be combined with your vacation days.) Some companies offer 15 days, and many will increase your vacation with tenure.

House prices are still way overvalued. They are falling off a cliff right now, so it's hard to say where they will bottom out. Being within 30 minutes of downtown SF is going to limit your options drastically, if you upped that to 45 mins you'd have way more options. Currently the asking price for what you are looking for would be well over a million. Check out zillow.com or trulia.com if you want to see what's available.

State taxes in CA are higher than most other states in the US. Your tax burden would likely be lower in CA than in the UK once you take into account sales tax (VAT,) tax on petrol and energy, vehicle tax, TV license, council tax (there is none if you rent in CA,) and so on. Goods and services are generally cheaper. And the food is way better.

The job market is miserable right now. But if you have the right skills there are opportunities to be found.

Good luck!

md95065

Trying to get a transfer with your existing company is almost certainly your best and safest bet. Trying to find a job in the US right now is likely to be a time consuming and expensive process since you will either have to do it remotely (but be prepared to fly over at your expense for interviews) or take the risk of moving to the US without a job and having to support yourself while job hunting (which could easily take 6 months and, worst case, could take forever). You really don't want to be looking for a job while you are coping with all of the other stress (and expenses) of moving to the US.

One other thing - when looking at the cost of living in the US don't forget health insurance!

Cape Blue

I agree with a lot of what you say but not the bit in bold - the property tax is internalized in the rent cost (the 2 bed I moved from 2 months ago in the Marina was $2700) and if they add in their health ins contribution their "taxes" will be pretty similar to the UK.

Goods and services are generally cheaper (not car ins), but with the $ moving from 2 to the pound down to 1.5 this has changed somewhat. The food in a comparable city in the UK (London, Edinburgh, etc) is just as good as SF - i.e. there is a huge selection of varying quality.

mayhemuk

If you want to see previous prices and how the market is sliding around have a look at redfin.com as well.
Craigslist.com is good for finding current rents.

BigDavyG

If you ever want to move to the USA and have just won the lottery now is the time to do it regardless of any other factors.
Moving without the GC already in your pocket will be extremely difficult if not nigh on impossible for you.

If you have the cash the exchange rate is great for you now - I would move out if I could afford to take a year's career break and if you get a job here after 2 months then you're well in front.

Jerseygirl

How is the exchange rate great at the moment...it's just under $1.50 to the pound?

Bob

well if your heading the other way, it'll be fab

Jerseygirl

Yes it is...but the person Davy replied to are heading this way from the UK.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

I'm a native Californian. The state is quite big -- the major metropolitan areas are Bay Area LA/Orange Counties and San Diego & Sacramento.

I don't think there is a real "financial capital" any more. Bank of America used to be headquartered in San Francisco, but it was bought out by a North Carolina Bank which then adopted the name nationwide. Wells Fargo is still based in San Francisco. That said, there are a lot of financial firms located in Los Angeles. Back in the 80's Michael Milken worked out of Los Angeles for a New York firm [and was convicted in NY]. From the corner of Lake and Colorado in Pasadena, one can see the headquarters of "IndyMac" and "Countrywide." Of course, those two did have some problems recently.

Public transit depends upon where you are and where you work. This true both in LA and the Bay Area. Public transit is getting better in LA and I happen to use it lot. My office is near the Hollywood/Vine Red Line Station -- the Red Line takes me to Immigration Court and CIS all the time [easier and cheaper than driving or parking]. The 180/181 buses from Pasadena stop half a block from my house and end at Hollywood/Vine station. SF has Muni and BART.

Housing can get expensive -- it depends upon where you want to live.

Paid vacation -- if employer gives it -- usually 2 weeks to begin. But it can vary.

No national health!

Taxes -- California does have an income tax which is generally pegged to the Federal income tax. There is a sales tax -- this is not quite comparable to the VAT and food is not taxed. California is going through a budget crisis right now and the state constitution requires 75% vote of the legislature to pass. There is a basic dispute on how much to raise taxes -- either zero or something more than zero.

Curiously, about 12 years back there was a state surplus and as a way to give it back it was decided to lower the car registration fees. When the surplus was refunded, the fees went up by operation of law. The successor governor was blamed for "raising taxes" and was recalled and we got Arnold. Arnold had the fee increase repealed. Over the years, this has caused a $42 billion decrease in funds collected. By way of strange coincidence, the budget shortfall is now $42 billion.

On cell phones, you pay for both incoming and outgoing calls. However, no one pays extra to call a cell phone. Many Brits think this is an offense against nature. However, my dual-national brother-in-law notes that the overall charges for his US cell are much lower than his UK-mobile.

BigDavyG

Yup - no point in moving out for a trial if you'll likely end up moving back and your earnings from the US don't amount to much

scrubbedexpat091

Curiously, about 12 years back there was a state surplus and as a way to give it back it was decided to lower the car registration fees. When the surplus was refunded, the fees went up by operation of law. The successor governor was blamed for "raising taxes" and was recalled and we got Arnold. Arnold had the fee increase repealed. Over the years, this has caused a $42 billion decrease in funds collected. By way of strange coincidence, the budget shortfall is now $42 billion.

That is way too simplistic a view of the recall of Davis.


In December 1999 California had a budget surplus of 2.6 billion, by December 2002, California was facing a record deficit.

When the dot come bubble burst in 2000 Davis and his friends in the legislature continued spending even though tax revenues were slowing.

Add the power crisis in 2001 where many saw huge increases in their monthly bills and Davis perceived lack of leadership.

Add the 2002 record deficit which in Davis said was 21 billion in November 2002, and then dropped a bombshell in December 2002 when he announced the actual deficit would be 34 billion.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...51C1A9649C8B63

Add that the 2003 budget passed in August relied heavily on loans and not fixing the problems California faced.

Davis was justly recalled with 55% of voters voting to recall him from office. (Native Californian here)

Davis made poor choices and the voters finally got fed up with those choices and he was unpopular, in June 2003 64% of Californians disliked the way he was handling his job. 66% disliked his handling of the state budget and taxes.

The big issue in California is the democrats and their special interest buddies.

Democrats have controlled the state senate since 1970, and except for a 1 year period in 95-96 the assembly has also been controlled by the democrats.

Manc

So come April and it's time for California to issue millions of state income tax refund checks......... what's gonna happen?