Pulaski

That can depend on quirks of timing and fate. My landlord when I lodged as a student was a teacher in Wimbledon and close to retirement, his wife had never worked outside the home, but his semi was worth over £1million! (He'd bought it in 1970 for $4k, and inflation took care of the rest.) He sold it shortly after retirement, moved about 2 miles, and likely pocketed close to $800k tax free!

Similarly, I bought a small 2 bed terrace house in a nearby area when I was earning rather less than your $52k, and between having my offer accepted and closing 6 weeks later the market price moved so much (about 12% and it was one of about 1,000 similar houses so it was always possible to use that sort of generalisation) that I could not have afforded to buy it "at market" on the day I moved in. Over the following 5 years my career progressed, and my salary more than doubled, but so did the market price of my house, such that when I finally sold it I could still not have afforded to buy it "at market" on the day I sold it! If Mrs P and I had tried to start a family there, buying a 3 bed terrace would have just about crushed us.

Bob

Indeed. We know some folks who moved from a bit of a shit hole area of Mass and moved to out near where the inlaws live.

Cost of housing is about a quarter of what they were paying, now being $600 a month on a mortgage that now also includes property tax and insurance on a $125K house with about 3 acres of land.

The kids are improving in school and the only worry is hitting a moose in the morning rather than buying the farm from a drive by shooting, which is the reason they moved to Maine in the first place.

It's a very different lifestyle with very different challenges, wants and needs but it's very survivable on a lot less money, especially if you had a job which provides insurance, which they had a transfer so was able to easily.

Sally Redux

Yeah that is wrong for LA.

I'm not too sure what the original question is, but the question for immigrants is usually not "Can I survive on that?" but "Is it worth moving for?"

Bink

Where I'm from in the UK (Berkshire) there's a lot of people that made a lot of money on the housing market (though not as much as your Teacher I don't think! ). My Mum made 1000% when she sold the house I grew up in... The prices are still crazy even with the downturn.
The housing market may well be one reason I don't return to the UK. Especially afer having lived in big houses in Texas my money wouldn't go very far on a house in SE England...

HarryTheSpider

Do you hope to be a double income household, or do you both have jobs to go to?

The reason I ask is we assumed Mrs HTS would quickly find work - we're here in Phoenix because my company needed me here.

Anyway, 2+ years in and no work yet. There were complications initially with her health. She's an extremely good, experienced & capable exec secretary, happy to do anything... We came here in a down economy, discovered after the fact that employment practices are very different, that most hiring managers & the HR intern that does initial screening won't touch a non US person when there are plenty of more familiar USC applicants...

So we're struggling a little just now. If we knew then what we know now we'd have negotiated a different package and done a few things differently.

Healthcare is the other big unknown financial variable here.

We could have lived in a much cheaper part of town, but from what we saw of such places, we chose not to...

Bink

I was having this discussion with my employees the other day at work. I believe that living in a nice place should be a priority. There's nothing worse than having a hard day at work and then where you live depressing you. I would drop other 'luxuries' such as having nice cars to live somewhere nicer if that were to give me a better quality of life rather than living somewhere cheap and spending the extra on other luxuries such as nice cars etc.

One of my guys was so set on saving money he was living somewhere where there was mold and yet driving a brand new mustang...

Sorry to hear your wife hasn't found work yet HTS, hopefully the new year will bring about changes in that regard for you.

COSPhil

My fiancee has worked for the same Business (well, exceedingly large Not for Profit organization) for the last 10 years. Her salary is reasonable if not fantastic.

I have been informally offered employment with a related Not for Profit, subject to the awarding of my EAD documentation when I arrive in the US. Again, the salary on that role would be reasonable but not fantastic.

If that offer does fall through (I'm a bit of a pessimist), I have the advantage of having worked for multiple Colorado Springs based organizations as a service provider in the UK - therefore I don't think it will take me terribly long to find work.

Could all go belly up, but I think I will be okay. I am also prepared to commute to Denver, Pueblo or even Boulder if I need to in order to ensure I get some work going as soon as possible. I'd rather be working for a small amount than be sat at home.

Pumba NI

Agreed. I'm very curious about Houston. The company I work for is head quartered there, with a reasonable amount of British Expats now going over. I've never been so I've no idea what costs etc are like there. It could be an option for me in future.

Bink

Well if you need advice on Houston there's a few regulars on here that live here that can help out.

Bear in mind, my perspective is for a family. When I first moved over I lived a very good life here in Houston on much less than I do now.

axc

Pumba NI, I think the earlier post that said you need 100k+ to live in Houston is correct. There are so many hidden costs, and unexpectedly high outgoings that anything under 100k will give you a modest life. I know lots of people earning way less than that and they are happy to have to drive into their gated community and not come out after dark (unless at high speed!) but we wanted to live somewhere we can walk home from the pub!

Bink

Yeah, it's not that you can't live on less, just that at least IME that's about where life starts becoming a bit more comfortable.

EDIT: And where is this pub you can walk to???!!! That's one thing I really wish we had

nbnx

As a rule of thumb if you earn under $50k you are in survival mode. $50k-75k, you have some breathing room. Over $75k there may be some enjoyment for you. Keyword being may, as this depends on location, level of debt, personal circumstances. Average salary in the US is around $35k.

HarryTheSpider

Of all the cars to make a sacrifice for - I hope it was an old old one from 35+ years ago. I had a new one for a week. It was utterly soulless, cheap plastic interior, poor handling on corners (so typical US car then!)...

Living in a nice neighbourhood was very important for us, and we don't regret that decision at all. I took a wrong turn yesterday and ended up in a different part of town I've not been in before. I'm glad it wasn't dark...

I'm sure Mrs HTS will find work soon - cheers.

COSPhil

35k! Wow, I hope I don't end up low down.

When people are quoting 50-75k breathing - is that household. I must admit we are aiming for a minimum of 80k between us.

My better half also makes crafts and regularly sells them, so there is a small income from that which we want to develop into an online store to generate further income.

Pulaski

Yes, I think we're all talking household income, I certainly was. When good non-managerial white collar and skilled blue collar jobs in most cities can (though not necessarily do) pay $50-$60k, and more in some occupations and in high-cost cities, many two income homes have over $100k aggregate income.