BritGuyTN

Ouch

First 40k USD per year and now you say hoffman estates

one of my friends just moved to hoffman estates

sorry if i'm offending anyone, but saying its a suburb of chicago is like saying luton is a suburb of london - they live nearly 38 miles from chicago in the most boring souless brand-new subdivision where they just spent nearly 300k on a new townhome in a location with a nazi HOA. you may have been saying its a suburb of schaumburg, if so, i'm mistaken then fair enough

in fact, its so far from chicago, we're thinking of reducing our trips to go and see them - why pay for 2 flights just to see some flat countryside, cookie cutter houses and the same crap chain restaurants we have here? going downtown becomes unrealistic from a cost/time perspective

40k usd is not comfortable to live on in nashville, which has a cheaper standard of living. several of my friends earn around this mark, and even single they find it tough and we are talking about shopping at walmart, target, old navy and tj maxx, not j crew or banana republic or publix

anotherlimey

Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg are both suburbs of Chicago; they are both very... umm what's that movie called... Pleasantville-ish! Not to everyone's taste.

Going downtown is cheap from there, only took 30 minutes down the highway, $10 in a car-park.

BritGuyTN

from where my mate lives in hoffman, its nearly 45 mins depending on traffic just to O'hare :scared:

BigDavyG

I'm confused as to why a company would go through the hassle of transferring an employee they only deem to be worth $40k.
On the other hand £40k would do alright for the area the OP is talking about.
You can pick up something more than passable for $200k.

BigDavyG

30 minutes on a sunday morning perhaps - anything up to 2 hours during the week.
Trains are good though - 50 minutes to the loop.

Sally

It sounds like you will be taking a drop in your standard of living on the terms you have described.

In my experience it is NOT cheap to live here.

Your reasons for leaving the UK sound a bit nebulous. And you are reaching an age where you may change your mind about kids.

Not trying to be negative but you need to research this really carefully.

BigDavyG

So you're not a fan of Hoffman Estates then ??

As the northwest 'burbs go I quite like schaumburg - a reasonable amount to do as long as you aren't a serious hardcore party animal. that said I wouldn't want to move any further away from the city.

I've already mentioned the commute thing - I'll be commuting daily to downtown from next month - its not the ideal situation, but the metra is good - quick, clean and pretty cheap - like I said - there are worse spots but if the OP will be unable to work and worse still have no car he may start building up his dvd collection pronto.

Jerseygirl

That's exactly what I said in my post #14.

Davy its $40K not pounds and that's possibly to support 2 people.

BigDavyG

Thanks for letting me know - I only skimmed through the thread.
In that case my question above applies - why would the company bother to bring you over then ??
Unless it is a temp move and they supply accomodation and a car I wouldn't even give it a second glance.

Jerseygirl

Yep that's what I said earlier: Re: Possibly moving - advice on situation please

What I am having difficulty understanding is, if your wife is such a valued employee that the company will be paying for your visas, green card, moving expenses etc. how come she's only getting $40K pa??

Sally

Are you there Scotty?

BigDavyG

Is there anything else you've already said, just so that I don't repeat that too
I guess I'll have to karma you for plagiarising all your stuff.

Jerseygirl

Is this like a 'knock, knock joke' like?

Jerseygirl

Err.....guess I'll have to keep my eye on you in future.

BigDavyG

ha ha - to make it worse I just blanked you