Where in N.America should I live ??

[Wittlich]

I understand where you're coming from MrFun!

[Wittlich]

I concur with MRT - I think you would love California... like a kid in a candy store!

[MRT144]

If i can share the joy of living in california with just one person then id die a happy man.

[Wittlich]

On a side note, MrFun: What's your Masters going to be in?

[RedFred]

With apologies to everyone from the States, there are a couple of problems south of the line.

Many places, such as good IT spots in California are in spots where the car is king. So many complaints I have heard from people who have headed down there centre around the amount of time spent in a car on a given day. Daily commutes can be excessively long. Many people here walk to work or take a 15 minute bus ride.

The racial mix in the States is also different. I know a couple south Asians who say they are always mistaken for blacks down in the States. And well many US cities have sizable S. Asian minorities, sometimes the level of acceptance isn't as high. Our current senior federal cabinet minister is Herb Daliwal; one recent BC Premier was Ujjal Dosanjh.

Vancouver is a great city for people who love to participate in sports and for people who love the outdoors. Although the violent crime rate is only a fraction of any large city in the US, the property crime rate is high here.

Of course, the money will be greater almost anywhere in the States.

[MRT144]

redfred, your car problem is cherished by americans...i personally love driving. its simply a difference in culture.

and i doubt anyone in the bay area would mistake an indian as black.

bay area does have crime in spots although those tend to be localized to areas of cities that have lower income. or cities with lower income. as an IT professional i doubt you would live in East Palo Alto or East Oakland or Bay view/ hunter's point district of san francisco.

of course we dont have universal healthcare

[cavebear]

You might want to consider the Northern Virginias suburbs of Washington DC. For one thing, it's a relatively good area for IT experts. For another, there are some of "everybody" there. Being next to Washington DC, there are people from all over the world. If one wishes to find a community of "their own", they are there, plus there are all the others to experience if you want to (and I think that is a good thing).

Aside from that (but connected to it), there is the combination of multicultural activities, national and international politics, arts and museums, major and minor sports, and varieties of geographical interests (from ocean to mountains in 100 miles).

You might also want to consider both climate and weather. Some parts of the US have extremes of both. Washington DC area is balanced and generally free from the extremes. It doesn't rain here constantly (like the US Northwest) nor is it constantly dry (like most of the West). It is neither as constantly hot in the Summer as the South nor as constantly cold as the North. We don't have earthquakes (like California), tornadoes as in the Mid-West (the one we did have last year was a bizarre and relatively minor exception), droughts are rare (and we have plenty of running rivers anyway). We hardly even get hailstorms and those are small hail.

I might add that the area tends to have international grocery stores...

I settled here for a reason, and I've stayed here for 40 years for that reason: "no extremes".

[The Viceroy]

Thanks for all your info chaps, I am going to investigate SF, and see what happens.

As for Gas prices, ha ha ha .. you guys have no idea, here in the UK we pay just under 80p($1.30)a litre, trust me, its much much more that you do(wouldn't like to translate that into $/gallons

I am aware that people often mistake Indians for Mexican's or African's, thats not so much of an issue, here, people think they are all from Pakistan, which is much more insulting for an Indian.

Vancouver I've heard about also, I may visit some time this year as well as SF, Ive got a good friend who lives downtown SF, so can get a good look around.

I will see what kind of wages are on offer, I have no intention to undercut myself obviously, neither do I want to overprice myself, considering the additional hasstle of employing somebody who requires a work permit.

I'll see how it goes

ta again

[Dinner]

Originally posted by The Viceroy
What can you buy for 250k in SF ?

For that price you might be able to buy a picture of someone else's house.

Seriously, your talking seven digits for a fixer upper house. Price's do get more reasonable if you go out side the city limits but you'd still have to double your amount to buy an apartment.

Look in cities like Vancouver, Seattle, or even San Diego. The further north you go the worse the weather and the lower the prices and the converse is also true. Still, you can buy a nice starter home for around $350k in San Diego. That's good when you consider the city is routinely voted the best place to live in America.

[MRT144]

earthquakes arent THAT common...at least ones that cause any damage...and it isnt that dry here either. we have enough water to go around and with the agriculture business slowly shrinking we will have more water.

i do like washington DC a lot though...it feels like it could be a second home to me. its like san francisco without the weather or scenery but all the quaintness...

[The Viceroy]

Ive been looking at the house prices, and sure enough, they kind of start at the 325k range .. far too small for my liking, I live in a 4bedroom detached property here in the UK, and although Im happy to come down to 3bed, Im not going back to a 2bed .. ha ha .. no chance.

[DanS]

The Northern Virginia and Silicon Valley tech cultures are a lot different from one another. A lot of DC tech revolves around the needs of the government, which are reasonably steady and predictable. DC is a conservative place (not politically), where ties were removed from the dress code only a couple of years ago.

Even in the tech depression, Silicon Valley is one big tech incubator--very entrepeneurial, very exciting. More boom-bust. Always the new, new.

Anyways, DC is hot as hades during the Summer (and don't say it isn't, because it is ). That rules things out for him. Seattle, San Diego and Boston seem like good places to consider State-side. I would consider all of them.

Viceroy: What business is your wife in?

[The Viceroy]

DanS, where is a good place to live in DC ? is it expensive like San Francisco (in other words, can you get a 3 bedroom house in a reasonable neighbourhood for under $300k) ??

[DanS]

Take everything in SF and 60% it for DC.

Edit: As for good places to live, it really depends on your preferences. You can live in an urban area, like NW DC ($$) or Chevy Chase ($$$). Northern Virginian suburbs range from heavily urban ($$) to ex-urban almost rural ($ 1/2).

[The Viceroy]

Sounds better .. My 4bed detached here is now worth £140k, bought it last year for £95k, so Ive got a good wad to put down on property when I move (and pay for the shifting process). Where in WashingtonDC is good, and where's best to avoid ?