big life decision, need input

[theken]

K, well here goes. I am married have 2 kids own a house have debt like everybody else. I make really good money for not having an education in Calgary, (around a 80 before tax if that matters, it might) i also work another job over the winter at a recognizable soft drink company.

My situation is this, i fucking hate Calgary, i hate the weather, i hate snow, i hate Deerfoot i am just not pleased with living here, i have been here my entire life and i want a change.

I can possibly transfer south (possibly) i will take quite a pay cut, but i have found huge fucking houses where i would only have around 145,000 mortgage. (This is Vegas by the way) i live in a 1800 sq ft house now, i would be looking at a 3100-3400 house down south.

Am i being practical by making this decision or should i deal with this shit hole for another 5 years (if my job stays stable that long) or should i talk to my other employer and leave? i really can't stand it here much longer

[Benny]

Originally posted by theken
K, well here goes. I am married have 2 kids own a house have debt like everybody else. I make really good money for not having an education in Calgary, (around a 80 before tax if that matters, it might) i also work another job over the winter at a recognizable soft drink company.

My situation is this, i fucking hate Calgary, i hate the weather, i hate snow, i hate Deerfoot i am just not pleased with living here, i have been here my entire life and i want a change.

I can possibly transfer south (possibly) i will take quite a pay cut, but i have found huge fucking houses where i would only have around 145,000 mortgage. (This is Vegas by the way) i live in a 1800 sq ft house now, i would be looking at a 3100-3400 house down south.

Am i being practical by making this decision or should i deal with this shit hole for another 5 years (if my job stays stable that long) or should i talk to my other employer and leave? i really can't stand it here much longer

I really don't thinking that Vegas would be a better place to live than Calgary.

[theken]

weather, i am also looking at phoenix, or florida somewheres

[tjtd00]

In exactly the same boat. Although I would rather move south. I'm tired of all the crap here so I am going the route of small town alberta. Taking a pay cut but keeping my house and renting it. Seems fool proof right now but I guess we will see. Main thing i would suggest to you is, if your sick of calgary, think of how busy vegas is. Roads are worse..piles of tourists and in the summer hot as fuck. The thought is very romantic with the cost of huge houses, but to me I am sick of the same things why would I want to make it worse?? Anyways good luck with your decision.

[BigShow]

After a week in the summer in Vegas, you'll be on your knees wishing it was colder.

[theken]

i deal with heat, i have been to cuba and hot places, and heat doesn't bother me at all, when i look at the weather and -30 here and plus 21 above all over the south i get sad

[dannie]

I think the thing you need to think about is your family first.


Is Vegas a place your wife can get a job easily? Would she enjoy the heat as much? How about your kids? Is Vegas a good place to raise kids? Will moving them to another country affect them in a negative way? Will you all be too far away from family? Will you know people there to make it a little easier?

If you were on your own with no family, I would tell you to go for it, you only live once. But with a wife and two kids, you shouldnt think about it as JUST yourself.

Talk it out with your wife, make a pros and cons list, and if the pros outweigh the cons; then go for it.

[rizfarmer]

there are more important things you have to consider then the weather and Deerfoot.

We take a lot of things for granted as Canadians, the biggest being the cost of healthcare. If you take a paycut going down south then have to shell out $500+ per month just to insure your family's health then you may not even be able to afford it.

sure, year round golfing and no sub zero temperatures are nice, but this is not a quick decision to make based on emotion and opinions on beyond... especially if you have a [young] family.


Personally i would create a budget down to the penny of my cash outlays to live and enjoy life. Then replicate that budget in the states. After you've done this then see if the move makes sense financially.

[theken]

wife is down, i think education opportunities are better, i am thinking more southern states, i used vegas as an example, but southern cali arizona florida nevada are all options

[RY213]

Ive come to learn that quality of life is so much more important than money. Dont let your well paying job here hold you back from moving somewhere where you will enjoy every aspect of life. I agree with you about Calgary, it sucks here. Its dead for 6 months of the year, theres no culture besides hick culture and most people here are only driven by money. If I had the opportunity to move to the US, I would be gone...

[TomcoPDR]

If you can justify that the kids will have equal or better opportunities than Calgary, then it's a no brainer.

There're a lot of immigrants who come to North America seeking that "American dream" for their kids, only to leave their comfortable, secure place in their home land and to become a taxi driver, dish washer, dry cleaner, etc... (nothing wrong with these careers, but considering they were doctors, lawyers, businessman back home)

Also are your kids the popular type in school? Cuz that could change when the environment changes... It's a lot harder for kids to deal with changes than adults. JMO

[theken]

my 1 kid is 2, and my other is popular in school, she makes friends relatively easily, she is not the "smart" child so she doesn't have
edit
i drive a truck, i wouldn't be leaving a glamorous job to be something not as nice like cab driver and what not

[Hakkola]

Originally posted by Benny



I really don't thinking that Vegas would be a better place to live than Calgary.

Yeah it is, my best friend lives there, he doesn't drink or gamble or anything and he still loves it there. It's an actual city, not a huge town like Calgary.

Originally posted by BigShow
After a week in the summer in Vegas, you'll be on your knees wishing it was colder.

Really? I was wearing jeans in +40 weather down there for a week. I find humidity and plus 25 in coastal cities much more uncomfortable than any Vegas weather I've experienced.

OP- It doesn't matter if you're making less down there, it isn't just houses that are cheaper, every fucking thing is cheaper, food, clothes etc... Do it.

[modded46]

Wow nothing like a bunch of people that know they will never leave Calgary trying to talk you out of moving to the US.

Unbelievable.. OK so I'm sure I'm going to get flamed for this but here we go from someone that hated Calgary probably as much if not more than you do and made the move to somewhere a lot better.

K first of all. If you have the opportunity to move and get a job there you need to be very specific on what requirements need to be met by immigration.. A lot of the time, it will be easy for you to move there if you get a job offer or whatever but your wife and family might have a harder time but its not at all impossible. They will just need VISA's of some type as well to go to school and what not.


Now once you have that sorted out. Are you renting in Calgary right now or do you own a house?? Reason I ask this is because even though you might be able to put a big down payment on a house in the U.S. without having any credit history here when you move it will be next to impossible to get a mortgage. You will probably have to rent for at least 6-12 months before you have enough credit in order to get a mortgage.. I've been here for a year now and I just finally got enough history to get a unsecured credit card.. Credit is VERY tight here and you basically have to have perfect credit with a lot of history to get anything. If you have a co-signer who's in the US already with good credit then all that wouldn't be an issue at all.

Ok with all that out of the way.. You will LOVE the weather.. I was here for 2 months and never wanted to see cold weather again.. Anyone that tells you it's too hot has no clue what they are talking about.. it honestly can't get hot enough IMO.. Reason being, unless you're working outdoors you really don't do a lot outdoors.. You go outdoors and make sure you drink a lot of water and moderate how much time you're out and then go into A/C when you get too hot.

Health Care.. There are some MAJOR disadvantages that people don't realize when you live in a socialized health care system. I've only had to go to the doctor here once so far but it was amazing the difference.. You don't wait for hours upon hours at a walk in clinic.. You walk in and the place I went to I was in and seeing the doctor within 15-20 min.. I then had an ultrasound done and instead of waiting weeks and weeks to get one scheduled I was in the next day for it. Grant you it's not cheap to afford insurance if you're paying for it on your own and more so if you're paying for a whole family. But it's VERY rare that your employer won't cover some if not all of the money costs.. My particular employer plays 80% so for me it costs about $30.00 a month for insurance.. My wife also has insurance and her employer pays for all of hers... It's always better to have a primary and secondary insurance company.

Next.. you can't just think about the cost of the house vs. what you have in Calgary.. The WHOLE cost of living is a LOT less.. So just because you're not making as much money in Vegas or somewhere else, that doesn't say you're going to have any less of quality of life.. You wouldn't have or very limited heating costs and electric for A/C is very inexpensive.. Gas for your car is basically half of what it costs in Canada as well as groceries, entertainment, school supplies, you name it are all at least 30% cheaper.

I can't remember the web site, but do a search for cost of living calculators and find out what the cost of living would be for various places in the U.S. and that might give you an idea of where you wanna live.. Also, if you're considering Florida, there are a couple things I should tell you from people I've met that have moved up from Florida.. Insurance there is VERY expensive because of the hurricane threat every year.. The housing market there is probably worse than anywhere else in the US as the number of foreclosures if very high and bank failures as well.

I would stick to looking at Vegas, Phoenix or you can always look at South Carolina!! I'm a little biased towards this area, but it really is the best of both worlds.. It's warm, there are actual seasons, Atlanta and Charlotte are both within a few hours as well as Columbia.. The people are REALLY friendly and it takes a long time to get used to people actually saying hi to you when you're out shopping and stuff.. It kinda freaked me out when I first got here..

So with all that being said.. I absolutely love the move that I made.. No human should have to live that shit hole of a city where you are a prisoner to weather, cost of living, horribly designed roadways etc.. There are more highways and roads here that are 3+ lanes each way and the city is a third of the size that Calgary is.. It's called PROPER PLANNING. Something that Calgary has no clue how to do.

I could go on and on but I won't as I'm sure I pissed off enough people that will never know what it's like to live somewhere that you ACTUALLY want to be unless you're a diehard winter sport person. YES there are those people and good on yah for loving cold weather. I nor the OP are those type of people so trust me on this one, you won't regret moving from there for a second.

Please feel free to PM me if you want real opinions on what it's like to live in the U.S. not just from people that visited there for a week and think they know everything about what it's like..

BTW, I've lived in Seattle & Detroit before as well and SC by far is the best place I've ever lived.. Yes god forbid better than Calgary.. hahah After 8 years of the shit in that city I was ready to leave or kill someone.. period.

[modded46]

I'll add some comments on what other people have posted..

Originally posted by RY213
Ive come to learn that quality of life is so much more important than money. Dont let your well paying job here hold you back from moving somewhere where you will enjoy every aspect of life. I agree with you about Calgary, it sucks here. Its dead for 6 months of the year, theres no culture besides hick culture and most people here are only driven by money. If I had the opportunity to move to the US, I would be gone...

I couldn't have said that better myself.. I bet if you took a poll and people actually spoke the truth instead of just "telling themselves" that they like to be in Calgary, at least 80% would say they would live somewhere else if given the choice.. It's all about money and when all is said and done, how long can you justify that you're happy when money is the only thing driving you.

[theken]

my wife has no education, she runs a dayhome, i would be taking a job doing the same thing as here, or sale within the company, the question is would they actually take me as it is a job where anybody (essentially) can take the job?

[rizfarmer]

Originally posted by theken
my wife has no education, she runs a dayhome, i would be taking a job doing the same thing as here, or sale within the company, the question is would they actually take me as it is a job where anybody (essentially) can take the job?

You and your wife probably would have very little luck obtaining employment in the States given you don't have any specific skills in demand and you are foreign.

I don't know why you would be even considering this move unless your company has offered you a position.

The answers you need right now are not found on beyond

[modded46]

unfortunately probably not then.. You would have to classify for H2-B or NAFTA free VISA in order to get there legally. Do you have a degree that is related to your work?

[01RedDX]

.

[modded46]

Originally posted by 01RedDX
You mention education opportunities, but you should be aware of the costs of education in the US. You should also be aware that it's difficult to get working visas for both you and your wife right off the bat, so you may be on a single income for a while. As far as living, you've mentioned a couple of nice places, but consider the differences between visiting and living somewhere. Personally, the only place I would want to live in the US is NYC, but that's just my own preference. The amount of ignorance I've encountered in other parts of the States is astounding. This means a lot coming from someone who lives in Calgary LOL. You haven't mentioned any other immediate or extended family in Calgary, aside from the wife and kids, or how close you are to them. All in all, it comes down to what works best for you and your family. You could always just try it out and see for yourself.

What I think you don't understand is that just because you see ignorant people around you, doesn't mean that there aren't very intelligent people around as well, nor does it mean that YOU automatically become ignorant either.. I've met some of the smartest people i've ever known in the U.S. and at the same time I've met some of the dumbest as well. Trust me, there are a lot of stupid people in Canada as well.. Have you been to Red Deer lately? hehe

You're 100% correct though on Education & VISA's both are expensive and work is very tight right now.

Unless you have a degree and several years of experience in the job you want to go to and you have an offer on the table already you might as well forget about getting a VISA unless you have a lot of money to put into a company for an investment VISA.