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Bare Basics/Necessities of Life Upon Entry - Feedback from Successful DV Selectees In USA Please

Momo1980 said:
Hello my dear. When are you off to America?

By the way when I read the police certificate I was flabbergasted because of how simple it was. Did yours say at the end "but with a negative result"
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Hello Momo, I see you are all over the place with excitement :) I am happy for you guys. I'll make the permanent move in September; few things to take care of. I was a bit worried about the police report as well, but it was OK; says the same thing for me.
 
BurundiWinner said:
Hello Momo, I see you are all over the place with excitement :) I am happy for you guys. I'll make the permanent move in September; few things to take care of. I was a bit worried about the police report as well, but it was OK; says the same thing for me.
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I am VERY excited about the big move and thank you so much for your kind sentiments! I hope our interviews shall be successful like yours. If the interview happens in early August I'll leave on 17th September or 24th September. I'm actually planning to start packing stuff this weekend to avoid last minute panicking.

That TZ police report is soooo iffy lol...when I read "but has returned with a negative result" I was terrified because of the wording then re-read it and was like pheeeeeeeeewwwwww!!! lol

I even contacted the Audi dealer in Maryland yesterday and they said they're willing to arrange financing for me as I am paying above their minimum down-payment and they will assist me with all the documentation for financing so that I can start building a credit history and it wasn't necessary for me to bring a co-signer so I was well happy about that.

My brother is apartment hunting already and average prices for something near DC is $1,300 to $1,500 and goes down the further out you go but the same money gets chewed up on fuel expenses. In my case it'll be short-term because I'm looking at opportunities in Texas (man the houses in Houston are CHEAP!!!) or Florida after October 2013.



So far the Almighty has answered my prayers and I couldn't be more happier :)
 
Guys, I am adding to this thread as it contains a lot of useful practical information.

I have been weighing up a couple of job offers in different parts of the States. The cost of living is VERY varied in different areas so a salary in one city has to be adjusted for another city. For instance I am considering Sarasota, FL versus San Francisco, CA. If I were offered for example $100k in Sarasota I would need to get $164k in San FRan to have the same standard of living. That is a BIG difference. There are several calculators that help with this calculation but the one below is good as it shows a break down of various costs. This is something to remember when you start looking at where to live and work...

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx
 
britsmon, i have bachelor in finance and an MBA ( both in US ) and 4 years experience overseas in real estate investement consulting , what can i get in US ?
 
Princedriss said:
britsmon, i have bachelor in finance and an MBA ( both in US ) and 4 years experience overseas in real estate investement consulting , what can i get in US ?
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Wow - what a wide open question. I think you mean how much could you get - and that is a tough question. It depends on the field you enter of course. I have had friends with good MBAs get starting salaries around $50/60k in Florida but that was a few years ago and salaries might be different. 6 figure salaries might be possible for a very good MBA in a city such as New York.
 
britsimon said:
Wow - what a wide open question. I think you mean how much could you get - and that is a tough question. It depends on the field you enter of course. I have had friends with good MBAs get starting salaries around $50/60k in Florida but that was a few years ago and salaries might be different. 6 figure salaries might be possible for a very good MBA in a city such as New York.
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No my MBA is from a medium state university in the south , i dont ask that much specially for the first year of my immigration, i need to learn first and to get out from the third world mentality then the rest would be easier
 
Princedriss said:
No my MBA is from a medium state university in the south , i dont ask that much specially for the first year of my immigration, i need to learn first and to get out from the third world mentality then the rest would be easier
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Sounds like you have the right expectation levels. FYI the link below gives some ideas of what is possible - although as you mentioned your choice of Uni will affect the ultimate result.

http://www.usnews.com/education/blo...01/the-future-looks-bright-for-b-school-grads

The main thing you will need to do is decide what type of role you would like and start to focus on how you get into those roles.

Good luck with that!
 
britsimon said:
Guys, I am adding to this thread as it contains a lot of useful practical information.

I have been weighing up a couple of job offers in different parts of the States. The cost of living is VERY varied in different areas so a salary in one city has to be adjusted for another city. For instance I am considering Sarasota, FL versus San Francisco, CA. If I were offered for example $100k in Sarasota I would need to get $164k in San FRan to have the same standard of living. That is a BIG difference. There are several calculators that help with this calculation but the one below is good as it shows a break down of various costs. This is something to remember when you start looking at where to live and work...

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx
Click to expand...



That is a pretty neat website! I just checked what I'd be potentially looking at moving from Maryland to Texas and just the home price difference is over $500,000!

From what I can see, the major commercial hubs/cities and their surrounding areas are all pricy. The idea after all is to save $$$


Case No - DV2013AF0007XXXX (applied the first time and got it the first time - lucky me!)
Entry Checked - 1st May 2012
Forms Sent To KCC - 10th May 2012
Received By KCC - 12th May 2012
Confirmation From KCC - 25th May 2012 after I sent them an email
2nd NL - 14th June 2013
Police Clearance (TZ) - 13th June 2013
Police Clearance (UK) - 21st June 2013
Medicals - Completed 24th June 2013
Interview - Wednesday, August 7th 2013 @ 8am - US Embassy Tanzania
Visa Pick up - Hopefully August 11th
Departure Date - August 17th 2013
Port of Entry - Washington Dulles
 
Philadelphia is a decent spot depending on which neighbourhood. Its actually about one hour from where I'll be living (Allentown/Macungie Township) but personally if I did choose to stay in PA (depending on whether or not I find work opportunities there) then I'd live in suburbia because it'd be a bit cheaper and much more quieter.

There are bits of Philly that I'd not venture into. If I'm not mistaken some famous NFL player was carjacked there last week.

I think it is also wise to consider crime statistics in major cities when considering living in a city. I read this a few days ago on the most dangerous cities in America.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-10-most-dangerous-cities-in-america-2013-06-22




Case No - DV2013AF0007XXXX (applied the first time and got it the first time - lucky me!)
Entry Checked - 1st May 2012
Forms Sent To KCC - 10th May 2012
Received By KCC - 12th May 2012
Confirmation From KCC - 25th May 2012 after I sent them an email
2nd NL - 14th June 2013
Police Clearance (TZ) - 13th June 2013
Police Clearance (UK) - 21st June 2013
Medicals - Completed 24th June 2013
Interview - Wednesday, August 7th 2013 @ 8am - US Embassy Tanzania
Visa Pick up - Hopefully August 11th
Departure Date - August 17th 2013
Port of Entry - Washington Dulles
 
Pretty much every major city in the USA has no go areas. It unfortunately comes from the great disparity between the haves and the have nots, and certain communities are downtrodden and develop bad crime spots. Just be aware and be careful.....
 
actually i lived 6 weeks in SPanish harlem, i can tell i have never had any problem even at 3 AM , no problem at all, in all my stay in US i never see any shoot gun , any problem in security at all.
 
High crime, no-go areas are the obvious to avoid but there will be areas of any city or town that some will not feel comfortable or happy living in. If you can afford to live in posh neighbourhoods, then you will likely be fine. But if your budget doesn't stretch that far, especially due to wanting/having to live in a city with expensive housing, then be extra diligent.

Never buy or rent sight unseen obviously, but try to go to the area at different times of the week and day/night. My city is a low-crime city but there are neighbourhoods which are not my scene. Some are obvious right away: run-down, lack of pride in exterior landscaping and maintenance, two or three boats, cars, RVs in the driveway or on the front lawn, etc. Sometimes it's not so obvious and what can look like a nice, sleepy street can turn into a raucous nightmare on the weekend when some redneck and his beer-swigging buddies decide to fix their muscle cars and Harleys in the driveway with blaring music and revving engines (friends of ours had this very problem). Deed-restricted communities are great for keeping that sort of thing under control as they have rules to protect the neighbourhood from becoming trashy. You often hear people rail against HOA's (Home Owner Associations) as some can be very restrictive, but living in one myself, I can see the benefit. Our HOA is not very obtrusive at all and the fee is minimal and well worth it. There's an increasing lack of civility and politeness these days and people will do obnoxious things because they see it as their "right" because it's on their property and they won't care how it effects others.

Apartments and condos would be hard to find out what really goes on if you are limited to a specific appointment to view the place so unfortunately, you can end up living next to the tenant/condo-owner from Hades, even in the nicest of buildings.
 
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Well I'll be renting an apartment initially until I settle in with work but once I decide to buy a house it'll be suburbia because I like quiet neighbourhoods where one can walk around or which have community tennis courts or pool and also good to raise a family.
 
Princedriss said:
is there any website to check how it is the neighborhood where i am looking for place to live ?
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Google Street View can be quite helpful. Good for seeing general quality of area. But nothing beats actually going there in person.

There are various websites that you can enter the zip code or specific address and it will list reported crimes for there: SpotCrime, NeighborhoodScout, etc. Plus the county Sheriff's website will often have crime statistics. But you can't panic over every report of burglaries or suspicious persons. Every place has them and not all crime is reported so neighbourhoods with several reported crimes won't necessarily be unsafer than other neighbourhoods where lots of crime happens but it's not reported as much.
 
Momo1980 said:
Well I'll be renting an apartment initially until I settle in with work but once I decide to buy a house it'll be suburbia because I like quiet neighbourhoods where one can walk around or which have community tennis courts or pool and also good to raise a family.
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Sounds like a good plan, Momo. Maybe try to rent in the neighbourhood you're interested in, if possible. Or somewhere nearby, so you can get an idea of how it fits for you - are the amenities you want there? how is public transport from there? traffic? general demographics? etc. etc.

Not all suburbia is the same though. Some are awful. At one time we were looking to move to Calgary and went to the northwest of the city to check out the houses and neighbourhoods. OMG! Despite it being completely built up, with houses on every lot, it felt so bleak and lifeless out there. We couldn't wait to get away. Where we are now, in Florida, it's suburbia, but has a much nicer look and feel to it.
 
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