iloveitaly

Lots to think about in regards to planning.

Can you suggest what a combined income should be for the both of us to live adequetly? We plan to only have one car and buy a house (hopefully).

We have no children.

Thanks again!

mlgb

Can you afford to buy a $500-600,000 house? That is for a very modest condo or single family home in Sunnyvale, which is a very modest suburb. You might want to look at the San Jose Mercury News on-line to get a feel for living expenses and salaries.

J_Correa

Basic single family houses in San Jose start at about $450K. There are some that go for less than that, but most of those require significant work and/or are in less than desireable areas.

Townhouses are less expensive than single family houses - basic townhouses and condos in reasonable areas start at about $350K.

In general, San Jose is less expensive than the surrounding towns - Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, etc. South of San Jose are the towns of Morgan Hill and Gilroy which tend to be a bit more affordable than SJ, but you also have a longer commute. There is a commuter train (Caltrain) with reasonable service if you work a standard 8-5 M-F schedule.

easytraveler

It's hard to know what is an "adequate" range for you and your husband.

I would suggest googling/yahooing with a search title such as "comparative salary by region"

You can then see what is the AVERAGE salary for someone with your education, background, experience, etc. in Toronto, and what is the salary for a like position in Silicon Valley.

When you have come up with a bottom line salary for the area that you are transferring to, remember to negotiate for an additional 10%. Most people don't get raises right when they get a new job! It'll be another 6/12 months before your salary will be raised, and then probably not by 10%!

J-Correa has given you a good idea of how much things run as far as housing. You could do as they did and save up enough for a year or two for a good down payment.

Personally, I dislike condos because the condo associations tend to have a bunch of nuts running them - IMHO. BUT, they are great as starter homes. After a few years, you could sell your condo and go for a single family home.

Silicon Valley is very youth oriented. Which means you should not think of getting an adequate retirement from your company. Your best earning years here are when you are very young. So save up when you're young!

Negotiate a good salary, get into a company that gives you as many benefits as possible, save as much as possible...

and, oh, you'll need to two cars.

Have fun!

billy_boy

In terms of housing, be prepared for some obscene sticker shock, especially for somebody coming from Toronto.

Also, in terms of landing jobs, if you are not an American citizen or a landed American immmigrant (green card) it will be very difficult fo you to work here - esepcially in HR.

iloveitaly

ttt