$500,000 for a house

[Alison Faraday]

Hey there,

This is directed mostly to those in the States.

What sort of a house would $500k buy in the States? Where? What sort of area? Really I'm just throwing up a question up in the air to see what's over there?

I have a house here which is effectively a little £250k town house with noisy neighbours amongst other things. You may have seen it on CNN over Christmas, we had 5 street girls murdered literally in the next street. Really, Sky TV had a thing for sticking a microphone in my face everytime I went down to the postbox!!

Anyway.

I'm just thinking of selling up and leaving the UK, and weighing up what my money would buy elsewhere. I'm fed up with this country. The population has increased by 3-million is 5-years, we're crammed in at about 60-houses per acre, and my other non-TG sideline business hasn't sold in the States for what must be about 6-months now.

What could my money buy over there? What would $1-million buy over there even? Could I afford a house in a calm area of Beverly Hills or something?

Thanks,

Alison

[houstonshemalefan]

In Texas, it would be a VERY nice house. In California it would be average.

[RawNY]

In New York, outside of NYC, it would get you a nice 2-3 family home, but not alot of land. Upstate NY would get you something very nice.
In areas like North or COuth Carolina it might get somethign very very nice with land and sometimes near a lake, a boat slip.
But, then again, I would put you up for free here in NY

[karizma]

fyjuf

[marissaazts]

it totally depends on the area u want to live it can be anything from a large nice home w/everything to a studio apt in sanfran or nyc

realtor.com can give u some idea if you have a state and city in mind

[Alison Faraday]

Hey there houstonshemalefan, Unisex, RawNY and karizma :)

All good replies, thank you :-)

I'm just throwing ideas about really.

It's interesting what you say Unisex about people not being able to afford to live, it's getting a bit like that here. We're taxed astronomically. And other things aren't cheap

We pay (in equiv. $)

Double Whopper = $10
Takeaway Pizza = $30
Loaf of bread = $2
Pint of milk = $1
Box of cornflakes = $4
Council tax = $3000 yearly
Internet = $40 monthly
Electricity = $300 monthly
Gallon of Petrol = $8+
Small 3-year old car = $12,000

I'm at the end of the line in my family, I have no brothers or sisters or cousins, with a financial future that's almost assured. My Grandfather was actually American.

So really just ideas being thrown about here.

It would also aid my transition too, since surgery here is another thing which is expensive and in some ways way behind the States. My breast augmentation was over $10k here, wham bam thanks very much SIR, 12-hours later you're on your way home in a Ford. $10k for that? No aftercare, no paperwork. What I'm saying is that the UK is just a rip-off and seedy, hence why it's called Rip Off Britain (ROB).

Hey RawNY, thanks!! :-) Now if I was younger ...I'd be there next week. :)

[Alison Faraday]

Also....

What's the availability of jobs like over there? Say for a 24x7 UNIX SysAdmin or Tech Pre Sales? Not what the agencies say, but what's the word on the street of jobs availability?

[zookeeper]

Allison - as you can imagine, home values vary widely across the U.S.

Here's a link to site that can compare values for different cities in the U.S. and Canada based on dollar amount.

http://hpci.coldwellbanker.com/?customerType=Learn

[Alison Faraday]

Hey thanks for that!!

OMG, I can get a house with a swimming pool in Dallas for £150k!!!!!!!

£150k would buy a garage here, really, a single garage to park your car in.

[Kabuki]

There are locations in the states where you can get a really nice house for $500,000. It's all about where you want to live.

Checkout http://www.realtor.com/ . Just add what state you would like to live in after the slash, and browse away.

Ex: http://www.realtor.com/california ... http://www.realtor.com/florida

[BlackAdder]

Being in the properties business close to philadelphia,

500k in the suburbs can get you a fairly nice 3-5 bedroom home with a moderate yard.

In the city or on the mainline though, prices are much higher....they start at $500k and go up.

Its REALLLLLY dependant on where and how you want to live.


Jobs are good for that sort of thing, but your tied to living near a city in that case.

[zookeeper]

Hey BA - what end of the biz are you in? I work for a small title insurance company based in Center City that's also licensed in Jersey. I also have a PA real estate license, but that's more of a sideline than anything.

[Mercedes]

Also....

What's the availability of jobs like over there? Say for a 24x7 UNIX SysAdmin or Tech Pre Sales? Not what the agencies say, but what's the word on the street of jobs availability?

You can probably get a fairly good job in Philly as a sysadmin... $90k and up or $70k and up at a university. Depends a lot on where you work and what's needed at the time. You can also go the consultant route for a little more, but then you'd never get to enjoy the wonderful house you bought.

An 1,800 square foot condo looking at the Philly skyline, 3 bedrooms, master bedroom with circular staircase to the loft, garage space, doormen and porters, double sink bathroom, garden tub, standup shower, bidet, another full bathroom, a powder room, laundry space, and deck for 50 people... that's my place... half a million :)

[Fitz1600]

This beauty right here would probably weigh in just under $500,00 in Southern Kentucky and you'd get about 50-60 acres to go with it... :lol: :lol: :lol:

[deke]

Also....

What's the availability of jobs like over there? Say for a 24x7 UNIX SysAdmin or Tech Pre Sales? Not what the agencies say, but what's the word on the street of jobs availability?

I am actually a Senior systems Administrator in a very large internet company in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Job availability is pretty good around here if you are experienced and can prove you know something. Every now and then i throw my resume out on monster.com to see what kinds of hits i get. Usually i get 200 or 300 emails with job opportunities in a month and interview with maybe 4 or 5 companies (I could do more, but time is a problem). I'll usually get offers from every company I've interviewed with,

More than anything i do this as an exercise to see what the job market is in case i lose my current job.

As for houses... in the 'burbs of DC $500k will get you a decent house with no yard.

[BlackAdder]

Property Management with MVL Property Management and MVL Realty Holdings.

[Alison Faraday]

Hey all,

Thanks for the replies. Eagerly reading through :)

I'll do almost anything except work for Microsoft...

Aly

[GroobySteven]

A 2 bedroom apartment in Hawaii.
No shit.

Please point me in the right direction for $1milllion plus in UK
seanchai

[NYTSJulie]

I live on the North Shore of Long Island (town undisclosed lol) and here $500,000.00 can get you a 1/4 acre empty lot.

[jiggly]

Damn, this post made me curious what 500k would buy around me.

http://images.ncinfo.net/phototmp/photos_nt/59001/539586728.jpg

4bedrooms + 3bathrooms, 1959sq ft, 2 fireplaces, a finished basement, and a 2 car garage.
Wish i had 415k.... :cry:

http://www.livingchoices.com/home/homedetail.aspx?sid=457ed3da22be40c3842080568671f0 8e&refer=treb&cmp=gbase&hid=536559215&mid=5480

[Tobe]

You've got to learn about America :D

The true American way is to buy a house way out of your price range by applying for a shady variable rate mortgage that you barely qualify for. Then as the years pass an your monthly payments grow to 7K per month, you either refinance or file for bankruptcy.
...but seriously, $1 million home loans are not uncommon in Southern California.

...So if you have a few hundred thousand to put down as a down payment, you can score a pretty nice place even in Cali.
...If you want to pay $500,000 total... then it's a different story.

From what I've seen, a little more than $500,000 might score you a nice 1000 sq ft. condo here with no backyard and 1 parking space in a decent (very clean/safe) upper middle class area. Single family houses are around $700,000 to $2,000,000 ranging from 1400 - 4000 sq ft. and generally with a pretty small yard especially in the newer developments. Going into older but still nice neighborhoods might save about 10%.

Of course you also have to take into account that your gonna get raped with property taxes and association fees, bonds, etc. This generally comes to about 1-2% of your home's value annually. For a $1 million home, that's 10-20K per year... thank you sir, may I have another :?

If you go to upscale areas or want to live by the beach (Santa Monica, Newport, Malibu) these home prices roughly double.

I've also seen more "urban living" high density sites spring up, e.g., http://www.stadiumloftsnow.com/
These seem to run from the high $300,000s to $700,000s and range from 600 - 1500 sq ft.

[Ecstatic]

In Boston, a $500k in the city may get you a 2 family three story home. In the Suburbs, $500k may get you a large single family home. $1 million outside the city will get you a mansion. But, it really depends on your taste and situation. Right now, the foreclosure rate in the city is sky high. People can't afford to live.
I think those prices for the Boston area are rather optimistic, Unisex. Median price for a single family house in metro Boston is $565,000. A friend of mine will soon be selling his apt in Boston (Theatre District) for something like 1.2 million (it has a garage!! 1200 sq ft, three floors, a balcony off the third floor). My house in Marlborough (east central Mass, closer to Worcester than to Boston) is market valued at about $375,000--which is $200,000 over what we paid for it eight years ago. The market is stablizing somewhat: the trend is for prices to stay level or even rise a bit, though the time to sell is longer than it was a few years ago.

In simple terms, the most expensive major metro areas in the US (not necessarily in order) are NYC, Orange County, SF, Boston, and DC. My mom and sister co-own a house in Wilmington, NC, which is about 800 sq ft bigger than mine yet is valued at about half of ours. So location, location, location, as they say in real estate.

[Alison Faraday]

God. Super expensive. I just wondered what I could get if I sold up everything and emigrated.

I'd have to kill off half the family to afford some of these.

[Ecstatic]

We pay (in equiv. $)

Double Whopper = $10
Takeaway Pizza = $30
Loaf of bread = $2
Pint of milk = $1
Box of cornflakes = $4
Council tax = $3000 yearly
Internet = $40 monthly
Electricity = $300 monthly
Gallon of Petrol = $8+
Small 3-year old car = $12,000
For the most part, those aren't so far off. I haven't eaten at Mac's or Burger Thing in years--maybe decades--so I don't know their prices, but most of what you're citing isn't far off--except petrol, of course. Us Yanks are bitchin' about $3 a gallon, and you're paying $8. Is your Internet connection broadband? Then that's in the ballpark (I think I'm paying $45/mo for FIOS). Electricity: hmm, I'd have to check. That does seem a good deal higher. Is council tax like our real estate tax? Then that's in the ballpark, at least here in Mass.

[Ecstatic]

God. Super expensive. I just wondered what I could get if I sold up everything and emigrated.

I'd have to kill off half the family to afford some of these.
Yeah, my wife and I pull down a decent living (she's a software engineer, I'm a webmaster), but it's barely enough here. It's no wonder that 40% of all Americans have less than 25K in retirement savings (ok, I made that figure up, but actually I think it's very close to that; I just heard the report a couple of days ago but can't quote it exactly). But if you want to live in NC, Atlanta, TX, NM, or several other places, you can do pretty well.

[Alison Faraday]

I always thought the US was cheaper and a higher standard of living than over here.

Yes I think council tax maybe like your real estate tax I don't know. Council Tax covers local amenities, refuse collection, street lighting, parks, the high street, police, local buildings. That kind of thing.

Internet here is 8Mbit broadband. Also have gas at about £100 monthly, and water at about £75 monthly. (double those for $).

[Ecstatic]

Also....

What's the availability of jobs like over there? Say for a 24x7 UNIX SysAdmin or Tech Pre Sales? Not what the agencies say, but what's the word on the street of jobs availability?
Right now, in IT, jobs are happening. I've been averaging 3-5 headhunter calls or emails per day for the past couple of months. Some are really tempting, but I run my own business and do a little work on the side as a photographer, and I don't want to give that up, so I'm accepting an income currently of about 60K/yr. Web development, sys admin, software engineer, the jobs are out there, and in the greater Boston area you could land something in the 60-90K range (or more) depending on your experience and skill set (a good friend of mine bills at $250/hr, you'd think he's a lawyer or escort, lol, but he's a programmer who works with lawyers). I haven't checked for UNIX sys admin lately--my UNIX chops aren't quite that good, just good enough for webmastering--but another good friend pulls over 125K as a sys admin (granted, the guy is brilliant).

[Ecstatic]

I live on the North Shore of Long Island (town undisclosed lol) and here $500,000.00 can get you a 1/4 acre empty lot.
lol, my house sits on .26 acres. The value of the house is actually secondary to the value of the land in these high price areas (LI, Boston, DC, SF, etc.), hence the builders' drive to build MacMansions, huge houses on postage stamp acreage, because a normally sized house won't reflect the property value. But that's changing as the newest trend is downsizing houses (like 2500 sq ft is small; I'm happy with 1500).

[Ecstatic]

I always thought the US was cheaper and a higher standard of living than over here.

Yes I think council tax maybe like your real estate tax I don't know. Council Tax covers local amenities, refuse collection, street lighting, parks, the high street, police, local buildings. That kind of thing.

Internet here is 8Mbit broadband. Also have gas at about £100 monthly, and water at about £75 monthly. (double those for $).
Totally depends on where you live. Go north to Maine or NH, and costs drop off (though the long winters tend to drive some costs up). You could live very comfortably in KY, TN, IL, MS, etc.--if you want to. I'm thinking of retiring to NM, where the climate is drier.

Yes, I'd say council tax is roughly equivalent to real estate tax in terms of the amount taken and how it's disbursed. Of course, there are dozens of different types of taxes, and the only three we usually pay attention to are sales, income, and real estate.

8Mb broadband isn't bad; on FIOS I usually get about 11-12 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up (though it's advertized as 15/5).

[SarahG]

-deleted-

[BeardedOne]

Wow, this got a lot of feedback very fast! :shock:

I've only skimmed some of the responses, but much of the advice is spot on. The prices are all relative to where you want to/can live and what you want to get out of the neighborhood/region.

Not too long ago, an entire town (Bridgeville, CA) sold on eBay for $125k. Small houses, small lots, northern part of the state in the deep woods.

A friend of mine bought a 'fixer upper' (Read 'dump with a LOT of work to be done') for almost $700k near San Francisco. A similarly distressed home, a baby Victorian, was bought by another friend of mine in Syracuse, NY from the HUD list (Federal loan guarantees) for only $6k. Sure, the latter had to camp in the backyard and use a porta-potty for a couple of months, but the place is a true gem now (But the depressed economy of the area makes it worth not much more than $50k).

When I first moved into my current house I had the honest intent of buying the entire town, piece by piece. Unfortunately, market forces worked against me and property values tripled in a couple of years. Good for my house, bad for my plans. Still, $500k buys a pretty nice palace here: 8-10 rooms, three car garage, inground pool, half acre, etc. The spike in prices is linked to the fact that it is the fastest growing area in the region and the upwardly mobile are camping here for price and convenience (One hour to Philly or Baltimore, two hours to NYC or DC).

Buy now and save.

If you can stand bone-chilling winds and snowdrifts taller than your house, try the Niagara Frontier (Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Erie). Incredibly well-built and aesthetically pleasing old homes in the $20-40k range (Niagara Falls). Unfortunately, the only work available in the area is at 7-11, the local gas station, and the Seneca Casino (In the old Niagara Falls Convention Center, which went bust because they couldn't attract business).

I'll be there this weekend, walking the empty streets and wagering with my friends on which car is most likely to get directed off to Customs at the bridge. :)

[Alison Faraday]

I have to say that reading through these posts is quite amazing. It's painting a picture in my mind of what the USA is like all over. Your replies are really descriptive enough to paint that picture.

There's something right inbetween Huckleberry Finn and North and South at the moment. :)

Given a choice I'd love to live somewhere like Miami Beach. I used to roller skate on maplewood for a hockey team as a child, which is a picture I've always had in my mind of that area. Is that the place where they roller skate, Miami Beach?

If only, oh I'd love to live out there for a bit and skate every day again. :)

[wombat33]

Hey there,

This is directed mostly to those in the States.

What sort of a house would $500k buy in the States? Where? What sort of area? Really I'm just throwing up a question up in the air to see what's over there?

I have a house here which is effectively a little £250k town house with noisy neighbours amongst other things. You may have seen it on CNN over Christmas, we had 5 street girls murdered literally in the next street. Really, Sky TV had a thing for sticking a microphone in my face everytime I went down to the postbox!!

Anyway.

I'm just thinking of selling up and leaving the UK, and weighing up what my money would buy elsewhere. I'm fed up with this country. The population has increased by 3-million is 5-years, we're crammed in at about 60-houses per acre, and my other non-TG sideline business hasn't sold in the States for what must be about 6-months now.

What could my money buy over there? What would $1-million buy over there even? Could I afford a house in a calm area of Beverly Hills or something?

Thanks,

Alison


In New York City.........A nice one bedroom condo.

In Long Island a nice 3 bedroom house with 12,000 dollars tax per year.

In North Carolina............A MANSION with enough left over to customize it your way and buy a NICE CAR

[blckhaze]

here in NYC, you be able to buy a Bronestone in the Bronx and parts of harlem. My family owned two for over 40 year b4 they sold one for almost 400k b4 me and my brother went to college. A well kept one can get you up to $1 mil in some neighborhoods around broadway or central park. The downside to these are they have fairly high upkeep because theyre old, and size, but theyre extemely sturdy they have high resale values.

[TribalNYX]

Unfortunately, thats about the average home price on Long Island.........

[BeardedOne]

Someone correct me if i'm wrong, but i think that many nice properties are not that expensive in Florida.

Depending on the area, this can be true. I know of one single bedroom condo that went for as little as $5k not more than four years ago. Hell, a Lowes tool shed would cost that much here. The caveat is that a lot of modern Florida real estate is slap-dash cinder block construction. Not bad, but certainly not quality. Add the hurricane factor in and I'm surprised some of that stuff goes for =more= than $5k.

[Ecstatic]

I've rarely seen $565k for a single fam in boston. Most in Boston are not singles. So, they tend to be alot more than $500k easy because of supply and demand. I merely meant this type of house here (http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/rfs/314355240.html). Which is down the street from me.
Ah, the classic triple decker, made popular in the so-called "streetcar suburbs" of Boston 100 years ago. There is a higher percentage of triple deckers in Somerville, MA, than in any other city, with Dorchester, Worcester, Woonsocket RI, and other NE cities not far behind. It was a uniquely New England style, extremely popular for both the size of the units and the fact that 3 or 4 families could live in the same footprint of land as 1 in a single family home. Some of these communities have seen precipitous changes in fortune over the decades, falling into disfavor and even poverty in many cases, yet in some recovering to be highly desirable among the affluent young (as is Somerville today, as a case in point). A July 9. 2006 report in the Boston Globe offers:


When Boston's growing middle class followed the gentry from the heart of the city to ``streetcar suburbs" such as Dorchester and Jamaica Plain a hundred years ago, the triple-decker emerged as the housing option of choice.
These uniquely New England architectural icons offered affordable homeownership to live-in landlords who covered their costs with rent from two apartments. Renters found the front and back porches and windows all around a vast improvement over cramped, dark tenements. Builders liked them for the economies of stacking identical units under one roof and on one foundation.

Today, a handful of developers and home buyers are discovering that what worked a century ago can be relevant today. The new triples, however, typically are built with modern flourishes inside and out.
Triple deckers supplanted the earlier row houses in Boston's streetcar suburbs, yet the style is rare in the rest of America, which favored the two family duplex house.

Anyway, as Sam Clemens famously remarked, "there's lies, damn lies, and statistics." Every report I see cites different figures, but the recurring theme of the most expensive metro areas in the country continues to resound with NYC, Boston, DC, SF, Orange County, Honolulu, and similar cities always showing the highest prices. Here's some recent figures for single family houses in Massachusetts:

MEDIAN SELLING PRICES
Region - 2005 - 2006 - Percentage Change
Cape Cod - $400,000 - $410,000 + 2.5 %
Central - $299,800 - $290,000 - 3.3 %
Greater Boston - $496,925 - $499,900 + 0.6 %
Northeast - $392,000 - $394,250 + 0.6 %
Southeast - $279,900 - $288,400 + 3.0 %
South Shore - $365,000 - $360,000 - 1.4 %
West - $199,900 - $209,900 + 5.0 %
STATEWIDE - $364,900 - $360,000 - 1.3 %

I think the $565,000 figure I cited earlier derives from the more affluent suburbs of Newton, Wellesley, Weston, Wayland, Dover (the highest in the state), and the like. But still, a Greater Boston median of $499,000 is absurdly high.

[Foto]

Hey there,

What sort of a house would $500k buy in the States? Where? What sort of area? Really I'm just throwing up a question up in the air to see what's over there? Alison

Ali, for 500K you could find some nice homes in northern New Jersey. Close to NYC, very diverse culture, very accepting. Good for the tech fields. Living in the city sucks the life out of you. Living just outside the city is sweet. Look around in Bergen County.

[johnie]

Do I need to mention the three rules of real estate? LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. It's a cliche for a reason. Mostly becuase its 150% true.

A 3 bedroom condo on the Upper East Side of Manhattan could run you $1.75 Million, while a 3 bedroom condo in the middle of bumble fuck Tennessee runs you about $75,000.

How easy would it be for a British citizen to be allowed to work in the US? Anyone know the immigration law? I'm sure it will probably be a lengthy process to get the required work visa/permits. Do you need to be sponsored by an employer?

[fhsjazztrumpet2]

In my neck of the woods in MD, right close to PA, 500k can get you a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath monstrosity on 5.65 acres.

[rvince]

If you don't mind living in France, for $500k, you can have a _very_ nice house with a swimming pool on the French Riviera for this price. You'd be less than 30 minutes away from Cannes, Nice & Monaco; 45 mins away from Italy. Addidional bonus: There are plenty of tech jobs in Sophia-Antipolis (our version of the silicone valley).

[CuriousChocolateThaiGuy]

I have a license in real estate appraisal. In this industry, the most important thing is location, location, location. A home located on one side of town may be $$$$$$$ more/less than the exact same home on the other side of town.

In San Antonio, Texas or surrounding areas. It's possible to snag a spanking new 3000 sq ft home with a pool on your very own 1 to 2 acres for UNDER $500K.

Home for Sale in Century Oaks Estates (http://www.1percentunitedrealty.com/index.cfm?section=details&MLSID=620631)

And because it's so easy to get a home here in Texas, the foreclosure rate has really gotten up there. You could even buy several distressed properties for $500k and flip that money or rent them out and let your renters pay your mortgage.

[mikejones]

Interesting thread. I bought a house in Austin in 2004 for just under $200K. Nice neighborhood, in the city, with a decent yard and garage. Suburbs would probably be twice the house and yard for the same money.

I enjoy visiting the East Coast and California, but as everyone has pointed out the house prices there are crazy. It really comes down to your own set of values and priorities. What do you really want to spend your money on? I think it's great that there are so many options available.

[Ecstatic]

Ayuh, location, location, location: my hometown is in midcoast Maine, which was a very poor region when I was growing up but which has been booming in recent years as both a retirement and tourism destination. There, house prices are based on three factors:

Location: waterfront (bay/ocean) brings top dollar, sometimes rivaling the prices in Mass and NY/LI and similar locations

Location, location: water view (no water frontage, but view from across the road) - half the cost of the waterfront for otherwise identical property

Location, location, location: no water view (and the further away, the lower the price) - half again

So you could drop $500,000 for a prime spot, $250,000 for a spot with a nice view (like my sister's house), or under $100,000 for something off in the woods somewhere (or less, depending on how far out).

[MacShreach]

If you don't mind living in France, for $500k, you can have a _very_ nice house with a swimming pool on the French Riviera for this price. You'd be less than 30 minutes away from Cannes, Nice & Monaco; 45 mins away from Italy.

I must admit, sorry to break into Alison's thread, that is quite tempting. I like living in France, spent quite a few years there.....I have property further north in France but I'm looking to sell, poss changing for something in the south or maybe northern Spain. Dunno yet. I was thinking about Ireland as I have family there but man that there is a crazy property market and I do prefer a drier climate (no offence now bhoys.)

[Kriss]

Is this just a scam to get all the punters round cos they think you're leaving us Ali? like those girls who are "giving up escorting" every two weeks? only joking love, you know you're here forever, you'll miss blighty too much, the rain, the stodgy food, the chavs, repeats of george and mildred.........YOU ARE NUMBER SIX!!!!!............YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE THE ISLAND!!!

[Alison Faraday]

A scam to get the punters round. Nooo, that would never work. The phone's been off the for the last 2-weeks anyway. :-)

Speaking of France though, that had come up in conversation a few times. The attraction of real onions, real garlic, and real fresh bread has it's appeal. None of this forced supermarket rubbish. It's the language barrier though, at the moment I can only say "Do you speak English," and "My name is."

Mind you the French don't put up with governments. If there's anything they don't like they just turn lorries sideways across the motorways and set fire to them. With no recourse whatsoever. We maybe need some of that here.

[TGL]

You can always come to Denmark Alison ;) Although our taxes here makes everything so expensive, so don't expect a mansion here, lol.

[deke]

In my neck of the woods in MD, right close to PA, 500k can get you a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath monstrosity on 5.65 acres.

Thurmont?

[rvince]

Speaking of France though, that had come up in conversation a few times. The attraction of real onions, real garlic, and real fresh bread has it's appeal. None of this forced supermarket rubbish. It's the language barrier though, at the moment I can only say "Do you speak English," and "My name is."


As a tourist it most definately wouldn't be a problem as 99% of shop owners/clerks speak a decent english. As a fulltime resident, knowing the basics of the language would definately help! ;-) (although there are a load of british people who come here when they retire and they don't speak a single word of french)



Mind you the French don't put up with governments. If there's anything they don't like they just turn lorries sideways across the motorways and set fire to them. With no recourse whatsoever. We maybe need some of that here.

Yeah, we can be easily pissed off at times, but overall we're nice people :-)

[Realgirls4me]

(I've returned temporarily ... still under the weather, though)

Beside a brew of syrup, lemon, and hot water, is there anything else for a semi-dry hacking painful cough?

A few years ago, I traveled through eastern Texas and Arkansas and one could literally own a home for $15,000. Yes, it was a shack, and not in the best part of town, but one can't buy a shopping cart out here in southern California for that amount. A decent home in Fort Worth could be had for $70,000.

I think the median price out here in SoCal is something like $475,000. That would buy a little palace in places such as Atlanta.

[NYTSJulie]

A friend of mine lives in ND, in a small farming town of 750 people. The woman who lived across the street from here recently died so her family auctioned off the house and the 1 acre of land it was on, and it went for 2,500.00, yep two thousand five hundred dollars, lol.

[Alison Faraday]

(I've returned temporarily ... still under the weather, though)

Beside a brew of syrup, lemon, and hot water, is there anything else for a semi-dry hacking painful cough?

Oh no :-( Erm, have you tried something like Airwaves, those really hot chewing gums? They're quite good for clearing you out.




Still reading through these.. I guess another requirement would be quiet, I like to hear the birds. No really, I do :) But nothing like Alabama, I just have visions of that film Deliverance with Burt Reynolds in it.

Slightly warming to France though. What's the population density like? Say in the countryside? The density in the countryside here is still quite high since they're building on it left right and centre, there's not much left.

[Realgirls4me]

(I've returned temporarily ... still under the weather, though)

Beside a brew of syrup, lemon, and hot water, is there anything else for a semi-dry hacking painful cough?

Oh no :-( Erm, have you tried something like Airwaves, those really hot chewing gums? They're quite good for clearing you out.


What's an "Airwave"? Is that available here in this country I wonder?

Thank you, by the way, Alison for the suggestion. :)

[Alison Faraday]

What's an "Airwave"? Is that available here in this country I wonder?

Thank you, by the way, Alison for the suggestion. :)

Erm ang on :)

These things, the blue ones at the top are best. Hope you feel better soon, it's really draining been down. ((((((((((hugs))))))))). If it's any consolation, you'll be over it by this time next week. :)

http://www.wrigley.com/wrigley/images/products/side_air.jpg

[Alison Faraday]

A friend of mine lives in ND, in a small farming town of 750 people. The woman who lived across the street from here recently died so her family auctioned off the house and the 1 acre of land it was on, and it went for 2,500.00, yep two thousand five hundred dollars, lol.

OMG, $2.5k!! ND.... Dakota!! Right where's that? What happens there? :) Oooh, spacial disturbances.

http://www.spacew.com/gallery/image000643.jpg

[Realgirls4me]

What's an "Airwave"? Is that available here in this country I wonder?

Thank you, by the way, Alison for the suggestion. :)

Erm ang on :)

These things, the blue ones at the top are best. Hope you feel better soon, it's really draining been down. ((((((((((hugs))))))))). If it's any consolation, you'll be over it by this time next week. :)

http://www.wrigley.com/wrigley/images/products/side_air.jpg

Thanks for the hugs and for the suggestion, but I've had this for over a week now. I usually can get through most cold symtoms in three or four days. This virus, or whatever it is, has been very persistent. The worst part is not being able to sleep because of the non-stop dry coughing. Sudafed PE did knock it down a bit. :)

I don't think I've seen those packs.

[Alison Faraday]

Thanks for the hugs and for the suggestion, but I've had this for over a week now. I usually can get through most cold symtoms in three or four days. This virus, or whatever it is, has been very persistent. The worst part is not being able to sleep because of the non-stop dry coughing. Sudafed PE did knock it down a bit. :)

Can you grab some anti-biotics off a Doctor or someone? Not that they'll kill a virus but will boost your immune system. Anything which will give you a kick. Also, lots of fruit veg, no processed foods. Could cold Red Bull work? That's perked me up before when I've been down, otherwise the worst solution going.

I hope you feel ok. :)

[Realgirls4me]

Thank you for your concern and suggestions, young lady. I'm about to go eat now in fact ... healthy for the most part (tuna sandwiches,juice,etc). :)

[Kriss]

Speaking of France though, It's the language barrier though.

Not to mention the humour barrier, French cannot get english sarcasm,

[Kriss]

Could cold Red Bull work?

I thought red bull wasn't available in U.S. because it contains TAURINE which is a carcinogen, ever wondered where TAURINE comes from girls? Think about it. YUP , thats right , BULLS TESTICLES! How ya like your red bull now?

[Quinn]

Speaking of France though, It's the language barrier though.

Not to mention the humour barrier, French cannot get english sarcasm,

Not to mention that, for some unfathomable reason, they actually think Jerry Lewis is funny.

-Quinn

[MacShreach]

Slightly warming to France though. What's the population density like? Say in the countryside? The density in the countryside here is still quite high since they're building on it left right and centre, there's not much left.

Pop density is much lower than England, especially where you are. There's no pressure to build in the countryside away from the major cities, there's still plenty of property available. France has great trains and buses, communications, absolutely excellent health service, it's a thoroughly modern European State, but still life, at least outside of Paris, is lived at a civilised pace-- I called a large company in eastern France today at 1.45 local and the sweet receptionist said, can you call back in half an hour, they're all still at lunch....This is normal...

Friends drop in for aperos and stay till ten but nobody is ever on time....Lunch is still THE meal and can take 2-3 hours...Everybody bitches about the Government and the weather...Despite what you see on the telly and a bit of habitual shoplifting (it's a kind of protest) the French are a VERY law-abiding lot.

Very little crime in rural areas and frankly even the places the French shake their heads and warn you about are not seriously scary (even in Paris,) though opportunist theft is quite common in the big cities...Having said that I remember once being in a big market in an African area of a large city, which most of my French friends wouldn't go near and though I was mad to. I carelessly mislaid my wallet. When I missed it went back to the last stall thinking "That's a goner" only to be confronted by a huge West African with a grin about three feet wide running towards me with it in his hand...who proceeded to lecture me about leaving my wallet around in the market...In five years living in France I never locked the house or car doors when I was at home....

Actually the only real issue is the language. You're either one of those people who is comfortable in another language or you're not, and this has little to do with fluency....I hear what rvince says, in the south English is common (Est-que t'es francais rvince?) but to really get to know the French and make friends you do have to learn to speak the language, but as long as you make some sort of effort they'll be happy until you're up to speed, most people under 50 have at least basic English....

Things to watch...The climate in much of France is not as attractive as you may think. Summers are certainly warm but winters can be much colder than you're used to. Better in the west/south. French lorry-drivers are a bloody menace...Oh yeah, after-sales service can be iffy, some stores no prob, there's an issue, we replace it, others just assume you're working some sort of scam (don't buy electrical goods from Leclerc.) Working for an employer in France is dead easy but running your own business is MUCH MUCH more complicated and expensive than it is in the UK, even after the kind attentions of Mr Brown these last 10 years.

If you want more info Alison, PM me-- I lived there a while.