brtlmj

The ONLY time renting is not a waste of money is in the instance of just moving to a new area, and you're unsure of where you want to be.

Let me give you a real-life example. My own.

Where I live a median house costs $557,000. If we took a 30-year mortgage at the jumbo rate of 6.9%, we'd be paying 3,668.40 per month. Actually, we'd be paying more, as mortgage insurance would be necessary. Anyway, we could afford it.

Now, let's consider renting. The average rent around here seems to be about $1,700 per month (that's based on local newspaper ads - I might be a hundred or two off). So, if we rent instead of buying, we can save $1968 per month. That's $24,165 per year assuming 5% return.

In other words, by renting we save as much money in a year as we would build equity in almost four years of "owning" a home. And that's assuming that prices do not fall further.

Additionally, right now we do not have kids and do not have to buy or rent a house. A $900 apartment is fine, so we save even more.

Sure, in a few years the situation will reverse. The we will buy - with a large down payment. But now? No way.

By the way, it's kind of funny how realtors tend to tell you that you are going to get a tax break on your interest payments, but conveniently forget to mention property taxes.

There are free ESL classes in my area. True, you get what you pay for (the class is likely to be rather large), but a K-1 holder is likely to have little money and plenty of time at the beginning of his/her time in the US.

As I'm trying to avoid getting to the hallowed day when I receive my EAD and not actually be prepared to go about getting a job.......

Depending on what kind of a job you are looking for, it may take a few weeks/months to find anything. You may want to start sending out resumes before getting your EAD.

-Is it advisable to present US immigration status in detail (eg I-766 holder, etc)? if so, how?

I did not. However, if I were to go through the process again, I would write something like "authorized to work in the US" - my name makes it clear that I am not from here.

-Has anyone got any links to good web resources for US resume/cover letter writing?

Your local library will have books on that subject. You may find them more helpful than web pages.

-Any good job seeking sites (monster, etc)........

Being an engineer, I used mainly Dice and LinkedIn. I also posted my resume on monster, and now I am getting tons of fake job offers. Look out for those - if it sounds too good to be true... you know the rest.

Good luck!

My advice: smile nicely and say "no, thank you", as if they offered you a favor. This usually buys you a few precious seconds to walk away. Mind you, I am not against giving, but I believe that my money will be spent best by a big, established charity.

Wait a month or two to check your credit history.

I recall reading somewhere that you need six months of credit history to get a credit score. I cannot remember the source, though, so I may be completely wrong here.

By the way, you will have to pay to get your credit score. The free reports only include your credit history.

That really is one of the stupidest things I've heard I wouldn't have even told them I had a UK license.

Many states have a law that says that you cannot have more than one valid license.

In CA, they did not take away my Polish license, but they marked it as invalid in the DMV system, so I won't be able to use it in this state.

hopefully a government bailout won't be the solution. i get quite tired of seeing my taxes used to pay for someone's lack of judgement.

Amen!

Amen!

Amen! Many people got temporarily priced out of the market by others, who took loans they could not afford. I don't think their tax money should be used to make this permanent!

op: so what is the topic again? oh yeah, that the market is bad. maybe not hit bottom yet. let's say that is true. what does it mean for currnt homeowners with no plans on selling anytime soon? maybe even never.

Very little, unless they:

- want to refinance

- want a home equity line of credit

- are about to retire and want to take a reverse mortgage.

Bear in mind though, the longer you keep a loan, the less interest you pay per PI payment. Once you refi, you reset back to square one and end up paying mostly interest again.

Each month you pay one month's interest on your principal. Assuming that you have a traditional mortgage, the rest of your payment is used to repay the principal, so that it decreases and when you make your next payment, the "interest" part will be a bit smaller.

After refinancing your principal stays the same and your interest rate goes down - this means that you will be paying LESS interest than you used to, all other things being equal. There is no going back to square one here.

Various fees are the main reason why one should not try to refinance when a loan with a 0.01% lower APR becomes available.

Looking at things from the other side I once stopped a guy in a Peugeot 205GTi doing 102mph in a 40 zone. He was quite abusive at the time and denied exceeding the speed limit at all.

This guy was an idiot and deserved what he got.

Fortunately, California cops seem to be rather tolerant and understand that driving 75 mph on a freeway is perfectly safe

Time 1.) A police officer pulled me over because he thought I was following the car in front of me. My dad had rented a car and was taking the car back to the rental place, I was following him so I could take him home. The cop pulled in behind me and followed me following my dad for quite awhile, not pulling me over until I was on the interstate!!! Didn't get a ticket.

Time 2.) While driving with a friend of mine in D.C. (actually going about 5 below the speed limit of 40 because we were looking for a specific road), I got pulled over for having Tennessee tags in the district. The officer asked to see my driver's license (issued from TN, I was doing an internship for school in D.C.), commented that I must be from TN, and asked my friend and I what we were doing tonight! Told us to be safe, gave me back my license, and drove away. Again, no ticket.

Is either one illegal?!

We just got our permanent resident card in the mail...this is the green card, right? I don't know why but i was expecting some huge green card that you could staple to you shirt or something. This one is barely green at all!?

It used to be green - long, long ago. The design changed several times - in the '90 "green card" was pink. Now it looks like a fake ID

Anyway, congratulations!

I had to wait for DHS confirmation in CA. They gave me a temporary license, though.

I considered shipping my stuff. Then I realized that taking excess baggage with me was not much more expensive, and WAY more convenient. If I remember correctly, using a shipping company would have made sense for me only if I had wanted to send lots of stuff, like hundreds of kilograms, by ship.

Not really because DMV are only interested in an APPROVED application - an NOA1 simply is confirmation that an application has been received - hence teh request for at least an NOA2 (approval notice).

...which is fine, because then one is not a resident until AOS is approved, and can use his/her foreign license.

The real problem is that, according to some interpretations, one can be a nonresident according to USCIS and not eligible for a CA driver license, but a resident according to DMV and unable to use a foreign license.

Theoretically, no - but people do. According to California DMV you have can only use it for ten days if you become a resident (which filing AOS will be assumed) - "If you take a job here or become a resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days.

One could argue that if filing for AOS made one a resident, then NOA1 would be enough to get a license.

passed my car test a few weeks a go,have been waiting for my license to arrive.went to dmv to take written motorcycle test....they said problems with green card verification ??ended up speaking with the boss....he took 3 photo copies of temporary license,ssn and said it will take a good while to come through!! i enquired if they were ever going to tell me there was a problem? he looked blank and said no!!

When I passed the driving test, they gave me a temporary license and said that I wouldl get the "real" one when my status had been verified with USCIS. It took about two months.

Bartek

I have a valid drivers license from india...guess thats of no use over here..

It's a matter of interpretation. For example, some consider themselves non-resident until they get their EADs, and keep on using their foreign licenses. That's what I did - fortunately I could get insured with my foreign license.

I am not aware of anyone having any problems due to using his/her foreign license while waiting for AOS.

Bartek

In my part of CA house prices fell by 13% during the last 9 months. Another year or two, and we'll be buying

Well done, congratulations! Having a DL makes life much easier

Renting is OK as a temporary measure, but why pay someone else's mortgage when you can be building equity?

Because you might be saving money quicker by renting than you would be building equity? If I remember correctly, if you can rent for 30% less than your monthly mortgage payment would be, it's better to rent.

Besides, with the market in a freefall, it's pretty easy to get your mortgage underwater. That means negative equity.

where in california are you? what kind of engineer? how long did it take you to get a job?

Close to Sacramento, software/firmware engineer, a bit over three months.

I just wanted to know how is job search here? After all visa process its probably next big thing to do. How does employers treat immigrants. Can you find the same decent job you worked in home country. How do they look on language barriers? Please, share experiences!

Job hunt can be very frustrating, unfortunately. Imagine sending a resume after resume and getting no replies. Posting your resume on Monster or Dice and getting only scam emails. Actually, I'd like to use this opportunity to WARN EVERYBODY. If you post your resume online, and then get an email that:

- has a subject line like this "<your name>, regarding your online resume"

- contains a fake link - if you move cursor over it, you will see that the link has your email address embedded in it

- promises that you will be contacted one, two or three days after you apply

beware - this is a scam. If you apply, your email address will find its way to several spam lists. Identity theft has also been reported.

OK, back to subject Regarding the lack of replies - I have no clue whether my definitely non-American name was a factor here. But, when I finally got a call and went for an interview, they only seemed to care whether I could work legally in the US. Any language problems weren't too important for them - after all, I am an engineer, not a salesman. Engineers communicate in binary code if they have to

My wife's friend, who used to work as a recruiter, said that "90% of jobs are never advertised". So, I second the advice to build a network and then use it to find a job - if you can. And keep on sending out resumes - you never know which one will get you a phone call, interview and a job.

Good luck!

I hope I can post that here soon as well, haven't had any luck finding a job as of yet...

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you Don't give up, even though job hunt can be pretty damn depressing.

I got an additional week in exchange for a reduction in salary. I gave up less than I make in a week, though