The Gaming Den

Sometimes, something really cool happens or I hear something funny and I want to post it, but I don't know where.

So because I'm totally excited by the prospect and can't keep it bottled up, I'm opening this thread.

---

Ess and I are looking into buying a house, and for the first time in our lives, it actually seems like it might be a real possibility. We have an appointment on Thursday to check out four of them, and I'm so bloody excited about getting a house and getting out of this apartment that I can't even see straight.

Great time to pick up a first-time home, if you can qualify for an FHA loan. Prices are more-or-less perfect.

Also, check out the Nehemiah Program - it'll help you get a larger downpayment and lower interest on the loan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehemiah_C ... ah_Program

Congratulations Maj.

What kind of floor plans were you fixing to get?

Thanks, mean liar.

As far as floor plans go, Lago, are you asking if we'll have enough room for you to come visit?



We're looking at old houses because they're cheaper, and my mom is a genius when it comes to fixing them up (she's renovated maybe half a dozen in my lifetime). The one at the top of our list has four bedrooms and comes in around 1800 square feet (167 square metres for the metric heads here) - which is about three times the size of our crappy apartment.

As Lago said, congratulations.

Good luck in finding a house!

I have a house for you if you're willing to move to the Midwest! In all seriousness, congratulations. I hope you find a good one!

It's always nice to hear about people making it in the world. Too few stories like that these days...

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:It's always nice to hear about people making it in the world. Too few stories like that these days...

Don't be so pessimistic! Just wait 10 to 20 more years, and I'm sure that the economy will finally start sorting itself out.

Move to Australia. My state has 2.5% unemployment, awwww yeah.

cthulhu wrote:Move to Australia. My state has 2.5% unemployment, awwww yeah.

Really now? They take in a lot of foreign workers over there? They have some kind of "Monster.com" style website for finding jobs?

lol, I'm being a bastard, we have a Washington DC style capital (i.e. a city for the federal government) but it doesn't have Washington's encircling population, and it does have a reputation (some what deserved) for being dull.

So most jobs are for Australian nationals.

But anyway, more generally for Australia if you have a 3 or 4 year degree, yes we are interested. Particularly if it's engineering and the mining and construction industry sound good to you.

www.seek.com.au

Try Perth. It's unemployment rate is below 5%.

Congratulations on the house. You are really hitting the market at the right time. My mom has been trying to sell hers for some time now.

Speaking of Monster, is there anyway to signal that you are no longer looking for work? I found a job by some miracle, but its still sending me emails about job offers I no longer need.

Yah. We've been trying to sell since March. Our last open house the only guy who came was another real estate agent to see if we had as shitty a day as he did (nobody at all came to his showing).

Yeah.

We're likely gonna hafta drop our price hard in order to sell our house. We're already listing it basically at what we paid, and we have put in over $15k in improvements into the house (new windows, doors, paint, garage door motor, security system, carpets, redid shower, and other shit I don't even remember). I suspect we will have to drop our price 15-20% to get out so we can buy a larger house. Maybe next year if they do another housing credit thingy.

Ramnza and I bought a house last year. it is the first house Ramnza has ever lived in. We were able to take advantage of the $8000 dollar incentives and it was sweet.

Congrats, Maj and Ess. Owning your first house is a solid "10" on the awesomeness scale.

Game On,
fbmf

Next on my list of personal stuff to pimp (and it doesn't have to be just me pimping, my intention was for anyone to post personal stuff here) - Ess and I have been officially married for ten years.

My personal thing:

I've been kicking around the idea of moving to New Zealand after I graduate (class of '13 -- hopefully.) I have two issues:

1) Two body problem. I have to make sure my fiancee will enjoy it there.
2) I don't want to lower my standard of living for the privilege of living in New Zealand -- the whole point is to raise it by being somewhere I want to be. So I have to find a job that pays as much or almost as much as I could find here in the States.

The type of jobs that people hire someone like me for aren't the kind of jobs that tend to get posted online, they're the types that companies come right to universities to get. And New Zealand companies don't really come to American universities...

Congrats on the anniversary!

(And having moved in to my new condo recently late last year, yes, having a place that is "yours" is sweet)

Surgo wrote:My personal thing:

2) I don't want to lower my standard of living for the privilege of living in New Zealand -- the whole point is to raise it by being somewhere I want to be. So I have to find a job that pays as much or almost as much as I could find here in the States.

lol.

There are reasons that people move away from NZ. Most of those reasons carry a $ at the front. You will not find an equivalent or near equivalent wage. You may(will?) find jobs that pay enough that the advantages of living in NZ make up for the lost actual $.
Especially if you like sheep or rugby. You do, right?

Yeah NZ salaries are lower on average because it's a backwater. However, stuff is actually a bit cheaper, so it's not all bad.

If it's a job that companies usually go to universities to hire then it may well not exist in NZ, and it definitely won't pay as much in NZ as in the US. Ever.

The reasons people migrate to NZ are only economic if they're from the Third World. Family, relative peace and safety, and/or the mild climate might be reasons to come, but don't fool yourself, you'd be taking a pay cut.

Some stuff is cheaper (housing, food), some is more expensive (manufactured goods). It won't make up the difference.

The type of jobs that people hire someone like me for aren't the kind of jobs that tend to get posted online, they're the types that companies come right to universities to get. And New Zealand companies don't really come to American universities...

I have no idea what it is you do, but you are almost certainly wrong. On campus recruitment is not a big thing in Australia or NZ, and instead graduates will be encouraged to apply online, typically via a graduate program on the companies web site.

However, most will be looking for a work permit unless you are truely exceptional, in which case they will be willing to sponsor you.

Yeah, this is why I posted it in the "Personal" thread. I'm aware that it might not be possible to make those goals work out, but I'm going to see what I can do to make them work out as I want. I'm pretty much guaranteed to be taking a pay cut; the tech megacorps don't really have a New Zealand presence.

Blasted wrote:Especially if you like sheep or rugby. You do, right?

Yes to both, and especially the lonely countryside.

If I can find a job I care for, I don't think I'll have problems finding a sponsor. But hell, the two body problem is something that still needs to be solved!

Maj wrote:The one at the top of our list has four bedrooms and comes in around 1800 square feet (167 square metres for the metric heads here) - which is about three times the size of our crappy apartment.

I've only ever seen houses measured in squares. Not square somethings, just squares, its pretty annoying as far as random measurement units go.

Good luck with the home ownership thing, it really is a good feeling.

After 5 years of living in Vietnam, I have finally gotten a work permit and I am working legally! All it took was some annoying paperwork $500 in "special fees" to avoid even more annoying paperwork. Of course it doesn't actually affect anything in my life in any meaningful way other than it allows me to get a residence card which in turn means I don't have to do a visa run every 3 months. But that's actually a downside because there goes my excuse to take a vacation every 3 months.