I’ve been offered a great job at Google, so my wife and I are off to the San Francisco Bay Area. It was a long and difficult interview process, but that’s a story for another post.

I’m very excited about working at Google, of course, but moving to the USA is not without its headaches. My wife and I are both Canadians (I’ll be working in the States under a TN visa), so most annoying of all is the fact that I have absolutely no credit history in the States — heck, I don’t even have a Social Security Number yet — so getting a mortgage, cell phone, television service, etc. is proving to be a pain.

As far as mortgages go, the plan is to rent for a year while I build up my credit history, then secure a decent mortgage. Hopefully, the timing will work out for us. I’m not as familiar with the U.S. housing market as I am with Canada’s, but I do know that the Bay Area’s real estate values have plummeted off a cliff to the tune of about 30% from the peak — so it’s probably not a bad time to buy. Hopefully, when we’re in a better position to buy in a year’s time, the market conditions will be just as bad (and hence good for us ).

That’s another great thing about moving to the States: had we stayed here, wifely pressure would have forced my hand and we’d have ended up buying an overpriced SFH in Victoria. Obviously now the pressure’s off, and I’m looking forward to being a homeowner in a place where the market conditions are a little better.

Mind you, even after the 30% correction, Bay Area real estate is insanely expensive. But the average salary around here is higher, too, so the high valuations actually make sense, somewhat. Not only that, but the standard mortgage product in the States is the 30-year fixed rate, which takes a load off my mind. Sure, it’s a bit more expensive than the standard Canadian 5-year fixed products, but way, way, way less than a Canadian 30-year fixed rate product (if you can even find a lender who’ll sell you such a beast). I love that I know I’ll be paying $x number of dollars every month for the next 30 years, instead of the uncertainty of rising interest rates after 5 years with a Canadian mortgage.