Would I be better off financially in Malta or New York

Hi jmuthe,

most of what you say is right. In your situation you don't have much to lose and maybe a lot to gain so go ahead and do it !

The only other comments I would like to make are:

$ 90.000 equate to around 65.000 € at the moment. But that would be enough as a downpayment for a small appartment. Starting prices in Malta (away from the most expensive areas) for property seem to be around or above 100.000 € in one of the villages. So that would probably mean paying a mortgage of around 400 € for the next 20 years unless you can really get something like another $ 70.000 before you come.

Nadur is on the very lovely island of Gozo and ideal for retirees. It might not be the best location for you if you are looking for qualified work or studying. Don't count on being paid to go to college in Malta! So it will probably mean renting an appartment somewhere near where you work or near the university.

I'm not sure what a Bachelors degree in electronic means for the Maltese job market but IT is certainly the area to be in in Malta, especially if it has to do with web design and programing.

So, bottom line, your decision seems to be well thought through and worth a try . I would give it up to two years in Malta before buying property though as you will have to see if you can get used to living in Malta. Selling property in Malta for a decent price can be very challenging or even impossible and you don't want to be stuck with property if it doesn't work out.

Cheers
Ricky

as for the water - i too cant drink the water - too high in mineral content..so i bought a water filter jug (12e) and it works a treat and the water is much better.

water - install a reverse osmosis system for € 300-odd

Hi jmuthe,

there are so-called 'student maintainance grants' available from the government but to qualify you have to have been resident in Malta for at least the 5 years before the course starts .

Details are to found on the university website.

Cheers
Ricky

I guess that I won't qualify for a student maintenance grant. However, I want to know what the policy is for higher education in Malta. I won't get paid for an education but do I have to pay the college if I want to attend their classes? I am not sure if I would want to continue college anyway, but it would be still be nice to know what the rates are.

Hi,

I don't want to sound discouraging, but I would strongly recommend you to spend about a year living here in Malta before you make your major decisions. By living I mean not just being a tourist, but working here, living everyday life, absorbing Maltese culture etc. You will very likely find lots of differences that might change your opinion and make you reconsider.

You also need to realize that although there are two official languages, Malta is mostly Maltese, so unless you speak it or at least understand, you will find yourself in not so comfortable situations in everyday life. I'm sure no one would enjoy having coworkers discuss you right in front of your face or other situations that would make you feel excluded and more of a foreigner that you would like to feel.

As far as the weather, you might be surprised, but winters are very cold, (not outside but inside of your house, because houses are built with hardly any insulations and there are draughts going around and your shoes rot and your clothes are always damp, despite the constant use of dehumidifier). So you need lots of different ways to heat your place. Gas heaters, A/Cs, electric or halogen heaters... But you will still be sleeping in your warm clothes and knitted socks. Summers are very hot, so you need A/C most of the time. It also doesn't rain for a very long time, so everything around looks like hay. Spring and fall are the nice seasons here, but if it does rain, everything gets flooded immediately, so it's wise to choose to live on the hills.

Salaries are low and when the employers see you are qualified and you are offered a higher than average wage, (which is still much lower that what you would make in US and doesn't really come in balance with the cost of living), they will make sure that you have to go out of your skin and do magic for them. And if you disagree or object, they would easily find others willing to work for less.

I'm sure there are lots of expats that would disagree with what I have just said and would like to send me back to wherever I came from, but I believe that's what the forums are for, so people can see different views and opinions.

All in all, Malta is not a bad place to live in. Perhaps it's better than many other places in the world, considering different factors, such as low crime rate, many days of sunshine throughout the year, beautiful sea, and whatever else that might appeal to you personally, but if you are from US and there isn't anything that would make you leave, why not just try a different state or make a short-term, experimental move here and not waste your savings? And savings go very fast here, just as anywhere else in US.

Anyways, I wish you best of luck in your decision making and would be very interested to read further updates on your impression of the island if you do decide to make a move.

Irina

Hi Irina,

I couldn't have said it better !

But for some Malta is still a great place to live - but not for all!

Cheers
Ricky

Malta isnt for everyone. If you want a broad based view. It depends on your life situation.

If you are retired and financially sound, dont need employment, have a different social requirement , Malta could work if you can adjust to the above issues.

If you have kids, are a family, have to deal with schooling, have to deal with work, administrative things, attitudes of day to day dealings of getting things done on time and properly. Best better look elsewhere

Hello.

To note that some off topic posts have been moved.
Kindly concentrate on the initial subject.

Thank you,
Aurélie

There are some very good points up above which I am not going to repeat - but I do strongly suggest you really go to Malta with an open mind and keep your options open, always. AS they say, don't put all your eggs, or balls, in one basket

That means don't depart with a mindset that you are going to Malta and you have to stay there whatever happens. Malta has got some very positive points to living there, but it only works if you are going to have good financial stability and a good job - with good options to extend your horizons-  being and living in Malta because you have a choice, and not because you have no other option. This is the case with most expats living there, and whatever they tell you, they have the best of both worlds and get out of the island whenever they please, unlike the locals.

I find that Malta pays much less than anywhere else in the USA, but then cost of living is not really any cheaper, so locals have to make do with what they earn.

One thing you have to keep in mind is that opportunities in Malta are much less than in the US of A. New York State spans from the extreme south of Manhattan and the City itself, all the way to Rochester and Buffalo on the west, and then all the corridor of the I87 bordering into Canada - and that is just NY state.
Malta is only 20 miles by 9, if you get my drift.

Do let me point out that property in Malta is way.. WAY more expensive than the USA, so do take this into consideration. Just to give you an example.. with 100,000 US, you'd get a fully detaced house, with ground around it, minimum 2 to 4 bedrooms and a drive in for your cars, plus garage - in Malta, that is just a deposit on an appartment with 4 floors on top of you and nowhere to park your vehicle. A Garage in Malta will set you back an average of 33,000 US$. You mentioned that New Yorkes 'spend half their income on their property no matter what they do' All the Maltese I know spend ALL their income for about 30 years (if lucky) just paying it, with both partners working 2 jobs each.

On the other hand, it is true you don't have further property taxes once you secure your property, at least up to now - but been told that had already changed once some time ago when some silly government or other introduced some 'door' tax, but didn't last long. So who knows, maybe one day it will be introduced back.

Wish you all the luck and in the end, it has only to be your choice.

SportsMan wrote:

.
Malta is only 20 miles by 9

only if you exclude the best bit

falcon5 wrote:

In my opinion, that guy that wants to come from America to Malta to work, should get first priority. The reason being, is that he is of maltese heratige. So if there is any job availability, he should be first in line.

Pardon my ignorance buddy.. but he should be first in line for what? For a job because of 'heritage'? ????? ?? ? ? ? ???? ? ?

georgeingozo wrote:

SportsMan wrote:

.
Malta is only 20 miles by 9

only if you exclude the best bit

woops sorry George.. my apologies!  Don't get me wrong, I love Gozo and it's really one of my favorite parts

I'll first explain a little about myself. I am a young man that is living with my parents with no wife, or kids, or property so I think that would make moving easier. After I move to Malta, I could stay by myself at a small apartment that my parents own in Nadur, until I find a job and find my own place.

That's great. But even when you go on your, you can find cheap appartments. And with a good salary, you can make a good living and even save some money.

I currently have a job that doesn't pay much, but since I have been working hard for many years and live with my parents I managed to save close to $90,000 and expect to save a little more, by the time I move to Malta next summer.

I don't know anything about buying an appartment and the taxes. I saw some appartments, which are nice and not expensive to buy.
You could also consider sharing an appartment with someone. Or also consider to buy a boat and live on the boat. )

I also think that I might save on utilities. Malta is generally a little warmer than New York so I could save money on heat in the winter. The summers may be slightly warmer in Malta but the nights are definitely a lot less humid which means that I wouldn't need to use the air-conditioning as much at night and could save money on electricity.

I can tell you that Malta is very hot from March to October, even November. You don't need an A/C, you can do fine with a ventilator or open windows. It depends how well you can handle the hot weather.

One thing that might cost me more in Malta is water. The tap water is very clean and cheap in New York so I use it but I can't drink the tap water in Malta so I would have to constantly buy bottled water.

The water is fairly cheap in stores. You can get 12L for 2 euros.

I also hear that the sales taxes are much higher in Malta for clothing and other items but I also don't think that should be too much of a problem for me for a few reasons. First, I am not a person that is obsessed with buying new clothes very often and will wear whatever I have until they basically disintegrate.

The clothes are as well fairly cheap. You can get t-shirts from 5 euros to 30, if you want a brand name. Other clothes are not that expensive, usually it's always something on sale.

The only thing I know is more expensive here than in America, is the technology. Laptops, cameras, smartphones, etc. And I think if you go eat out, it can be expensive as well.

I would agree with IrinaC, before you make any long-term decisions, come here to experience the life. This is no problem for you.

And I don't agree with the presumption about the language as well as I would advise you not to care what people say about you. A good advice, if you want to live care free

I also don't think the winters are cold. It's mostly around 15 degrees celsius and if you dress a bit more, you're doing just fine.

This is my opinion. Have fun.

p.s.:You can compare cost of livings at this website:
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp

Hello, I would like to thank you all for responding to my question. I mean, it would have been a little nicer if you stayed on topic rather than using half of these posts to discuss whether it is spelled “mold” or “mould” but that's okay.  There are a few things that I want to respond too. The first point I want to  make is that it is alright to disagree with me or tell me negative news. People seem apologetic for doing so or try to attack others for doing so. However, I didn't come to this forum so that people would tell me only positive news. I came to hear other people's opinion and I am not offended by them. However, there are some things that I may want to disagree with you about and I hope that you don't get offended either.
    The reason why I am thinking of moving to Malta is because I visited there often and I enjoyed the atmosphere. However, I want to make sure it won't be a financial mistake but I have few reasons to believe that it won't and the first reason is because of housing.  I mentioned that I have $90,000 saved now and expect to save a little more by next summer which might amount to $100,000 or a little less than 80,000€.  Sportsman said that with $100,000 I could purchase a house in the USA, which might be technically true. However, there is no way I could find a house in the part of the country I live, which is in the outer boroughs of New York City.  Also, if I find one, I would still have to pay a property tax for as long as I own it. I may be able to buy apartments in New York for $100,000 but after I buy them, I would still have to pay a monthly maintenance fee. I like that I don't have to pay this in Malta.  Ricky said that the starting prices for apartments in Malta are at least  100,000€ or $130,000. However, I looked at one of your real estate websites and found apartments for less than that. Here is the website. http://www.simonestates.com/searchresul … =2#Results
There are plenty of apartments listed that are under 100,000 € and some are even lower than 80,000€. I admit that some of the cheaper ones are not furnished but there seems to be plenty that are. You may also say that they are probably cheap because they are so small and that might be a problem if I was bringing along a whole family to live their. However, I don't need anything too big because I would be the only one living in it. I admit that buying these apartments might be hard if I had no money saved up. However, I expect to have about $100,000 or 80,000€ saved by next summer. That may not be enough to fully buy an apartment by next year but that amount should be at least 90% of the money to buy the cheapest ones. The best part though, is that once I actually buy the apartment I don't have to worry about a property tax or maintenance fee like I do in the USA. So to summarize, there are a few points I want to make. First, I will have most of the money to buy a small apartment in Malta by next summer. Second, once I buy an apartment, I won't have to worry about the regular fees like I do in the USA (mortgage, rent, maintenance fees, property taxes).  A lot of people in New York spend about half of their income on these regular fees so if I avoid them by moving to Malta then I would save a lot of money.  I think that my logic is sound. However, if it isn't, then tell me which part of it you disagree with.
Other people have told me that I should not buy a property right away and I won't.  First I would have to find a job in Malta and then when I settle in, I will start looking for one. If it takes me a long time to find a job then it will take me longer to buy an apartment but if I find a job quickly and I find an apartment that I could afford, then I will buy one then.

jmuthe, I watch the prices of the apartmens/houses and for you if you're alone, you can easily buy something for around 60-80.000 euros, believe me. I found even some that are furnished and have the price around 50.000 euros. I think they're directly from the owners.

If you want to discuss this matter further with me I would sugest to send me a private message.

Hi Mathy,

I'm interested at 50.000 € ! Please give me some details if it is a serious offer.

Even 60.000 € furnished in Sliema .

Cheers
Ricky

ricky wrote:

Hi Mathy,



Even 60.000 € furnished in Sliema .

Cheers
Ricky

you will need to share it with your car Ricky

Hi George,

that is my fear as our neighbour is selling his car garage here in Sliema for 30.000 € unfurnished.

I also have been looking at garages at the Belmonte Hights property in Sliema but the asking price is similar. Renting is around 100 € or more per month depending on size!

I would take it unfurnished though as I have my own furniture .

Cheetrs
Ricky

I agree with Irina in most of things , she said it well.
The work is not that easy to find here for foreigner unless you want to work in catering..it is very easy, but very low wage.If you want to work in some sector of administration, It , business etc, it might be a bit difficult, maybe not.Eventhough im graduated and qualified, i found it hard to find the job of my kind  with kind of 'standard' money im used to.Now im ok, working for the travel agency but still im considering to move away next year to my beloved Prague -CZ for many reasons.
But as the experience is nice to live here , i saw many things which i was suprised at - electric cables out of houses etc.., high humidity in the houses etc but i saw also very positive things- people are very warm and frinedly, climate is great, prices not that high.Good luck . Kate