Any nurses in the Sugar Land/ Houston area?

cali2texas · Mar 12, 2005

We are in the same boat!!! Do you know anything about transfering your license from cali 2 texas?

I'm working with a real estate agent who had 2 previous clients(RN's) that just got hired starting at $75.00 an hour. However, she didin't know what they specialized in. She also said starting pay is about $30-$40 an hour, which I am sure you will be making plenty more than that since you have the experience. We are definetly moving this year. After seeing what kind of house we could get in the Sugarland/Houston Texas area for a 4th of the cost compared to California ...I was almost sick....no I was sick! Do you want the web site to look at houses? Keep us posted...we'll do the same

Given the fact that my s/o and I are making a combined 6 figure salary in CA and unable to afford any kind of home, it's looking like we'll be moving back to TX within a year. So my questions are...What are the hospitals like in Sugar Land/Houston area, and what are general starting salaries?

PMHNP10 · Mar 12, 2005

We are in the same boat!!! Do you know anything about transfering your license from cali 2 texas?
I'm working with a real estate agent who had 2 previous clients(RN's) that just got hired starting at $75.00 an hour. However, she didin't know what they specialized in. She also said starting pay is about $30-$40 an hour, which I am sure you will be making plenty more than that since you have the experience. We are definetly moving this year. After seeing what kind of house we could get in the Sugarland/Houston Texas area for a 4th of the cost compared to California ...I was almost sick....no I was sick! Do you want the web site to look at houses? Keep us posted...we'll do the same

Unfortunately I don't know what all is involved in transferring from CA to TX because I started in TX and did a travel assignment in CA, so my TX license is still active.

As for Houston, I ran across a thread on this BB stating that new grads are starting at like 21-23/hr as of summer of 2004, so I can hopefully count on at least 25/hr because that's about what we'll have to make to afford the house we're most interested in. I called a few hospitals and all of them said they couldn't quote a salary over the phone--that I'd have to discuss salary in an interview, so I have no idea what to expect.

We are particularly interested in a house going for about 240,000...very large, and very beautiful inside and out. Some FYIs...it rains alot there so make sure to inquire whether you are in a flood zone and be prepared to buy flood insurance if so.

As for the cost of a house in CA...Make a long story short...I have been propagandizing my s/o for the last year to stay in this area. It's sooooooo beautiful, the weather is incredible, we make great money at a very nice hospital, and have the added bonus of ratios to help protect our license. We got pre qualified for a $500,000 loan and were like...cool. Then we started looking at houses. To quote you: "I was sick". After our first day of looking I said...We're moving back to TX. We make a 6 figure salary, have wonderful credit scores, but because we don't have equity (due to not being a previous homeowner) we can't do even a 5% down payment. And worse yet is that any house which closely resembles what we would be interested in is like 800,000 for a low 2000s square foot house. If I'm going to spend half a million it better be half a mansion, not just the guest bedroom. :angryfire

We had my s/o's mom get shown some houses we've been looking at online and she really liked the one we like the most.

I'm not sure what website you were looking at, but I'd recommend har.com. It has a listing of every house for sale in the Houston area. And by all means if you are able to pry a base figure out of a HR person for a RN with 1+ year of tele experience and a RN with 3+ yrs of psych/ortho/neuro experience (vast majority in psych), please let me know. I'm pretty sure we will be able to afford the house we want, but I want to know whether it's going to be a major struggle, and I hate having that little bit of doubt. I hope to hear from you again.

amckenziern · Apr 27, 2005

If you are still looking to move to the Houston area, I just have a bit of advice on increasing your pay...

Many of the hospitals in the med ctr offer supplemental positions. These positions fill in holes in the schedule. It means you may not work full-time, but the pay is on average an extra $10/hr.

The other option is per diem (at Hermann, it is called Premier Staffing). They can float you to whatever unit they need you on, but again, pay is increased!

One note! These positions do not provide ANY benefits. Depends on what you need... If your spouse covers insurance, go supplemental!

Good luck!