One of my goals is to eventually be able to purchase a house. Many of my nursing colleagues are purchasing homes that are worth $450,000, $500,000 or even more. Sadly, my budget is about half of that or even less, which means the houses I have to choose from are not appealing. Most of them are small, old, or both.
I am just curious how other nurses manage to purchase decent houses? I've been looking through my income, and I just can't find a way to make it possible to incorporate such a house into my budget. I am salary, so there are no opportunities for overtime.
What are other nurses' experience with buying houses? How did you make it work? Did it require switching jobs? Inquiring minds want to know!
Also if you are really interested you can do to the local Accessors office and do a detailed title and ownership search (and actually see the mortgage documents in most cases). As a former "title searcher" I could develop a tremendous body of information on individuals based upon nothing more than an address.
And did you read how all of us have told her to be grateful for what she has and to stop focusing on and being jealous of what other's have? Have you read the posts from those of us who are content with small houses and small lives? How we get our happiness from the people we love?
Many of us from overseas have not had the luxury that you have, nor the amazing pay that nurses get here.
I've lived without mains water or electric before, with only a woodstove for heating. You just get on with it, you spend your days off looking for firewood. It's called life.
Now get over your obsession with fancy houses, find a charity to donate to that helps the homeless and move on. This conversation is on the WORLDWIDE web, and people from other countries can see how ridiculous Americans are with their greed and jealousy. There will be nurses reading this who give most of their paycheck to supporting their elderly parents, and others struggling to pay their own medical bills.
Better still, sign up for a medical mission and go and help people less fortunate that you.
MSF is recruiting in Syria.
While I agree with much of your post, I don't think most Americans are greedy or jealous. If you read thru this post, we have been trying to steer the OP in the right direction and many of us have shared our experiences in buying a house and not on buying a McMansion, just a house.
While it may be true nurses are paid more in America, I don't think we are that well paid and the lack of national healthcare, subsidized childcare and free college puts us at a distinct disadvantage.
The greed comes from the politicians and corporations and some billionaires like Bezos and his company Amazon where workers aren't even allowed time to use the bathroom and forced to pee in a bottle. Off topic I know, but right now waiting on a unionization vote to hopefully start improving working conditions for people at Amazon.
Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.
14 minutes ago, brandy1017 said:
While I agree with much of your post, I don't think most Americans are greedy or jealous. If you read thru this post, we have been trying to steer the OP in the right direction and many of us have shared our experiences in buying a house and not on buying a McMansion, just a house.
While it may be true nurses are paid more in America, I don't think we are that well paid and the lack of national healthcare, subsidized childcare and free college puts us at a distinct disadvantage.
The greed comes from the politicians and corporations and some billionaires like Bezos and his company Amazon where workers aren't even allowed time to use the bathroom and forced to pee in a bottle. Off topic I know, but right now waiting on a unionization vote to hopefully start improving working conditions for people at Amazon.
Agreed! I think most Americans are not greedy. We suffer due to lack of assistance, systematic oppression, HUGE income inequality. Here the inequality is astounding. There are literal billionaires in a few mile radius of people making less than minimum wage. The billionaires have so much money they could never spend it in their lifetime. If they gave a tiny FRACTION of their income to people struggling it would make a huge difference in their lives. It could mean the difference between homelessness and housing, or food vs starvation.
Although the Bay Area is billed as one of the best, most liberal places to live, and this is where I'm from, sometimes I hate it here. The wealth gap, people suffering while we tout ourselves as saviors of the underprivileged, the TRAFFIC. Some people live 3 families in a one bedroom. People commute 3 hours in each direction and our freeways look like parking lots. I am stubborn and refuse to be displaced from where I'm from. Displacement and gentrification are common here. I have to acknowledge that I choose to stay here and not move somewhere easier to live. There are so many pros here too, maybe I am still feeling negative after my experience on the covid floor watching how crowded housing and poverty contributed to the inequality in death rates between different groups. Sorry everyone. Still come here and check out the nature, restaurants, and Golden Gate Bridge ?
I see a lot of difference in nurses that are from the US, compared to those came from overseas. Most of us came from countries were nursing is poorly paid, often just above minimum wage, and we go into this profession knowing that we will never be rich!
I've seen many comedians back home make jokes about nurses' pay, its just accepted that we see it as a vocation and not a money spinner, so we just accept the jokes about us panhandling, being poor, etc, as part of the vocation. Many hospitals had staff accommodation for those nurses who could did not have family to support them, and it was a constant joke at one place I worked that the jail across the street had better facilities and better education opportunities than we did! One bathroom per floor of 30 nurses was standard, and we all remember having to get up 3 hours before our shift started if we wanted any chance of taking a shower before we started!
We all remember the jokes about nurses watching the televisions in the jail by using binoculars, and yelling across the street for them to turn up the sound!!
But I see a different type of person going in nursing in the US. These folk wouldn't look twice at a nursing career if they knew they would be hovering around minimum wage their entire career. They are not in it for the love of service to humanity, but to make money. The OP appears to be representative of that type of personality. I personally have not met nurses like this in any country except in the US.
I have no doubt there are many 'vocation' nurses in the US as well, but this is the only country where people go into nursing for the money! I find all this talk of investing in property very strange!
Most of us came from countries were nursing is poorly paid, often just above minimum wage, and we go into this profession knowing that we will never be rich!
By and large nurses in the US are decidedly middle class which means something entirely different here than it does in the UK. Also, we pay for things here that are supplied to you by your government. It is not unheard of for people to go bankrupt paying for serious illnesses.
19 minutes ago, skylark said:
find all this talk of investing in property very strange!
There is only one poster who spoke at length about investing and he does not at all represent the norm...not even close. Then there's the OP who has issues far beyond her unrealistic housing expectations. Finding things strange is fine but it really wasn't necessary to make the disparaging remark you made about Americans as a whole. You would feel the same if one of us said something nasty and patently untrue about the British.
For me paying rent is the same as my tossing money in the fireplace. Sure, I have a roof over my head for the time being but get nothing out of it in the end. My house will be the only thing allowing me to be cared for when I'm too old to care for myself. It is an investment in my future well-being. Our government pays nothing for elder care unless you are destitute and social security is barely enough to get by on.
I see a lot of difference in nurses that are from the US, compared to those came from overseas. Most of us came from countries were nursing is poorly paid, often just above minimum wage, and we go into this profession knowing that we will never be rich!
I've seen many comedians back home make jokes about nurses' pay, its just accepted that we see it as a vocation and not a money spinner, so we just accept the jokes about us panhandling, being poor, etc, as part of the vocation. Many hospitals had staff accommodation for those nurses who could did not have family to support them, and it was a constant joke at one place I worked that the jail across the street had better facilities and better education opportunities than we did! One bathroom per floor of 30 nurses was standard, and we all remember having to get up 3 hours before our shift started if we wanted any chance of taking a shower before we started!
We all remember the jokes about nurses watching the televisions in the jail by using binoculars, and yelling across the street for them to turn up the sound!!
After 25 years in the UK, working first as a nurse and then an NP, my pay was barely scraping over $20 an hour. Housing in London starts at $500,000.
But I see a different type of person going in nursing in the US. These folk wouldn't look twice at a nursing career if they knew they would be hovering around minimum wage their entire career. They are not in it for the love of service to humanity, but to make money. The OP appears to be representative of that type of personality. I personally have not met nurses like this in any country except in the US.
I have no doubt there are many 'vocation' nurses in the US as well, but this is the only country where people go into nursing for the money! I find all this talk of investing in property very strange!
I'm shocked and saddened that nurses are paid so poorly in the UK and other countries. London's housing costs are probably comparable to Northern CA or Hawaii, but here the nurses are paid more to try to compensate for that.
I read Boris Johnson's proposed a 1% pay raise for healthcare workers struggling in the pandemic. That is just disgusting and so disrespectful! I hope you guys get a decent pay raise before this is over. I imagine there will be public support for better pay and treatment of healthcare workers.
As to your concerns over American's view of nursing as a paycheck, we need money to live. The poor nursing pay and working conditions are certainly one of the reasons there is so much turnover in the UK and elsewhere. Nurses migrate out of poor areas like the Philippines searching for better pay to help support themselves and their families back home. I've worked with nurses from there and India and from Africa all migrating to the US for a better life for themselves and their families.
I don't think it is a badge of honor to be underpaid as a nurse. I imagine most of us went into it to help others, but certainly there are much easier ways to make a living. I've attached an article that explains how our compassion is used against us to make a profit.
I agree its not a badge of honour, but the different salaries in different countries attract different types of people. We are taught its a vocation, and not for monetary gain. Many of us work alongside nuns, and have had nursing teachers who are nuns, and that sense of service has remained since Florence and her gang began our profession.
My point its the culture is very different in the US and the high salaries make it attractive to people who would not be seen dead working as a nurse in other countries. Nursing has a completely different public perception, and a salary to match. I wonder how many US nurses would be in the profession if they knew that their salaries would never be much above minimum wage, and their job satisfaction was considered their reward instead?
My salary doubled when I moved to the US, and housing is a fraction of the cost of back home. I think I mentioned already that I lived on a houseboat, as housing costs too much unless you have a wealthy family to support you. To give you an idea of the relative costs, I sold my houseboat for MORE than I paid for a 4 bed house in the US. There is no property in London for under $500,000, except maybe a few tiny studio apartments. Housing start at over a million, and the hourly nursing pay ranges from $15 to $20 a hour, depending on experience and qualifications. There have been all sorts of charitable plans for housing for nurses, (Keyworker housing was the main one), but it was a tiny scheme in comparison to the number of nurses in need, and I've been on the waiting list since 1999 and will retire before I get a place!
Other countries have it much worse, I've heard that Filipino nurses earn the equivalent of $50 a month.
But like us, they are taught that nursing is about service and compassion, and not monetary reward. I just don't see that concept catching on in American nursing recruitment!
These folk wouldn't look twice at a nursing career if they knew they would be hovering around minimum wage their entire career. They are not in it for the love of service to humanity, but to make money.
I have to agree with this. I know it is tough on the floors, but there are some good improvements to help the nurse since the last 40 years. Accuchecks instead of urine dip sticks that were the least accurate, assessments were done without any corresponding equipment like a mercury thermometer that needed to be left in for 7 minutes before reading, pulse Ox, EKG monitors, automatic BP on stable patients, Antibiotics we had to reconstitute and put into buretrols. AND IV pumps so you don't have to set drips, check them every 30 minutes to 1 hour, & find a run-a-way IV.
Pharmacy closed down late afternoon and so did many of the other hospital departments. You were on your own for the next 12 hours. When we sent someone for a CAT scan they went to a central hospital via ambulance.
If you had to call a doctor you had to call his home number and hope he was available. No pagers or cell phones.
I wonder if the rate of new nurses leaving is as constant as it was years ago.
I know I may be attacked for this but I have felt there are nurses who currently enter the profession and don't understand the responsibilities or what the nature of caring is.
I agree its not a badge of honour, but the different salaries in different countries attract different types of people. We are taught its a vocation, and not for monetary gain. Many of us work alongside nuns, and have had nursing teachers who are nuns, and that sense of service has remained since Florence and her gang began our profession.
My point its the culture is very different in the US and the high salaries make it attractive to people who would not be seen dead working as a nurse in other countries. Nursing has a completely different public perception, and a salary to match. I wonder how many US nurses would be in the profession if they knew that their salaries would never be much above minimum wage, and their job satisfaction was considered their reward instead?
My salary doubled when I moved to the US, and housing is a fraction of the cost of back home. I think I mentioned already that I lived on a houseboat, as housing costs too much unless you have a wealthy family to support you. To give you an idea of the relative costs, I sold my houseboat for MORE than I paid for a 4 bed house in the US. There is no property in London for under $500,000, except maybe a few tiny studio apartments. Housing start at over a million, and the hourly nursing pay ranges from $15 to $20 a hour, depending on experience and qualifications. There have been all sorts of charitable plans for housing for nurses, (Keyworker housing was the main one), but it was a tiny scheme in comparison to the number of nurses in need, and I've been on the waiting list since 1999 and will retire before I get a place!
Other countries have it much worse, I've heard that Filipino nurses earn the equivalent of $50 a month.
But like us, they are taught that nursing is about service and compassion, and not monetary reward. I just don't see that concept catching on in American nursing recruitment!
When I think of vocation, I think of missionaries or nuns or people who can afford to do volunteer work. I went to a Catholic grade school and got my nursing degree from a Catholic college. Many of the hospitals systems in the US were originally opened and ran by nuns. My hospital as well, but corporate MBA's have taken over and are running the places into the ground by deliberate cost cutting at the expense of patient safety! Many of these systems will proudly display their Catholic heritage, but if you worked there or were a patient you wouldn't recognize it!
There are many devoted nuns in teaching and nursing, but we aren't nuns and therefore need and deserve a fair pay for our work. So I guess my opinion is different than yours. But there are many nurses in the US that feel the same as you, and they tend to be very judgemental to anyone who dares say they became a nurse to make a living wage. Again there are many easier jobs available here for the same or better pay.
Personally I don't have a problem with people becoming nurses to make a good living. I don't need to question if they have a true devotion. I think having a variety of people with different values, experiences and background is good thing. The real problem today is not the workers, it is the snakes in suits, corporate yahoos cutting corners to maximize profit.
I think it is a very sad commentary that nurses are so poorly paid in the UK that they need charity just to afford a home! That is not a good thing and obviously is one of the reasons for the high turnover of nurses.
Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.
I think most US nurses go into nursing for a mix of wanting to help people and because it is a way to make a living. But I don't think nurses here are all about money; there are many professions that are not as stressful and pay way more. I don't think I'd be a nurse for free, but I am not looking to go into a career that is self serving and profit driven, often at the expense of others. So I guess I'm a little altruistic but not on the level of a nun!
That is horrible that UK nurses are paid so little for the important work they do! I'm impressed there are people who are willing to be nurses there for reasons other than money, but I also hope UK nurses can successfully fight for better conditions. Those taking care of others need to be taken care of too.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
I'm not sure I understand the bent this thread is taking. That somehow a person wanting to get paid in the field of nursing means that they don't have a vocation? The Websters dictionary defines a vocation as a strong feeling that a particular job is suitable for them. It has nothing to do with being poor or not wanting to be paid for your work.
I think a more appropriate term for what is being discussed is "A Calling." Such as a person having the feeling of being called into the religious orders. One can certainly have both a calling and a vocation but the word vocation at least as it is used in the United States has to do with the type of job one receives specialized training in such as skilled trades, nursing, construction, baking etc.
Vocational jobs again as it is used in the US are jobs that do not require a ton of formal education but allow the worker to make a living wage. There are many vocational jobs that pay better than some careers requiring a college education. and until recently a person could become a nurse with a two year degree from a community college and work their entire career to retirement without adding a significant amount of education. The fact that many countries have social prograns that pay for healthcare, child care, retirment etc means that they don't need to be paid a much as in the US where a person pays for all those things out of pocket.
Doing a bit of research today I found that the UK government heavily subsidises the tuition and living costs of nursing students. After graduation UK nurses get paid 27-45K Pounds per year, The equivilent of $37,000.00 to $63,000.00 US dollars. UK nurses also get the following when they work for the NHS, working with NHS (National Healthcare Service) in UK will guarantee the below-mentioned benefits:
Long-term contract.
27 paid holidays.
Decent salary to start with I.e., GBP 22,128.
Paid training.
37.5 hours of fixed standard weekly work hours.
A pension of 7.1 percent to 9.3 percent on your salary.
This type of benefit package which also includes free healthcare is unheard of in the United States.
By comparison US employees, contibute to their housing, health care and also pay many thousands of dollars for a nursing education.
While I truely love what I do and the people I take care of I won't lie and say that the living wage nursing provides wasn't one of the reasons I was attracted to it. I don't have to be in poverty to like caring for people.
Hppy
BSc Nursing in UK: Top Colleges, Fees, Eligibility, Scholarships, Scope (collegedunia.com)
myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN
1,453 Posts
Also if you are really interested you can do to the local Accessors office and do a detailed title and ownership search (and actually see the mortgage documents in most cases). As a former "title searcher" I could develop a tremendous body of information on individuals based upon nothing more than an address.