28M US/EU dual citizen
$50,000 USD gross annual income as a 1099 contractor
I’ve lived in Madrid for 3 years before, I know how things work there and most of my friends are still there. I speak Spanish fluently. Cost of living is manageable for my income but prices have definitely gone up, but still less than Barcelona where I also have lived for a summer.
Budapest interests me because it has a lower COL than most of Europe, and I could get a nice apartment with my income. I also speak the language and I am a Hungarian citizen. However, I have no ties to the city, no friends, and my Hungarian family either passed on or live in the US.
I really loved my social life in Spain, but I also really do enjoy Budapest. I have spent 3 weeks there twice, so I am acquainted with the city a bit. I am primarily interested in geoarbitrage, particularly with housing.
I have also lived in Amsterdam and Barcelona and ADORED them, but both were expensive and the former would definitely require me to rent a room.
This is definitely a more subjective topic, but I’m most interested in having a living space to myself without having to share (I’ve been in flat shares for the last 10 years); and having disposable income to travel more often, which is why I’m leaning more towards Budapest as a home base, even though my community is still in Madrid. I value having a great social life BUT I don’t want to make it the prime factor in my decision-making because I do need to be tethered to my desk during EST hours and I can’t get too distracted.
Does anyone have any advice or insight, particularly in the decision-making matrix/trade-off of social life in a country you’re used to vs. having access to better and nicer housing stock and more income disposability in a country less familiar to you?
Edit: Please don’t comment about the contractor setup, I work EST hours and logistically can’t work outside them. I understand how misclassification works but this is the only way I can stay compliant, have the 50k USD income without it getting lowered, all while living in Europe.