> Is your goal to convince the OP to back out of the arrangement?

My goal is that they should make an informed decision. If they want to live in Stockholm in a "second hand" apartment spending 15k SEK a month without any guarantee to be able to stay there while at the same time being hit with a 20% extra tax trying to increase their salary and there by being potentially one of the more income sensitive people in their workplace, if not the job market, then that is fine. They should however be aware of the situation.

However if that isn't what they were bargaining for they needs to be more careful about their decision. Be more selective were they try their luck in the region, or consider other places that might have similar characteristics.

> Because you aren't the type of person the OP was asking for a response from, your response don't seem to have addressed any of the OP's topics, and your list of complaints doesn't resonate with most Americans.

Sure, I mean I don't represent the incoming side. What I am trying to highlight things that most people wouldn't necessarily be aware of. I am not so sure these issues wouldn't resonate with Americans. In my experience many Americans find the almost universally rent controlled rental market concerning. As well as the hundred year mortgages. And that the housing market is plateauing. That is in addition to relatively low salaries and high taxes. Which you therefor absolutely needs to care about what you get for them, since you are paying for it anyway.

> Immigrants are almost always in a less favored group.

And that is a pretty bad thing if you are an immigrant.

> You know what else has changed in the last 10 years? White supremacists who have decided it is proper to kill children in Norway and Sweden [...]

There were white supremacists killing people in the '90s as well. Still it certainly isn't a good development. Up until the Sweden Democrats entered parliament, to much detriment to the government being able to do anything productive, Sweden was the exception among Scandinavian countries. Which was something worth highlighting, but it isn't true anymore. Now we have our own populists and people more extreme then them being validated as a result.

I would love to say "come to Sweden" and that everything on the up and up. That it is easy to build yourself a life here. That good apartments, salaries, health care and all the other things that gives you a good quality of life are plentyful. That there is a lot of potential, excess and that you are getting a good deal. I just don't think it is true and I don't see it getting fixed any time soon. That is the problem. Sweden isn't currently a very good deal short term, and there is a lot of uncertainty long term as well.

I am not an expat, but I have spent a lot of time with expats. So if I were to address the questions more directly I would say that:

A) It is important to make your investment (the time and effort) count. Everyone always comes in rosy-eyed thinking everything will work out. Even if you are making a high salary you also invest in friends, community and other things. There is a lot of people that after five to ten years completely change their mind on things they knew about beforehand, becoming rather bitter.

B) Your investment as an adult is one thing, but especially when kids get to an age where they start to have friends it gets more complex. This combined with the later parts of A isn't a nice thing, but essentially a lose-lose. You start resenting the place your are in, but you also feel bad about moving.

C) This will be slightly ironic, but they should probably do things sooner. A lot of expats will regret not going sooner and also regret not leaving sooner. If the author really wants to move to Sweden, they should do so for three months, six months or whatever. Just make sure having something productive to do and to come back to. If they don't like it after six months that is still a good experience and not much lost.

Of course Sweden comes up from time to time on HN as well:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12428682
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6584045
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19210577
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18166055

I don't share all of these views, but at least what I am talking about isn't uncommon. Most people agree that especially the housing market was crazy even more than five years ago and by now the prices increased 50% and started plateauing.