Moving to US - some quick questions..

brinty

Hi All,


I might be moving over to America for work in the next couple of months. I just want to get some idea's re the initial key things of renting of a house and getting a car and how you go about doing it? My work are sorting out my VISA for me so no issues there thankfully!!


I understand that a lot of things depend on your credit rating but what do you do when you're new into the country and don't have a credit rating. Do i need some guarantee's from my workplace.


Re rental, i think its about 50-70% of one months rent for the deposit plus a month in advance which would be normal. Are rentals in general furnished or do you need to have you're own? What else is there required? Would i require a reference from work. I own a house here so wouldn't have landlord references or anything like that. I'd assume you can set up Utilities in the same way as we'd do here re ESB, UPC etc..


How are landlords in general with dogs? We'd be bringing our 4 legged friend with us and are organising his doggie passport so there shouldn't be issue's there.


Re getting a car, how can that be done as I won't be able to buy for cash so obviously i'd need to buy on credit with a deposit. I think in some cases you can't buy a car without a US licence. I know i need to change my licence in the state i'll be in at the DMV within the first month. Re road tax and insurance how much would these cost per annum for say a small SUV?


Mobile phone would obviously be the next thing to get. I think i'd have to go prepay first as i'd have no credit rating to go post paid. What's the best networks to go with etc. How much are you looking at for a monthly bill?




Any other help on things i'm not thinking off would be appreciated.

ProudDUB

1. Renting an apartment. Google apartments close to where you'll be working or where you want to live (apartments.com is a good source) and go on line to see what their rental policies are. Most of them are owned by large, nationwide companies (as opposed to owned by private landlords they way that they are here) so it won't be too hard to find out. They will generally have set criteria....your income must be 2 1/2 times your rent, your credit score must be with XYZ range, your back ground check must come back clean etc etc. In lieu of those, a month or two rent may be required etc etc. It can all vary from apt complex to apt complex, you need to contact them directly to find it all out. Apts are generally leased unfurnished. They will have kitchen appliances & a washer/dryer, but no furniture.

2. Dogs, again it varies from complex to complex. Each one will have their own one. My apt complex in Atlanta allowed dogs under a certain weight and did not allow certain breeds, such as rottweilers or German Shepherds. Apt complexes where my friends lived, did not allow dogs at all. Contact them to find out their policies.

If you decide to rent privately, each landlord will have their own way of doing things.

3. You can buy a car without having a US license. Taxing it and insuring it will be the problem. There is no way of knowing what your tax and insurance will be, as too many unknown factors are at play...the value of the car, where it will be parked up at night, the length of your daily commute, the insurance companies risk assessment of you as you don't have a credit history etc etc. Generally, tax and insurance are a good bit cheaper than it is here, but precise numbers are hard to calculate for now.

4. Phone - It varies. Shop around. ATT could be having a promo one week and Sprint could be having one the following week. Promos vary from state to state too, so again, its impossible to say what your phone bill will be as no one knows what calls you will be making, or what data requirements you will have. I was with Metro PCS. I think I paid $30 per month for unlimited calls within the US and for an additional $5 a month, I got unlimited calls to Irish landlines.

If you tell us what city/state you'll be moving too, perhaps the boardsie's here could help you better, as a lot of day to day things in the US vary hugely depending on where you live. Best of luck to you.

Dave1442397

All the above is good advice.

For phones, I have a Verizon plan with two phones, unlimited calls and texts, 4Gb of shared data per month for around $130, including all taxes etc.

When buying a car, you will need a US license to register and insure it. If you buy from a car dealer (new or used) they will have a temporary registration that is usually good for one month from the date of sale, so if you can get your license squared away within a month you'll be ok with that. I'm not sure what the insurance companies will require, but it might be worth talking to them now just to see. It can depend on which state you're moving to, etc.

Also, when buying a car, there are some states that will hit you up for a property tax every year based on the value of your car (Virginia does this) and other states (such as NJ) will charge a one-time sales tax (7% here) which can be rolled into the payment if purchased from a dealer.

I bought my first car with no credit history and was considered 'high risk' by the dealer, so I had an 18% interest rate. If that happens to you, you can go ahead and buy the car, but as soon as possible sign up with a credit union (Pentagon Federal is excellent, and that's who I use - www.penfed.org) and refinance the loan. You may even be able to get a loan from Pen Fed right away. It's worth asking. My current car loan is 60 months at 0.99%.

As stated above, rental policies vary from place to place. In my area, most apartments are rented by big corporations, but there are plenty of condos and houses rented by owner too. A three-bedroom two-bathroom house on my street just rented for $2300/month. If you go to Zillow.com and punch in the area you're moving to you can show houses/apartments for rent and get an idea of cost - this is my ZIP code - http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_rent/house,condo,apartment,duplex,townhouse_type/1_pnd/days_sort/39.933335,-74.969373,39.88771,-75.047994_rect/13_zm/

You can also use craigslist.org to look for rentals. My friend, who owns quite a few rental properties, only advertises on craigslist and facebook, and has no trouble finding tenants.

brinty

Cheers lads, thanks for the help and advice

spideog7

In general all of this varies so much from state to state that it's hard to give a good answer.

ProudDUB wrote: »

1. Renting an apartment... Most of them are owned by large, nationwide companies (as opposed to owned by private landlords they way that they are here)

I haven't experienced that here, by in large the rental properties are privately owned. In the case of apartment complexes (although these aren't very common) they are sometimes owned by small local companies who have a few properties in the city. Mostly advertised either on craigslist or the really good ones are word of mouth, previous tenants friends will move in.

Reviews for the bigger companies are usually easy to come by on google, not so much for the smaller places unless they are really notoriously bad.

ProudDUB wrote: »

3. You can buy a car without having a US license. Taxing it and insuring it will be the problem.

Again this is not the case in PA, you can't get the title to a car here without a PA driver's licence. You can only get a driver's licence if you'll be here (legally) for more than a year and you have to sit a road test.

4.Phone
If you can afford to buy your own phone (or bring one with you) then you'll get a better deal if you steer clear of monthly plans anyway. Who you use will depend on the coverage in the area you are going to, I use T-Mobile and they're great in the city (unlimited LTE for $30 a month) but their coverage drops off quickly once you move out of the built up areas. Any phone from Ireland will only work on AT&T or T-Mobile (and even then only if it supports the US bands).

Dave1442397 wrote: »

but as soon as possible sign up with a credit union (Pentagon Federal is excellent, and that's who I use - www.penfed.org) and refinance the loan. You may even be able to get a loan from Pen Fed right away. It's worth asking. My current car loan is 60 months at 0.99%.

Are you getting that rate from the credit union? I've seen dealers offer that for new cars but it's promotional, I'd be impressed if you're getting that rate for a used car loan or even a new car loan from a credit union?

Dave1442397

spideog7 wrote: »

Are you getting that rate from the credit union? I've seen dealers offer that for new cars but it's promotional, I'd be impressed if you're getting that rate for a used car loan or even a new car loan from a credit union?

Yes, that rate was for a used car (a 2011 Acura in 2012) and the dealer said they couldn't go lower than 2.99% at the time. Pen Fed is good!

I just checked their rates, and they are up quite a bit at the moment - 3.24% for 60 months for a used car, and 2.49% for a new one.

I think my other car was at 1.99% for 48 months when I bought it back in 2011, but I paid that one off early.

Dave1442397

spideog7 wrote: »

4.Phone
If you can afford to buy your own phone (or bring one with you) then you'll get a better deal if you steer clear of monthly plans anyway. Who you use will depend on the coverage in the area you are going to, I use T-Mobile and they're great in the city (unlimited LTE for $30 a month) but their coverage drops off quickly once you move out of the built up areas. Any phone from Ireland will only work on AT&T or T-Mobile (and even then only if it supports the US bands).

Just check that on the web for your phone. I have an iPhone 5, unlocked, but with a Verizon contract. When I was in Ireland in August I was able to buy an O2 SIM card and just plug it into my iPhone...worked just fine, albeit with a different phone number.

Novella

I rented an apartment a few days after moving here so obviously no credit rating at all. I did provide my Irish bank statements though, in particular a savings account, to show that I did have money and could cover the rent. I found the complex managers that I dealt with to be very understanding and accommodating.

Upfront I paid the first months rent and a deposit of $400. Some places I viewed wanted a full months rent as a deposit since I had no credit rating but a number of places had relatively low deposits, at least compared to what I was used to in Ireland.

My apartment was completely unfurnished. It had a fridge, a cooker and a washer and dryer. Some places do not have washers and dryers btw.

Here in Northern California utilities were set up by calling the companies and providing our address. That was about it. No hassle.

My complex are fine with pets. I don't have any myself but I noticed that some places require an additional deposit per dog/cat/whatever.

Myself and my husband (US citizen) bought a car and I didn't have a US license at the time. They were happy to allow me to test drive it and drive it off the lot that day. They even provided a month of car insurance for us, covering me to drive on my Irish license. That was a Honda dealership.

I'm not sure how the car sale would have been without my husband with me but again, I found the people there very accommodating. You could rent or lease a car for a while and build your credit and then buy at a later date, if it was an issue to buy on finance immediately.

No idea about an SUV but car insurance for myself and my husband on a new Honda is around $200 per month. We found cheaper options but went with that.

Phone wise, I have a plan with T Mobile. I pay $60 per month for unlimited calls, texts, data and unlimited international landline calls and texts. I bought a phone when I got here and then went to T Mobile for the SIM. I just pay the $60 online each month.

You are going to need health insurance too, if it's not provided by your job. I found that to be shockingly expensive.

brinty

folks, thanks for all the responses thus far, they're much appreciated.

Novella thanks for the heads up. This might be an entirely supid question but I'll ask, I asume there's beds in most places and you'd provide your own bed linen!!

On phone i forgot my place of work provide me with a phone here (which i don't use) so would do likewise out there too. So would just be a phone for my wife to be gotten.

On health insurance, my company pays for it here ( if i need to include my wife i pay additional fees) so I'd assume its the same out there.

CaliforniaDream

There's no furniture in most places.
All you'll get is fridge, cooker, microwave and washer/dryer at most.
No beds, tables, dishes, lamps etc.

You might find somewhere furnished but you'll be paying a lot more for it and there's not much choice. Where are you moving to?

brinty

Thanks CaliforniaDream
moving to Nebraska

CaliforniaDream

brinty wrote: »

Thanks CaliforniaDream
moving to Nebraska

You're welcome.
Check out this site. Do a search about renting and you'll probably find a lot of info. I used it a lot when I moved over.

Dave1442397

I've never seen an apartment come with a bed. I'm sure some do, but they must be few and far between.

Note that mattress stores in the US tend to call the same mattress by completely different names in order to make comparison shopping difficult. We bought two new queen size mattresses last year and paid around $1800 each, and you could easily spend a lot more.

When I first came to the US, I had no idea whether any of the mattresses I looked at were worth the money, so I went to IKEA, where my choice was a soft, medium, or hard mattress. I figured I was at least getting my money's worth, and I got a good ten years out of it.

Nebraska in general has a fairly low cost of living compared to the East/West coast states. I think you'll find rent and car insurance to be fairly low compared to what I pay here in NJ.

brinty

Dave1442397 wrote: »

I've never seen an apartment come with a bed. I'm sure some do, but they must be few and far between.

Note that mattress stores in the US tend to call the same mattress by completely different names in order to make comparison shopping difficult. We bought two new queen size mattresses last year and paid around $1800 each, and you could easily spend a lot more.

When I first came to the US, I had no idea whether any of the mattresses I looked at were worth the money, so I went to IKEA, where my choice was a soft, medium, or hard mattress. I figured I was at least getting my money's worth, and I got a good ten years out of it.

Nebraska in general has a fairly low cost of living compared to the East/West coast states. I think you'll find rent and car insurance to be fairly low compared to what I pay here in NJ.

WTF :eek:

$1,800 for a queen size mattress

Does it have a tea maker in it that makes your morning cuppa when the alarm goes off

Jesus at that price i'd nearly ship over our own king size and know we'd have comfort with it!!!!

Yea i thought the insurance quotes seemed high as a guy i talked to from there earlier in the week said 80-100 a month on an SUV based on accident history

dave2pvd

brinty wrote: »

WTF :eek:

$1,800 for a queen size mattress

Does it have a tea maker in it that makes your morning cuppa when the alarm goes off

Jesus at that price i'd nearly ship over our own king size and know we'd have comfort with it!!!!

Yea i thought the insurance quotes seemed high as a guy i talked to from there earlier in the week said 80-100 a month on an SUV based on accident history

You might want to get some more details on your employers health insurance. Don't assume it's like home. That mattress might seem cheap by comparison!

Also, is your employer not giving you a relocation stipend? It's going to cost you quite a bit, after all.

brinty

dave2pvd wrote: »

You might want to get some more details on your employers health insurance. Don't assume it's like home. That mattress might seem cheap by comparison!

Also, is your employer not giving you a relocation stipend? It's going to cost you quite a bit, after all.

Cheers Dave,

Yea I'm waiting for them to come back to me with a package so i'm getting together as much information as i can now before the negotiation starts.

I'd be asking for a stipend as you say for a couple of months rent and to get some necessities when we get out there.

spideog7

Nebraska eh? Have fun with that! I've never been to Omaha but western Nebraska was one of the most desolate places I've ever been, all I saw was trains.

crapmanjoe

Omaha is a fun town (and Lincoln as well) - hopefully your are not going any further west - its a weird place.

Sports wise only thing going is Uni of Nebraska (huskers) - GO BIG RED! Crazy to hear them talking about next seasons college football recruits in March / April.

brinty

Cheers Crapmanjoe
I hear the cornhuskers are a big deal
and they have the college world series..

Novella

We viewed about 15-20 apartments and none of them had any furniture. I think I spent in or around 4k in Ikea to get started and about 1.5k of that was on the king sized bed frame and mattress. So do be prepared to spend some money on furniture if you're not shipping any over.

ProudDUB

Craigslist can be a good place to pick up decent-ish second hand furniture. They even have a free section, for people who need to get rid of stuff in a hurry & don't want to waste time haggling over prices. You can also find good deals in local thrift stores. It's possible you may find someone who is renting out the old family home and it is fully furnished, but odds are most places that you look at, will come unfurnished.

CaliforniaDream

I didn't want to spend a lot of money when we moved over so I got a queen sized mattress for $300.
On Black Friday I got another mattress, box spring and small frame for $300. They weren't the worlds greatest but we've used them for 4 years without issues.
We've since bought a bedroom set and new mattress during the sales. Savings are huge at times.
You can buy stuff relatively inexpensive while you get set up and upgrade as you go.
Your company should help you with a lot of that though.

Definitely check the insurance status. It's completely difference over here. You might be covered but it could be a bad plan. If you want to have a better plan it could cost you from $400-$1500 per month for health insurance. Depending on circumstances, how many people, the level you want etc.

We pay $180 a month for two cars to insure. One was a 2007 the other bought new in 2012. We bought off Craigslist in cash first but now both cars are financed.
Get a secure credit card from your bank and it's a good way to build credit.
Your credit score will determine the kind of life you have so take it seriously!

brinty

Thanks for all the advice folks you've been great with it and it's much appreciated

Ponster

Wow....Nebraska !

Been once or twice. Go to Cabel's for all your outdoor equipment needs.

Most banks offer secured credit cards. Deposit $500 with the bank and they give you a credit card with a $500 limit. So you're really spending your own money but by using it wisely you can build up a credit rating.

I was going to suggest T-Mobile for the best/cheapest mobile plans but they tend to only be pretty good in the cities. so depending on your job and considering that you're in Nebraska you may need to ask people there once you're settled.
In NYC I was unable to get a bill phone without a better credit rating but the T-Mobile PAYG 4G worked out to be cheaper than bill pay anyhow.

whitey1

https://omaha.craigslist.org/search/fua

Id definitely go on Craigslist to get my furniture (except mattress)

Heres an idea as to whats on offer this week.

My wife who has very good taste, was complimenting her cousin who had recently moved to town about some of her furniture......guess where she bought most of it????

You can rent a small truck....to pick it up

http://www.uhaul.com/Locations/Truck-Rentals-near-Omaha-NE-68134/730052/

(Another option would be Cort.....I never rented from them, but I have bought used furniture from them and its tops quality stuff.)

http://omaha.cort.com/storefront/

You could do everything on line and they'd come with the guys and the truck and take care of everything for you...might be a little pricey, but if you wanted low hassle, it might be worth thinking about

brinty

Thanks guys
Information much appreciated

Ausone

Hi Brinty,
I moved to Omaha last April.
I can help with the specifics. feel free to PM me.

Apartments - Zillow or Trulia are the best place to look for houses.
Apartment.com for apartments.
Some apartments don't accept dogs, some do,dog size/ weight dependent!
What area will you be working?
I can get you a few names of hotels / long stay ones if I knew the area.

Get a letter from you employer confirming employment and you should be ok!

Transporting a dog here is expensive. We got our Jack Russell over one way, it cost nearly Eur 2,000.

When we moved we did a prepay $60 per month AT&T, works on any phones.
Verizon won't!
Get your irish phone unlocked.

Tax is 7% ie Car cost $10,000 Tax at DMV is $700 on purchase.
The irish equivalent of car tax are tags and are value dependent use about 2-3% of the cost of the car.

Insurance - you get treated as you have never driven a car ever, when the assess your risk. It is expensive.

PM me, happy to help with the specifics!

Wompa1

Apartments - Zillow or Trulia. If you can find an apartment on Rent.com, they give you a $100 visa gift card. Have got that the last 3 years

When I moved to the states, I stayed in a place called the Extended Stay hotel. Nothing too fancy but it did the job.

Renting a car can be really expensive. My advise to you is to book a rental with insurance for a few weeks from Ireland. If you book from there, it's usually cheaper than booking or renewing it from the states. Then, when you get to the end of your rental date. Contact Geico, tell them you need insurance on a rental car on an Irish drivers license in order to do your driving test. It worked for me..but the kicker is, at least in Arizona they won't let you use a rental for the driving test. You may need to borrow a car from somebody or buy one!

Watch out for the 'Lemon Lots'...Craigslist is like Done Deal for cars, if you have an eye. You'll do fine...I unfortunately, having no clue about cars and never driven an automatic bought a car without an overdrive on it...

For Phone. My suggestion is to get your Irish phone unlocked and bring it over. I'd go with T-Mobile. I've had T-Mobile, AT&T and an American phone on Verizon (Irish phone won't work with Verizon, they don't use SIM Cards)

I believe there's a company that you can pay to take care of getting your dog over...Ironically, I think you might have more problems if you want to bring the dog back to Ireland. Apparently, there's some worm treatment they use here that is outlawed in Ireland...if you use it on your dog, they won't permit him or her to get into the country. Weird, eh?

America has a rigid credit rating system. You will be starting off fresh. When you try to setup an account with an electric company, rent a place, get a tv and internet service etc. They will run a credit check and see you don't have any. Not having a credit history is not the end of the world, it's better than having a bad credit history. But you can expect to pay deposits for everything you need for the first couple of years.

You can usually find the odd furnished place but by looking for them, you will severely limit your choices. I also moved over hoping to get a furnished place incase I wanted to back out...but I ended up going unfurnished and buying the minimum e.g.

Bed - $600 Couch - $400 TV -$400 Lamps - $80

The apartments usually come with a washer, dryer, fridge and cooker.

brinty

Cheers Wompa1 few great nuggets of info in there.

Thanks to Ausone, we've been able to get a great deal of insight into Omaha, and we're not as scared as we had been about kitting place out.

We've contacted the airlines and the four legged man can be carried as excess luggage so thats not going to break our budget either!!

Things looking better folks.

Keep the suggestions and insights coming

they are appreicated

Wompa1

brinty wrote: »

Cheers Wompa1 few great nuggets of info in there.

Thanks to Ausone, we've been able to get a great deal of insight into Omaha, and we're not as scared as we had been about kitting place out.

We've contacted the airlines and the four legged man can be carried as excess luggage so thats not going to break our budget either!!

Things looking better folks.

Keep the suggestions and insights coming

they are appreicated

I should have stated that Geico will only cover you on your Irish license for 30 days. So once you switch to them, the clock is ticking to get your license.

Also, although I think using the Irish phone is best, I believe Ireland operates at a different band than American phones. So you're data speed may be a little slower or at least mine was back about 3 years ago. T-Mobile have a great deal. Non-contract. $50 a month, unlimited data, unlimited calls and unlimited texts....but the catch is that you only get top speed for about 1GB of data..then it throttles to the next one down e.g. 3G rather than 4G...since my phone was out of band...I got 1GB of 3G and then knocked down to 2!! But it did me fine for a while. T-Mobile also have a deal. for $60 a month and again...not contract, you are not obliged to pay it so you can simply just not pay whatever month you don't want to use the phone...but the 60 will cover unlimited calls to international landlines. So you can call landlines in Ireland, no bother.

Another caveat on the phone situation in the states. If you do not have a contract and\or your monthly credit on the phone, you cannot receive any calls! So that's a bit ****e!!

Also, for the rental car...if you do need to renew it, be warned. They won't accept cash. In fact, many services like that in the States do not accept cash. You'll find yourself using your debit card a lot.

I had an awful time when I moved over dealing with Bank Of Ireland. I had told them I was moving but they kept putting a lock on my card and when I'd call their line would be closed. A lot of times, I had to just go without food. Really annoying when you find out after you go up with groceries and they are scanned through!

Credit\Debit card fraud is rampant here. MasterCard, Visa etc. used Europe as the Guinea pigs for chip and pin, so they haven't been implemented here yet so cards over here are the prime target. I've had my card swapped out for a new one about 5 times in 3 years. They have said they will be rolling out chips in the cards soon.

spideog7

Wompa1 wrote: »

Credit\Debit card fraud is rampant here. MasterCard, Visa etc. used Europe as the Guinea pigs for chip and pin, so they haven't been implemented here yet so cards over here are the prime target.

I wouldn't say they used Europe as Guinea pigs it's just that large corporations and the majority of consumers in the US tend to be behind the times in terms of technology. This can be a surprise for a lot of people who assume everything here is so modern and much 'better' than elsewhere.

This especially true for big old corporations that suffer from 'inertia' where they've been doing something one way for decades and are reluctant to change. I find this particularly noticeable in banks and phone companies (airlines too in some ways), from what I've seen they're at least 5 or 6 years behind Europe. As a result the consumers also tend to be behind the time in adopting new technology.

They still use cheques for everything over here, even younger people... madness!