alfista1

We're in the middle of number crunching and looking at monthly living costs in and around Pineville, NC. Could be across the border in SC also.


We have friends close by there and have given us some idea but I always find someone's idea of living basic costs can vary compared to another's costs.

We're a family of 3 (7yr old son).

Medical: 1500 (x3)
Water: 80
Electricity: 120
Gas: 60 (? not sure about this)
Food: 850
Car insurance: 100 (1 car)
Petrol: 100 (no daily commuting)
Mortgage: 700 (80,000 USD mortgage for example) or Rent at 2000 USD(3 bed house)
HOA: 25-50 (of course this can vary hugely)
Broadband bundle package: 100



TIA

MidAtlantic

You seem to have missed property tax and car purchase/maintenance.

To me electricity seems low, given the need for a/c for much of the year.

tom169

Through the summer my house has been consuming about $250 electric a month, but only about $15 gas. Water I'm not too sure about.

I'm assuming you have a huge down payment on a house, because 80k isn't going to buy you much of anything.

Car insurance I think you will experience much higher initially. Maybe $200 pm.

You will find that property insurance and property tax will be bundled in to your monthly house payment. I'd budget a few hundred a month for those.

alfista1

Yes we have a large downpayment.
The estimate included the tax and insurance from Citi bank.
Our friends pay about 350-400 for electric/gas/water all in 1. 4 person family.

Regarding AC I'm sure we won't have it on much. My wife is a tropical bug and always hates having that on. She prefers fans!!
Uruguay summers are very hot and humid. I always got shouted at for putting the AC on!!

Thanks for the tips

Pulaski

You don't need AC for "much of the year" in NC. I think our average power bill is about $120/mth - upto low $200's in the summer and as low as $60ish in the winter (we don't use electricity for heating), and we only need a little AC in April, May, and October. That is for about 2750sqft.

I think Tom is right - $80,000 isn't going to buy you much, unless you find an older home outside of a sub division in SC. ..... So a semi-rustic situation, perhaps with neighbours living in trailers. I am not sure about the prices of homes in Pineville, but you might find a townhouse (terraced house) for around $100k there.

alfista1

80,000 was to top up to 250-260,000 USD (we've seen some nice houses for this price). We've got a large downpayment.

Good to hear about the electric costs. Mind you I think we'll use more heating in winter.

tom169

With such a large down payment you may have an easier time, but still you need to find a bank / credit union that will be ok lending to someone with presumably no credit.

The housing market right now is such that you need to see a house and make an offer that day.

With the offer your realtor will need to give pre-approval letter from the lender and perhaps a copy of your bank summary showing money in an account for the rest.

tom169

You'll want to budget a % or so of your house value on wear and tear and other misc issues that crop up.

Examples for me recently are mostly around landscaping, pool upkeep, new roof, security, bathroom fixes and dry wall fixes. Sad to say there seems to be always something broken in the house that needs fixing.

Pulaski

It sounds like he needs PetiteFrancaise's advice on newly arriving expat mortgages. .... Several of the big banks apparently offer that type of service.

alfista1

That would be ideal. I'll connect later and ask.

petitefrancaise

Pulaski pm'd me and I was looking for an excuse to get out of cleaning up garden debris after the high winds/rain over the weekend.

Lack of credit history is the biggest hurdle to getting a mortgage. A couple of banks offer International Mortgage Programs. I have personal and professional knowledge of the Wells Fargo one.

For these types of mortgages the company will look at your previous country's payment history. They will want at least 2 years of bank statements, mortgage statements, tax paperwork showing earnings as well as your current employment contract showing salary and visa. They cannot access your previous country's credit history through the bureaux so they rebuild it and assess what your credit score would be if you had lived in the USA. They assume a v good credit score and look for whatever they can to back it up. However, the longer you are in the USA, the more credit history you have here, the more the current credit score is factored in. Since most of us start from scratch, this can bring down the score that they would be inclined to give you. Does that make sense?
So, from a financial point of view if you have had good (v good) credit before you moved to the USA, it is better to apply for a mortgage sooner rather than later. The Wells Fargo International Mortgage Program is only offered to new arrivals and is not available once you have been here 12 months.

I have heard that Bank of America do it but haven't known of anyone that has used them.

We got our mortgage through this WF program, we got an excellent rate that is still better than what I would get currently with excellent credit.

alfista1

Thanks all for the tips.

Do you know if they look at UK credit scores too?
For example I'm with ClearScore.
Currently scoring at 487.

Also should I apply for an Amex card now so it can be transfered to the US later? Just to get a start.

Thanks again

Pulaski

PetiteFrancaise has already answered, specifically, this question in post #11 above.

alfista1

My mistake.
I assume bureaux refers to the companies that provide scores like ClearScore.

Pulaski

Correct. .... They can't access your credit history (outside the US), full stop.