Newnanbound

Hi,

This is my first post :-). I have been searching online for days to try and find out some information to help us determine whether or not we want to go on secondment to US.

DH company is applying for a L1 visa for him to go out to US to run their US operation. They are a very small company 50 employees in UK and 2 in US for now.

I know I would have a visa that would allow me to work. Our DD10 will go to school and the local schools are pretty good so no need for private.

Our main issue is housing there seems to be so much difference in what companies pay. We own our home (still have mortgage). I've contacted mortgage co and I can get permission to rent out our house. There will be a cost to this however. There will also be a cost to have our house managed when we are away.

The cost of housing is probably slightly more expensive (rental) so if the company don't pay our accommodation it will cost us more to maintain the two houses.

From your experience did your company pay rental for 2 yaer secondment?

Also is it cheaper to ship furniture or buy when out there again who pays?

Can anybody recommend a consultant who could assist DH company?

Thanks

Sam

joto

We rented out our house when we moved here in similar circumstances. DH's company did pay rent on an apartment for the 2 years. The rent we charged for our house was around the same as the mortgage payment, but the rental agents fee came out of that. We had a useless rental agent, but made the mistake of not interviewing various ones. He let the last tenants away with leaving the house in a mess and giving them their security/damages deposit back. Our other tenants left the place in great condition.

We were lucky in that, at the end of the 2 years, DH's company asked us if we would like to stay here permanently, and we jumped at the chance, as we knew we would never get an offer like that again.

I would say, go for it. After all it's only for 2 years, and if you don't like it you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Try and see if the company will give you tickets back home at least once during your stay, but there is such a lot here to see, you may not want to, and family may want to come out to visit. Good luck.

notonuksoil

We came over originally on a 2 year secondment on a L1. We negotiated rental plus utilities for a 3 bed house for the 2 years of the secondment paid for by hubbys company. They also paid to rent the furniture for the house - we had a reasonable budget and just got the basic stuff. We also got a one of payment of $1600 for electricals.

We rented our house out in the UK to cover the mortgage, insurance and a gardener through a local estate agent and put our furniture into storage in the UK.

HartleyHare

Hi,

We are coming out later this month for 2 years. We Also have a 12 yr daughter and have researched areas with good schools. we will be moving to NJ. We are going to rent our house out here in the UK. We have moved our furniture into storage for 2 years and will buy new furniture in the US. The company is paying for the storage and new furniture. We will not get any help with renting costs in the US.

We have also found that compared to our UK mortgage we will be paying more for housing costs.

Please be aware that if you rent your UK home out, the rent you receive is classed as income in the UK and US and is subject to tax. You can deduct some items from this, but can only deduct mortgage interest NOT interest and any repayment. In our case, even though rent will cover mortgage and letting agent fees, we will have to pay tax in the US as it looks as if we are making a profit. In our case we estimate that we will have a tax bill of around $3000 (this is taking into account everything that we can deduct, but we have not had this confirmed by a CPA so tax may be more or less). From a UK perspective, as the rental income will be our only UK income, by the time we deduct any allowances etc.. there will not be any UK tax due.

Like yourselves, we have had to consider this move carefully. We have decided that although we will not be financially a great deal better off, we will not be any worse off and should be able to enjoy the same standard of living we have in the UK. We are using this opportunity to experience living/working/schooling in the US and the chance to visit different areas of the US and Canada.

Finally and probably the most important, please make check out your situation regarding health insurance.

Bob

If they're paying to ship and repatriate it, then go for it. If not, then generally, you're better off ditching it and buying new than renting the furniture on the other end.

The wiki here has a lot of info on things to consider for the relocation package. Most important is the medical insurance, possibly followed by an agreement on when to get greencards in case you decide to stay. Tax help paid for for the first and last year in the US would be a big help too.

Pulaski

Have you included depreciation? The general principal is that the cost of the building (excl the value of the land), is depreciated over 26.5 years, which is sufficient in most cases to turn an apparent profit on rental of a house into a tax loss, which, better still, under some circumstances can be partially set against your taxable income!

HartleyHare

Yes, I have taken depreciation into account. I think that on foreign properties depreciation is calculated over 39 or 40 years (can't remember which) which alters the figures somewhat. There may also be some other costs associated with renting out the property that I have missed, so I am planning on a worst case scenario regarding tax.

Weeze

On our deal we got a housing allowance which paid most of the rent, the majority of the utilities paid, belongings shipped with an additional air freight allowance and 2 months in a serviced apartment to allow time to find a rental.