tonrob

allthewayfromuk

Thanks a lot for the insight here, it is much appreciated. We roughly know what to ask for now should this all happen. My partner isn't getting too bogged down in the detail but i think it's very important hence asking you guys for help. He did read your blog timeline of your time in Houston last night and we have not laughed as much in a very long time. Absolutely brilliant....especially 4th July story . Okay so I think we will find out some more details on the package etc this week. Flights, temp accom and car hire being a must. Is two weeks temp accom enough time to find somewhere or does the rental real estate market drag a little? Thanks again

Canveydave

Thank you!

We didn't need the two weeks, mainly because we flew out here the month before and we took a week to find somewhere and put a deposit down. That pre moving trip was the best thing we did.

I came out here alone for the first 10 days and moved everything in. It was a bit stressful for me and the flight over for my wife was not ideal, but in hindsight it worked.

It does depend I think on what type of accommodation you want. If you want an apartment then 2 weeks is fine, a house and you might need a little longer. A lot of the people I work with live in apartments, with pools and all sorts of activities. Some have families as well and they like it, personally though for me, I wanted a house.

The other thing is that an apartment doesn't need as big a deposit as a house. We had to put down about $5k as a deposit and first month rent for our house. I kind of wish I could have that money back now, especially as we are looking to buy somewhere.

You will need two cars pretty quickly. You cannot walk anywhere. This is not an exaggeration. My wife didn't want a car at first, she was here 2 days and I had to go and buy her one. Thank God for my very understanding credit union and their loose lending rules for expats!

There are a whole load of things that aren't immediately obvious but you need to think about. Credit is one. Happy to answer any questions as are most people on here. British Expats is a great resource

First two months are hard, after that it is a very good life.

Stratts

I'm a Basildon boy myself so maybe when I'm over at Katy Mills Mall next I'll have to pop over and say hello. Still undecided about moving here....

Jambodj

Hi

I work in recruitment (IT) and have relocated with the family to Austin (TX) from the UK so could help with any of what the company can provide or at least let you know what i was offered assistance with.

DM me if you would like help

allthewayfromuk

Thanks again to everyone. I will keep you updated as soon as we hear back. At this stage we've been offered;

Flights – Family
Two weeks initial accommodation - full flexibility on this and it can be extended if required
Full Medical Insurance – Family
Car Hire - One Month
Full Repatriation when and if required to Point of Origin - return flights for family and all household freight (we are not sure how much is the normal container size?)

My partner has worked with the company a long time now and they want him to move there, therefore we will ask for additional assistance on top of what their normal policy is.

In addition to the policy we are going to propose;

3 months rental assistance / allowance
3 months car allowance

$5000 miscellaneous costs payment. We do want this as after reading the links you have provided here we don't want to be in a situation where we have to buy pretty much every electrical item again and at the very least a few house hold essentials until our good arrive. (Which I believe is 6 to 10 weeks!) We will need Kitchen utensils, table, beds, chairs etc. All these items for a family add up very quickly and we would be looking for full assistance on this.

Other expenses we may incur (again I have taken note from the links you have all kindly provided) and we will have to sell a car for this move that maybe at a loss. We will ask that in the event that the car does sell at a loss and we have to pay the credit company the difference could the company assist us here.

If we find a permanent place within the first two weeks what is the best and easiest process for fully furnishing your home quickly i.e buying beds, tables, chairs. tv units, drawers etc?

Are there companies that do furniture packs for 3 bedroom homes?

Thanks again for all your help and I will keep you all posted on any developments. We're about 70% there I think. We'll see

petitefrancaise

Check your medical insurance and what you will have to pay. It may be that the company are paying your premiums but you will almost certainly have co-pays,(?$10-$30 per visit) and possibly co-insurance (?10% of a hospital bill) up to a limit. Keep asking questions about this as it can have a decent impact on family finances.

http://www.roomstogo.com/and Ikea are good for quickly furnishing a house.

Electrical items you can price up on Bestbuy and Target - amazon is good if you can wait a few days for items. People tend to recommend craigslist for buying/selling stuff but I personally find it a huge waste of time when buying items.

Yes, I think you can expect some help for selling your car. Each time we've had an allowance which has been based on the age of the car.

Mr Weeze

Furniture Rental for Home and Office, Houston, Kingwood, Woodlands Texas, Conroe, Galveston, Bellaire, West University, Nasa Texas and Clear Lake Texas - Hoffer

This place does rental furniture- I drive past it on my commute. I don't know how many places do this in Houston, so couldn't tell you about price or anything like that.

Bomjeito

Well, package looks good.

We found the two years of tax preparation a helpful benefit as we had no idea who to go for it. We had to go with Deloitte, though, as the benefit required that we go to them.

Cort Furniture is a well-known and reputable for furniture rentals.

One thing we regretted after the fact: the cash allowance. Taxes took up a chunk of that. However, it was nice to have the $$ ready without having to convert GBP all the time.

Other expats that came over in our company also were provided advance funds for the apartment/house deposits.

Welcome to Houston!

allthewayfromuk

Hi All,

I hope all is well. Our talks are still ongoing but we've had confirmation on the relo package although are waiting a final answer on the misc payment.

3 months rental assistance / allowance
3 months car allowance (one car for my partner to use to and from work until we get settled) We will buy/rent another to use as a family car too.

$5000 miscellaneous costs payment. We do want this as after reading the links you have provided here we don't want to be in a situation where we have to buy pretty much every electrical item again and at the very least a few house hold essentials until our good arrive. (Which I believe is 6 to 10 weeks!) We will need Kitchen utensils, table, beds, chairs etc. All these items for a family add up very quickly and we would be looking for full assistance on this.

I think the stall is because we maybe asking too much for the misc payment however I can't see why if the company really want us there why we should have to spend all our money buying things we already have. There has to be some compromise surely? Or are we asking too much?

I know it sounds petty but we've even so how expensive mattresses are there coupled with furnishing a house again. I guess if we had the 3 months free housing we could use the cash we'd have saved to buy all the goods all over again. Hopefully this will all be sorted soon.

Thanks again for everyones help

Pulaski

I think you're off on the shipping time, it is IMO likely going to be around six weeks, and certainly shouldn't be ten.

Also you should factor in a small air freight shipment, with kitchen utensils, some crockery and cutlery, and season-appropriate clothes to tide you over until your main shipment arrives. We did that, and we moved at our own expense.

Bear in mind that you're going to be taxed on any ad hoc cash payment, so keep 40% back for the taxes.

petitefrancaise

If getting the misc payment is looking like a sticking point then a combination of bringing essential stuff with you on the plane and negotiating the rent allowance might help? Our package was fairly similar to yours except that instead of 3 month's rent we asked what the upper limit was for that and discovered that it was more than we would need for a normal house rent. They were ready to pay for fully furnished corporate housing for 3 months. So, we got a rental house ready from the beginning and took the extra as part of the misc payment. It meant camping out a bit for 2 months but it was fine. We brought blow up mattresses and bedlinen, bought kitchen stuff at Ikea as well as a sofa and diningtable/chairs - all the electrical stuff was being replaced anyway and we were good to go. It meant being able to put some of the misc payment towards a used car for me. Have you checked out the prices of these btw? More expensive than the UK and then 6% sales tax on top - that caught us out.

kodokan

Is 3 months rental assistance the same as 3 months in fully furnished corporate housing, while you look for a home and wait for your stuff? Because if so, then you won't need to buy anything except electrical goods. If the company is paying to ship all your stuff, then they won't want to also pay for any furniture.

sherbert

Ikea is not cheap in the USA. I almost choked when I saw the price of the mattresses here. You can get an equally good quality mattress at a 'mattress warehouse' or local mattress sale for at least half the price and top it off with a memory foam topper from Costco (150 dollars).

For household utensils etc you need to go to Homegoods.

Most rental properties come furnished with fridge, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer and a microwave if it's built in. So you're only going to need to buy toaster/kettle etc. Amazon, overstock etc will get all that stuff for you cheaper than going to the shops. And craigslist is really good for second hand stuff. Thrift shops too if you can handle them (I got a toastie maker that had never been used (plastic still on the plug) for $1.

If they let you find your own place to live, go for airbnb or some of the aparthotel chains. Corporate rentals are way over the top expensive.