British Expats

British Expats (https://britishexpats.com/forum/)
-   USA (https://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-57/)
-   -   Any experience of renting furniture? (https://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-57/any-experience-renting-furniture-327919/)

Francisco Sep 25th 2005 6:21 pm

Any experience of renting furniture?
 
Hi guys
We have our visas, valid from 1st October. Our house is STILL FOR SALE not that thats annoying me at all (lots of viewers, no offers, no bugger can sell their house either so they cant buy mine). But we are moving anyway, leaving the house in the capable hands of an estate agent.(No contradictions in that statement!)

So we will be in sunny New Jersey by the 27/28th October! Hoo rah!

Anyway, has anyone had experience, good or bad, of renting furniture? However long our stuff takes to arrive, we will still need to rent some furniture and other household items, probably for a few months.

It sounds like a great idea but from websites I have looked at it will be expensive, on top of the cost of shipping/storing ours. We do have an allowance from hubbys employer, but that wont last forever.

Also my dilemma is that as we will have to rent a property first, do we unload all our own stuff into a rental property, then pack it all up again later to move to a (bought) house, or do we pay for rented stuff and leave ours in storage until we purchase? Not sure which is easier/cheaper/more sensible. Packing and unpacking twice not my idea of fun, and more chance of breakages?
Any views welcome, thanks.

dunroving Sep 25th 2005 6:35 pm

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 

Originally Posted by Francisco
Hi guys
We have our visas, valid from 1st October. Our house is STILL FOR SALE not that thats annoying me at all (lots of viewers, no offers, no bugger can sell their house either so they cant buy mine). But we are moving anyway, leaving the house in the capable hands of an estate agent.(No contradictions in that statement!)

So we will be in sunny New Jersey by the 27/28th October! Hoo rah!

Anyway, has anyone had experience, good or bad, of renting furniture? However long our stuff takes to arrive, we will still need to rent some furniture and other household items, probably for a few months.

It sounds like a great idea but from websites I have looked at it will be expensive, on top of the cost of shipping/storing ours. We do have an allowance from hubbys employer, but that wont last forever.

Also my dilemma is that as we will have to rent a property first, do we unload all our own stuff into a rental property, then pack it all up again later to move to a (bought) house, or do we pay for rented stuff and leave ours in storage until we purchase? Not sure which is easier/cheaper/more sensible. Packing and unpacking twice not my idea of fun, and more chance of breakages?
Any views welcome, thanks.

Unless your employer is going to cover it, I'd say buy second hand from a charity store rather than rent. Renting furniture and appliances is an expensive business.

Also, depending on the type of people you'll be working with , you may find people willing to lend you stuff - you only need minimal furniture for a short term. Many people in the US have more stuff than they need and have a half a houseful of house stuff sitting in their garage.

Paul S Sep 25th 2005 7:45 pm

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 
I had a quick look into renting but decided to pass. I arrive on Thursday (should be in apartment the following Tuesday), plan is to check out places over the first weekend and see what secondhand stuff i can lay my hands on.
Friends are lending us spare stuff they have so no big problems there, plus its only me over in the States for the first month so i don't mind roughing/slumming it for a while :rolleyes:

Wintersong Sep 25th 2005 7:57 pm

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 
It might be worth looking into selling most of your big items of furniture (maybe it might even make your house sale go through faster?) and buying new when you get here, then you won't have to worry about waiting for your stuff and renting in the meantime. Plus take into account the cost of shipping and you may well be better off.

Englishmum Sep 25th 2005 8:14 pm

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 

Originally Posted by Francisco
Hi guys
We have our visas, valid from 1st October. Our house is STILL FOR SALE not that thats annoying me at all (lots of viewers, no offers, no bugger can sell their house either so they cant buy mine). But we are moving anyway, leaving the house in the capable hands of an estate agent.(No contradictions in that statement!)

So we will be in sunny New Jersey by the 27/28th October! Hoo rah!

Anyway, has anyone had experience, good or bad, of renting furniture? However long our stuff takes to arrive, we will still need to rent some furniture and other household items, probably for a few months.

It sounds like a great idea but from websites I have looked at it will be expensive, on top of the cost of shipping/storing ours. We do have an allowance from hubbys employer, but that wont last forever.

Also my dilemma is that as we will have to rent a property first, do we unload all our own stuff into a rental property, then pack it all up again later to move to a (bought) house, or do we pay for rented stuff and leave ours in storage until we purchase? Not sure which is easier/cheaper/more sensible. Packing and unpacking twice not my idea of fun, and more chance of breakages?
Any views welcome, thanks.

To be honest, unless you have possession of a Green Card it really is unwise to sell your property in the UK unless you are married to a US citizen. I personally know quite a few expats whom unexpectedly had to return to the UK due to redundancy or their jobs just didn't work out over here. If you rent out your UK house you can offset costs against your tax in the US.

We did rent furniture for one month as our stuff was being shipped from Singapore (some of the stuff we shipped is still in boxes in the attic LOL!) but I can't remember how much it cost...wasn't able to shop around as I arranged it online from Singapore.

My best friend in Maplewood NJ has had enough of living and working here and is moving home to Australia - she's going for good just before Thanksgiving. She will have to dispose of her small appliances which won't work in Oz and I guess some other stuff too. Send me a PM if you're interested in enquiring what she will have available.

Have you found a rental home (in Chatham)? Most large companies accommodate their transferred employees in a serviced apartment (fully furnished with crockery, cutlery etc. and often with maid service) for the first month. Is this what you will be initially staying in?

USBound Sep 25th 2005 9:35 pm

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 
I rented for the first 3months I was here... cost a freakin bomb... and that bomb would have bought MOST of the furniture I didn't have.... we're talking $700/month

Lesley1020 Sep 25th 2005 9:56 pm

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 
Hi,

As far as the furniture rental goes, I rented pretty much everything when I first came over here, and I just checked the company's website but they don't have a location in NJ. It cost around $220 a month for the basics (sofa, chair, double bed, chest, bedside cabinets and TV stand and coffee table) that was a "whole apartment" deal... kept it for a few months and gradually swapped it out but I didn't buy anything new, friends gave me stuff, bought from the small ads, yard sales etc. The only thing I have left that is rented is a washer and dryer which costs me $55 a month.

I'd say if you can get something on a very short term (my minimum was 3 months) at a reasonable price then it might not be a bad idea. They delivered everything and set it up - I arranged it all from the UK and when I sent it back they picked it up the next day. Very easy.

You may want to have a look at http://www.cortfurniture.com/ - they are a little more expensive than the company I used, but still have some reasonably priced stuff.

Elvira Sep 25th 2005 10:13 pm

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 

Originally Posted by Francisco
Anyway, has anyone had experience, good or bad, of renting furniture? ...
It sounds like a great idea but from websites I have looked at it will be expensive, on top of the cost of shipping/storing ours. We do have an allowance from hubbys employer, but that wont last forever.

Yes, we have rented furniture in the past (when somebody else was footing the billl I hasten to add :D )

When we moved to the US, we sold or gave away most of our furniture. It's just not worth shipping domestic furniture unless it's antique or has sentimental value.

Initially we only bought new beds and just about everything else came from thrift stores. Forget about UK charity shops - thrift stores here are an entirely different kettle of fish. Some of them are mega-huge and you can get some really good stuff. AAMOF, 4 years later, some of the furniture is still with us ;)

For the first month (and until we bought a car), we hired a truck to ferry our purchases home. All in all it was definitely cost-effective and much less hassle than we'd thought.

Oh, and I agree with Englishmum - I wouldn't give up the house until we've got those elusive GCs in our hands! (Gotta do your homework though as far as renting out is concerned...)

Good luck! :)

mandpete Sep 25th 2005 10:17 pm

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 

Originally Posted by Englishmum
To be honest, unless you have possession of a Green Card it really is unwise to sell your property in the UK unless you are married to a US citizen. I personally know quite a few expats whom unexpectedly had to return to the UK due to redundancy or their jobs just didn't work out over here. If you rent out your UK house you can offset costs against your tax in the US.

We did rent furniture for one month as our stuff was being shipped from Singapore (some of the stuff we shipped is still in boxes in the attic LOL!) but I can't remember how much it cost...wasn't able to shop around as I arranged it online from Singapore.

My best friend in Maplewood NJ has had enough of living and working here and is moving home to Australia - she's going for good just before Thanksgiving. She will have to dispose of her small appliances which won't work in Oz and I guess some other stuff too. Send me a PM if you're interested in enquiring what she will have available.

Have you found a rental home (in Chatham)? Most large companies accommodate their transferred employees in a serviced apartment (fully furnished with crockery, cutlery etc. and often with maid service) for the first month. Is this what you will be initially staying in?

I don't mean to sound negative but many people are not afforded the luxury of the sponsoring company paying for everything. We had no choice other than to sell our home in the UK as we needed a hefty deposit to buy a decent house over here.

My husband's company paid rent on a house for us for 12 months and paid for our legal fees and moving costs when we moved from the rented house to our own house. They bought hubby a sofa, bed and microwave when he was here on his own, no furnished or serviced apartment for us.

The company paid for shipping our stuff over so we brought everything we could fit in a full container. We bought the children new beds as soon as we arrived. We didn't rent anything and made do with the very bare essentials, which we bought at Target, until our stuff arrived. I did bring duvets and bedding over myself.

We then unpacked what we needed whilst in the rented house and stored dozens of unpacked boxes in the garage until our own house was built.

You will be amazed at how few household things you actually need.

Englishmum Sep 25th 2005 10:25 pm

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 

Originally Posted by Lesley1020
Hi,

They delivered everything and set it up - I arranged it all from the UK and when I sent it back they picked it up the next day. Very easy.

You may want to have a look at http://www.cortfurniture.com/ - they are a little more expensive than the company I used, but still have some reasonably priced stuff.

I'm pretty sure that we rented from Cort furniture. They delivered it on the day that we closed on the house (I was still in Singapore, husband had already moved to a serviced apartment in NYC) and they turned up with it whilst the people we had bought the house from were still moving their furniture out LOL! My husband ended up paying the driver a large tip to drive away for a couple of hours... :D

I arrived with the kids on July 4th and found that just about the only thing my husband had bought was a rather large TV..... :rolleyes:

NC Penguin Sep 25th 2005 10:53 pm

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 

Originally Posted by Englishmum
I'm pretty sure that we rented from Cort furniture. They delivered it on the day that we closed on the house (I was still in Singapore, husband had already moved to a serviced apartment in NYC) and they turned up with it whilst the people we had bought the house from were still moving their furniture out LOL! My husband ended up paying the driver a large tip to drive away for a couple of hours... :D

I arrived with the kids on July 4th and found that just about the only thing my husband had bought was a rather large TV..... :rolleyes:

It would be helpful to know prices, if you remember and for the size of home this was for? e.g. 3 bedroom house, etc.



NC Penguin

Lesley1020 Sep 25th 2005 11:16 pm

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 

Originally Posted by NC Penguin
It would be helpful to know prices, if you remember and for the size of home this was for? e.g. 3 bedroom house, etc.



NC Penguin

Pretty sure that on Cort's website, once you plug in your city and state, it will show you the options and prices that are available in that area. They have whole living room deals starting at $112, then bedroom sets and so forth. I didn't see a whole apartment or house deal though, like I have seen local companies around here do,

Englishmum Sep 26th 2005 1:07 am

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 

Originally Posted by mandpete
I don't mean to sound negative but many people are not afforded the luxury of the sponsoring company paying for everything. We had no choice other than to sell our home in the UK as we needed a hefty deposit to buy a decent house over here.

True. It pretty much comes down to negotiations with the employer and to some extent, how senior the employee is within the company. My husband gets nothing like the perks in the USA which one gets when sent to the Middle East or Far East (eg. school fees and transportation, company car, country club membership and dues).

It really is a gamble though to sell up in the UK without the 'insurance' of having a Green Card and few people have a cast-iron guarantee regarding their job security. Expats on employment-related visas can be particularly vulnerable (we have seen this firsthand within my husband's company) and that is one of the risks you take when you go on an expat assignment.

However, it does seem that property prices in the UK are currently heading downwards but in recent years as UK prices have escalated returnees haven't been able to afford a property similar to, or nicer than what they had before moving overseas.

If you go through the archives and read Honeymommy's posts you will see due to a mess regarding their visas, that they had no choice but to return to England and have had to go into a rental property. Happily her family seems to be doing really well and settling down nicely as she revealed a few days ago on the 'Moving Back to the UK Board' .

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...rate+situation

mandpete Sep 26th 2005 2:50 am

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 

Originally Posted by Englishmum
True. It pretty much comes down to negotiations with the employer and to some extent, how senior the employee is within the company. My husband gets nothing like the perks in the USA which one gets when sent to the Middle East or Far East (eg. school fees and transportation, company car, country club membership and dues).

It really is a gamble though to sell up in the UK without the 'insurance' of having a Green Card and few people have a cast-iron guarantee regarding their job security. Expats on employment-related visas can be particularly vulnerable (we have seen this firsthand within my husband's company) and that is one of the risks you take when you go on an expat assignment.

However, it does seem that property prices in the UK are currently heading downwards but in recent years as UK prices have escalated returnees haven't been able to afford a property similar to, or nicer than what they had before moving overseas.

If you go through the archives and read Honeymommy's posts you will see due to a mess regarding their visas, that they had no choice but to return to England and have had to go into a rental property. Happily her family seems to be doing really well and settling down nicely as she revealed a few days ago on the 'Moving Back to the UK Board' .

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...rate+situation

I know all about Honeymummy's situation having been a member of BE for several years and am glad she is doing really well back in England.

The opportunity to transfer over here came at the right time for us. We were thinking of selling our house anyway and I had just been given the all clear after struggling with an illness for several years. If my illness returns we will have no choice but to move back to England not just because of health costs but I would desperately want and need to be with my family in the UK.

Everybody's situation is different and we have always made sure we have enough money to move back to England at a moment's notice. If we do have to move back, for whatever reason, we can always say we did it -which not many people get the chance to do.

Francisco Sep 26th 2005 9:29 am

Re: Any experience of renting furniture?
 
Thankyou to everyone for your suggestions and comments, you have given me more to think about! I think I will wait until we arrive until I order anything, see what i can find second hand if thats a good option as suggested.

I accept we are very lucky to have an allowance from hubbys employer, however that is a fixed amount and everything is deducted, including the trip we made in July for 10 days to research areas etc(hotel, flights, food for 3 of us - I'm using it up fast!)

I have always been in two minds about shipping furniture. We have a five bed house here but am only shipping two sofas (brand new and expensive, wont get much second hand), our bed and our sons bedroom set (again expensive and all matching). Three other beds and all appliances are being sold/donated so apart from clothes and some household items eg things I have collected over years we aren't bringing too much.

I am not prepared to spend 3 or 4 years in rented accomodation so am happy to sell our house and take our chances. We will need the equity to buy in the area we are looking at.

Hubby has a pretty senior position with a global pharma marketing company, for which he was head hunted by one of the top men who has worked with him before. It is a strategic role so I am hoping he wont be kicked out any time soon!

When we return it wont be to the same area, we will be going back home to the north (my family is from Preston, hubbys is Manchester/Birmingham) so we would need to sell anyway. So we are either brave or mad (don't bother replying to that.....)

His company have an office in Cheshire so thats where we are likely to end up in a few years. Unless we like it so much we decide to stay! We will start applying for GC asap.

Thanks again, most helpful. (As usual, your a lovely bunch......although one or two are a bit scary sometimes!)

Englishmum, I have sent you a PM.


All times are GMT. The time now is 10:46 am.

Powered by vBulletin: ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.