Ynara

Might be better to get an apartment for the first year...they often do deals on little to no deposit and expect people to be moving into their first place with no credit rating. 1200 sq ft is actually quite a lot, we're living in a townhouse that size and there are 3 adults and 3 children in it! (ok so it's a bit cramped for 6 of us, but would be big for 2). When we lived in Tampa we rented a decent 1 bedroom apartment for about $550 a month. Most expense is taken up by electricity costs running the air conditioning most of the year there.

lochdaz-of-blantyre

Costs vary widely from state to state and even county to county.

For what its worth, we're in an expensive neighbourhood in Connecticut so I'm guessing on the upper side of the costs.

Our 4 bed house (4000sq ft) is $4000 per month (this includes all maintenance, grounds keeping, etc), electrical is $125 per month (winter months...expected to be much higher in Summer), heating oil is $300-400 per month. We're on an oil tank rather than town gas hence its price but this will also be offset in the summer by higher aircon bill.

Cable TV, Broadband and Phone (including calls) is approx $150 per month for full package excluding HBO/Ondemand.

Granted we went for a pretty big house but I think its all relative by location and house size. Check out realtor.com to search for the area/zipcode you're looking at. Rental rates should include all taxes and costs etc, i.e. the renter/owner is responsible for those.

Hope this helps,
Daz

lochdaz-of-blantyre

I also meant to add that buying/leasing a car can be done much easier than I first thought. Many of the manufacturers, particularly non-US brands. We recently leased a mini copper for my wife with BMW/Mini finance with no problems, just had to supply copies of all our docs, visas, employer letter, bills showing residency, bank statements etc

Of the brands I've spoken to BMW, Mini, Volkswagen, Audi etc all have International user programmes. Typically you'll pay a little higher than the lowest rates.

Daz

N1cky

We discover this with VW, the rate was fantastic, however they will only lease to you for the remaining length of your visa. We were 8 months into our 3 years when we went, so although we could get a loan at a fairly low rate, monthly payments were really high as we had to pay it back over 28 months.

Wilto

Thanks guys lots of good info!

Contacted some agents in Pensacola, who pointed me in the direction of private landlords, who as some one said earlier go on the feel of the person.

AMEX is in the post - just have to be careful with it

tinkerbell71

Sorry to butt into this thread but I found it very interesting.
I am reading this right, if I use my American Express card I have here in the UK it can be used to help my credit score in the US if I every finally get over there? As long as I use it and pay it off every month?

Thanks
Claire

fatbrit

You need to transfer your Amex from being a UK one to a US one, first. Call 'em up and they'll do it for you.

Using a UK Amex in the US will not build you a US credit score.

tinkerbell71

I mean if I have been using it here and then change it to a US one it would help with my credit score. Its just that I don't use mine at the moment but would start using it if it could help in the future.
Thanks for the reply