aberdonianfromhell

Hi All - am moving to Houston and would like to tap into the collective knowledge here to help me with some questions please:

1. We want to live in an area where we can walk or get easy public transport to restaurants, bars, shops, theatres, etc - what would be the recommended areas - pls try and be specific

2. If we don't find something in an area above how does one go out to dine and have a few drinks and then get home - are there regular and affordable taxi service available? How expensive are they?

3. Can I buy and drive a car as soon as I arrive with my UK Licence and get insurance etc?

4. What percent tax deduction can I expect from my salary and what can I do to offset the tax bill - I understand mortgage interest is one way - are there any other ones? What is a realistic percent tax bill to pay ?

5. What about cultural activities like music, theatre, art, etc - is there plenty to do?

6. Does it make sense to rent a property or better to buy in current market conditions?

7. I will rent out my UK property whilst I am there and its not enough to pay tax in UK but would I be paying tax in the USA for that? Anything I can do to avoid this?

8. We are 2 people and I would like to get an idea for the cost of living there - specifically how much will I pay per month for:

- utility bills like elec,gas, water?
- Internet?
- mobile phone bill?
- car insurance?
- property tax?
- house insurance?
- food bill?
- car fuel?
- anything else I could be missing?

Thanks for all your help here !

Michael

7. You'll need to declare that income on your US tax return. However besides mortgage interest, council taxes, management fees, and maintainance costs deductions, you are required to take a depreciation deduction (about 1/26th the purchase value of the home excluding property annually). However the depreciation is recaptured when the house is sold.

However if you plan to live long term in the US or become a US citizen and later sell sell the property, you should consider selling that residence within 3 years since after that it will be considered investment property and any gains on the sale will be taxable. If sold before 3 years (primary residence for 2 of the past 5 years), there is a capital gains exclusion of $500,000 for married filing jointly and $250,000 for married filing single.

Pulaski

Please take a look at the wikis for things like driving, and "search" for Houston threads, or even just read down the page, and back a page or two because there have been a number of threads within the past few weeks related specifically to relocating to Houston, including one that answered, in detail, your question 8 (with one of the first answers provided by me! ). Then let us know if you still have questions, because we are more than happy to help, but we aren't necessarily going to do all your research for you!

BTW If you want "walkable" and/ or good public transport, you might not be relocating to the right city.

Speedwell

As a Houstonian myself for the last 15 years or so, I find the thread title as amusing as it is apropos.

No, seriously, I like where I live, but there are several "centers" in Houston... the Greater Houston area is almost twice as large as the entirety of Northern Ireland. Tell us what you like to do best and we can tell you where you are likeliest to find it, but there's lots of Houston that doesn't correspond to anything that you have experienced yet.

PM me and I can tell you exactly what I pay for what I get, but my husband and I live in a flat and we're a bit frugal (A Jew and an Ulster Scot? Really? LOL) so my estimates will be a little less than average!

P.S. As a lifelong fan of the Silver City, myself, I take grave exception to the idea that it is "Hell".

Weeze

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Houston,_TX



This is your starting point.

1. Tricky. Where will you be working and what sort of commute time are you willing to do?

5. Theaters, museums.... A lot more things to do than in a Aberdeen.

6. I wouldn't consider buying until I lived in an area first.

Bink

1) I may get scoffed at for saying this but the only place you can truly walk to theaters, bars, restaurants etc is downtown (zip code is 77002). From there you can also get the light rail to the museum district.
I've lived downtown Houston and enjoyed it but it's not for everyone. It's also not exactly bustling at the weekends (it's more of a CBD with not that many actually living there). You'd have to travel for shops (although the phonecia grocery market is walking distance) but it definitely resolves the meal/drink/drive home issue. Taxis to other popular areas to go out/eat such as Washington and midtown are also cheap (<$10). Like I said, it's not for everyone though.

2) The honest truth is a lot of people drink and drive. Recently I was at a conference in the galleria area, got dragged to the bar in the afternoon and left my car and got a cab home. The guys I was with we're asking me why I didn't just drive home...

3) Yes. It will cost you on the insurance and you will need to get a Texas driving license

ChocolateBabz

1. Montrose/Heights maybe but walkable only to a few places, plus no-one wants to walk when it's 100 degrees outside and the sweat will be dripping out of your arse when you get there. Public Transport is limited to downtown.

2. Designated Driver. Taxis are expensive. We take turn about being the driver - it sucks, on the plus side the dude will be 15 in a week or so and can learn to drive

3. We did.

4. Federal Income Tax only, no state tax Medicare & Social Security plus deductions for medical and pension. Mortgage Interest and Property Tax are our biggest deductions.

5. Tons, sport, music, theatre and many festivals and community events throughout the year.

6. Depends how long you are planning to stay for - short term rent - long term buy.

7. No idea.

8. I have sent you a p.m.

durham_lad

Welcome to the Houston area.

1. We want to live in an area where we can walk or get easy public transport to restaurants, bars, shops, theatres, etc - what would be the recommended areas - pls try and be specific As mentioned above, other than somewhere in the centre, there is nowhere that I know of.

2. If we don't find something in an area above how does one go out to dine and have a few drinks and then get home - are there regular and affordable taxi service available? How expensive are they? Don't know, we usually take turns being the DD

3. Can I buy and drive a car as soon as I arrive with my UK Licence and get insurance etc? I rented for the first couple of weeks until I bought a car. Used UK licence to rent, took driving test to get Texas licence during the first week we were here.

4. What percent tax deduction can I expect from my salary and what can I do to offset the tax bill - I understand mortgage interest is one way - are there any other ones? What is a realistic percent tax bill to pay ? Use online free software "TaxAct" and go through the interview process now if you know what salary you will be getting and it will take you through all the possible tax deductions and give you an estimate of what tax you might pay in a year.

5. What about cultural activities like music, theatre, art, etc - is there plenty to do? Loads

6. Does it make sense to rent a property or better to buy in current market conditions? I would rent to begin with until you have an idea of where you want to live

7. I will rent out my UK property whilst I am there and its not enough to pay tax in UK but would I be paying tax in the USA for that? Anything I can do to avoid this? You need to keep a profit and loss account. As well as the usual expenses you should depreciate your house each year, plus any furniture if you are renting it out furnished

8. We are 2 people and I would like to get an idea for the cost of living there - specifically how much will I pay per month for:

- utility bills like elec,gas, water?
- Internet?
- mobile phone bill?
- car insurance?
- property tax?
- house insurance?
- food bill?
- car fuel?
- anything else I could be missing?

I'll let others respond to this. We are retired, live north of the city in a rented apartment and travel less than 100 miles a week

Lbjen

You didn't mention kids but if it's a possibility then you're looking at life with a car. People don't walk here or take public transportation, which is almost non-existent. Life is very different here, which you'll have to accept if you want to be happy here.

HartleyHare

No 7 - The rent you receive for your UK home is classed as income and must be declared on your US tax return. As mentioned above, there are various deductions you can make make to reduce the amount the you pay tax on. Please note, you can deduct mortgage interest only, not the whole payment amount. It is therefore possible that you end up paying tax on a "profit" that does not exist.

Also note, if you are calculating depreciation, foreign property is depreciated over 40 years NOT 26 years (I believe that 26 years is for US property). This information is buried somewhere in the IRS publications and I have also had it confirmed by both a tax expert in the UK and US.

Weeze

Yep. I was thinking downtown, west U or possible even City Center. Depends on commute though.

Steve_

On the subject of taxes, be sure to read IRS publication 519, specifically the bit about dual-status tax returns.

Bink

City center you can (if you can afford to live there - it's bloody expensive!). I want to say it's at least $2.5k - 3k/mo for a 2 bed apartment.

Although there are areas that you can walk around in West U, I'm not sure that they're that close to anywhere you'd be likely to be able to rent a place.

Funnily enough I'm actually considering trying to move my office to City Center because of the ease of access to shops/restaurants/bars and the rare ability to just walk downstairs to them. It would still be pretty central to the majority of my clients too. (Sorry wandered off topic a bit there!)

Yorkieabroad

I haven't looked at City-Center rents, but that's about what we're achieving for 2 bed places in Downtown. We have tenants that love living in downtown, but I don't think it would be for me. I'd probably prefer midtown - the area round bagby/grey, which I think is nicer than downtown. But if I was single (or at least kid-less) again, I'd definitely look at City Center over either of those. And probably over the Heights sort of areas too.

Bink

I love downtown. Without a family I think I'd be back there. I like city center but it's a little isolated to me. I know many would advise against it but I walked downtown to Washington/midtown on many occasions.
I loved Sunday night acoustic sessions at Sambuca, brunch at Mia Bella on Sundays, going to the Angelika theater with some of the best popcorn ever, chilling out at Discovery Green on the weekends. Plus I had access to a local in Shay McElroy's and I had to drive past the kitchen vents for Morton's to get into my parking garage so I frequently ate steak there!

It's all personal preference though.

(I also loved living in a loft).