glenni

Hi Guys

I'm moving with the Wife from UK to Houston in Feb / March 2011...

Seen a lot of chats already reference Houston.
Just going thru current offer from my company and want to make sure I'm gettina fair deal in terms of Wage / entitlements etc.

Coudl anyone give me rough cost of Apartment rental? For a nice 2 bed place in decent area? jsut a rough idea, I'm aware costs go up / down dependent on area, but jsut want to get an idea.
Thinking furnished if possible...

Second is car lease, they have offered me a deal, but have always had car given to me in UK and never had to deal with lease before...
Any idea for a decent car, monthly car lease costs?

thanks guys for any help offered, woudl be greatly appreciated!!

Cheers

lisa67

Try posting your question on www.city-data.com.

And welcome to BE

Bob

Welcome to BE.

Have a search through the forum, there's already a recent, still going thread about a relocation package to the US.

As for rental, look through craigslist...and past threads here have recommended areas to live in, but really depends on where work is and what kind of commute you are willing to put up with.

Car lease cost won't mean anything as you don't have US credit history...and what's decent mean to you? Brand new? Reliable? Spacious or sporty?

Massive difference if you lease a BMW compared to a Toyota.

Also a lease is crap, you'd want to buy a old banger for the first year at the very least.

Bomjeito

Housing leases depend entirely on where you will be living, and in Houston, I must STRESS that is really needs to be near where you work.

Here, where you live really does need to be relative to where you work, as Houston is a very large, very sprawling city with tons of traffic.

So if you are near the Bush Airport, then Katy is out. If you are south of the city, the Woodlands is out.

If you are working downtown, then the Heights, Rice Village or Bellaire is for you. If you are a CEO working downtown, the Royal Oaks. If you are in Energy Corridor, then Memorial or Katy.

And so on. So let us know what area that you work. Oh, and city-data for Houston is really a better place for that, as the kind folks over there will truly steer you in the right way.

As for car lease - is the company paying and organizing it? Then ANY car will be a great one!

If you are organizing it and they are paying for it, then it can depend on how much....and what is allowed...Jaguar convertibles or basic Toyota Camry? And yeah, leasing is a crap idea always (unless business-related...)

glenni

thanks guys, really appreciate all the help!!!

ukintexas

Welcome to BE. I live in Houston (well Katy actually) and have done so for the last five years. Ask any questions you like. We're all here to help!

Ginblossom

Speaking of Houston, I must say in the first few days I have been here, the job market seems much better in general than SoCal.

There are actually decent jobs to apply too, and Im not even an engineer or anything LOL

Bomjeito

GB - sorry to threadjack.... how are you doing? If you are in Houston, you can give a shout-out to many of us....don't want you to be alone for holidays.

Good luck with job hunt. I too found more jobs than I expected and I'm not an engineer either!

Ginblossom

Hi, thanks for asking. Yeh kinda sucks being alone for Christmas, but its just one day and after everything this year, just glad to get 2010 over with.

Feel free to drop me a pm anyone and we can make a plan for a meet up!