onedah

Hi All,

I am going to be moving to Dallas in late September, I have had my L1 approved and will be working out of my companies Irving office.

I am looking for short term extend stay hotel for 2 weeks can any one recommend any?

In addition I need to look for a rental house or apartment for me, wife and 2 kids, any suggestions on this. My eldest is 4 years so schools not a problem yet.?

I will also need a cell phone, what ths best one to go for?

And rather than buying a car what other options are available until I get my credit rating up?

Thanks

O

Pony

http://www.extendedstayamerica.com/



http://www.dallasnews.com/classified...nt-map.html?mk


If your monthly requirement is likely to fluctuate then I find AT&T to be the most fair. Minutes roll over each month if unused. Virtually all cell phone providers hammer you if you go over your monthly plan, usually $0.45 each extra minute!


Buy a cheaper car for cash (exactly what I did when I first got here. It takes about 18 months to build a good credit score - after 18 months I was able to get a zero % APR on a brand new vehicle). I can't imagine living in the US without a car.


Welcome, and Good Luck

Leslie

I've sent a message to my friend who lives and works in Irving. It may be tomorrow before I get an answer. I'll let you know.

onedah

Thanks Leslie66, I look forward to the information.

Leslie

Okay, I haven't heard back from my friend but I was talking to my office mate who lives in Lewisville and she said to find out a little more from you. She's from here and lived and worked all over DFW so she's a good place to get information. Don't post anything specific about your personal or employment information (I'm sure you know this but you'd be surprised what people blabber about on here sometimes ) just general stuff will do.

Are you going to be working in Las Colinas or in Irving - sort of the same thing but not really? If it's in Irving what is the general area of town (downtown / west side etc ...) that your office is in? Which major highways are nearest to your office?

When you say cheap extended stay hotels - what is your expectation of price?

What is your expectation of commute time?

Public transportation is shit in Texas so you really have to buy or lease a car. How is your credit in the UK? Do you have an American Express card?

Let me know some of this stuff and I'll get my girls working on it for you.

onedah

I will be working in Irving, just off State Highway 161, near the City of Irving Soccer Complex. I will be doing a lot of traveling via air so need to ensure I not too far from DFW airport.

I am used to long commutes, being a seasoned UK commuter. However I would like to be 30-40 minutes drive to work and to DFW airport if possible.

I'm really not sure on price, I need some where were I can take my 6month old baby, somewhere clean but reasonbly priced with a kichenette. A figure from the top of my head would be around $500-$600 if possible, less would be great.

I beleive I have a very good Credit Rating in the UK, I have a amex card which I will be shifting the credit score to the US, I have already spoken to amex about this. I will also try and get a letter from my Bank.

Other questions/information relate to:-

- We are moving to US with a 4 year old and 6 month old.
- Any idea of good agents we could talk to about finding rental accomadation.
- on a Pay-As-You-Go Cell can I buy just a sim card and if so from were.
- What are good school districts around Irving and surrounding areas, I have been informed that Plano is a good area.
- In relation to a car, I am looking at hiring a Car via the UK for 4 weeks but not sure if it would be cheaper to get a lease deal for a short term, if this is possible at all?


Thanks for your help.

Big D

Las Colinas - there are two marriott hotels - ones a residence inn with kitchen etc that i used for a month once - nice area and not too far from Irving - to be honest you dont really want to stay in Irving itself in my opinion! Good luck - you will love Dallas!

Bob

Have a bit of a search as quite a few people have moved to Houston and Dallas on this site, so you might find stuff.

As for a car, pay most of it in cash and get the last bit on a loan, shit rates, but pay it off over six months to start your credit history, but anyway, that's explained fairly well in the finance part of the wiki on this site

Leslie

Okay this is what I've found out (I already thought this was the case but wanted to verify it with people that actually live/work there):

Irving is a dump. You don't want to live there. Sorry. It is basically a very old and run down portion of the DFW metroplex. It butts up against West Dallas which is not a very safe area at all. It will be perfectly safe to work there but with your young family - you'll need a little safer area to live.

You will want to look at Las Colinas, Coppell or Grapevine. All nice areas with a reasonable commute to Irving and good schools. Lewisville is also not bad ... but the other three are a bit better. Plano is also good with great schools but the commute will be tougher. It is whatever you are willing to put up with as far as that matter goes. It could easily take over an hour to get from Plano to Irving during rush hour. The first places I've mentioned are more likely to be 30 minute commutes (both to work and to the airport) because of proximity and traffic flow.

Someone else here mentioned an extended stay hotel and if I were you I'd take their word for it .... I haven't ever used one. Some of your other questions can be better answered by the Brits here (I'm American I just know a lot about the area) who have actually already emigrated.

If you have any other questions about the area ... I'll try to help. If I don't know - I'll probably know somebody that knows. Good luck.

Yosser

Back up abit there stud...

100% do not dump your wife and kids off at a hotel/apartment/condo in Irving, unless your want a quick divorce.

You can wander into some "oh shit" area's in and around Dallas VERY quickly.

If your going to be flying around everywhere during the week, what will you wife and kids be doing in the meanwhile??? Will she take a driving test? will she have a car? Will she know anyone around that area? They may get depressed very quickly otherwise.

Just don't want to read another post "Were here and I want to go home" 3 weeks later.

Leslie

Made me laugh.

onedah

The Idea is that we will stay in a Hotel for 2 weeks when we arrive, that should give us some time to look for a House or apartment to rent.

We will have a car that my wife will have during the week, and she will be looking for work as she will be on an L2. We will both be taking driving test I think we have 3 months to do this.

Looks Like Irving is off the radar, we will start to look at Coppel, Las Colinas and up to Plano.

You wont get me saying I want to go home in 3 weeks thats for sure. :-)

Yosser

I live in Rowlett (right by lake Ray hubbard) and commute to Carrollton, my daily work activities take me all over and I have worked in pretty much every city.

Las Colinas is a very clean, smart city although is quite expensive to live (my brother inlaw lived there, $1500 a month for a 1 bed aprt).

Coppell is nice, Carrollton is quite commercialized, the commute from Lewisville/Denton down I-35 is one of the worst freeway's.

Maybe look in the mid cities, Bedford, Euless (pronounced Useless), Grapevine.

The posh areas are Southlake, Flower mound, houses/rent will be pricey.

If you like trendy - metro citys....look in Addison, parts of Farmers Branch.

Richardson and Plano kind of merge into each other...big houses and people that pretend to have alot of money but really don't.

The public transport is beyond a joke, although they say its getting better...a car is a must.

Big D

Agree with all that - we used to live in Keller - near Southlake and Grapevine - I worked in Irving near Texas Stadium - commute was around an hour but great area to live - not the cheapest in terms of taxes etc - but house prices compared to UK are very cheap even in the upscale areas. Feel free to PM me if you want any specifics! Good luck

dbj1000

We've been in Plano for four years now.

So many things to tell you... none of which I can think of.

You have a year to take your driving test (the three months is for out-of-state, not foreign license holders) but you'll get screwed on car insurance until you take the test, so get it done ASAP... it's a doddle.

Irving is a dump. Everyone else has said it, so I won't rub it in. Don't live there.

$500-600 isn't much for a nice apartment. When we moved here I promised my wife and kids that the first six months would be like a holiday for them, so we chose the apartments with the best pools and facilities, and paid ~$1300/mo for a 2-bedroom apartment.

We used a "free" relocation service that was AMAZINGLY good, but I don't have the contact details of our lady who sorted everything out for us. We simply searched on "relocation services Dallas" or something, and found her. She was entirely paid from the commission given by apartments, car rental places etc. She put together a shortlist of apartment complexes in different parts of Dallas, emailed them to us in the UK, then drove us all around for two days until we found a place we loved. I don't know what we would have done without her, and we never paid her a penny.

Back then I looked into short-term car leases from Herz and Avis, and didn't find enough advantage over basic rental unless you went for >3 months. I was lucky and my boss lent me his spare car. My advice to you would be to buy a car you can afford with cash. Carmax are a good dealership chain for no-haggle car buying, if you hate Texan used car dealers as much as I do. Prices are reasonable and you pay what's on the sticker.

Plano schools are great, but the flip side is that kids are under a great deal of academic pressure. Fine if your kids are very bright, and very good for kids with special needs, but less fun if they're about average. I don't honestly know about the other local school districts, but they don't have a great reputation.

We put our children (4 when we emigrated) into a wonderful Montessori pre-school. Something to consider if you don't want your wife driven up the wall looking after a pre-schooler in a new, alien environment.

Grapevine is one of my favorite places to visit. Downtown has nice little art shops, non-chain restaurants and small art galleries. However, I don't know what it's like as a residential area.

Most important is to find a place that your wife and child will enjoy for as long as you're in an apartment. There are really good, and REALLY bad apartment complexes, so make sure you view them in person before you choose. And read the terms VERY carefully. We had a one-year contract with a HUGE penalty clause in our first place (three months rent, I think) but we were happy to stay for a year. The second place had a two month penalty, and we left after three months! We were lucky that they lied to us about the penalty during the contract signing - we still had to threaten to sue them to avoid paying >$3000 to leave!

I'm sure there's more I'll think of to add. If you have any specific questions, ask here or PM me. I'm sure my wife will chime in on this tread too, at some point.