avanutria

If your new coworkers have no realtor recommendations for you, my cousin is a realtor in NYC. However, I have no idea whether he's a good one! He might be able to help you figure out what area of the city you'd like to live in, though, as he's lived in NYC for quite a few years now.

(Edited to remove link and his name, in case that is considered inappropriate advertising. Please feel free to PM me for it.)

I can't promise that he's the right realtor for you, but I can promise two things: 1) he was raised by an honest family (which I lived in for four years) and 2) if he doesn't treat you well, you can tell me and I can tell his mother!

Englishmum

Hi

As Bob mentioned, you might want to check out some of the New Jersey towns. We moved here on an intra-company transfer when my spouse was posted to his employer's office in Times Square, NYC. The company did engage a relocation company to assist us but they were as useful as a chocolate teapot (ie. only knew about Manhatten).

We chose not to live in Manhatten as so many of the public schools have a poor reputation and your child has to attend the school zoned for the area where you live. Private schools were out of the question; they are *much* more expensive than in the UK and some people put the child's name down at birth.

I did most of my research online; our criteria was to be in a top school district, ideally a max of one hour door-to-door for the commute, and easy access to an international airport.

Someone at my husband's office suggested that we check out New Jersey and I baulked at first, thinking it was a toxic wasteland! However, that was from many years ago when the DuPont factory dumped waste; it has all been cleaned up and nowhere near the part of the State where we chose to live.

I looked at the New Jersey Transit routes and timetables and centred on the towns with the MidTown Direct trains on the Morris & Essex line (with a fast peak hours service which goes straight past some stations into NYC Penn Station - midtown) from the following towns:

Maplewood (30 mins journey/15 miles from NYC), going westbound to Millburn (extra 3 mins journey time) add another 3 mins to Short Hills, Summit, then it branches off to Chatham and no further than Madison (or New Providence etc. on the other branch line). There are also trains from the same stations which also go to Hoboken with a transfer by PATH subway or ferry to downtown Manhatten's financial district.

http://www.njtransit.com There are also tax efficient schemes with employers to bring down the commuting costs if using public transport....a lesson I think should be copied in the UK.

More commuter info:

http://www.trghome.com/community_transportation.asp

All are fine suburbs, solidly middle to upper middle class with little to no crime (most of it for our town is at the upscale Short Hills Mall with shoplifters coming from New York boroughs lol) and with the exception of Maplewood are in excellent school districts, with Maplewood being considered pretty good and is more diverse.

I'm in Short Hills which is part of Millburn township but has it's own zipcode due to another Post Office and train station.

There are loads of expats in the local area, many of them are Brits (I was out with my English friend today, we went to Sally Lunn's teashop in Chatham). An English guy runs a bar and restaurant in Maplewood.

You mentioned that you may wish to return to work; in our town (approx 17-18 miles west of Manhatten) there are quite a number of nurseries aka preschools ranging from Montessori, a Co-Operative nursery, various Jewish & Christian nursery schools and I used to collect my friend's children from a lovely day nursery at St. Stephen's (secular) in downtown Millburn which is operated by a Londoner, Mrs Clarke who is really nice

http://www.ststephensmillburn.org/preschool/index.htm

Newark airport is just 10 miles away on the I-78 (motorway) with plenty of non-stop flights into LHR as well as non-stops to Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham etc. and is just 15 mins journey time by car...(usually there is no problem getting a lift due to the proximity but if we are all travelling together and it's a very early flight then we book a taxi-car service which is approx $60 or a little more inc. tip). Newark airport is a breeze compared to getting around JFK.

Most of the realtors in the local towns also handle rentals; you can see some listings with these realty companies (although there are other companies too):

http://www.weichert.com

http://www.coldwellbankermoves.com/

Keller Williams: http://www.kw.com/kw/

http://www.prudentialnewjersey.com/

http://www.remax.com/

http://www.trghome.com/


Btw; congratulations on your pregnancy and forthcoming new arrival! There are some excellent hospitals in the area with top-rated maternity units: St. Barnabas Hospital in Short Hills/Livingston border, Overlook Hospital in Summit and the Morristown Hospital. AFAIK most obgyns have a hospital affiliation where they do their deliveries but I've never had a baby in the US but I guess you will need to work out where you are likely to choose to live before deciding on which obgyn you will be going to.

http://www.atlantichealth.org/overlo...ces/maternity/

http://www.barnabashealth.org/servic...maternity.html




Hope this is helpful

IPM

First of all, don't be daunted. We moved to the US from SW London when my son was only 8 months; wife initially thought we were mad, now loves it.

Looked at lots of nice houses in Westchester, esp around Scarsdale and areas close to the line into Grand Central. Also looked at family areas of Brooklyn i.e. nice brownstone houses around Park Slope / Prospect Park.

Although I had a good relo agent, many realtors aren't really interested in rental even if you're spending $5k/month as their commissions are low.

In the end, we chose Wash DC instead and found a gorgeous house on Craigslist. The relo agent looked over the contract and the company fronted two months rent.

lj2

Noting that you are going to be on an L1B - Just pointing out that you will probably not have very good maternity leave arrangements. Personally, if I were a working woman, I would stay in the UK until after the birth rather than work in the USA which you would need to be doing on that Visa.

Jerseygirl

I think the OP has got her visa wrong. If her husband is getting a L1a visa...the accompanying spouse will get a L2 visa. The OP hasn't mentioned working...although she would be able to work given that her visa will be a L2.

lj2

That would make sense, important for OP to consider though either to better understanf Visa or to expect awful maternity leave.