N1cky

I thought that was the fun part

My thoughts exactly. I trusted my husband to find us a rental in the UK when we were only moving 150 miles away. What a mistake

SarahG

I am yeah. Is that a bad idea?!

sangiano

A bit late to the thread, I'm afraid.

I totally empathise with the problems with HR. We nearly told them to stuff it because the person was so bad.

As others have commented, whether $75k will cover "everything" depends entirely on what it is supposed to cover.

We had a fraction of the amount, but the company also covered:

House selling costs in UK
House buying costs in US (huge compared to UK)
Transportation of household to US
An allowance of 1/2 the basic shipping costs for not importing our cars
Relocation consultant
Realtor
Grossed up the non tax deductible expenses.

They also paid for a reconnaissance trip, where we met the Realtor and ReLo persons. This was incredibly useful because we already knew the lie of the land and areas we were interested in buying a house, before we arrived permanently. Ultimately this saved an awful lot of time and made those first few day/weeks much more pleasant.

There was still a net cost, mainly for buying new cars.

They are also paying all the costs of the GC application, which they started after one year's employment.

We had the usual problem with credit history and renting, even though we already had US bank accounts and a credit card with a very good limit on it.

Our ReLo person just told them to sort it, or they weren't going to bring any future clients. Worked like a charm!

Replacing all the electrical goods is a bit of a pain, especially if your favourite item is amongst them. In the end it does give the opportunity to modernise some items and treat yourself to that item you wouldn't buy because the old one was perfectly serviceable.

One of the first things we bought was a TomTom for the rental car. It was invaluable in the first few months as we acclimatised to the area. At least you always knew you could find your way home. Whilst it isn't used locally very much these days, it has still been incredibly useful when we venture further afield. I know I could never have found the place we parked in Baltimore without it!

Good luck with your move and try to enjoy the experience even through the "hard" times.

Rose of the Shires

Hi Sarah
Are you still thinking of moving to Carmel Ind.? If so, if you'd like I can put you in touch with my friend who has just moved back there after 2 years in New York (they previously lived for 3 years in Carmel, but are originally from the UK). They are renting for 6 months before hopefully buying a bargain mansion! They have school age kids, so they would be great sources of info re. the school districts. She tells me that there is a huge and lively expat 'scene' (and also that the locals are ultra-friendly!) All in all, I know they are really happy to be moving back to the mid-west...I'm happy for them but really sad to see them leave here

PM me if you'd like their contact details

Rose

buckers

Hey, how are things going. Really must do some chatting on the old email i reckon seen as we are going through the same process - sarah aswell. Dont even talk to me about schoolsw my head is just spinning from everything at the moment. We have 9 weekends left, and it feels like just 9 days. I am equally scared out of my pants and excited about it all but mostly scared and stressed about getting everything in place. I am abit of a control freak aswell which really doesnt help sometimes They have applied for the 15 day visa for us, we have our field trip in 2 weeks time where we have about 10 houses lined up to see, but my biggest concern is the school enrolling etc. We are all moving together at the same time (plus 1 x pooch) so no way i was going to do it all on my own - but i am just wondering howmuch we can do by phone/fax/emither etc. Have now handed in my notice at work (went down like a lead balloon) and am finishing early to try and keep us all sane but still.................how are you getting on with schools etc and the whole enrolement thing. Also just read a seperate thread about having to buy all the school stuff (ARGHHH I feel an information overload soon. Am starting to sort out the electricals, always just booked some furniture to rent over here whilst ours is being shipped over there. I know it sounds abit back to front but really want the children to have the toys etc and home comforts when we get there rather than wait the 5 weeks the shipping agent has told us Found some good quotes but then company is paying so not that bothered.

Right, off to read up more on pension transfers and tax rebates - seriously though guys, we hsould get our heads together you know. Hope things are progressing with both yourself and Sarah.
spk soon - oh i used to live just outside Basingstoke in Chineham

Keep smiling

T1naD

Hi guys,
Just been reading through your posts and it's been really helpful. We are moving to NY for min 2 yrs - DH's transferring inter-company. HR are sorting out our visas, allegedly. Its all been really sudden and DH's been given a start date of Oct 1st. We went to NY this wknd and had a broker show us around some areas etc... We have a 3 yr old daughter, so we thought we can look at preschools when we get there. I just feel so overwhelmed with the whole thing. We have so many things to sort out. Do you think Oct 1st is a realistic date or are we kidding ourselves?
It's nice to see there are others in the same boat, although you all seem better organised! Any help greatly appreciated.

Bob

Depends if you've got to sell a house or not...and how long visa's are taking, could be close run thing.

Preschool, I wouldn't be so cavalier about, they aren't cheap and there's usually a waiting list for anything decent.

Welcome to BE though

Jerseygirl

Hello and welcome to BE.

Are you moving to NYC or NY state?

buckers

Hiya and welcome

1st Oct isnt long and as others have said its dependant on what type of visa and if you can get it through the fast track. If you arent going to work when you get there you should have time to sort some pre schooling out but again it depends where you are living etc because of waiting lists (just like the UK). We are renting our house out here and over in VA but there is all the tax/pension bits and pieces over here you need to sort - it feels like a mindfield to be honest but it just requires some time to sit and see what needs doing. This site is great for information and everyone is really helpful so just ask away and good luck

T1naD

Thanks guys. It's nice to speak to people who have first hand experience of this.
I think we'll be living in NYC. As we only plan to be there for 2 yrs we really want to make the most of the experience. We've been looking at places in UWS which seems to be good for kids but with lots of stuff going on. Do you know this area and what are your thoughts?
We have an accountant to sort out our tax/ pension stuff. Is this sufficient, or do I also need to take other professional advice?
We'll be letting our house so will hopefully get a tenant within the next few weeks. We would prefer to sell but there's not enough time to enable us to do that. Our worst case scenario would be for us to leave th house empty and still paying the mortgage.
I won't be working once I get to the US, so will have time to sort out preschool applications. I've seen some that have rolling applications and will contact them in the next few days to enquire about availability. The majority of the places I've looked at have set application deadlines and seem really snooty. It's not the kind of environment I'd feel comfortable with my daughter being in. Has anyone else had experience of Manhattan preschools?
One final thing - is it normal practice for landlords to request a year's rent up front if you don't have a credit rating?
Thank you again for your help.

meauxna

A year seems a lot. I wonder how you would do with a letter from the employer as a sort of guarantee?
I've taken an additional month's rent in advance for returnees, and evidence of their US employment.

NYCbound

I would trust my Hubby too, with the style of housing, furniture etc.. but definitely NOT budget!

Thanks, the company are covering most of all the costs involved up to the total of 75k. Our Garmin satnav came in very useful this weekend whilst we were over there, beat the Realtor's On Star system hands down! I'm not sure we have a thing like it here, where you connect to a person in your car who gives you directions and sends them to your car's onboard screen? I have certainly never seen it!

We signed a lease this weekend with no credit history, all it took was a letter from DH's employer and references, all we need to pay is the normal security and lease deposit. I wouldn't want to pay a year's lease up front.

NYCbound

I was born and grew up in Basingstoke (shhh don't tell anyone, I don't like it getting out )

We had our orientation visit this weekend and it went really well. The Realtor had lots of properties lined up, a real mix and in the end we signed a lease on a 4 bedroom Town House in Manalapan, NJ. It felt so right when we looked round, even though we thought we would want a detached house. There's lots of differences in US houses that we saw, not just size wise, the gardens (yards) don't need to be fenced in unless there is a pool (maybe just in NJ, I don't know) which will be weird to start with. But it's on a community which includes lawn maintenance and snow removal and the use of the pool, the kids get picked up by the school bus on the corner, I think
it's a good choice at least for the first year, big at 2400sqft but not as big as some we saw which seemed to go on forever! It's literally on a golf course aswell, new hobby looming possibly! Our realtor and relocation woman put in a lot of effort with us and were really great. The contracts are drawn up and signed by us, we are just waiting for them to sign and the monies to exchange, our realtor is delaying it as long as he can until we come over as the lease starts on 15th Sept and our Visa's aren't through yet.

We didn't get to look around the local school as it was being done up, be we managed to speak to the Principle briefly and will look around when we all arrive. It seems nice, but big! Going to start the injections after we get back from holiday. It's a bit alien having to buy lots of stuff for school, pens, pencils, notepads etc.. I believe Walmart is our friend there, WOW it's big, and the shopping malls and outlets malls, it's amazing.

Driving doesn't seem as scary as I anticipated the big roads, which we would call A roads are all so straight and most have no right turns so you go off a slip road and round a u-turn to then go straight across (which would have been right, weird but it works!)

A really successful trip! But I'm bloody jetlagged and peed off over no upgrade to Prem Economy on the way home!
If you give me a PM I'll give you my email addy

SarahG

Congrats on finding somewhere to live!
I am hopeful husband will be able to find us somewhere when he goes to Indianapolis on Oct 1. At moment we are both a bit nervous about tomorrows visit to Embassy so have not spent quite so much time online looking at places to live or furniture to buy/rent!

meauxna

Maybe this will set your mind at ease:
Attending for a non immigrant visa interview at the US Embassy in London? This video tells you what to expect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzZOvF1EEXE