scrubbedexpat091

Lots of hostels have that requirement, its to keep local poor and working homeless from moving in and living there.

I stayed at one for a week in Vancouver, it was not bad, its not a hotel, and as long as one is not expecting a hotel, it can be an interesting experience.

Rete

The same here

Rete

By law, in NYS it is only one's month rent that can be asked for as a security depost.

megalaser

Look on Craigslist for the city you are moving to and find a private landlord, explain your situation and if he is reasonable he may accept you if you provide enough ID and several months upfront rent. Keep paying in advance and never be late on payments or give him cause to chase you. You may have to give cable and electricity companies a deposit because of no credit history.

Infowarrior

Thanks! Sounds like this move is going to be bloody expensive!

retzie

Personally, I would use Craigslist to try to find yourself a short-term sublet. Ideally, you'd find a place where someone is just going travelling for a little while, so it would even be furnished. Use that time to find a real rental until the container arrives. I would not be trying to set up an actual rental with a lease without seeing the house. Too many variables with the place itself, landlord, neighbourhood, etc.

Also, for my suggestion and megalaser's, BEWARE THE CRAIGSLIST SCAM!!! There are plenty out there. Be careful.

HarryTheSpider

Hi Infowarrior

I didn't spot where you are moving to, so can't give you local info.

We had the same issue when we arrived here in early Nov 2010, so happy to share our experiences and hope you avoid some traps - we fell in to a few because we were ignorant! For reference, we moved to Phoenix, AZ.

Short term accommodation will cost. Think in terms of $100 a night, so a month may cost you the thick end of $3K. We stayed in short term accommodation arranged by my employer - arranged through a company that I think is US-wide, possibly international - called "Bridgestreet".

No deposits were needed, but they did need copies of passport, job offer - the usual.

The issue we had was our container - when it would arrive and when it would clear customs etc.

You quote 2-3 weeks waiting for your container - sounds like you're moving to the East Coast somewhere. Allow time for it to get held up in customs, get thoroughly searched etc (for which you will have to pay!) and then finally delivered to your eventual home...

For us, playing it safe witch schedules, given that we had to give 30 days notice to leave our temporary but furnished place, I waited until the container was actually in the destination port (West coast, so took about 5 weeks to get here from UK, via Panama Canal etc) - then gave notice. We then had just 30 days to find a home to rent (we're not buying just yet).

In all we paid around $5K in temp accomm charges, $850 for our container contents to go in storage (else pay $140 per day container rental - be careful of that - it should be in the small print somewhere!), and then the typical security deposit of 2 months rent plus 1 month rent in advance - nearly another $5K. We were hit for $12K in outgoings in the space of just 2 months. We hadn't planned for quite this big a hit, nor budgeted for it. Luckily we had a reasonable credit card limit, which we've now maxed - which will ding our credit score right from day 1...

Could we have done it differently? Yup. We could have lived somewhere cheaper, in a less salubrious part of town, miles from work or in an area my wife would not have felt comfortable with. I wanted her to be able to easily get out and about, and for me to be just minutes from the office in case she needed me. Remember, it's toughest on those who aren't going to be working etc - though I think you said you have folks in the area you can stay with...

So we went for ease, for feeling safe, and for quality of surroundings and property we were living in. Any regrets? Just one - that I'd known this before - I could have budgeted for it differently and taken more time to research & find cheaper options during my recce trip just 2 weeks before the move.

Good luck with the move!

Cheers

Harry The Spider

ottotheboar

I would agree, it may be a squeeze but if you are on a tight budget why spend money you do not have to ?. I am not trying to negative but you are bound to have a few unforseen expenses so save the money for them.

mamasue

When we first arrived in the USA we stayed at a long-stay motel group, called InTown Suites.
it was typical motel, but with a small kitchen, cost about $180 a week.
Nothing special, but OK until we found a place of our own.

Rumplestiltskin

How about finding your long-term rental on rent.com before you come, sorting it all out online/on-the-phone, buying an air mattress and a couple of bean bags when you get there and slumming it for a couple of weeks while you wait for your container?

You'll appreciate your own stuff even more when it arrives.

anne55

There is also a chain called Value place I think last time I passed by they were advertising $240 a week. We stayed there for 2 weeks while waiting for our accommodation to be ready. They are efficiency type rooms, cook top,full size refrigerator and microwave. Separate bathroom and the one we rented had 2 full size beds. It was very clean and secure, pay by the week.
We have a lot of military come and go in this area and they use them.

Infowarrior

Thanks everyone. Our experience so far has been to phone commercial rental places, you know the ones where a company oversees a bunch of town houses and condos. Anyway one sounded promising, we could be in there on day one after getting off the plane.

So we fill out their online forms and they run a credit check on us. Trying to enter a UK number into a USA field is very tricky I've noticed. Anyway it comes back that I have no credit (obviously) and my wife has bad credit. For me, they'd be happy to accept a bank statement to green light my application.

They just flat refused my wife, despite the fact that my money is also her money on the bank statement. Any ideas on this situation? I've had a couple of beers and this may be wacky but I was thinking what if I get my wife to pretend she's Canadian or something, then (if it works the same way) her credit score wouldn't come up and we could use the bank statement approach.

This is really bloody frustrating. Our container arrives tomorrow morning too, 2 weeks until we fly.

Infowarrior

Hi Harry, I thought I'd replied to you previously. I must have got distracted then closed all my tabs losing my text, I do that often!

We're moving to northern CA, in 2 weeks time. I can see it is going to cost an arm and a leg, what with the rental prices in CA. We are looking at 2 bed houses in the region of $2k/mo.

And yes I was wrong on the shipping info, its actually 5 weeks. Ugh, sorry I have to get back to the packing... container arrives 9am sharp... so sick of packing.

jackattack

Here is a link for Craigslist with temporary/short term accommodation in the Bay Area (not sure which part of Northern California you are looking at).

This could be a good place to start although you might need someone with local knowledge to help you with an overview on locations and transportation:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sub/

Poppy girl

I am in Northern CA what part are you looking at going to will change the rental value greatly.