# Relocation to New York / New Jersey



## jon_76 (Jun 24, 2015)

Hi

This is my first post, so please be gentle!
I'm likely to be relocating with my family from Wiltshire and working in New York in the near future (working between Penn & Grand Central Stations) and could do with some advice on areas to live and how we can get the most from a short visit.

Firstly on areas, ideally, I would like a commute of no more than an hour (currently 15 mins by cycle, so don't want too much of a shock!).
My salary expected to be around the $130k mark.
We have about $150k (from sale of UK house) as deposit so looking at house prices around the $450k mark.
We are loving the colonial style of houses and would want 4 bed 2 bath with decent garden on a nice street where the kids can play out.
We have two girls (9 & 12 years) who have grown up in a very family friendly environment.
We have focused our search on New Jersey, but haven't ruled out New York.
My wife is unlikely to work initially and we want somewhere with a sense of community & good schools etc, but don't want somewhere with a huge expat community.

Secondly on a short visit, we are likely to fly out at the beginning of September for a few days looking around followed by a couple of days in the office for me.
So, aside from looking around different neighborhoods, should we be trying to get appointments with banks, schools or anyone else?

I've probably forgotten a ton of stuff and some of this might be covered in other threads so don't mind being redirected.

Thanks in advance

Jon


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Have HR give yiu a breakdown between gross and take-home pay. You can also use IRS.gov.

Your budget is not very realistic but let's use it.

450k purchase plus 5-7% closing costs minus 150k down payment comes to give or take 325k debt. 

At assumed 4% (rates are going up right now) it is 1.5k mortgage plus insurance 250+ plus property tax which depends on location lets use a low average of 2-2.5%. That leaves utilities, maintenance, repairs and improvements for housing costs.

Public school access depends on residence address!

You can easily pull tax details from the sites of the tax assesser's office by county and city; look for specific properties and/or millage rate. Do not underinsure the property and be aware of deductibles and not insured damages. Flood, water in the house, on the property, .... Do not rely on property tax being flat.


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## jon_76 (Jun 24, 2015)

Thanks for the quick reply.

Property tax is a new thing to me. (I assume its equivalent to council tax here in the uk).
We would probably rent for the first 6 months to get our monthly budget sorted before buying.
Ideally though, we would hit the right area and be renting where we will eventually buy.
Don't really want the kids moving schools after 6 months.
My head is getting fried with locations though & it seems in a lot of instances the bus is quicker than the train.
There's a lots of land to cover!


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

jon_76 said:


> Thanks for the quick reply.
> 
> Property tax is a new thing to me. (I assume its equivalent to council tax here in the uk).
> !


Do not assume that US property tax is equivalent to council tax. 

As I understand it property tax in New Jersey is calculated the same as in California - it's based on the value of the house, plus the districts community charges.

New Jersey has some pretty high tax rates for property. 

Read the following article:

Which N.J. towns have the highest property tax bills? | NJ.com

My sister who lives in Norwich is astounded that I pay over 15K a year on property tax in California.

Also don't forget that you will be paying medical insurance premiums per month, plus on going costs such as deductibles, co-pays when you actually use the medical services.


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

Big chance that you can't even get a mortgage for the first year, or even first 2 years, as you don't have credit history/score.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

EVHB said:


> Big chance that you can't even get a mortgage for the first year, or even first 2 years, as you don't have credit history/score.


Long story short - what will OP do when it is time to return to the UK be is planned or unexpected. 

Not knowing much about his situation all I can do is ask to research, research and research. Fresh off the boat I signed something I paid dearly for. Call it education.

How long is the expat commitment, what is included in the contract? 130k gross for a family of four with one income is ok but not more. Is it the experience on the resume, a proofing run within the company, ...? 

Please do not get me wrong - I found my place, well almost as it is just time to move on and leave Texas for anywhere 

Skip the bicycle for two weeks. Take the car and drive an hour, drive in circles if necessary, experience something close to a commute.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

twostep said:


> Take the car and drive an hour, drive in circles if necessary, experience something close to a commute.


To be clear, with your office in Midtown Manhattan you won't be driving there. At least not if you're sane. But I like Twostep's idea of a "dry run" to see what a 60 minute commute is like each way. Then imagine doing that every working day. Many people do it, but it's not terribly fun unless you _really_ like audio books or podcasts. 

Much of New Jersey has a big problem: the tunnels under the Hudson River. They're already very old, they're operating at full capacity, Hurricane Sandy damaged them, they'll need to be closed before too long, and Governor Christie vetoed the only new tunnel project (ARC) that got anywhere close to approval. PATH trains have had some big problems even within the past few days, and those problems are only going to get worse. All of that will be reflected in New Jersey real estate, unless you don't know what's going on.  I'd go take another look at the Metro-North map and _probably_ keep something along the Hudson Line on your short list, in particular. (But do you really want the suburbs?)


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

I would also see what sort of assistance you can get from your employer-to-be when it comes to house hunting. Find out where your colleagues live and how they do the commute. 

And don't rule out the various boroughs of NYC. There are some surprisingly "suburban" areas in Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens that might be of interest. North of the city is a possibility, as are some of the towns in southwestern Connecticut. 
Cheers,
Bev


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## jon_76 (Jun 24, 2015)

wow, thanks for all the replies.

On tax, yes, I've got a lot to figure out, but I'm putting that to one side just for now.
Regarding a mortgage, would it help to transfer to either HSBC or Barclays (both dirty words i know but have a presence in the US) before going out in the hope my credit history would be maintained?
I'm hoping this will be a long term (10 year+) or permanent move and is an internal move within the company. No contract yet, so still some negotiations ahead.
I might well try the hour commute (was it national lampoons where they kept driving round the roundabout?)
Yep, fancy the burbs and have spoken to a couple of guys in the office. Some of them live in White plains and one of the guys grew up in Edison but now lives in Monmoth County.
We did look at NY boroughs, but had sort of ruled it out on cost (and the boss wasnt keen on the house styles in white plains)

Concentrating on Essex, Middlesex & Bergen Counties at the moment.


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## MarylandNed (May 11, 2010)

jon_76 said:


> Regarding a mortgage, would it help to transfer to either HSBC or Barclays (both dirty words i know but have a presence in the US) before going out in the hope my credit history would be maintained?


You can't transfer US credit history to the US. You'll be starting with a clean slate and building from there. You might be able to get individual companies to give you a break but that's not the same as transferring credit history. For example, I had an Amex card in the UK and, based on my UK payment history, they sorted me out with a US Amex card when I got to the US. I'm not sure that the same would apply to a mortgage. We rented for 3 years before buying. This gave us a chance to build credit history and find out where we wanted to buy - but we also wanted to wait until we had our green cards before making such a big commitment.


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## MarylandNed (May 11, 2010)

MarylandNed said:


> You can't transfer UK* credit history to the US. You'll be starting with a clean slate and building from there. You might be able to get individual companies to give you a break but that's not the same as transferring credit history. For example, I had an Amex card in the UK and, based on my UK payment history, they sorted me out with a US Amex card when I got to the US. I'm not sure that the same would apply to a mortgage. We rented for 3 years before buying. This gave us a chance to build credit history and find out where we wanted to buy - but we also wanted to wait until we had our green cards before making such a big commitment.


Correction: You can't transfer UK* credit history to the US.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

jon_76 said:


> wow, thanks for all the replies.
> 
> On tax, yes, I've got a lot to figure out, but I'm putting that to one side just for now.
> Regarding a mortgage, would it help to transfer to either HSBC or Barclays (both dirty words i know but have a presence in the US) before going out in the hope my credit history would be maintained?
> ...


Your credit history is basically tied to your Social Security Number which you will apply for once you are here.

National Lampoon gets old very fast when your daily time away from home runs into 10-12 hours. Just do the math - time spent commuting times your hourly rate, cost commuting divided by your hourly rate, let's skip wear and tear. How many work hours does it come to times your hourly rate? A work month plus! 

This is a hot topic at our house right now SO wants a big house on 6-10 acre lot I want to downsize. Cost of commute made sense to him.

Pick a place with resale value and be prepared to spend time and money to keep it up. A house here is not the ball and chain or permanent until the end as it is very often in Europe. 

Rent for starters, get wife and kids settled, get comfortable in your job and explore the area. Take your time! Disregard cosmetics such as paint or countertips. Focus on the bones - location, schools, neighborhood.

It will all work out.


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## ChrisEdwardsUSA (Jul 20, 2015)

My experience was that I was able to get a mortgage almost immediately, but had to provide lots of evidence to support my creditworthiness, that included a number of 3-way telephone interviews to prove my accounts were in good standing. 

We lived in central NJ for 5 years, & the property taxes in the State are among the highest in the US. Depending on the township, & given the price range that you are looking at, consider a budget of $8-$10k per year.

One other thing to be wary of is insurance. Whilst I secured a sizable mortgage without too much trouble, the majority of Insurance companies won't touch you if you don't have a history, & those that will charge a sizable premium.....


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## Nursemanit (Jul 10, 2015)

I am at the same income level as you will be and in NJ that equates to about a 225,000 mortgage assuming your putting 135,000 down ( you may need to have 15,000 or roughly 3 months income in the bank after closing - they don't always tell you that when pre approving you.) 

Do not forget transit costs , parking , and auto insurance is very high in NJ. It could be really high with no credit history since our auto insurance takes credit history into account for some odd reason. I know people paying 2k a year just for auto insurance. 

You will find that $400,000 does not get you much in any area of NJ near the city that you would want to live in. In Wayne NJ ( good to average schools / 25 min from NY) 400,000 gets you a newer 3-4 BR townhouse or a older not well updated 3 BR home.


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