Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Houston
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 10-29-2012, 09:26 PM
 
302 posts, read 308,075 times
Reputation: 81

Advertisements

Hi all.

I am just wondering if someone can help me for me to get a better idea about how it will work.

I wish I could buy a house in the US but I can't because I don't have any US taxes paid (and you need to have them paid for 2 years before they can consider giving you a mortgage). I DO have the deposit money for a house and know I could pay it all off quick.

Anyway, I live in the UK.

I am wondering if there are apartments in Houston which are ground floor only or are even attached to another house? If so, how much do they typically cost to rent?

what things are included?
what other expenses of renting are to be considered?

typically how much would the following cost per month?

internet (super fast)
TV
cell phone line rental
food (for a single person who is a vegetarian! haha)
Electric (since im from the UK, I wont be using the AC much I guess!). I would have my computer on 24/7 and the fridge/freezer. Again - single person
anything else I am forgetting?
Any other taxes?

As you can tell, im new at this altogether so hence why I am here asking! Houston wouldn't be my first choice but it is where my client is. I would love Seattle for a number of reasons but.... whatever
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 10-30-2012, 07:00 AM
 
369 posts, read 843,752 times
Reputation: 197
Quote:
Originally Posted by firehawk View Post
Hi all.

I am just wondering if someone can help me for me to get a better idea about how it will work.

I wish I could buy a house in the US but I can't because I don't have any US taxes paid (and you need to have them paid for 2 years before they can consider giving you a mortgage). I DO have the deposit money for a house and know I could pay it all off quick.

Anyway, I live in the UK.

I am wondering if there are apartments in Houston which are ground floor only or are even attached to another house? If so, how much do they typically cost to rent?

what things are included?
what other expenses of renting are to be considered?

typically how much would the following cost per month?

internet (super fast)
TV
cell phone line rental
food (for a single person who is a vegetarian! haha)
Electric (since im from the UK, I wont be using the AC much I guess!). I would have my computer on 24/7 and the fridge/freezer. Again - single person
anything else I am forgetting?
Any other taxes?

As you can tell, im new at this altogether so hence why I am here asking! Houston wouldn't be my first choice but it is where my client is. I would love Seattle for a number of reasons but.... whatever
You can find a nice 1 bedroom apt for under $900 in a nice neighborhood. Or you can move to a not so nice place for probably $600 or less/month.

Included: Refrigerator/Freezer, Oven, Microwave. Try to get one with a washer/dryer

Internet $45/month AT&T
TV $30-$100/month. few to choose from: Direct TV, AT&T, Comcast
Cell $45/month Walmart Plan T-mobile unlimited everything
Food $120
Electric $75
Water $30

No taxes if you are renting

You will want to get renters insurance. Its very cheap and worth it
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-30-2012, 07:37 AM
 
302 posts, read 308,075 times
Reputation: 81
Thank you. That really helps.

What is renters insurance?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-30-2012, 07:43 AM
 
Location: Woodfield
2,086 posts, read 4,130,143 times
Reputation: 2319
Quote:
Originally Posted by firehawk View Post
I wish I could buy a house in the US but I can't because I don't have any US taxes paid (and you need to have them paid for 2 years before they can consider giving you a mortgage).
Not true, one tax filing will do it. We had 5 months of taxable US income and bought a house. The broker submitted a 4506-T Request for Transcipt of Tax Return to the IRS. A non-issue.

You wouldn't want to buy a house right away anyway, you need to get to know the city first or you could make a very costly mistake.

What could prevent you from buying right away is not having a credit history in the states. I've heard there are ways around this but in the hot real estate market here you may lose out if you're waiting for all sorts of necessary documents from the UK that the bank here didn't bother to tell you about until the day of closing.

Luckily, it doesn't take long to build up your score. Get one or two secured credit cards and use them , keep a small balance but no more than 35% of the total credit available. Get a car loan or lease, don't pay cash, you can always pay it off later after you have your score up. And, of course, pay your utilities on time. We had a lowish score (under 700) after a little less than a year so we got 2.99% fixed rate over 15 years instead of 2.88% for the top 740 credit score!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-30-2012, 07:55 AM
 
369 posts, read 843,752 times
Reputation: 197
Quote:
Originally Posted by firehawk View Post
Thank you. That really helps.

What is renters insurance?
Here's a link to explain it

https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/advi...ters_donotskip
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-30-2012, 08:13 AM
 
302 posts, read 308,075 times
Reputation: 81
thank you. this has been helpful!

Well, in the UK I have an "excellent" credit rating. 960.
I do have an AMEX card (BA with the annual fee) which I use. I am not sure if this will help with the credit rating in the US?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-30-2012, 08:20 AM
 
302 posts, read 308,075 times
Reputation: 81
just doing some rough calcs....

seems like it would be roughly $1500/month with everything + some "buffer" money. which is around £930 UK GBP.
I currently with all expenses and rent etc... pay around £1000/month.

not much difference it seems. hmm. disappointed! my rent alone is around $850 USD and this is for a small 1 bedroom apartment without any taxes or anything.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-30-2012, 09:17 AM
 
765 posts, read 2,440,151 times
Reputation: 701
Quote:
anything else I am forgetting?
How about a car? Houston is NOT the greatest for public transportation, before I purchased a house I would be buying a car. If you don't have the $$ for a car, be prepared to pay high interest on a car loan.

Quote:
What is renters insurance?
To get reasonably priced insurance here in the US (home, car, health) you need to have proof of insurance - 2 years where you used to live.

Speaking of insurance - Don't forget to add health insurance to the budget.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-30-2012, 09:19 AM
 
302 posts, read 308,075 times
Reputation: 81
true thing about the car. I cant drive/never learned but will be for this purpose. I would probably rent a car to be honest or take the cab or something.

proof of insurance? dont have any where I currently live.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-30-2012, 09:22 AM
 
Location: Woodfield
2,086 posts, read 4,130,143 times
Reputation: 2319
You're UK credit rating is worthless here other than what I descibed before - finding a lender willing to work with you (doable) and then hoping it all works out (questionable). Even for that, your UK credit rating has a limited shelf life in the states, perhaps a few months.

There are alot of company relocations here, if your'e on a relocation package help with a mortgage can en part of that. Also, some real estate agents have experience with people in your situation, maybe someone one on this forum can help.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Houston
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top