Not the usual Frankie goes to Hollywood questions... (Torrance, Merced: sale, apartments)

[8bravo]

Hi folks,

last night I got an email from the USCIS that my L-1A visa has been approved. Of course it'll take some more weeks till we touch down on the LAX runway, but with so many people who know how LA county and especially the South Bay works, we don't wanna re-invent the wheel and do the things right the first time.

We need to find an appartment for rent, maybe a small house, for our family of three. Is that doable with absolutely no credit history? From what we've read, we're especially afraid that our dog will be a knock-out to most landlords (he's just a 23 lbs/12" Jack-Russel). Also we don't know the system of tenant/landlord recommendation in Germany. We just don't have such things and therefore will arrive with nothing like that at hand.

AFAIK our company (~200 workers in Canada and the US) still doesn't offer direct deposits. My boss says this is more expensive than any other options (currently they pay their employees twice a month with those awful checks - I really never saw one in Germany at all). Is there any way to convice them to do direct deposit or is it correct that biweekly checks are still cheaper for a company?

Would it be a good idea to start with a secured credit card for building up a history or is it just better to stay with a regular debit card and don't care too much about credit worthiness?

Also I'm worried about car insurance w/o any history (our car will be paid cash). BTW: is there any chance to get a used car for under $10k with DECENT mileage per gallon? Americans seem to be pride about a 25 mpg car. We currently drive a 2001 Audi A4 Diesel and even in spite of its age, we get out 39 mpg easily without caring too much about how we drive it.

We'd appreciate any help we can get before we stumble in the odd booby trap that a whole new financial system would bear for us.

Thanks a lot from ye olde world :-)

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by 8bravo

Also we don't know the system of tenant/landlord recommendation in Germany.

Originally Posted by 8bravo

Americans seem to be pride about a 25 mpg car.

That will change when gas is as expensive here as it is in Germany.

[redturtle]

Pet policy for apartments/houses: it really varies from one specific property to the next; if the landlord allows pets, they will usually require an additional pet deposit (a couple hundred dollars?).

As for renting without credit - it's certainly do-able, but again not every landlord will. It again varies from one landlord to the next. What can make it easier is 1) the rental market is weak and landlords may be more flexible, and 2) you have a job already lined up (i.e. you're not moving here to look for a new job). Both of those factors will help you.

As for building a credit history, you can either get a secured card, or sign up for a charge card (like American Express - where you have to pay off the entire balance each month) as a way to build up credit history.

Car insurance: you certainly can get a policy without a problem, it's just a matter of cost, which will likely vary widely depending on the insurance company. It pays to shop around (and you can get free quotes online -- Progressive, GEICO, Mercury, Farmer's, State Farm, esurance, All State, Nationwide, etc.).

For housing rentals, try Craigslist or Westsiderentals online

For buying used cars, try Autotrader, Craigslist, Cars.com and eBay

All these sites should give you a general idea of costs for a housing and cars.

For cars under $10K, your best options are likely:

(1) Lower mileage Japanese economy cars 2006 or newer, with less than 40,000 miles - i.e. Honda Civic/Accord, Toyota Corolla, Nissan Sentra, Mazda 3 or 6

(2) Older German cars, depending on brand; for Audi A4s, you might be able to get as new as 2004-2006. For BMW 3-series and Mercedes, more likely higher mileage 2001 or older (i.e. 70,000 miles or more; but as you may know with German cars, if you know how to buy the right one these cars can go beyond 150,000 miles without much more than regular oil changes and regular maintenance - especially the Audi/BMW/Benz cars built before 1999; newer German cars aren't quite as reliable unfortunately). Or if you're really ambitious, there's quite a few Mercedes Benz Diesel sedans here in LA that have been converted to biodiesel (so they can use veggie oil or regular diesel in any combination) - but not sure if the older styling will work for you (though these engines can run 200,000+ miles without a problem if properly maintained); cost of these Benz Diesels runs around $6-10K.

Both are equally just as good in my view; if you are knowledgeable about cars and still care about performance, getting an older German car may be a better fit for you; if you're not as fussy and don't know much about cars, then the newer Japanese cars are a better fit for your budget.

Also, I found "Not For Tourists LA" to be quite useful for info on neighborhoods - you can either get the book, or there is an online web version (just google for it).

[8bravo]

Thanks for breaking that down redturtle. Actually when I look on cars.com, I can narrow my search to whatever it offers and still get like 200 cars offered within ten miles of Torrance. Still the problem remains that there's nothing on sale with a half-decent fuel consumption. I see 21, 25 and 28 mpg and so on, but nothing serious in the upper 30s or even lower 40s. My current Audi has 170k miles on it and still goes with 39 mpg. Are we spoiled? I mean this is a fine car and 115 hp are more than enough to ride 140 mph, so why would anybody in the US need more power and a bigger engine than that with a general speed limit of 65 mph or so? That simply does not make any sense to me.

I also set up tenant recommendation letters for our last two landlords which I'll let them sign and then show when I looking for appartments. It's free and it can hopefully increase my odds when people read how calm and neat our dog is :-)

[Fontucky]

I once drove, for about a month, a late seventies VW Rabbit diesel that got unbelievably good mileage, as in the high 40s, low 50s. Then I went back to my huge American land yacht that couldn't pass by a gas station without stopping.

[Daisy32673]

Originally Posted by 8bravo

Thanks for breaking that down redturtle. Actually when I look on cars.com, I can narrow my search to whatever it offers and still get like 200 cars offered within ten miles of Torrance. Still the problem remains that there's nothing on sale with a half-decent fuel consumption. I see 21, 25 and 28 mpg and so on, but nothing serious in the upper 30s or even lower 40s. My current Audi has 170k miles on it and still goes with 39 mpg. Are we spoiled? I mean this is a fine car and 115 hp are more than enough to ride 140 mph, so why would anybody in the US need more power and a bigger engine than that with a general speed limit of 65 mph or so? That simply does not make any sense to me.

I also set up tenant recommendation letters for our last two landlords which I'll let them sign and then show when I looking for appartments. It's free and it can hopefully increase my odds when people read how calm and neat our dog is :-)

Yes. Good luck finding a car here that gets that good of mileage. And the reason we need bigger engines with more HP? We are greedy and want the biggest and best at any cost. Doesnt make sense to me either but you'll see what I mean when you move out here

[redturtle]

Originally Posted by 8bravo

Thanks for breaking that down redturtle. Actually when I look on cars.com, I can narrow my search to whatever it offers and still get like 200 cars offered within ten miles of Torrance. Still the problem remains that there's nothing on sale with a half-decent fuel consumption. I see 21, 25 and 28 mpg and so on, but nothing serious in the upper 30s or even lower 40s. My current Audi has 170k miles on it and still goes with 39 mpg. Are we spoiled? I mean this is a fine car and 115 hp are more than enough to ride 140 mph, so why would anybody in the US need more power and a bigger engine than that with a general speed limit of 65 mph or so? That simply does not make any sense to me.

I also set up tenant recommendation letters for our last two landlords which I'll let them sign and then show when I looking for appartments. It's free and it can hopefully increase my odds when people read how calm and neat our dog is :-)

A couple of things re: fuel economy numbers.

You can't compare a diesel car to a gasoline car. Apples and oranges. The majority of cars on the road in the US are gasoline cars. Diesel is mostly limited to large trucks. Again, only a handful of models are diesel cars.

Part of the reason why Europe has way more diesel cars (and the US doesn't) is that most diesel cars made for the rest of the world don't pass US emissions standards.

Also, the stated fuel economy numbers (even if you convert liters to gallons and convert Euros to US dollars) are not directly comparable, because of how the fuel economy numbers are defined by the government standards agencies, which differ between Europe and the US.

Fuel efficiency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Jebby]

As redturtle pointed out,
Diesel powered passanger cars have had battles meeting emission standards. The newer VW/Audi with clean diesel technology are starting to pop up, but other than that I haven't seen any diesels on the road which were manufactured within the previous decade.

Hybrid gasoline are pretty common and get milage comparable to Diesel. Other than that, 25-30mpg is good for a gas only engine.

It may be worth mentioning that gas prices are much cheaper here compared to Europe. Also, gasoline is cheaper than Diesel.

[8bravo]

The "new" clean Diesel technology has been on the market since 2008. I had a 2005 Fiat a few years ago and it cost me 700 Euro to get a filter built in which was also tax-deductible (I had to do it because I wanted to sell the car and I got more than that 700 out of it, plus the tax saving so I made a net plus on the filter).

Yes, 30 mpg is acceptable for a gasoline engine, 25 is not. I called my dad on Monday night. He drives a Ford Focus (built in Cologne, Germany of course). His AVERAGE consumption is 7.2 liters/100 km ~ 31 mpg; and he's not the driving grandpa with hat and cane...

Whichever car I like on cars.com, I look it up on fueleconomy.gov - I think it'll come out to be a Japanese/Korean model from 2007-2009. Everything else is just unbelievable expensive in terms of gas consumption. Though Chevy's Aveo and Cobalt seem to slowly advance into this league too.

I think the car topic is worn out now. Any other suggestions for me, e.g. how to convince my boss to offer direct deposits or so? Really, I've never seen a check and I never paid a fee to get my salary into my bank account... That is so stupid in my eyes.

I was looking into opening a bank account at Wells Fargo. Their checking account is free (with a few strings attached like $25 automatic saving etc) and they are the cheapest to make ongoing payments to Germany. On the other hand I was thinking about joining a credit union, which would probably grow a better "partnership" over the years. Also they seem to offer car insurances and other things right from the same office. Any suggestions on this?

Thanks for your help !!!