Help with cost of living

[COCUE]

Originally Posted by Neil73

Hi Just wanted to run this by you.
Would the following seem reasonable assumptions based on a 2000-2500sqft house family of 4, looking to rent somewhere in the Lake Tavis/ Bee cave/ Oak Hills area.


Phone/TV/ Internet package $70 per month
Elec/Gas/water $350 per month (do Elec, gas and water all come as a package deal or separate?)
Car Insurance $70 per month (we are in 40s and standard type car)

.

I think $100k is a good salary but it's not rich by any means. You can live pretty comfortably on that income for a family of 4. I do however think that $2400/month is too high for rent. IMHO, you should look for a smaller house 3bed/2bath 1500-1700sqft in the $1700-$1800 rent rather and save the rest for a down payment should you decide to buy later. It's not like coming from the UK, that you aren't used to smaller houses :-)

With respect to bills, you've gotten some good estimates. I would add that you may want to consider T-Mobile for your cellphone service. We pay $80/month for a family plan and $10 extra for any additional lines. Only them and
AT&T are the only fully GSM network here so you can use your phone from England and just get a new SIM Card.

The main differences you will see in terms of bills are you pay for medical insurance vs having the NHS or some private insurance offered for free by your employer in the UK.

There's nothing like council tax which is paid by the occupier instead here only the owner is responsible for the property tax.

Sales differs by state and city, here I think it's 8.25% or so and unlike the 20% VAT automatically added to the price of things, the prices in the stores do not include the dates tax till you get to the till and they add it all up.

Food/grocery in my opinion is generally much cheaper though I feel like you don't have as many choices but have to say that international food items which is would find an aisle in local supermarkets are crazy expensive.. I guess that's why they are international like the smallest size Ribena is like $10 or so.. This is the size that you would find for 2 quid at Tesco. But again, you learn not to buy those everyday. And finally, yoghurt here taste like crap

Good luck

[Neil73]

Originally Posted by COCUE

.

I think $100k is a good salary but it's not rich by any means. You can live pretty comfortably on that income for a family of 4. I do however think that $2400/month is too high for rent. IMHO, you should look for a smaller house 3bed/2bath 1500-1700sqft in the $1700-$1800 rent rather and save the rest for a down payment should you decide to buy later. It's not like coming from the UK, that you aren't used to smaller houses :-)

With respect to bills, you've gotten some good estimates. I would add that you may want to consider T-Mobile for your cellphone service. We pay $80/month for a family plan and $10 extra for any additional lines. Only them and
AT&T are the only fully GSM network here so you can use your phone from England and just get a new SIM Card.

The main differences you will see in terms of bills are you pay for medical insurance vs having the NHS or some private insurance offered for free by your employer in the UK.

There's nothing like council tax which is paid by the occupier instead here only the owner is responsible for the property tax.

Sales differs by state and city, here I think it's 8.25% or so and unlike the 20% VAT automatically added to the price of things, the prices in the stores do not include the dates tax till you get to the till and they add it all up.

Food/grocery in my opinion is generally much cheaper though I feel like you don't have as many choices but have to say that international food items which is would find an aisle in local supermarkets are crazy expensive.. I guess that's why they are international like the smallest size Ribena is like $10 or so.. This is the size that you would find for 2 quid at Tesco. But again, you learn not to buy those everyday. And finally, yoghurt here taste like crap

Good luck

Hi Thanks for the reply,
You sound like you were originally from the UK?
From what i have researched so far i dont think anything is that much more expensive than the UK, the rent would be comparible to London and the Electric costly but thats only due to running AC 24/7.
The wage i can potentailly earn over here is between 98-127k dollars, which is like 67-88k uk pounds, that is double my current UK earning and top end nearly 3 times.
I find it strange that alot of people have suggested that your rent should only be 25% of your salary, most people i know in the UK have mortgages of 50% there salary, and that is common place.
$2500 would be my top end, but would look for around the 2000k mark.

Thanks

[Zifoose]

Originally Posted by Neil73

Hi Thanks for the reply,
You sound like you were originally from the UK?
From what i have researched so far i dont think anything is that much more expensive than the UK, the rent would be comparible to London and the Electric costly but thats only due to running AC 24/7.
The wage i can potentailly earn over here is between 98-127k dollars, which is like 67-88k uk pounds, that is double my current UK earning and top end nearly 3 times.
I find it strange that alot of people have suggested that your rent should only be 25% of your salary, most people i know in the UK have mortgages of 50% there salary, and that is common place.
$2500 would be my top end, but would look for around the 2000k mark.

Thanks

With that salary $2.500 is way too much, be careful with that issue. 25% rule sounds really good advice, actually this is what I use for rent from my monthly wage and it's ok....because money disasppear really fast from the bank account in this country. If you rent a house instead of an apartment, bills will be higher...water is priced like gold.

BTW, you will have to get your driving license within 3 months, so that it means that you'll become a new driver for insurances companies, and with no credit score history, so be ready for a high monthly bill in the event you go through full cover insurance.

I can tell you I have a $3k car from 2005 with the min insurance coverture as possible by law, I'm paying $60 a month. This car is not driven more than 3k miles a year, but it seems that insurances company don't care about that.

Don't worry about gas rates, it will be like 4 times cheaper than UK....that's a good pint in Texas.

[Neil73]

Originally Posted by Zifoose

With that salary $2.500 is way too much, be careful with that issue. 25% rule sounds really good advice, actually this is what I use for rent from my monthly wage and it's ok....because money disasppear really fast from the bank account in this country. If you rent a house instead of an apartment, bills will be higher...water is priced like gold.

BTW, you will have to get your driving license within 3 months, so that it means that you'll become a new driver for insurances companies, and with no credit score history, so be ready for a high monthly bill in the event you go through full cover insurance.

I can tell you I have a $3k car from 2005 with the min insurance coverture as possible by law, I'm paying $60 a month. This car is not driven more than 3k miles a year, but it seems that insurances company don't care about that.

Don't worry about gas rates, it will be like 4 times cheaper than UK....that's a good pint in Texas.

Thanks mate can I ask is that 25% of gross or net pay for rent

[Trainwreck20]

It is just a rule of thumb, but I would say that it is generally based on gross pay.

[Zifoose]

Originally Posted by Neil73

Thanks mate can I ask is that 25% of gross or net pay for rent

In my case is net pay rule. Guessing your net monthly salary will be around $6.4k... I'd would spend max 1.6k-1.8k in rent, because there are many other expenses to be added on top of that....specially in your case with 2 kids.

Just my 2 cents.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by gzowner

...Some ask that your income be 3 x your income, some even ask for 5 times your income if they are greedy landlords. ...

Uh, I don't know of any landlords that require a 5x income ratio. If they do it has nothing to do with greed as the rent paid would be the same regardless.