South Africans relocating from the Netherlands to Houston, Texas (The Woodlands: sales, apartments)

[Estel]

Good day all

We're South Africans, currently residing in Holland and are about to relocate to Houston. Will get L1A visas piggy backing on Husband visa.
We are very excited but also overwhelmed with all the information.

Husband will earn roughly annual $100RK.
We have a little boy, 4years, speaks no English (yet).
So here my questions:

1. We will rent for a couple of years (need to still sell current house)
Would you suggest new complexes with family homes, or in old settled neighbourhoods.
- We thinking: Katy, Woodlands, Pearland, Sugarland
Which is the good/bad sides of Katy?
2. Will my little boy learn/ pick up english fast (teachers helpful?)
3. Easiest way to pick a school - listen to rental agent advise and do visits? What are school fees? Do they wear uniform?
4. Lease new car x 2 or second hand x2?
I see car insurance expensive......Geico - good/bad?
5. Monthly utilities? we have no credit score, must we give deposits or garantee letters frm employer?
6. Which furniture stores to visit for good but budget furniture, we bringing over NO furniture.
7. Which bank to bank with and to trust?

So I need the basic living information please please and advise on any hickups we may encounter along the relocation process. I know we all experience different things.
Thanks so much.

[debzkidz]

The first thing we will have to know is, where will your husbands office be located? The Houston metro area is beyond huge. This will have a definite bearing on where you will want to live.

I have lived in both Sugarland and the Katy area (technically west Houston), and really loved both areas. As for Katy, I prefer the area south of I-10. It is generally nicer than the area to the north. That is not to say the area to the north is bad, and I have friends that live in a lovely neighborhood there. All of the areas you mentioned are nice and have good schools. I can't answer the question concerning your son's language or the teachers helpfulness in that matter. Perhaps someone else can speak to that. Schools here, beginning in kindergarten (5 yr olds) and sometimes pre-k (4 yr olds) is free, unless you choose to put your child in a private school. Schools/districts vary in the use of uniforms. My children never wore uniforms.

Yes, you will probably be required to provide a deposit, and possibly some kind of proof of employment for your utilities.

Can't answer the car question, we don't lease, just purchase outright. As for the auto insurance, yest it is expensive in Texas, but I don't know anything about Geico.

To me, banks are banks. I have always just used one of the big national chains, because we have moved quite a lot and I like not having to close my accounts every time we move.

As for furniture Houston has lots of choices. It depends on what you are looking for, but there's Ikea, Star Furniture, Gallery Furniture and The Dump (which can be good, or can be bad) jut to name a few.

[Rapunzll]

I don't live in Houston, so I can't answer a lot of your questions. However, I have lived overseas and children as young as yours will pick up a new language remarkably fast. You will be surprised, I wouldn't even worry about that.

I did do a search though, and there is a meetup group for expat SA's in Houston. The Houston Expat South Africa Meetup Group (Houston, TX) - Meetup (http://www.meetup.com/The-Houston-Expat-South-Africa-Meetup-Group/ - broken link)

I know you are not here yet, but you could contact the group organizer and I bet they could answer a lot of questions for you. Good luck!

[houstonhornman]

Hi Estel - fellow South Africans here.

We are not very happy here but please disregard any posts of mine - I guess we are just different ...We always want to assist fellow Bokke!

I will try to answer a few Qs based on our experience

- there is indeed merit in first finding out where you work in comparison to Greater Houston.It's big and congested, traffic can be a real bummer.Our traffic back in Joberg is mild compared to here.I would suggest a more established neighborhood for activity purposes.All those you list are "out in the sticks" by ZA standards although Woodlands has a good number of S Africans (and a Rugby league).

- teachers here in public schools only care about their test results which impact on their performance evaluation.Everything here is about tests and numbers.That said,your child is only in nursery school so I wouldn't be concerned.The AWTY International school has a great preschool program and have many Dutch speakers but it's very expensive.

- I wouldn't trust agents in re school evaluations - they are biased.Ask an ex S African rather.Schools here are (according to my wife who's an Occupational Therapist) are not as nurturing as what we are used to back home.Your child is young so take your time (even if the child misses a few days of school).

- Cars - obviously it's a personal choice but we bought 2 cars from Enterprise Car sales (ex rental) - both have been 100 % fine up to now (we have been here over 2 years),price was 30 % less than Blue Book Value and they found us a good credit granting bank (credit union as they are called here).Enterprise is the nation’s "best kept secret"-they don't go out of their way to advertise,all they want to do is flog their stock.Carmax is also good for 2nd hand cars.Dealers are not consistent and generally expensive.

- Ask Enterprise to look into car Insurance for you - I used to be "mainstream" (Progressive) but Enterprise found me a deal substantially cheaper.That said, you can only really judge an insurer once you have a claim.We never had to until now.

- Credit in the US w/o a credit history is baje deemekaar - you will have to be patient and probably provide deposits until credit is granted.Best is to by a few things immediately as you arrive (any small appliance etc) on credit to get the "history" rolling.

- Furniture - I can only propose to you to perhaps rent first (Cort) until you find a place and choose at ease.Like anything,the more time you spend "shopping" (if you have time to spare) the better - things are very competitive here and even more so on the net;you just have to search.

- Banks - nothing like ours,all the same kaak.Rather go for a smaller,medium size bank that will treat you better.Here in TX there are many local banks (Bank of Texas is very decent - I am the treasurer of a soccer club and we use them,another is Frost Bank).That said,many banks are "national" if you need it-Chase,Bank of America,Capital One.Capital One are the most competitive with credit cards (and charges associated with them) at least as per our experience.

I hope this is lekker - best of luck!

[CptnRn]

Best wishes with your relocation. The person above gave you good advice. I would add the following:

1. We will rent for a couple of years (need to still sell current house)
Would you suggest new complexes with family homes, or in old settled neighbourhoods.
- We thinking: Katy, Woodlands, Pearland, Sugarland
Which is the good/bad sides of Katy?

We have two relatives living in the Katy area, both have professional carreers, and they seem very happy there. But I can't tell you much about the specifics. You can look up the demographics here //www.city-data.com/city/Katy-Texas.html including seeing a map of the zip codes (postal areas) and detailed demographics for each area including poverty and unemployment levels as well as racial distribution, housing costs, etc. for each area.

You can rent either houses or apartments. Apartments are less expensive and will free you up from the obligation to maintain the landscaping. Most landlords for both houses or apartments usually perform a credit check before renting to anyone. That may be a problem for you since you do not have credit established. You may be able to get around this problem by offering a larger security deposite and providing proof that you have a reliable income, as well as reference letters from previous landlords. In most cases you will be expected to pay a security deposit for either kind of housing, usually equal to 1 month of rent.

2. Will my little boy learn/ pick up english fast (teachers helpful?)

This will be important for you and your son's success here. You will probably have to arrange for private tutoring in order to accomplish this, you cannot count on the public schools to provide these services, they are very poorly funded here in Texas. And the current budget problems the state is having means extra programs will be reduce to the minimum.

3. Easiest way to pick a school - listen to rental agent advise and do visits? What are school fees? Do they wear uniform?

Public schools do not wear uniforms. Some private schools may.

4. Lease new car x 2 or second hand x2?

Leasing cars are usually much more expensive in the long run then buying a car. I recommend you look at buying used Honda's. They have the best reliability ratings of most cars.

I see car insurance expensive......Geico - good/bad?

Gieco is good and relatively inexpensive, you are probably fine with them. I use State Farm Insurance.

5. Monthly utilities? we have no credit score, must we give deposits or garantee letters frm employer?

I'm not sure what will be required in the Katy/Houston area, it will depend on the utility company. They will probably require a deposit. I have never heard of employers providing garantee letters in these parts.

6. Which furniture stores to visit for good but budget furniture, we bringing over NO furniture.

IKEA Houston IKEA is probably a good place to start, this is near Katy, on the way into Houston.

I have also had good experiences ordering things from Discount Home & Garden Furniture and Accessories | HomeDecorators.com

7. Which bank to bank with and to trust?

Banks and Credit Unions in the US are insured by the Federal Government, so your deposits in checking or savings accounts with them are protected. Just verify that they are FDIC (bank) or NCUA (credit union) insured.

Bank of America is one of the largest in the US and Texas and has the best internet banking & bill paying services I have found, and I have tried numerous other banks and credit unions. I have been banking with them for at least 20 years and have had no problems and always received good services. You can probably establish an account with them before you move, and obtain debit cards for use at ATM machines, this will make things easier for you traveling and getting yourselves established here.

https://www.bankofamerica.com/

Another bank that I use is Online Bank: Online Savings, Interest Checking, High Yield CDs | Ally Financial I have been with them for two years. They are great if you are comfortable banking via the internet and US mail. They are an internet based bank, they don't have the overhead cost of buildings scattered all over so they can pay higher interest rates on savings accounts and Certificates of Deposit. Much better then Bank of America, they offer some of the best interest rates and no fee's on checking and savings accounts.

[Estel]

Thanks so much for help and the advise.....we still weighing up options. Lekker daggie.

[badhornet]

Ay Ay Bokke.....we will have some shrimp on the barbie for ya

[Slaptjips]

Estel, by now I am sure you are in Houston and hopefully loving it! We are in The Woodlands area and have lived here for nearly eight years. Wouldn't trade it for the world...

[peacheskitty]

I grew up in a small town in South Africa, and I just read this entire thread in an Afrikaner accent.

[HoustonRonnie]

Originally Posted by peacheskitty

I grew up in a small town in South Africa, and I just read this entire thread in an Afrikaner accent.

Ek ook! LOL funny how that happens.