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I am looking for some advice regarding areas etc in Houston. My Wife and I, along with our 4 month old son will be relocating to Houston in January. We are currently in the proccess of looking for for homes and cars and need a bit of advice.
- Houses and Areas to Live
I am currently a self employed contractor and I have a long term contract for the whole of 2016 in Australia.This means when it comes to work I dont really need to worry about the area as I will be commuting to the airport every month to head away.
We have been looking at the following areas: The Woodlands, Spring, Katy and also League City Area.
Not knowing anything about the USA or Texas we are pretty blind when it comes to the areas in Houston.
Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated. We will be renting a place for 6-12 months then we would like to build something new. Looking for something under $1700/USD a month and being 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms minimum and in a nice area.
How hard is it to get a rental house with no credit history or Social Security Number
We have our Green Cards, but we will be applying for our Socials the first few days we are there.
We need to be able to get a rental within 2 weeks of arriving as our belongings and furniture will be by then and we need to send it somewhere.
Cars and Registration
We will be looking to get a new car pretty much straight away when we arrive. Do we need to have a texas Drivers License to buy and register a car?
I have an Australian Drivers License and my wife has a German License and an Australian License.
We have the option to buy a used car outright (Don't want to spend more than $20K ) but we are also wanting to know if there is an option to get finance (with no credit history) to help build our credit history?
I do appreciate all the help and feedback! Its a big adventure for us and we are really looking forard to moving to Houston in January. Just hoping its a smooth transition!
On renting, you won't run into much trouble. They will verify employment and run credit, which will be nothing - but not bad - just non-existent.
Ditto for car - and that is where you will start your credit history. Do not pay cash - finance. Also take out one credit card (all of this is for the credit you will need for the new build house). The key is ONE card.
I would suggest The Woodlands, Kingwood and Spring. League City and Katy is pretty far from the airport you will be using most. Might as well be closer - and it's pretty with the pine trees up there.
Google "apartment locator" and Spring, The Woodlands and Kingwood. It's a free service, as they charge the apartments. Ask if they have anyone familiar with USA newcomers. They will know the nice apartments that will give you the least grief about not having USA credit.
Car dealerships all want to sell you a car - no issue there. Don't pay cash.
I have dealt with a lot of people from all over - this is usually how they start their credit here, to buy later. Car, and one credit card. Do not pay off the card every month (you can do that later). Leave a little balance each month.
We are looking to rent a 3 - 4 bedroom house and have been in talks with a few real estate agents to get the ball rolling. We only have a bout 2 weeks from the day we arrive to find a place because that's when our furniture is due in port. I am hoping this is doable.
We are also looking in the Sugar-land Area as well. We have heard this is also nice. Can some one confirm this?
Our plan was to get one of those Credit building cards from Bank of America (We already have accounts set-up there). Long story short, we set them up when we were here in USA (Florida) back in March. We also went to get our Social Security Cards but they never arrived. So we never had a need to get the cards then as it wouldn't report to the agency and go on our credit score.
We also have an American Express Card here in Australia that we want to transfer over to the USA and bring our Credit Score with us.
So our first stop is Socials, One Credit Card, and transfer over our AMEX.
So hopefully that helps. When it comes to employment I am self employed contractor and have a contract all of next year back in AUS. I will be setting up an American Company to deal with this. I do have my last 2 years of financials from my Australian Company which I am hoping will be ok for employment records. Will also have a letter about my employment and my contract length.
The CAR...
I would rather get finance. Even though I have the money there for that exact reason.. CREDIT SCORE. I guess putting down a deposit also helps a long way. My only concern is. Can i buy and register is with only my Australian License? I will apply for my Texas License within the first few days however coming from Australia and we drive on the LEFT is seems I have to do the whole driving test again! Fun times. And I am assuming this isnt something that can be achieved with a few days.
Ill have a look into that "Apartment Locator" Looks like it may be of some help.
If any one else has anything else that would be greatly appreciated. I have been told Houston is a great place to live and so far from all the correspondence I have had back in Australia it lives up to it!
You don't need a driver's license to own and buy a car per se (Blind people don't have driver's licenses, but they can buy and own cars, and hire people to drive them). The dealer will probably want to see your Australian license as ID, and also to run a credit check (though not really pertinent in your current situation).
You will however need to contact an insurance agent to line up auto insurance in advance before purchasing the car. It is illegal to drive without auto insurance, so you can't legally drive the car off the dealer's lot without it. Once you sign the documents at the dealer, you can call the insurance agent with the car ID (VIN number) and they can issue the policy more or less instantaneously, with the hard-copy insurance documents to follow in the mail (so you do need a Texas address). Also, you will need a Texas address under which the car title can be recorded. The dealer can take care of some of these paperwork details for you, also ordering the license tags (which go on the car), etc....
Would strongly suggest getting both the rental car and the purchased car with a GPS navigation system - will make getting around the often confusing Houston streets and freeways much easier.
However, in your situation, you may want to consider renting or short-term leasing (30 days or so) a car when you first arrive. Yes, it's money "thrown away" - but it might be worth to greatly reduce your stress if you don't need to BUY a car right away. (Also, how did you plan to GET to the car dealerships to look for a car, if you didn't already have one? You can use your Australian license to rent a car, and use a rented car to take the driver's license test. Just rent from a car rental office located away from the airports - the rates will be cheaper (a rental company Enterprise specializes in "local" rentals).
By the way, your wife will also need to get a Texas driver's license. Taxis are expensive, public transportation very limited to virtually nonexistent. Without a car and a license to drive it, she will be basically trapped at home, especially if you plan to be Australia a good deal of the time.
As far as housing goes, in your situation (commuting to Australia!), I think a major consideration needs to be airport access, and how you plan to get from Houston to Australia. Don't forget that Houston metro area has TWO airports - IAH (George Bush Intercontinental) on the far north side, and HOU (Hobby Airport) on the far south side. Both airports have multiple daily nonstop to LAX - if LAX is how you want to get from US to BNE or SYD. HOU (Hobby) is a smaller and considerable easier airport to navigate than IAH. (I'm assuming you aren't considering other West Coast gateways like SFO).
But you have other options than dealing with the hell-on-earth that is LAX. QANTAS flies nonstop from DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth). There are of course numerous daily flights from IAH to DFW. From HOU (Hobby), you can fly Southwest Airlines to a secondary Dallas area airport (Love Field), which is less than 20 miles from DFW and has shuttle or taxi connections. I am not sure, but some of the other airlines flying out of HOU (Hobby) may have nonstops to DFW.
So if you plan to fly in and out of IAH, more northern areas like The Woodlands and Spring will be closer to IAH. But if you decide to fly in and out of HOU, then more southern areas like Sugar Land become more viable. (Don't move south and plan to use the northern airport or vice versa -the commute is too long). I would not consider League City - it is just too far in any case.
Although not an immediate concern for you (aside from re-sale value), schools will also eventually need to be a major consideration when you buy or build a permanent home. If planning private school, you will need a home within reasonable commuting distance to the school. If planning public school, you need to research - in great detail - the quality of the exact individual public schools to which any given property is zoned. Not enough to just check out the school district - you need to know about the individual schools within the district, as quality can vary dramatically even within a district.
You probably are already checking these out - but there are websites for expat groups, including expats in Houston, which may be useful for details about getting credit, housing, etc...
Also, in American English, "suburb" means usually mainly residential areas or municipalities outside the main city core . The Houston metro area is so immense that people think in terms of "far-out" suburbs or even "exurbs" (like Katy, Sugar Land, The Woodlands) and "closer-in" suburbs (like Memorial). The term "suburb" is not really used like it is in Australian English to refer to neighborhoods/districts within the a city's geographic limits (like City of Houston neighborhoods like Montrose, The Heights, Meyerland, etc..). Maybe you already know this, but I am just mentioning because it has real potential for confusion when house-hunting.....
I would consider Katy for sure. You'd be an hour from either airport. If you plan to use Hobby to fly to Dallas then I'd consider League City as well. Great place to live with good schools and access to just about everything you need.
I agree with the flight to Dallas and then jumping on Quantas for a direct.
Commutes are not an issue if you don't mind driving. You will sit in traffic no matter where you live.
I am looking for some advice regarding areas etc in Houston. My Wife and I, along with our 4 month old son will be relocating to Houston in January. We are currently in the proccess of looking for for homes and cars and need a bit of advice.
- Houses and Areas to Live
I am currently a self employed contractor and I have a long term contract for the whole of 2016 in Australia.This means when it comes to work I dont really need to worry about the area as I will be commuting to the airport every month to head away.
We have been looking at the following areas: The Woodlands, Spring, Katy and also League City Area.
Not knowing anything about the USA or Texas we are pretty blind when it comes to the areas in Houston.
Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated. We will be renting a place for 6-12 months then we would like to build something new. Looking for something under $1700/USD a month and being 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms minimum and in a nice area.
How hard is it to get a rental house with no credit history or Social Security Number
We have our Green Cards, but we will be applying for our Socials the first few days we are there.
We need to be able to get a rental within 2 weeks of arriving as our belongings and furniture will be by then and we need to send it somewhere.
Cars and Registration
We will be looking to get a new car pretty much straight away when we arrive. Do we need to have a texas Drivers License to buy and register a car?
I have an Australian Drivers License and my wife has a German License and an Australian License.
We have the option to buy a used car outright (Don't want to spend more than $20K ) but we are also wanting to know if there is an option to get finance (with no credit history) to help build our credit history?
I do appreciate all the help and feedback! Its a big adventure for us and we are really looking forard to moving to Houston in January. Just hoping its a smooth transition!
Cheers
Best way to build credit is to get a card from Credit Unions. If you are a contractor to some oil companies, you can become a member easily. Do not entirely trust the Bank of America,just because you have a bank account with them, a credit card is not guaranteed.
Most good apartments take a deposit in lieu of no credit history. While applying for apartments you can say that you have already applied for social.
Same with Cars. If you finance and are without a credit history , the salesman will come up with a random number ( which will be around 25% APR) . Pay cash, there is nothing like it. You can go to some dealer or use Craigslist for smaller purchases less than 10k.
Another trick is if you pay in full for the first 6 months, your score just shoots upto 700 in no time. Do not keep a balance. I do not know the impact of keeping a balance on the credit score. ( May be it can even improve your rating since banks may prefer people keeping balances) .
You don't need a driver's license to own and buy a car per se (Blind people don't have driver's licenses, but they can buy and own cars, and hire people to drive them). The dealer will probably want to see your Australian license as ID, and also to run a credit check (though not really pertinent in your current situation).
You will however need to contact an insurance agent to line up auto insurance in advance before purchasing the car. It is illegal to drive without auto insurance, so you can't legally drive the car off the dealer's lot without it. Once you sign the documents at the dealer, you can call the insurance agent with the car ID (VIN number) and they can issue the policy more or less instantaneously, with the hard-copy insurance documents to follow in the mail (so you do need a Texas address). Also, you will need a Texas address under which the car title can be recorded. The dealer can take care of some of these paperwork details for you, also ordering the license tags (which go on the car), etc....
Would strongly suggest getting both the rental car and the purchased car with a GPS navigation system - will make getting around the often confusing Houston streets and freeways much easier.
However, in your situation, you may want to consider renting or short-term leasing (30 days or so) a car when you first arrive. Yes, it's money "thrown away" - but it might be worth to greatly reduce your stress if you don't need to BUY a car right away. (Also, how did you plan to GET to the car dealerships to look for a car, if you didn't already have one? You can use your Australian license to rent a car, and use a rented car to take the driver's license test. Just rent from a car rental office located away from the airports - the rates will be cheaper (a rental company Enterprise specializes in "local" rentals).
By the way, your wife will also need to get a Texas driver's license. Taxis are expensive, public transportation very limited to virtually nonexistent. Without a car and a license to drive it, she will be basically trapped at home, especially if you plan to be Australia a good deal of the time.
As far as housing goes, in your situation (commuting to Australia!), I think a major consideration needs to be airport access, and how you plan to get from Houston to Australia. Don't forget that Houston metro area has TWO airports - IAH (George Bush Intercontinental) on the far north side, and HOU (Hobby Airport) on the far south side. Both airports have multiple daily nonstop to LAX - if LAX is how you want to get from US to BNE or SYD. HOU (Hobby) is a smaller and considerable easier airport to navigate than IAH. (I'm assuming you aren't considering other West Coast gateways like SFO).
But you have other options than dealing with the hell-on-earth that is LAX. QANTAS flies nonstop from DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth). There are of course numerous daily flights from IAH to DFW. From HOU (Hobby), you can fly Southwest Airlines to a secondary Dallas area airport (Love Field), which is less than 20 miles from DFW and has shuttle or taxi connections. I am not sure, but some of the other airlines flying out of HOU (Hobby) may have nonstops to DFW.
So if you plan to fly in and out of IAH, more northern areas like The Woodlands and Spring will be closer to IAH. But if you decide to fly in and out of HOU, then more southern areas like Sugar Land become more viable. (Don't move south and plan to use the northern airport or vice versa -the commute is too long). I would not consider League City - it is just too far in any case.
Although not an immediate concern for you (aside from re-sale value), schools will also eventually need to be a major consideration when you buy or build a permanent home. If planning private school, you will need a home within reasonable commuting distance to the school. If planning public school, you need to research - in great detail - the quality of the exact individual public schools to which any given property is zoned. Not enough to just check out the school district - you need to know about the individual schools within the district, as quality can vary dramatically even within a district.
You probably are already checking these out - but there are websites for expat groups, including expats in Houston, which may be useful for details about getting credit, housing, etc...
Also, in American English, "suburb" means usually mainly residential areas or municipalities outside the main city core . The Houston metro area is so immense that people think in terms of "far-out" suburbs or even "exurbs" (like Katy, Sugar Land, The Woodlands) and "closer-in" suburbs (like Memorial). The term "suburb" is not really used like it is in Australian English to refer to neighborhoods/districts within the a city's geographic limits (like City of Houston neighborhoods like Montrose, The Heights, Meyerland, etc..). Maybe you already know this, but I am just mentioning because it has real potential for confusion when house-hunting.....
Best of luck to you on your great adventure!
We will definitely be hiring a car for a few weeks, if not 1 month. We are flying into Dallas and driving down to Houston. Ill also check out Enterprise.
We are under a bit of time pressure as I only have 26 days in texas before I have to fly back to Australia. However 14 days after we touch down in Houston our container with our belongings should arrive so we need a rental property before that. So it will be all go go go. Just hoping it will all work out. Hence why trying to get on top of it now.
Thanks for the information regarding not needing a license to buy a car. When it comes to ID ill have my passport too so shouldn't be an issue. I was more concerned about registering it as I read on-line somewhere that some states require you to have a license before you can register. Wife will be getting her license too. We live in a town 50 minutes from Perth City, pretty much need a car for everything. We kinda want to stay like this as well. As I don't need to commute right now to the city or anything for work we like staying out of big city and enjoying the open space.
We have noticed there was two airports and figured that we would more than likely be flying in and out of IAH. The company I work for pretty much use Emirates for their flights. So I am assuming I would be the same. IAH - Dubai (14 Hours.. Kill me) - Perth (11 Hours). Or I would fly via Dallas and go Qantas to Sydney.
Either way its a big commute. Which I am prepared for. And yes I would like to avoid LAX, I have heard the horror stories already.
Close to Airport is a the major consideration, your right on this one. This is why we like the idea of the woodlands area. But not being from the USA or even been to Houston before its hard to picture it. Anything we rent will only be temporary anyway 6 - 12 months until we get our feet and bearings and then look at a more permanent option.
If anyone has any other suggestions to areas then I am open to the idea. Good to get information from people that actually live in the area.
Best way to build credit is to get a card from Credit Unions. If you are a contractor to some oil companies, you can become a member easily. Do not entirely trust the Bank of America,just because you have a bank account with them, a credit card is not guaranteed.
Most good apartments take a deposit in lieu of no credit history. While applying for apartments you can say that you have already applied for social.
Same with Cars. If you finance and are without a credit history , the salesman will come up with a random number ( which will be around 25% APR) . Pay cash, there is nothing like it. You can go to some dealer or use Craigslist for smaller purchases less than 10k.
Another trick is if you pay in full for the first 6 months, your score just shoots upto 700 in no time. Do not keep a balance. I do not know the impact of keeping a balance on the credit score. ( May be it can even improve your rating since banks may prefer people keeping balances) .
When we were in Florida last in March and opened our bank accounts, we were told we could get "credit building cards" its where you put your own money on the credit card and then use it and it builds your credit. Is this something that isn't the best?
When it comes to paying 6 months up front on your rental lease that's a big stack of cash that I would prefer not to have to spend, but I guess if we had to and push come to shove then we would.
What do you mena by Credit Unions and keeping a balance on your credit Score.
I am currently contracted to an Oil Company (Service Company) but unsure if they could help in anyways.
Sugar Land is a great place to live, great communities and schools. Plenty of community activities and people in all back grounds (e.g. business owners, franchiees, business professionals)
Regarding Drivers License, you will probably need your social security card + another form of ID (AUS passpport or Green card).
If you're flying out of IAH, then I ditto Spring and The Woodlands. I'd stay west of I-45 in Spring, and out of the Spring school district.
YOu can scope out rentals on har.com, as well, if you want a house.
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