Best expat forums

[Skala123]

So the move to the US (New Jersey) is actually happening. Working towards 1st October.
I have loads of questions which may be specific to the area so wondered if anyone can recommend good expat forums to join for New Jersey?

britishexpats.com has a few NJ people on the US board.

Also if you're just looking for general info (not necessarily expat) www.city-data.com/forum/new-jersey/ is good.

Also, there are people here with lots of NJ knowledge! Where in NJ are you headed to?

Westfield/Summit/Scotch Plains somewhere like that. Summit is top of the list at the moment but home funding trip in the next few weeks should pin that down. It may be just out of our price range!

On the britishexpats.com board, there are 2 regular posters on there. One is called "englishmum" and she lives in Short Hills and the other is called "jerseygirl", I can't recall where she is at the moment but she is very knowledgeable as well. I just did a quick search on that board for Summit, NJ and there are loads of threads, many about schools. You should find a ton of info on there.

I don't know the towns down there too well, but I have been to the Mall at Short Hills a few times which is a lovely mall. Summit has a really nice, walkable downtown. It's all very nice round that area.

Thanks so much for that info, will have a look on that forum for those people. Really kind of you to look for me.

I live in North Jersey and know Essex, Union and Morris counties well. Send me a PM or put your questions on here and I am happy to help you out.

'I am a triangle', started as a Facebook group, got far too big and just this week migrated to a new platform which has sub groups for most areas. I think if you google 'I am a triangle mighty networks' you will find it.

Ok first question - I'm looking at Zillow and realtor for rentals but sometimes when I click into them they have sale prices on them. How can I tell if something is for rent or sale??
Second - renting furniture - this has been suggested to us by our relocation agent but not something I've ever heard of so any tips on this would be great.
Thanks

On zillow you can change the filter so it's rentals only. Be careful with zillow. It's good for private rentals but listed rentals are often old. You are better looking at weichert.com. They have a map view so you can get an idea of location.

Do not rent furniture. If moving to the area you can pick up second hand furniture for ok prices on FB groups. Here in Hoboken I've furnished half of our home with things others have put out for trash collection. The other half are sourced from FB groups (mainly the south orange and maple wood one called SOMA) and Craigslist. IKEA is also close by and the restaurant overlooks Newark airport for ideal plane watching seats. IKEA has a delivery service making it easy to get a big haul home.

Can I ask why we shouldn't rent furniture? We get the choice of a 40ft shipping container to take our stuff or $15k towards furnishing the house. Any advice on which is the better option?

Cort furniture rental will most likely supply the furniture you rent. I've bought ex rental furniture from their warehouse and it's not great. Their sofas were like sitting on a plank of wood. The lamp I purchased wasn't wired correctly and caught fire one evening while I was reading in bed. The chest of drawers was glued back together a few times before we used it as firewood.

When we came to stage our home and needed furniture they wanted $750 a month for a 3 bed home for a 1 year contract. I bought everything from FB sites and ikea for about $5k.

If you are keeping your home in the U.K. because you intend to return is look at renting it furnished. If you currently rent I'd consider what you have to bring over and if it would survive the ride over.

To be honest the budget of $15k for furnishing a home is on the low end. DH got everything shipped over, his realtor fee paid and $6k towards costs to replace electrical items. He was single back then.

Thank you. We get 560kg air freight as standard and $5k white goods allowance on top of the $15k so hopefully that will help. Houses like ours round here don't rent furnished so we will sell or give away/ditch most of our furniture as none of it is especially new or expensive and not worth paying the storage.
Thanks for the heads up re rented furniture

No problem. I found it really hard to find a good real estate agent in the Jersey burbs. I'm friends with an excellent agent here in Hoboken and there is an English lady I started to get to know in maplewood who I would trust to give you the right information.

You say you are looking to come over in October. Is that for your visit or your full move? If that's when you plan to move over you don't have much time as rentals will be coming on the market soon.

We are coming for the home finding visit in first week of September and will move in October. We have a real estate agent assigned to us by the company so will meet with him when we are there in September.

Ah that makes sense. You need to have places lined up and ready to go. The first week of September is Labor Day and nothing happens.

Standard rental contracts require 60 days notice (we rent units out here in Hoboken) and I normally have them listed 45 days before rental date. I'd use Zillow to look at listings now. Don't discount private listings. A lot of people out in the burbs don't want to deal with an agent.

I know you said you are looking at summit. Are you staying in the hotel there or in Westfield? I'd suggest your goal is to have a house ready to go for October 1st and register the DC for school before you leave. Start the conversation about what is needed in terms of immunizations, medical records and school records.

Opening up a bank account is a pain. Bank of America were the easiest when I moved over. Does your DH have a visa and social security card already? If not push the relocation people to get that set up ASAP.

If you already have an Amex great, if not open up an account with them now. You can create a credit score here in the US through Amex transferring your account from the UK to here. Will make it easier to sort out cars.

So much useful advice thank you so much.
We are just confirming dates to go over to visit, trying to sort child care out before we commit but likely to be 29th August for a week so our relocation agent can get things lined up for us.
Banking is sorting by the company as they have an arrangement with HSBC who will open is up a bank account and credit card when we visit this month.
Where would be able to look for private listings?
Not sure where we are staying yet, again it's something the relocation team will advise on when we confirm dates.

Try to stay in either Westfield or summit if that's where your first choices are to live. I think it's the summit hotel or something like that. I'll ask my husband when he gets back!

They might try to impress you and put you in the Hilton by short hills mall. It's very isolated there (only place you can walk to for dinner is the mall) and I suggest against it. Driving in and out is also not so straightforward.

Going out for week of August 29th is def better than the following week but plan on having everything done by that Friday. Most people take off Thursday for the weekend.

If you need to bring your kids with you check the connection in summit for drop off childcare. I can also connect you with a couple of families whose sitters might be available because the families are away. Rate is $15/hr. Heck we are away and my daytime sitter might want the hours!

All booked to come out 29th aug for our home finding visit, staying in summit. So excited!!

Oh and kids are staying at home!

That will be easier. Taking a look at zillow there are a good few places available. You should look at joining local FB sites too. Soma (south orange maplewood) has a huge site. There are four or five of them with the swap and swap junior having local items for sale. The soma lounge site is where you can ask questions and the soma ISO is where you post when you are seeking something (like a rental home!). Most people on that site are in soma and Newark but a good number are in millburn and further out.

I can recommend a good agent familiar with Madison, Chatham, Morristown. She is actually British but a long time US resident now. Is it possible to private message on MN?

Silly me I figured it out. Just sent you the agent's details. Actually I believe she went to the US as a trailing spouse and now has a pretty active career and never went back to Britain!

Newbian I know the agent you are talking about. She is great. However the OP said they already have an agent.

Yeah I missed that somehow but anyway might be nice to know another Brit in NJ even if they don't work together to find a house!