Heading to NY

[Mudaepo]

After 3 years, reading and occasionally posting on this site....

I am being posted to NY but on a local package (albeit on a good package). More for my career than lifestyle.

I have never been to NY. Here are my questions:

For a small family: wife and 3 month bub
Is it better to live in Manhattan or live in NJ?.... bearing in mind for the first 5 months the working hours maybe quite long.

What is the rough cost of living in NY?... I realise that it will be more like when I was back in the UK than living a large nice apartment close to work etc.... back to reality i guess for me.

Is it really a drama to get a bank account and a credit card in the states?

also are there any good expat websites that are similar to this website.

It ironic to think that the moment I wanted to stay here permanently and change over to a local contract that my company wants to send my to another country.

[WelcometotheUS]

Hi

I think living in Manhattan is not going to be cheap by any stretch - budget for at least USD 2500 for something even remotely habitable

You won't lose out too much in terms of commuting if you live before Journal Square - the commute takes about 20 minutes

At he same time , if your budget allows it living in Manhattan is not an experience to be missed just for the "feel " of the city , the pace , the general ambience

Hope this helps

[expat mom]

If you have all the correct paper work showing that you are legally in the US then setting up a bank account should not be a problem.  

A credit card may be a different situation since you will not have any local credit history.  If it is a problem then you should start out with a debit card for a short while and then your bank should give you a card.  I think that american express might extend credit if you had a card with them in Singapore.

Good luck!

[Nup]

Amex won't nor will any other credit card company and it doesn't matter a toss what your credit history was in any country outside of the US.  You have to establish a credit history or put down a huge deposit on the credit card which was $100k when we were there!  The easiest way is to go to one of the big stores walmart or someone like that and buy something on tick - washing machine?  Then you are in the system and will get a credit card a little quicker.

That aside, NY is heaven - one of the world's greatest cities to live in - for a while.

[expatica]

We are Brits who spent a few years in Singapore and now resident in NJ (spouse works in Times Sq).

We were tired of apartment living and yearned for a house with a garden.....live in a town (Short Hills) 15-20 mins west of Newark international airport, 17 miles west of Manhatten and with the Midtown Direct trains to Penn Station and the Hoboken trains which with the connecting PATH  subway trains or ferries serve lower Manhatten/financial district of Wall St and World Trade Center area. Door to door commute is around 45 mins. Loads of expats and loads of Brits with young families in Maplewood and Millburn/SH, Summit and Chatham. Millburn/Short Hills has the best school district so housing prices tend to be more expensive. Miillburn also has a lovely nursery school (St. Stephen's) with an Englishwoman running it....google for their website.

Do research on towns such as Maplewood, Millburn, Short Hills, Summit, Chatham and Madison all in NJ.....check out the train schedules on NJTransit dot com. Also check out Maplewoodonline dot com - one local English restauranteur in Maplewood is planning an early morning barbie next Sat for the Word Cup game England vs Paraguay. All towns listed above are on the Midtown Direct and Hoboken train route: you also get a tax incentive (Transit checks) for using the trains rather than commuting by car.

As stated before, Amex card is invaluable, don't know how we would have survived without it  - if you have a current card you can open a new account immediately  in the US....then after few weeks just close down the Singapore card when your US issued Amex is running smoothly. Call the Singapore office for further info.

We opened a bank account with Chase Worldwide Consumer Banking (now JP Morgan Chase)...do an online search for bank accounts for expatriates with Chase ...They FedExed the application form to us in Singapore and the account was pretty much set up on our arrival in NYC: we just turned up at one of their branches with our passports and they gave us ATM cards and temporary cheques on the spot (you have to order your chequebooks and actually pay for them in the US!!!). It is slow for any bank transfer of more than $10,000 USD to clear....up to 10 working days!!! It clears bit by bit and anything over 10k is reported to the Internal Revenue  Service.

It  was a bit trying to get a Visa card through Chase but after speaking with a couple of managers and perseverence we were issued one with a small credit limit. We pay off our Amex and Visa in  full and on time each month. HSBC is worth a try as they are now quite big in NYC but less so in New Jersey.

Climate: Summers v. hot and sticky - almost like Singapore....winters usually very cold...but if you like skiiing then it's an easy drive to the ski resorts in NJ, Poconos in Pennsylvania or upstate NY (Hunter Mtn, Belleayre etc.) or further afield to Vermont.