Now that you are probably on US soil, more likely than not your employer has put you in a temporary housing situation. It could be a house or apartment that they own or rent (i.e., it's in their name) and where other Filipino families in the process of moving out or moving in are also living. It could also be one of a group of subsidized housing that they offer where you have to pay part of the rent while your employer pays the rest. When it is the latter (as is most common with most hospitals who hire Filipino nurses), your employer may tell you the terms of your lease or rent. The lease may be long-term or short-term, depending on what you have agreed with your employer or what your employer wants you to. Usually whatever housing situation your employer has arranged for you, it is temporary. Because it is temporary, sooner or later you will have to move out and rent your own apartment or house. This is to help you in your search.
One of the first things you may want to consider in choosing an apartment or house is its proximity to your place of work. It's a good idea to visit several apartments during rush hour -- i.e., just around or after 5PM and just around or before 8:30AM. Also, you have no choice: since you will be busy working 9 to 5, the only time you will have for apartment or house hunting is after work. So set your appointments to meet the rental office manager or landlord just before or after you go to or leave work. This will give you a rough idea of the traffic volume you may encounter when you do start living there and have to go to work. Some landlords or rental managers will suggest making an appointment with you over the weekend. This is fine, but remember that when you do go on the weekends, traffic volume is lighter and, thus, you will not get an idea of how bad it can get until you are actually living there already.
I strongly suggest that you choose a place that is on the bus route. This can be particularly helpful if you haven't got a car yet. Another reason why I strongly suggest this is because when you're on the bus, the bus doesn't always take the "normal" route, e.g., one that Google or Yahoo maps has given you. Some buses are known to take shortcuts or lesser known routes and avoid the freeway (highway para sa inyong mga baguhan dito). These routes tend to be less congested because almost everyone will try to take the "faster" route, which would be a major highway. A third reason why being on a bus route is favorable is because you get to know your immediate neighborhood and the places it has to offer like supermarkets, pharmacies (drug stores), fastfood joints, banks, etc. If you have the good luck to be in a nice friendly neighborhood, then most of the people on the bus will be people you will soon know by face and, if you're lucky, you'll be able to start conversations with them. Once you get to know some people from your new neighborhood, they can be a very good source of where to buy what. Knowing where to buy what is key to making sure you don't go broke each payday!
Additionally, if you're on the bus route and take the bus regularly for maybe at least 6 months (a year is better, but 6 months is okay), that would help you establish some sort of credit so that when you do buy a car, you already have a few months' worth of credit history that will hopefully help lower your car mortgage payments than if you bought your car before you had even been living here a month.
If you're in a more city-fied place like New York City, the subway is always there, and the trains are as dependable as clockwork. Other cities in the US may have some sort of public transportation similar to New York's subway system. If so, then find out if it's to your advantage to be near a public transportation route so in case your car breaks down, you have a fallback. Cabs (taxis for those of you who are newly arrived here) can be very prohibitive, and cab fare certainly costs more than bus or subway tickets.
A second thing you may want to consider when you have to strike out on your own and find a new place to live is to check out the public school district in that area. In the Philippines, we have been used to the fact that the public school systems in most areas suck. That's why a lot of us tend to put our kids in private school. When we come here, we bring with us our experience or knowledge of the public schools back home and immediately want to put our kids in private schools. Most private schools are Catholic or Christian schools. Because they are private, tuition fees are very, very, very expensive. No kidding. On top of that, because they do not receive government funding like public schools, they tend to solicit outside sources of funds. This means you. Each month you will be asked to support some sort of fundraiser or other. When you're new, you don't know that many people or families to sell cookies or chocolates or whatever to. So you end up paying for the minimum required in the fundraiser out of your own pocket, which could be a minimum of $50. Add that to your monthly tuition of about $400 a month, you're already paying for a second car at that rate!
The public school system in the US is very, very well funded. These schools actually have more equipment, books, and better-qualified teachers than private schools, mainly because the state and federal governments fund the schools and pay the teachers' salaries (which are usually higher than private school teachers' salaries). Hence, the quality of education is comparable to (if not even better) than a private school (unless, of course, you go to an elitist private school, in which case you probably need to have the blue blood as well as the wealth to send your kid to it).
Consider also that part of the rent you pay goes to fund these public schools in the form of school taxes. If you have a house, on top of annual property taxes, you are required to pay school taxes as long as you have children, even when your kids do not go to the public school district in your area. So why not send your school to the public school in your district since you're already paying for it whether you like to or not? Otherwise, you're already paying for your kids to go to 2 schools each: school taxes as well as tuition. Of course, if you had the very good fortune to get married to a rich old American who didn't ask you to sign a pre-nup, then why not spend his money anyway and put your child in private school? Anyway, to set your mind at ease, why not research the rankings of the public school districts in your area so you can make a more informed decision on which public school to send your child to? These rankings are available online and in local newspapers at around the time the schools are done with statewide and/or nationwide aptitude tests.
Questions to ask the landlord or rental manager when you're apartment or house-for-rent hunting:
1. How long is your lease? A lease is the minimum period of time you promise to live in the apartment when you sign up. The most common lease contract period is one year. Can you break your lease in the event your employer suddenly re-assigns you to a different job? In New York state (where I live), if your new work assignment is out of state, you can legally break your lease without incurring penalties, i.e., paying monthly rent for the remainder of the months on your lease. However, you may wish to have your employer's lawyers review your lease contract, especially if you already know your employer has a tendency to uproot and re-assign its foreign workers at short notice. At the very least, if your company is the type who farms out their workers to different sites in the US, you should let your Human Resources manager know about the terms of your lease so that he or she can smoothly arrange for a transition or transfer without the landlord or rental manager subjecting you to monthly rents for the remainder of the lease.
2. Who maintains the property? Whether it's a house or apartment you're renting, you and the landlord should be clear on this. Apartment complexes owned by a company/corporation usually have their own maintenance personnel that are on call 24/7 (i.e., 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). If anything needs repairing in your apartment, even if it's only as simple as a clogged drain, they will send their personnel over if you will only call. If you live in a state that will get snow in the winter months, it makes good sense to ask who does the snow shoveling and until where do they shovel? Will they shovel up to your doorstep or just to your walkway or just in the parking lot (the latter 2 means you will have to buy your own snow shovel and shovel your way to your car)? They will not shovel to get your car out, but some may clear around your car (unless there are other cars parked beside yours), which makes it easier to shovel the remaining snow away from your car after they've done their job. The same goes for yard work: will they pick up dead leaves, cut the shrubs, or weed the little patch of garden beside your door, or is that your responsibility?
Other privately owned apartments or houses may require that you do maintenance or repair work up to a certain dollar amount, which will be included in your lease contract. This means that if you have a clogged drain, you'll have to buy a drain declogger and unclog your drain yourself. If a repair is needed (a window you broke for instance), you will have to shoulder the cost of the repairs if the amount is lower than what you and your landlord agreed upon.
Most other minor stuff like busted light bulbs you will have to take care of yourself, i.e., buy your own bulbs or lighting. You may have to buy your own lighting fixtures in the first place since most apartments in the US do not have lights affixed to their ceilings, except in the bathroom and kitchen. This is in contrast to most houses and apartments in the Philippines where the lights are all built in, and all you have to do is buy new bulbs when the old bulbs burn out.
In the event your landlord does take care of all repairs or maintenance or yard work, it makes sense to surreptitiously ask one or two of the existing tenants if the landlord does take care of all these in a timely manner. You wouldn't want to end up in an apartment where the snowplow personnel come to work at 9 AM just like everybody else, when you yourself need to be at work by 9 AM and, therefore, need your parking lot cleared and salted so you can drive off to work. (Another reason why it's a good idea to be on the bus line: when the snowplow is late coming to your apartment, you can always take the bus and still be on time at work.)
3. Are utilities included in your monthly rent? Some apartments include utilities in the monthly rent you pay. They will usually advertise this in their ads. Sometimes your rent may be expensive because heating, cooling, and water are included. States that experience cold winter months usually have 2 options for heating: gas or electricity. So far, gas heat is still more affordable than electric heat, so find out if the apartment or house you are planning to rent has gas or electric heat. If gas heat is used, come winter you will be paying for both gas and electricity as part of your utility bill. There may also be washer and dryer facilities (for laundry) included as part of your major appliances, which usually includes a dishwasher, range, and refrigerator. If there is no washer and dryer available in your apartment itself, find out if the building has a common laundry room where all the tenants can go and do their laundry. This is especially convenient in the winter so you don't have to make a trip to the laundromat to wash your clothes. The summers can be pretty hot (dry heat instead of humid heat)in higher latitude states, so airconditioning is a must in the summer months. Find out if your apartment has one or if you have to buy your own.
If utilities are not part of the rent, ask the landlord what the average utility bill is. Find out how much an average electrical bill is in the summer and how much it is in the winter. This is important since your utility bill will be more expensive in the winter if electric heat is used. The difference in the two bills will also tell you whether it is more economical for you to rent an apartment that offers gas heat or one that offers electric heat or even one that includes utilities in the rent. A good and accommodating landlord will actually pick up the phone to call a tenant in your presence to ask.
Are there phone, internet and cable hookups in the place you will be renting? This question is to verify whether there are existing lines going into the house or apartment you will be renting. If there are, all you have to do is call the cable/internet and phone companies to activate accounts in your name. Otherwise, you'll have to pay for the cable and phone companies to create connections to your home.
An extra perk that most apartments have is an exercise room or facility within their premises that is free for you to use. Take advantage of the exercise machines in there because the privilege of using them comes as part of your rent.
4. Find out who your neighbors are. Subtlety is key here. If the apartment you are considering is near a university or college, then the likelihood of you having college-age neighbors is pretty high. Will you be able to tolerate loud noises when they have parties, especially when you have toddlers or school age children? Your immediate concern are the neighbors either side of you or, if you're in a building, on either side of you as well as above and below you. For example, if the people living below you are seniors, they may not like the running footsteps of your kids.
Consideration for other neighbors works both ways. This means that if you yourself make trouble or too much noise, neighbors on either side of you or above and below you can also file a complaint against you. Therefore, find out the policy your landlord has when it comes to having late-night parties. Filipinos invariably seek each other out and get together on holidays. Madalas may inuman sa mga get together na ito. We are also fond of singing and dancing, which means we will most likely have a karaoke going on. We have to remember to set the volume on our karaokes (for the whole party, in fact) to a bearable maximum, one that will not incur a visit from the State Police at our doors as a result of a noise complaint from a neighbor. So find out what your landlord's policy is on noise so you have reason to make a legitimate complaint against a neighbor as well as not incur a complaint from your neighbor.
5. Read your lease contract , even if it takes too long and tires your eyes out from the fine print. Taking the time to take home the lease contract and actually reading it will prove beneficial to you in the end. You will get a general idea of things you can legitimately do, which is a better way of saying you will know what you cannot do so that your future landlord or a neighbor doesn't have cause to file some sort of complaint against you. Once you sign the lease, you cannot claim ignorance later on of some rule or regulation or item that you "never knew" and which your lease contract already discussed or explained in detail; you just didn't take the time to read it fully. Not reading it is also not a good excuse to tell your landlord when you are cited for doing something your lease contract specifically prohibits.
One final and important advice: take out renter's insurance as soon as you move in. The apartment or house will have its own insurance that is paid for by the landlord. In case something happened to the building, the landlord will get the proceeds from these insurance policies. You, on the other hand, get nothing. If your belongings get burned in a fire, waterlogged in a flood, or even stolen or vandalized, your landlord's insurance will not pay you a single cent because the property (i.e., house or apartment) is not listed in your name. So renter's insurance is your own personal type of coverage on all your belongings in case the events I described above do happen to you. The annual premium is not that expensive (less than $100 a year), yet the coverage can be substantial and can include everything you own that you had listed with the insurance company. This is particularly advantageous because this means you will have the money to buy a new TV or computer in case a fire does happen or someone burglarizes you. In case the latter happens, your insurance company will be in a good position to pressure your landlord to burglar-proof the house or apartment you are renting. Additionally, if something occurs that renders your apartment inhospitable for you to live in for a while (i.e., fire or flood damage), your renter's insurance coverage will ensure you have a place to stay like a nearby inn or motel or another apartment until your landlord tells you it's all right to move back in. Your renter's insurance will cover the cost of that stay at the inn until your apartment is back to normal.
I hope the above information helps you settle down and begin a new life in the US. There's probably more advice out there you can get from new friends and other Filipinos you have met in the area where you are in now. If so, maybe you can also ask them some of the questions I have outlined above. It helps to be more informed and knowledgeable before you face your future landlord and sign that lease so that your future stay will be peaceful and you will not be taken advantage of.
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