Apartment search in USA

I think the best websites to search for apartments in USA are apartments.com and rent.com. There are are other sites like forrent.com, mynewplace.com, move.com etc. But they have more or less the same listings. You have to put the zipcode or name of the city and state where you plan to move and specify the type of apartment you want like no. of bedrooms or baths or other amenities or you can just leave it blank. It will list all the apartments complexes in and around that city. You can make a comparison of all the apartments and according to your buget shortlist. Sometimes an area may not have apartment communities, you may then search for private apartments listing in craigslist.org. Sometimes there maybe brokers fee associated with it. you have to check that.

If you have one small kid only, then you have to check with the apartment management whether you can rent a one bedroom apartment. Some apartment communities do not allow renting a one bedroom apartment if the kid is above 2 years. You have to take 2bedroom apartment. Some include utilities like water, heat, electricity etc. in the rent while some do not. So depending on your budget, check before you make any decision. Rent for different lease periods would be different. Rent for 12 month lease would be less than rent for 1 month lease. You can negotiate for the rent or maybe ask for some discount like first month free. It's best if you have a friend or colleague in the same location where you are moving. He can help you in looking for the apartment, maybe even shortlist before you come here.

You can look for the ratings and reviews of apartments on apartmentratings.com. But sometimes one's experience might be entirely different from what others are going through. So it's best to go with an open mind.

Tips for moving to USA

I am a Mom of two small Kids. Moved from India to USA two years back. This blog is helpful for those who have small kids and planning to move to USA.

The first thing you have to do is look for an apartment in USA. Staying in hotel is okay for 1-2 days/weeks but then it's better to settle down fast and nothing like own place and home food. We shifted to our apartment within two days of landing in USA. What nobody tells you is that you have to start the process even before you reach here. In USA, all schools have ratings based on their performance (10 is best) and it's better to stay in the area where school rating is good enough.

So before you come here, do a thorough search and decide in advance. There is a great website http://www.greatschools.org/. You open the site and put the name of the city and state where you want to shift or you can put the zip code (if you know). It will display all the schools in the area and their rating. Most Elementary schools are from kindergarten (ages 5+) to 5th Grade. Some may have pre-K. Education in public schools is free. So you click the school'name which has a good rating. It will show everything from parents reviews to test scores to compare schools. If you click "compare schools", you will get a list of all the schools in the area and nearby. Suppose the place you are going has schools with poor rating, then you can search for schools in nearby area. It's better to stay in an area where school rating is better which may mean further from your office. I can tell from my own experience. I didn't know a thing about ratings when I came to USA. We took house within walkable distance from my husband's office. While great for him but my son had to study in a 3 rating school. Now he studies in 9 rating school. Needless to say, there is a huge difference in both the schools in terms of education and overall culture.

Everyday I would be adding more tips on how to settle down here.

. If you have any questions, I would be glad to help.