Moving to the USA: housing, credit history (Get Accepted to Your Dream University Part #14)

- Hello my dear friends, welcome to my channel.

It's a hot day in San Francisco,

so I'll be drinking my lemonade

and I'm gonna be telling you about

settling in the United States.

I'm gonna be telling my story

and I hope it's gonna help you in the nearest future

when you come here to study or do whatever you want,

'cause there are some things that I didn't know

before I arrived here.

So if you're interested, continue watching.

(energetic music)

Okay, the first thing that I'm gonna talk about

is actually one of the most important ones,

it's your accommodation, where are you staying?

If you've been accepted to a university,

they should have sent you an email

with accommodations options that you have.

Sometimes they will have student residences on campus,

and if it's a rural campus, if it's not in the city,

that will be probably the best option.

But one thing that I always recommend is actually

comparing prices, 'cause what I've noticed is

that student residences are always a little more expensive

and sometimes twice as expensive as

renting a room on your own.

But they are a lot more convenient

'cause they are on campus, you're with other students,

sometimes they have a canteen on the first floor,

they have a gym, they have a swimming pool,

so you have everything walking distance

and you don't need to travel, drive a car, or whatever.

But sometimes if you're in a tough budget,

the difference in price can make a lot of difference

to your budget.

Just to give you some comparison,

sometimes a room on student campus costs like

$1,000 a month, and if you just rent a bedroom

in an apartment which is like 20 minutes away from campus

you can get it for like $250 or $500.

But there are different things to consider

when deciding where to live.

First is, of course, your budget.

Second is your safety, 'cause don't try to rent a room

on Craigslist, and Craigslist is this platform

where you can find anything in the U.S.,

starting from rooms to rent to cars,

to makeup, like whatever, and everything is there.

But there is also a lot of scam.

We had this story when we were back at 500 Startups,

when we just arrived, everyone was looking for an apartment

'cause our batch was like 50% international,

and there were people who arrived from London

and they were looking for an apartment.

They found this ad on Craigslist which said

it was a really good price, it was like $1,600 per month

for a one bedroom apartment in Silicon Valley

in Mountain View, which is like a ridiculously low price

'cause normally you pay like $2,000, $2,500.

They were like oh, we want to get this apartment.

What do we need to do, can we come and see it?

And the guy was like oh no,

you need to pay the deposit first

'cause there are so many people who actually want to get it,

and you need to Venmo it to me,

and Venmo is an app that everybody uses in the U.S.

to send each other money, which has basically no security.

You send it and then, you know, the person disappears

and it's very hard to claim your money back.

And they were like, that sounds suspicious,

and they started checking that person on Facebook

and they realized the profile was completely new,

so that was a 100% scam.

So never rent something before you see it.

Also, there are so many stories

when people come to see the apartment,

and it looks completely different than what's in the photos

'cause you know you can do a lot of Photoshop,

you can do a lot of extra lighting,

you can do a lot of different stuff on Photoshop

to make an apartment look a lot better.

Sometimes you come to an apartment,

and this is another problem with American apartments,

a lot of them the older ones have carpets

and sometimes carpets smell like crazy,

and you just feel the smell, especially in the cities

that are close to the ocean like San Francisco, Miami,

this is a huge problem so be careful.

My best advice is to rent something like a hotel

or maybe a short-term student residence

for the first two or three weeks,

and then once you're there

you do all of the orientation stuff,

you meet other people, you ask around,

and then you rent an apartment.

It's been like this in our case, we rented a hotel.

It was really expensive to rent a hotel

for like two or three weeks.

But what we did, we realized where our office was

and we just walked around, we just went into

every single building that had a for lease sign,

and you would always see them.

In the U.S., if somebody is renting something

like a building, they would have a sign.

And we just walked into every single building,

asked them if they had any apartments,

if they had, we asked them

whether they would rent them to us,

'cause problem number two,

you don't have credit history in the U.S.

and a lot of the apartment complexes

want to check your credit history

before renting something out to you.

Especially if you are renting from a private person

through an agent, they would do rigorous background checkup.

Why?

Because in some states there are laws

that prevent you from being kicked out of your apartment

if you stop paying.

So if you stop paying in the state of California,

they might want to sue you, they can use collectors,

but they cannot call the police

and ask them to drag you out of the apartment

because you are not paying,

'cause this is your primary residences, blah blah blah.

So there are some laws, and this is why

a lot of people are really, really careful

about renting apartments to other people

and they do these background checks.

But some apartment complexes,

especially that are close to universities,

especially where the prices are a little higher,

they would be okay with maybe like a bank statement

from your own country, or maybe like a new bank statement

from your new bank account in America

and I'm gonna talk about that as well.

They're gonna be fine with that.

So this is just another difficulty to consider,

this is something that you would have to deal with.

And again, it's all about attitude.

When I came to the U.S. I knew

there were gonna be a lot of difficulties,

'cause I would need to get a work visa,

I would need to get a green card,

I would need to get all of my documents sorted out

because I didn't have anything.

But my attitude to that was like,

I want to go through this process,

I want to try and do things, I'm excited,

I like that I'm doing stuff in English.

So it's all about attitude, and yes,

you're gonna deal with a lot of papers, so be ready.

Some websites to consider when looking for an apartment.

Well Craigslist, yes you can consider it

but always check everything in person

and double check, do the background check on the guy

who is placing an ad, 'cause he can be a scammer.

My favorite app is HotPads.

It gives you a map of what's around,

and you can click on things and see how much they are

and what it actually is.

And I think a lot of those are verified

so there are not that many scammers on HotPads.

Zillow.com is a huge website

where you can find all of the rentals.

So these are three primary resources I would use.

And as I mentioned, just walking down the street

and looking for the lease signs is a good alternative.

And of course, ask your university

what are the accommodation options they are working with.

Bank accounts.

Now, you need to start building your credit history,

and none of the banks will give you a credit card

just a week after you arrive.

You can start a debit card,

and what I did when I first came in,

I made a debit card in the Bank of America,

then I got my SSN, Social Security number,

and I was able to apply for a secured credit card.

Sometimes you're even able to get it without an SSN.

What is a secured credit card?

You pay $300 to a bank and you get a $300 credit limit,

and then they would just raise your credit limit.

But the thing is, you start building your credit history

and credit history is linked to your SSN,

so there is actually no point in creating a credit card

without your SSN.

Once you get it, start building your credit history

because who knows?

If you're gonna spend four years in America,

it's gonna matter a lot.

If you're gonna work later and decide to get a house.

Even for getting some plans for your mobile phone

you would sometimes need an SSN and a credit history.

So this is extremely important in the U.S.

My credit history is still in progress,

but I was able to get my car financed.

And basically what you would end up doing in the U.S. is

taking loans for everything,

just because having loans and paying them on time

improves your credit history.

If you're getting a car, even if you have money,

later on I would recommend to finance it,

meaning that you would take a loan from a bank

and finance your car.

The next thing, actually getting a car,

and if you are coming to study in a big city

like New York or San Francisco, you should probably

be fine without a car.

If you're going to a huge city like L.A.,

L.A. is impossible without a car.

At first you would be like oh, I will be fine with a bike,

and I used to bike a lot in Mountain View.

I used to bike the first four weeks,

and then I realized I cannot actually go grocery shopping

'cause I don't want to go grocery shopping every day,

I want to do it once a week but I cannot carry everything

just on my back and bike.

You would want to do some weekend getaways

with your friends, you would want to travel somewhere.

I know it's a pricey option to get a car,

but it's even pricier to Uber all the time

'cause Uber will cost like $10, $20.

So there is no good public transport,

which is true for L.A. and true for a lot of big cities

in the U.S., unfortunately, and smaller cities as well.

It's not like Europe or like I remember U.K.,

London, you can get anywhere with public transport.

In the U.S. the situation is different,

and I find that a lot of students end up

getting a car for themselves

just because it gives more freedom.

We got our first car from Craigslist.

It was a retired police Interceptor,

something you might want to consider

'cause they're really cheap, and they're really good cars

'cause they are made for police,

police doesn't normally use them for too long.

Ours was like a seven-year-old car,

it was 2008, we got it in 2015,

so it was a seven-year-old car, and we paid $2,700 for it.

It was in amazing condition, it had air conditioning,

it had very nice, soft seats.

I drove it and it was comfortable and nice,

and for $2,700 I think it's value for money.

But if you're not a fan of weird looking cars,

'cause it actually looks like a police car, black and white,

you can always look for other cheaper options.

They wouldn't be as cheap.

Maybe you can find a car for like $4,000, $4,500.

Again Craigslist, eBay is a good resource,

but if you're getting something off Craigslist or eBay

I would have a friend who is an expert in cars

so he can check stuff for you,

'cause again there are some scammers.

We were once buying a car,

so we were looking for a second car,

and we found an ad on Craigslist in Sacramento,

we went there and they were like oh,

the car is in perfect condition, yeah, we love it,

it was a Mercedes E-class for, it was $4,000

and we were like why are you selling it so cheap?

They were like oh, we don't need it anymore,

we just want to sell it faster.

And then they started the engine

and smoke just starts coming from the front of the car,

and we're like, oh.

And those two guys were talking to each other,

and they were like oh my God,

I hoped that it wouldn't do it once again.

So basically they already had this problem

where the smoke just comes out of the car,

and they just wanted to sell it to us

and they were hoping that we wouldn't be

that careful testing or whatever.

So they were hoping that we wouldn't notice that,

or I don't know what their hopes were,

but they were so confused

and of course we didn't get that car.

But having a friend who would help you choose a car

is a good thing to do.

The next expensive thing about your U.S. education

is your health insurance,

and it really depends on where you study.

I've seen plans starting from $40 a month

up to $550 a month, but if they come from your university

they should be on the cheaper side.

I'm paying for my insurance myself, my company pays for it

but because I own the company it's me paying,

so my insurance costs $600 a month

which is a huge amount of money,

but also U.S. health care is crazy.

So something you could do, like a life hack,

for example in my country traveler's insurance

is like $100 a month and it covers accidents.

So I would just get that insurance

for the first year if you really want to save money,

if your university only offers $500 a month plans.

So the travel insurance would help you cover accidents,

but if you would need just to visit a doctor

for some non-urgent stuff it wouldn't cover that.

So if I were you, I would do my research.

I would reach out to the university,

I would do the research in your own country

regarding the travel insurance.

But yeah, it costs a lot, and try to stay healthy

in the U.S. if you don't have insurance,

'cause it costs thousands of dollars if something happens.

And I know it's crazy, and I know it's unfair,

but this is something that this country still has to fix.

And last but not least,

just some advice on where to shop.

If you are a fan of getting a lot of stuff in bulk,

Costco is a very effective place,

especially if you live with roommates.

If there are five of you and you need water,

rice, or whatever, you can just go to Costco.

Everything is huge and it's a lot cheaper

than just going to a local grocery store.

If you don't like buying in bulk,

'cause you end up getting a lot of stuff in Costco

and you need membership which is like $60 a year;

you can go to Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's is one of the shops

that provides quality food but for lower prices.

It used to be one of my favorite shops.

I no longer have it in the place where I live,

we have an extremely expensive shop near my house,

but Trader Joe's saved my life when we just moved here.

If you want to buy cheaper clothes,

I would recommend going to Marshall's, Ross, or T.J. Maxx.

They're a lot of last year's collections,

and sometimes you can get really good deals,

especially if you're getting good brands like Nikes,

you can get them with 90% off.

These shops are also good for home decoration,

buying plates and stuff.

There's always Ikea, but with Ikea be careful

with the smelly furniture.

I just got a dresser that I'm returning

'cause it smells so badly.

Again, furniture, what happens in the U.S. sometimes,

you just walk and you see furniture

standing on the street for free,

beware of the bugs, bedbugs,

'cause it's another problem here in the U.S.

San Francisco, there are so many places with bedbugs

and I wouldn't advise just taking mattresses

from the street or sofas,

'cause then you're gonna infect your place

and they're really hard to get rid of.

But tables, chairs, especially if you disinfect them

after getting them from the street, might be a good option.

Garage sales, look for them.

Like you can Google garage sales

plus the place where you're living,

and you just walk into a house and basically

when people move they sell everything.

There's a price tag on everything

starting with the table and then a bag and then a mic,

you can get anything and it's really cheap.

I got all of my kitchen utensils,

small tables, chairs, on those garage sales.

We just went around and I kept buying things

and it saved me a lot of money.

The only thing that I recommend getting new,

pillows, mattresses, and blankets,

'cause bedbugs, again, is a problem.

My favorite resource to buy stuff right now

is Amazon.com, everything is delivered

within a day or two days straight into your place,

especially if you don't have time

to go shopping, and I don't have time,

I just order everything, everything comes in.

There is a membership fee, but then you get free delivery,

you get access to millions of products online.

That was it from me, guys.

If you're already in the U.S. and you have

a life hack for newcomers,

please share it down in comments below.

Like maybe your favorite shop,

your favorite place to get furniture or whatever.

I'm getting new furniture,

so any advice is highly appreciated.

Thank you so much for watching this video,

I hope it was useful for you,

I hope you are coming to the U.S. soon.

And if you have not yet subscribed, subscribe to my channel.

My Instagram is linguamarina, I share daily stories

and posts from Silicon Valley, San Francisco.

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click the like button, and I will see you soon, bye.