American Housing

Renting

In the UK, if a letting agency asked you to pay to look at their listings, you should run away. In the US, that's not the case - they charge the renters, not the landlords, and that's how they make their money. By not charging landlords, they ensure that they have a more comprehensive list. Most listings will also appear on Craigslist, . (If Craigslist covers the city).

When you find a house you like, you will probably need to pay an application fee. Again, this sounds like a rip-off, but it means that the landlord does a credit check to make sure you're not bankrupt and haven't been evicted. However, because you've only just arrived, you have no credit history, so make sure that you can explain that to your landlord, and make sure that they at least sympathise. I met some landlords who said that they could do an international credit check for a higher fee (I never looked into this to see if it was true) and others who said "Don't worry, the agency will sort it out". However, I had spoken to the agency, and they weren't going to sort it out. I felt that applying for that house would have been a waste of money, so I didn't.

Buying a House

If you're buying a house, you're going to want to consult something a whole lot more definitive than me. However, here are the big differences:

1) (Almost) all mortgages are 30 year, fixed rate. You can refinance to get a lower rate any time you like, but there are a lot of fees involved.

2) If you're buying a house, you have a realtor to help you. If you're selling a house you have a realtor to help you. Both of these realtors get 3% (usually, but for expensive houses sometimes less). The seller pays. Which makes selling expensive.

3) Estate agents don't have shops. In the old days, your realtor did the searching for you, and presented you with houses you might have liked. Nowadays you do it yourself on the internet. There are lots of sites out there, my favorite is redfin.