How is it for people who need to sell their house in NJ and rent/buy in Houston
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Only go to Houston as a short term stop gap to feed your family. Rent a cheap place and send the money home. Keep job searching.
It depends on if you are a salary or hourly employee. Non MPT get a $7,500 lump sum, realtor fees paid for home sell, up to $12,000 for moving company, if you don’t sell your home XOM will buy it after 60 days, and they pay part of your closing cost when buying a home. I think the rental benefits were minimal. MPT gets a month salary lump sum plus the other benefits I think.
@qgm+1sYQNfYW - you are welcome to leave 🤡
Probably better than NJ but Texas property taxes are high and they are reassessed every year which is basically a 10% capped back door tax increase every year.
Make sure that you check on school taxes, property taxes, and homeowner association fees. There is also a 6.25% sales tax plus a 2% local sales tax on all goods purchased.
Once you sum up the Texas State taxes, the tax difference between NJ/PA and Texas is about the same.
The domestic relocation policy is freely available on the company intranet. It should answer any and all of your questions.
OP here, my question was about how much XOM will pay during the relo process, e.g. coverage of selling/buying costs and rental allowance, etc.
Other than that, I got it, Houston is terrible place to live, I will be piped within 1 to 2 years. I also sense that Clinton people are not welcomed there...
If you like safe neighborhoods with decent schools, the options are limited and moderately expensive. When interest rates were lower you could swing it on a single EM salary, but at 7.5% you will have to make some lifestyle compromises.
You should find a much bigger and newer house for less the price. Housing market in the Houston area is very active, you can always sell easily and get your money back if you have to move out in the future.
@OP Houston is unlivable. Even in the supposedly “affluent” suburbs.
Warning: tirade incoming
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You’ll end up overpaying for a McMansion in an overdeveloped subdivision. Flood insurance is very expensive. If you have kids your options for decent school districts are limited, consider sending them to private schools.
There are no well-paid jobs in the Houston area that aren’t related to O&G, unless you’re a cardiovascular surgeon, and I’m guessing you aren’t. Everyone in town job hops to avoid the next layoff and/or to get a measly raise. Like traffic? Houston has some of the worst. Like road rage? Houston has some of the worst. Driving distances are no joke; people regularly drive 50+ miles (each way) to work daily. Yes, daily. Houston area bosses have a raging hard-on for RTO. Guess they like the control.
Oh yeah, it’ll feel like it’s 100 degrees outside for nine months of every year. The hurricanes cool things down though. I mean, they might destroy that McMansion you overpaid for, but at least you can be outside for more than 30 seconds without sweating. Gotta look at the bright-side.
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Tirade over.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Imagine consciously choosing to uproot you and your family's entire life to move to a swamp while being guaranteed to get PIP'd 1-2 years later
I’m glad I’m not in that market.