Relocation from the UK (Chicago, Arlington Heights: rentals, credit, big house)

[niceday]

Hi

We are a family of three who are relocating for work purposes from the UK to a job based in Arlington Heights, and would be looking to initially rent with a view to maybe purchasing in the longer term.

My son is 13 so the schooling is of primary importance, we currently have a short list of areas based on research based on this excellent forum and other resources.

We would be looking to rent a 3 bedroomed house up to about the $2k per month range.

The areas on our short list currently are:

Lake Zurich
Barrington
Fox River Grove
Vernon Hills
Rolling Meadows
Carpentersville
East Algonquin
Hoffman Estates

This list has been constructed based on internet research but we will be coming over for five days to visit in a couple of weeks time.

Are there any other areas that you feel we should be considering so that we are able to take a look at these whilst we are visiting.

The priorities we have are:
Schooling
Easy access to a town with a shopping area
Proximity to Arlington Heights

As an aside we would not be in a position to arrange the house rental on this trip as I would prefer to do that once I have the visa in my hands in about 6 weeks time, will realtors/rental agents be happy to help us on this initial visit knowing that we will become firmer clients in the coming weeks - we would like to see inside a few houses currently on the rental market.

I also appreciate that just moving to the country with no credit history in the US may be an issue for rentals but I assume that if I offer to pay 12 months rent up front that would be acceptable to the lack of credit history? I will try and make some appointments next week to talk this through with some realtors.

Thanks for your time

[ToriaT]

Why not Arlington Heights? Its a far nicer community than many on your list. Some that you cite are somewhat of a distance and others are not really that nice (Carpentersville). Commuting in the Chicago area can be full of traffic snarls so make it easy on yourself. I personally would stick to looking in Arlington Heights and Mt. Prospect. If that does not work out you could look into Palatine, Schaumburg, or Buffalo grove.

[wjj]

Originally Posted by ToriaT

Why not Arlington Heights? Its a far nicer community than many on your list. Some that you cite are somewhat of a distance and others are not really that nice (Carpentersville). Commuting in the Chicago area can be full of traffic snarls so make it easy on yourself. I personally would stick to looking in Arlington Heights and Mt. Prospect. If that does not work out you could look into Palatine, Schaumburg, or Buffalo grove.

I agree. If education is a primary importance, you can scratch a number of these off your list. And some of these places are a bit sketchy. I would suggest focusing on Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove. They border one another. Stevenson HS is one of the best in the country and serves the Lake County side of Buffalo Grove. But Buffalo Grove High School serves both the Cook County side of Buffalo Grove and parts of Northern Arlington Heights. Hersey High School serves most of the rest of Arlington Heights. Both are excellent schools and you cannot go wrong with either one.

Traffic can be a nightmare in the northwest suburbs so take that into consideration.

You probably will not get a big house to rent (by US standards) for $2,000 but certainly you can get a nice house in both Buffalo Grove and Arlington Heights for that price.

Though this really means nothing.......a UK expat family lives across the street from my mother in Buffalo Grove and they are quite happy (though their traditional English garden is a bit different from the landscaping of the neighbors - but quite nice). Their son graduated from Stevenson and frankly had his pick of colleges to attend.

[OakBrookMom]

Realtors understand that sometimes clients don't find the right property on the first trip. Having a six week period between visits however creates issues because the market will be different in six weeks. The pricing on rentals in the middle of winter when landlords are more motivated and some of the larger communities offer specials is different than coming at the start of the spring season. With overseas rentals, having a visa isn't as important as having a written job offer as far as the landlord is concerned because your credit still won't be able to be verified through the normal social security credit search even with a visa if you've never worked in the US. For you however until you get that visa you can't start working so the risk is that you will loose a deposit if you don't get a visa. So it isn't better from a being able to rent standpoint, just from a risk standpoint on your part. Many rentals on the market the last weekends of January will be rentable 3/1 as landlords plan ahead to avoid vacancies that cost money. I agree with some of the comments regarding your list of communities, especially in relation to commute. If education really is the most important wish list element vs living in a newer larger home, you don't need to go to Carpentersville and spend all that time commuting because there are excellent educational options in the area immediately surrounding your job like the suggested Stevenson High School district.

[niceday]

Thankyou for your inputs, I will look more closely at Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove