Where do tree hugging, vegetarian liberals belong in north Chicago? (Evanston: insurance, public school)

[Calidreemer]

I wonder how Jay's move went? I am sure they are super busy - hopefully all went well.

[jaynetarzana]

Hi All! I'm at Panera reading my email and the forum posts. I don't have Internet access at our new place until Thursday. Our move was hectic at best, but we're in! We're quite happy here already. The city is so lively and the mix of people feels so great. Thanks again for all of your input everyone and keep it coming. I'll check email again in a few days.

[Calidreemer]

Yeah! So happy you are in! Wasn't today a glorious day? I went to the beach with my sister and had such a nice day, then we went for coffee at her favorite neighborhood coffee shop in Evanston. It was great. I love days like this! I hope you are getting out and exploring - having fun. I hope you got a chance to check out the farmer's market - it's off of Emerson near Technology Park.

[jaynetarzana]

The weather has certainly been a highlight, even the thunderstorms! We are so happy. I cannot begin to tell you guys just how happy we are in Evanston. It feels so good and so right! This was the best move we could have possibly made and I wanted to tell all of you how much I appreciate all of your input. I know we bounced around quite a bit during our initial inquiry, but I know that your original assessments were accurate, Evanston is our place! We've been to some great parks with the girls, got our library card, shopped our Whole Foods and even met some people who are parenting the same way we are. We had our first official play date yesterday! I went downtown Evanston with the girls yesterday and walked around, went to lunch etc... I am so happy! I knew I was isolated where we lived before, but I had no idea! We have always been meant to live in an urban area. There is absolutely no question. We love the diversity, love the feel of the area and just plain LOVE Evanston. Thanks everyone! We are home.

[Calidreemer]

I am so happy for you guys! Are you settled in your place? Unpacked as much as you can be? The Evanston civic center is on Ridge North of downtown and has lots of community information and that's where you buy beach tokens. They may offer them at a discount at some point in the season as we get closer to beaches closing .

Evanston is a great place. The library is nice and there's a lot to see and do, especially in the summer. I am glad you are meeting the like minded people you hoped you would and how great that you already found someone to have a play date with! That's awesome. I hope you have good luck finding a house too whenever you guys are ready for that.

How's your hubby's commute? Keep us posted!

[jaynetarzana]

We are almost all settled in. We have to buy some tools to put together our desks as we forgot to get them out of in the storage unit (it is over an hour away), but other than that we are unpacked.

His commute isn't bad. He took the train and caught a bus to the office yesterday. It took him an hour, but he was happy to be able to work during that time rather than drive.

I'll check out the civic center. I'm also going to schedule tours of the elementary schools. Then I've GOT to find a place to ballroom dance. At the very least I need to get out for some salsa dancing!

[Calidreemer]

Hi Jay,
Glad to hear things are going well and that hubby's commute isn't too bad. I think Willard is one school that Evanstonians rave about. It's in Northwest Evanston.

As for the ballroom dancing, I'm sure one of the dance studios can give you a referral. Any news on the house hunting or are you going to take a little break from that? Have a good one!

[jaynetarzana]

I need to find a good place to move our CD that is currently at bank in California. It is our down payment money so I need to keep it liquid, but I was wondering if anyone happened to know of a banking institution in Evanston that tends to pay well on CD's. I'm also open to other means of investing that would still keep our money liquid enough that we could access it in 30 days if need be. I am leaning toward an account with Chase since they seem to have so many locations. We've had a mortgage with them in the past so I know their mortgage rates are competitive. Feel free to PM me.

[vandre]

Originally Posted by jaynetarzana

I need to find a good place to move our CD that is currently at bank in California. It is our down payment money so I need to keep it liquid, but I was wondering if anyone happened to know of a banking institution in Evanston that tends to pay well on CD's. I'm also open to other means of investing that would still keep our money liquid enough that we could access it in 30 days if need be. I am leaning toward an account with Chase since they seem to have so many locations. We've had a mortgage with them in the past so I know their mortgage rates are competitive. Feel free to PM me.

Have you considered online saving acounts?

There are several options [WaMu, HSBC, FNBO] with interest rates about 3%.

Your money is 100% liquid, the only caveat is that as with regular savings accounts you can only make 6 withdrawals/transfers per month

Also depending on the bank eletroncic transfers are kind of slow, in some cases up to 3 business days.. (usually transfers to a checking account from the same bank are instant)

[chet everett]

Really depends how large an amount you are talking about and how much you care about personal service but I rather like putting big amounts into the business oriented banks like Northern Trust, MB, or Harris. This places tend to not have great ATMs or anything so you still need a another bank for everyday stuff, but they tend to have nice rates on bigger deposits, staff that is incredibly conscientious, and the ability to cut loans at terms that meet or beat anybody else in RECORD BREAKING time as all decisions are made by real bankers... I cannot say enough nice things about Northern Trust.

Other options are credit unions -- again very smart, well trained staff, fast loan approval, good rates. The ones that focus on employees of a specific firm / industry tend to be a better value than the 'community focused' ones.

I have not had consistent results from WaMu and HSBC is about the slimmiest finacial institution I have ever the misfortune of dealing with, but your mileage my vary. No experience with Ing, but their ads trouble me -- any bank that big could be a nightmare.

In this climate the rates on safe CDs are all so low the ease of dealing with the institution would be my overriding concern...