Is $55000 enugh for a family of four? (Chicago, Mundelein: insurance, mortgage)

[myrc60]

Originally Posted by Anthera

"Free public education" is what is in the state constitution.

Well we all know the government lies to us about that.

[Anthera]

While I do think the fees that I pay for my kids "public" education are high compard to other states, they don't even fall into the same universe as my daughter's private high school tuition. $200 per child is virtually free compared to the school fees in the UK.

Anyone who cannot afford to pay public school fees, does not need to. Nor are children who cannot pay denied a hot lunch. Even in New Trier and Lake Forest High School there are kids who get a free lunch and pay no fees.

[Calidreemer]

I'm sorry to say that on 55K it's going to be quite difficult to support your family in areas in and around Northfield. I would suggest using city data to look up the demographics including the average income for these areas - Northfield, Northbrook, Winnetka, Highland Park, Deerfield etc to see what the income level is. I would also suggest looking at housing costs to help you gage how far your income will go.

With all that said, I don't know how you and your family live. If you live conservatively then it may not bother you. Or maybe you want the experience of living over seas and don't really mind giving up some things in exchange for that experience.

I do think it would be a big struggle on your salary (too bad it's not Euro), but that is from my perspective. I know someone in Evanston (Northshore Suburb) who ears over 80K and is single and having a rough time of it. This person lives in a 1br condo. I know that I couldn't do it on 55K, but that doesn't mean you can't.

Find a realtor you can trust or someone at your new company that can help you with relocation. I would hate for you to move your whole family and wind up in a place you weren't happy with limited resources on top of that. As for private schools, I think that will be really tough. The public schools are not bad, just do your homework.

Best of luck to you and welcome!

[George_Sully]

Good Morning to everyone,

Many thanks to everyone who had posted their thoughts and suggestions; I already feel welcomed! After lots of negotiations with my boss over in the US, the situation has turned for better (I think) as the move could be a permanent one.....

1. We will sell our house in the UK and buy a house in the US with either no mortgage (house loan); we probably can afford a house at around $250K . Which means I wouldn’t be paying any rent, Does anyone have any idea how much would property tax, gas, electricity, water, telephone and so on cost in northern Chicago?

Can anyone suggest a nice town to buy a house in for around $250K within 30-45 trip to NorthField ?

2. We would select a good public school for the kids. Saving on school fees.

What does everyone think now?

Would our £55K be enough for a comfortable living for my family?

Just to give you an idea to the kind of living we would like to have; we need to run two cars, we would want to be able to eat out in restaurants once a month, send the kids to after school activities like dancing and soccer once or twice a week and take a week long holiday in the US once a year. What do you think?

Many thanks to everyone, your comments has been very valuable.
I feel like I have already have made few friends over in the US!

Cheers,

George

[OffToUSA]

Hi everyone.

I've been reading this site for a few weeks now and figured it's about time I joined in the conversations!

Just like George my employer is looking to relocate me to Chicago area (working in downtown) and i'm trying to figure out cost of living to understand what kind of package I should be looking for.

So as George says, any advice on cost of utility bills, typical grocery bills etc would be highly appreciated!

thanks
OffToUSA

[kmwheel]

Hello George_Sully,

Are we talking US dollars or pounds? In your first message, you wrote $ and I pretty much rolled my eyes and thought that you would not be able to lead the lifestyle you would like. Since the pound runs about double the dollar, you are in an entirely different world with an over 100k USD income. If it is in fact, 55k USD, being able to buy a home for cash will also give you more options.

You might find relative bargains here housing-wise with the economy being what it is. Taxes are largely dependent on county and community. Will you be able to travel here in advance to house hunt and find the right community for you? 250k could likely buy you a very nice townhome or possibly a smaller/older home in the communities within driving distance to your workplace. I might suggest Lake County for properties with lower taxes.

My family leads a very similar lifestyle to the one you described on one income that's a bit smaller than (100k USD), so it's definitely a doable scenario. I would also say that back when we were earning around 55-60k USD that we would have been living very well indeed with no house payment and only needing to cover taxes and utilities.

Best regards in your search. I think that you will find the Chicago area and just about anywhere else in the U.S. very friendly to UK transplants!

Originally Posted by George_Sully

Good Morning to everyone,

Many thanks to everyone who had posted their thoughts and suggestions; I already feel welcomed! After lots of negotiations with my boss over in the US, the situation has turned for better (I think) as the move could be a permanent one.....

1. We will sell our house in the UK and buy a house in the US with either no mortgage (house loan); we probably can afford a house at around $250K . Which means I wouldn’t be paying any rent, Does anyone have any idea how much would property tax, gas, electricity, water, telephone and so on cost in northern Chicago?

Can anyone suggest a nice town to buy a house in for around $250K within 30-45 trip to NorthField ?

2. We would select a good public school for the kids. Saving on school fees.

What does everyone think now?

Would our £55K be enough for a comfortable living for my family?

Just to give you an idea to the kind of living we would like to have; we need to run two cars, we would want to be able to eat out in restaurants once a month, send the kids to after school activities like dancing and soccer once or twice a week and take a week long holiday in the US once a year. What do you think?

Many thanks to everyone, your comments has been very valuable.
I feel like I have already have made few friends over in the US!

Cheers,

George

[chet everett]

WHOLE DIFFERENT BALL GAME!

The ol' google currency converter says:

[SIZE=+1]55000 British pounds = 108537 U.S. dollars[/SIZE]


Right in line with typical "jr executive" salaries on the North Shore, though a bit below the median on some towns (I posted some data from the city-data static pages on a thread just a bit ago http://www.city-data.com/forum/3645653-post2.html)

I imagine that there would be some negotiations that you'd need to do regarding the currency differences, healthcare costs, 401k/retirement options. Certainly housing costs are a big part of such a move.

Assuming that you would be comfortable with a mortage something north of $300,000 (not at all uncommon in the areas you are considering) and downpayment of 20% or more there are MANY homes that would be in your price range. Interest rates are around 6% for 30 year fixed, and not a bad deal in the historic/global sense.

Ideally you would be able to consider homes of at least 500,000 US dollars -- this would get you into some nice, but not top of the line, homes in communities like Northbrook or Glenview, which have some very well regarded schools.

Your housing dollar will still not go terribly far in the north shore communities of Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, or Highland Park but these may be worth considering if you are OK with a older home that may have less square footage than the newest homes but are still genorously sized by historic European standards. The schools in these towns are also very highly regarded. To be in the "sweet spot" of these towns you might have to go to something over $700,000, but there are properties on the market for less than that.

Inland, but still within community distance of Northfield there are many more options. If you have specific wants/dislikes this is the place to ask 'em.

[George_Sully]

Hi All,

It is $55,000 and not pounds! I am vey sorry for the typo!
That got me thinking, only if it was that much, life would have been so easy...

[chet everett]

OUCH!

I was so happy for your raise...

So we are back to a salary of 55,000 US -- surely a decent sum, but as I said significantly below the median household income even in the more affordable areas that would be within commuting distance...

There may be some townhouses available for 250,000 US, but the school choices are not great, and the quality community may leave something to be desired -- in the US often the townhouse communities do not anticipate the needs of kids. Backyards are not friendly for play, community parks are generally centered near the single family detached houses, the age mix of townhomes tends to be more singles/childless couples and the retirees...

In my research there are areas of the midwest that are far more affordable than Chicago. A $250 000 dollar home around Indianapolis is generally equal to something that would cost double or more around Chicago. Any chance to relocate there? With the presence of global employers like Rolls-Royce and Eli Lilly there are not insignificant number of foreign nationals in Indy...

[George_Sully]

Thanks again for every post; you guys are great!

As I mentioned, we potentially could only need my salary to cover taxes and utilities as I would be selling my house here and buying one over there, hopefully in a good area a bit further away from my work.

Do you think $55K will allow us to have a good standard of living without any mortgage repayment costs? kmwheel thinks so, does anyone else echo that?

Kind Regards,

George