French family move to Northbrook : where to live and wich school? (Chicago: real estate market, apartments)

[Franceclaire]

Hello,

We are a French Family and we will move to Northbrook (we follow my husband). I've never been to Illinois before, so I don't know Northbrook. We have 2 children (4 years and 2 years). I've got 2 questions:

1) where to live in Northbrook : I would like to live close to a park (I prefer walking to go to the park than taking my car) and of course in a safe environment.

2) I'm looking for a preschool and a childcare for them : they will learn English quicker if they are in an english environment.

I hope this city is nice for a family life and that I could find a lot of things to do with my children.

To be honest with you, I am a litlle bit afraid by the winter (in France where I live we don't have snow!)

Sorry for the mistakes I made in writting, I will improve my english with classes.

thansk for your answer.

[Calidreemer]

Your English is excellent so don't worry about that! It would be helpful if you could say what type of housing you are looking for and what price range. Will you have a car or will you rely on public transportation? Is this a permanent move or only temporary?

I won't lie to you, the winters are not fun!

[Franceclaire]

we would like to rent a house, 3 or 4 bedrooms with if possible a fenced backyard.
The range of price : 2500-3000 USD/ month. I will have a car (I don't need to go to Chicago every day , perhaps by train sometimes).
we will be there for at least 3 years.
thanks for your help.

[cubssoxfan]

Franceclaire,
Welcome. We had friends from France who lived in Northbrook for several years before moving back. We miss them. They had good things to say about the local public schools, which are excellent and highly regarded. Many schools have an ESL, English as Second LAnguage, programs. These are generally geared towards Spanish speakers, but would also benefit your 4 year old when s/he enters kindergarten at age 5. I believe the kids went to preschool at St. Norberts Catholic School
St. Norbert School, The Catholic School of Northbrook, IL
Good luck.

[Franceclaire]

thanks for these informations.

[Calidreemer]

You should be able to find a nice home in Northbrook for that cost. You may even want to look in some of the neighboring towns like Wilmette, Northfield, Highland Park and Deerfield as well. All are safe and have decent schools.

let's see if my 8th grade French is useful? I only remember "bonjour como ca va? Oui ca va et tu? Je Vais a la plage ou jour dui. and then we used to say "je ne'coute pas tu" a lot to our parents. Boy I am out of practice! By the way, the "!" is not yelling, it really expresses excitement or is used to emphasize something rather than to be considered yelling. I thought I would tell you that so you didn't think I was being rude by using "!" at the end of some of my sentences.

I can also tell you Winnetka is a nice area and very open to Europeans and European living. It is pricey, but there may be a rental there that would suit your needs. It is East of Northbrook.

[Flatlander]

I recommend Wilmette; it's a family friendly town with lots of cute neighborhood parks, good schools, lots of little kids, also very walkable if you can live East of Greenbay Rd. It's on the Metra line for trips to the city. I think you can find a house to rent in Wilmette for $2500-$3000.

[Nysee53]

I would recommend the New Trier High School as well. We have many european immigrants, we also have a French Alliance in Winnetka. You can find some nice rentals in Glencoe and Wilmette for your price.

The city may also be a good option, I know there is a great French/English school called Lycee Francais. It is on the Northside, so try googleing it.

Evanston is also a good option. You might find your rental tough, because the rental market in Evanston is very overpriced. If you can deal with a condo in Evanston it might be okay.

[cohdane]

Depending on where your husband will be working, most of the neighboring suburbs are very nice. Expanding your options is important, because the pool of rental houses is much smaller than the pool of apartments or homes to buy.

That said, if you're staying for a few years, you'll probably be interested in elementary schools. Good news there, the public schools on the North Shore are very well regarded. Here is a website where you can get statistics and check out specific public and private schools, depending on what you need:

Schooldigger.com -- Search and compare elementary, middle, and high schools.

Also, for general rental home searches, try these sites (specify the town you want in the search box):

north chicagoland housing classifieds - craigslist

REALTOR.com: Home and Real Estate Search - Advanced Search

Bon chance!

[tcubed]

Northbrook is a fine place to live. it is perfectly safe and reasonably accessible by car and commuter rail (Metra around here). Coming from Europe, you will probably find the houses far too big for your liking. 1800 sq ft (about 180 sq meter) is considered borderline acceptable by suburbanites; it is easy to go over 3000 sq ft. If you combine big houses on big lots, plus zoning laws that prohibit commercial businesses in residental areas, you get congested roads that everyone has to use to get to the shopping district. Forget about walking to the corner store to get a loaf of bread.

The real estate market in the US is going through a pullback these days--see the news on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae--renting makes good economic sense unless you can get an employer to guarantee buying back your house when you move.

Personally, in your situation, I would rent a nice place in the east part of Evanston, close enough to the lakefront parks to walk to. Wilmette is very nice, too. There are some nice City of Chicago neighborhoods that are a bit more compact than suburbia, while still being quite open: see Edgebrook, Sauganash.

Craigslist and Google maps are your friends, e.g.

New Price! Short Term Rental w/4BR-2.5BA near new Sauganash Bike Path!

Winter we can't do too much about. It really is not all that bad. Dress in layers; have waterproof shoes; don't forget your gloves; wear a hat.

Hope this helps.