German family will move to the US - where to live? (Kenosha: apartments, rentals)

[flo12345]

Dear all,

as mentioned in the headline, we're a family (2 girls, 10 and 5 years old) and we'll move from Germany to the US as I got an offer from my employer to take over responsibility in our plant close to Kenosha.
As it is more or less impossible to buy a home without having a credit history (the German one is not accepted) I'm looking for a rental home.
The problem I currently have is, that I don't have any idea what school destricts are ok and what area is good and save to live with a family respectively with kids.
I've had a look on rent.com, but haven't found a home for rent in Kenosha or Pleasant Prairie so far.
What about Grayslake or Gurnee? I know that these two towns are in Illinois, but I hope I can get some support to find a reasonable area to live....

If you need more information please let me know.

Thanks in advance for your help
Florian

PS: hope my English is understandable.....

[paddock_laker]

Du sprichst gut!
Gurnee is awful. The schools in Kenosha County are good and my parents rented for many years, you should have no problem renting there. Most of the rentals aren't listed, just drive around the areas you like and look for rental signs. It also depends on the size you're looking for: there are plenty of apartments, but the houses are in different areas. I have always liked the area of Kenosha by the lake, it is beautiful, especially in Harbor Park.

[flo12345]

Thanks.
I'm looking for a home with min. 3BR and 2BR. Additionally, it would be great if the basement is finished, as I hope for a lot of visitors from Europe...

Is there also a kind of newspaper where rentals are listed? My goal is to check possible rentals in advance, because I don't wanna live in a hotel over a long period.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by paddock_laker

Du sprichst gut!
Gurnee is awful. The schools in Kenosha County are good and my parents rented for many years, you should have no problem renting there. Most of the rentals aren't listed, just drive around the areas you like and look for rental signs. It also depends on the size you're looking for: there are plenty of apartments, but the houses are in different areas. I have always liked the area of Kenosha by the lake, it is beautiful, especially in Harbor Park.

Gurnee is awful? In what way? The schools, on average, will be better than Kenosha Public Schools. Please be more specific why you don't recommend Gurnee so the information will actually be useful to the OP. Really, how helpful, or accurate would it be if I said Kenosha is just awful?

To the OP- forsicht mit die Schulen fur deine Kinder!! Research on the best school districts and living in their attendance boundaries would be my first task. The quality of education varies by school district and with larger, urban districts like Kenosha can vary greatly within the district.

[flo12345]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

To the OP- forsicht mit die Schulen fur deine Kinder!! Research on the best school districts and living in their attendance boundaries would be my first task. The quality of education varies by school district and with larger, urban districts like Kenosha can vary greatly within the district.

thanks. It's fantastic to see that there are also people which can speak (write) German. Did you learn German in school?

From my point of view, the schools are very important. This is one of the reasons why I'm asking "where to live". For sure, it's also important to live in a family friendly and nice neighberhood, but schools are my personal number one.

The difficulty I have at the moment is not only the school, it's the whole school system as it's totally different than the system we have in Germany.


REgards,
Florian

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by flo12345

as mentioned in the headline, we're a family (2 girls, 10 and 5 years old) and we'll move from Germany to the US as I got an offer from my employer to take over responsibility in our plant close to Kenosha.
As it is more or less impossible to buy a home without having a credit history (the German one is not accepted) I'm looking for a rental home.
The problem I currently have is, that I don't have any idea what school destricts are ok and what area is good and save to live with a family respectively with kids.

Two things.

First, most SMART landlords are more concerned that 1) you are gainfully employed and 2) you are presentable than an actual credit reference. Your company should be able to provide you with adequate income documentation.

Second, as my company relocates people into the Chicagoland area for long term assignments (18-24 months), we generally steer them into the various long-term rental properties (2-3 bedroom properties). This saves the employee the hassles of spending time looking for a place to live.

[paddock_laker]

Originally Posted by flo12345

Thanks.
I'm looking for a home with min. 3BR and 2BR. Additionally, it would be great if the basement is finished, as I hope for a lot of visitors from Europe...

Is there also a kind of newspaper where rentals are listed? My goal is to check possible rentals in advance, because I don't wanna live in a hotel over a long period.

I would check the local newspaper, Kenosha News. Craigslist.org might have something too.

Ja! Ich lernte Deutsch in der Schule. Mein Deutsch ist leider ein wenig eingerostet.
I'm slowly losing it, but once I get into speaking it a lot, I'm fluent again.

Cubssoxfan: I don't know, I just never could stand Gurnee when I lived in the area and I never really knew why. It was just so soulless, it's just houses and houses and houses and houses and a mall.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by flo12345

thanks. It's fantastic to see that there are also people which can speak (write) German. Did you learn German in school?

From my point of view, the schools are very important. This is one of the reasons why I'm asking "where to live". For sure, it's also important to live in a family friendly and nice neighberhood, but schools are my personal number one.

The difficulty I have at the moment is not only the school, it's the whole school system as it's totally different than the system we have in Germany.


REgards,
Florian

Here is a link to test scores for Illinois schools: Illinois Interactive Report Card
Don't go by just test scores. My daughter's high school, Wheeling HS, has a mediocre reputation. The overall test scores are very average. I checked test scores by ethnicity and saw that students like her performed far above the school average. I also noticed the scores were very close to highly ranked, less diverse schools with excellent reputations. I also went on the schools web site to look at course offerings and saw they offered many AP(Advanced Placement)courses. I would also speak with co-workers about their experiences with their schools. Based on reputation elementary schools that atttend the following high schools would be tops on my list: Libertyville, Stevenson, Deerfield, Highland Park & Lake Forest. I would also investigate Grayslake, Vernon Hills, Warren Township, Lakes, Mundelein and Antioch to see how they compare.

I am not suggesting Wisconsin only because I am not familiar enough with their schools. Chet Everett, who is a very knowledgeable poster on the IL forums poster with teaching experience has commented that he feels Wisconsin schools are better.

I would also post this thread on the Chicago Suburbs forum as well to get more responses.

I am first generation and learned German by going to Saturday school. It was expected that the grandchildren learn German, not expected that the grandparents learn English.

[linicx]

Chicago does have enclaves from every coiuntry in the world. You will certainly find Germans in Chicago and Wisconsin; and German food, too, along with McDonald's and Walmart and other global and national restaurants and stores. You will also find Catholic and Lutheran churches and more.

What you need to understand is at 8 million Chicago and Cook County is nearly 2/3 of the total population of Illinois residents. The population in Wisconsin is more balanced across the state. Iowa and Illinois are the top two agriculture producers in the US. .

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by paddock_laker

Du sprichst gut!

Sie sprechen gut.