Renting in the northern/NW suburbs - helpful strategies? (Chicago: real estate, rentals)

[hopehome]

We need more space and have been searching for a 4 bedroom home. They are so very expensive in our area and it seems like quite a leap to buy in a community we aren't personally familiar with and so are thinking of renting for a year or two. Potential locations are Northbrook, Deerfield, Buffalo Grove, Highland Park, Lake Bluff, etc. We'll see what we can find in the 2500-3000/mo range and need excellent elementary schools too.
1. What is the best website for keeping an eye out for rentals. I love Redfin for real estate for its search and save capabilities - is there something similar for rentals? Something very up to date, that you can search by school boundaries, etc?
2. In these areas, is there a time of year that is most likely to have rentals available. I have heard by late summer the good ones are all taken as people try to get into desirable school districts before the year starts. Is that the typical pattern?
3. Would I have to hire a real estate agent or do people handle on their own in this region?
Thanks!

[Laughkc]

I've been using zillow.com. I'm not familiar with the patterns as I'll be a new IL resident, but I like the map feature Zillow. It also tells you what the assigned schools are for each rental as well as the schools' ratings from greatschools.com. Just some good info consolidated into one convenient website.

[4122]

Zillow is good and Koenig Rubloff is also good. Great Schools has a boundary search map where you type in an address an it will show you the assigned schools for that home. Great schools is only helpful for their reviews, but what's the best are Illinois Report Card and niche.com. Also, looking at school websites and looking at course catalogs for the high schools.

I've also been looking in Highland Park and my budget is similar to yours and I haven't found anything good. I doubt any of the towns you mentioned will get you a nice 4 bedroom home for under $3,000 a month except for Lake Bluff and Buffalo Grove.

[hopehome]

Thanks, I'll give Zillow a look. Any feel for how the time of year impacts availability? I don't, for example, want to assume what I want doesn't exist b/c it's not available now, only to find that tons of things come available at the end of a school year or something...

[4122]

For rentals, I've seen a bit more options in the summer. Most rentals are a one year lease minimum. Check Zillow every day or so to see if any new rentals come up. Just don't get your hopes up for finding something in HP, Deerfield, or Northbrook. You can still check every day for rentals in those towns just remember its not uncommon to find nothing in your budget.

[youthcom]

I've been using padmapper.com, hotpads.com, zumper.com, & craiglist trying to find a fish tank friendly 1br in Arlington Heights/ Mt Prospect for $800 or less. I don't know which is most accurate so I've been comparing the results from each site.

[oppewalj]

I'm also looking to move to the Chicago suburbs. My go to sites are www.atproperties.com and hotpads.com.