Arlington Heights/ Palatine/Elk Grove/Mt Prospect (Chicago, Naperville: real estate, rental)

[riddhi.neshika]

Hello,
We are moving to Chicago area in summer (from overseas). My husband will be working out of Arlington Heights. We have a kid who will attend elementary school. So good school and kid friendly living environment are our top priorities. We have spoken to our friends living in the North western suburbs and have different suggestions from different people so we are pretty confused on where to look for a house to rent. We are looking at renting a house in either Arlington Heights or Palatine but we are also open to Schaumburg/Elk Grove or Mt Prospect if they are good. If we could get recommendations/rankings on these neighborhoods it would be helpful. Surprisingly some of our friends even suggested to check out Naperville, which we werent considering up until now.

We are willing to pay something between $1500-2000 for a 3 BR home/townhome. Is that a reasonable budget for the above neighborhoods ? We plan to buy a house in the near future probably close to the neighborhood that we will rent in.

This is our first time in the US but we are used to living in different countries so we are not particular about being around people from our country.

Thanks

[Missy2U]

In Palatine, a 3Br townhouse rental will be fairly close to $2,000 a month, but I think the town and school system is well worth it. I can't speak to the other towns.

[chicagoliz]

If your husband is working in Arlington Heights, I would absolutely NOT go to Naperville. You're moving there for his job, so why move somewhere with a bad commute? Palatine and Arlington Heights are both good towns, and I'd say ideal if the job is in Arlington Heights. I would think you could get something in that range to rent, although I have not looked. You should be able to search homes for rent in those towns. But both are nice areas with good schools, and are convenient to shopping, restaurants, etc.

[wjj]

If the job is in the northern part of Arlington Heights, I would add Buffalo Grove to your list.

[4122]

You definitely will get a 2 bed townhouse in your budget, but like an above poster said, 3 bed will be near the top of your budget. Elk Grove is considerably less expensive than the other towns you're looking at, so I think you could definitely get a 3 bed townhome in your budget there.

Naperville to Arlington Heights isn't the worst commute is about an hour commute on average during rush hour and I wouldn't make any sense to look there when you have a lot of great options near where you work. Buffalo Grove would also be worth looking into, but be careful where you buy because there are some sketchy townhouse/condo complexes there (between Dundee and Lake Cook) and same with Palatine too (also between Dundee and Lake Cook and also near Palatine HS). Also, in Mt Prospect, there are some sketchy areas on the south side of town, so in MP, the further north the better.

I would also add Rolling Meadows (don't look immediately off of Algonquin rd since there are sketchy complexes there, Vernon Hills, and the part of Hoffman Estates in the Barrington HS district, Itasca, Bloomingdale, and Roselle.

[wjj]

Originally Posted by 4122

Buffalo Grove would also be worth looking into, but be careful where you buy because there are some sketchy townhouse/condo complexes there (between Dundee and Lake Cook)

Those complexes are actually in Arlington Heights. There are a couple of sketchy condo complexes in Buffalo Grove on the north side of Dundee just west of Arlington Heights Road. There is another one just south of Dundee and east of Arlington Heights Road. Every one of the towns mentioned have small sketchy complexes. Just avoid those and you will be fine in any of the towns mentioned.

[riddhi.neshika]

Thanks to everyone for the inputs. These are really helpful. So we will probably stick to the areas we were previously looking at and will avoid the sketchy areas. We werent aware of that though I had heard in the past about avoiding couple of areas in Buffalo Grove. Having said that, are Schaumburg/ Hoffmann Estates good considering the commute to AH and school districts? We were told to avoid looking beyond Mt Prospect - towards Des Plaines (due to the airport congestion and noise).

Thanks again.

[dude1984]

Originally Posted by riddhi.neshika

Hello,
We are moving to Chicago area in summer (from overseas). My husband will be working out of Arlington Heights. We have a kid who will attend elementary school. So good school and kid friendly living environment are our top priorities. We have spoken to our friends living in the North western suburbs and have different suggestions from different people so we are pretty confused on where to look for a house to rent. We are looking at renting a house in either Arlington Heights or Palatine but we are also open to Schaumburg/Elk Grove or Mt Prospect if they are good. If we could get recommendations/rankings on these neighborhoods it would be helpful. Surprisingly some of our friends even suggested to check out Naperville, which we werent considering up until now.

We are willing to pay something between $1500-2000 for a 3 BR home/townhome. Is that a reasonable budget for the above neighborhoods ? We plan to buy a house in the near future probably close to the neighborhood that we will rent in.

This is our first time in the US but we are used to living in different countries so we are not particular about being around people from our country.

Thanks

You can't go wrong with any of these towns. You could also look into town in Lake County like Lake Zurich, Vernon Hills, or as others have mentioned Buffalo Grove, and in Cook County Itasca.

[riddhi.neshika]

Thanks for the inputs, We now have a fair idea of the areas we shouid look in and the neighborhoods to avoid.

If we could get some inputs regarding Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates that would be helpful. More than the commute from Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates, we are wondering about the schools in that area. And considering that we will probably buy a house in about a year's time, would it be better to focus on Arlington Heights/Palatine/ Elk Grove or Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates ?

We have looked for rental listings on Zillow . Any other websites where we could look for rental listings ?

Thanks

[wjj]

Originally Posted by riddhi.neshika

Thanks for the inputs, We now have a fair idea of the areas we shouid look in and the neighborhoods to avoid.

If we could get some inputs regarding Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates that would be helpful. More than the commute from Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates, we are wondering about the schools in that area. And considering that we will probably buy a house in about a year's time, would it be better to focus on Arlington Heights/Palatine/ Elk Grove or Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates ?

We have looked for rental listings on Zillow . Any other websites where we could look for rental listings ?

Thanks

If schools are an overriding concern, the sections of Arlington Heights that map into Hersey, Prospect, or Buffalo Grove High Schools (and not Wheeling HS) and the south section of Palatine that maps into Fremd High School will be better than anything in Elk Grove, Hoffman Estates (except the small part that maps into Fremd) or Schaumburg. Since school quality drives real estate values in this area, the better investment is in the better school districts.