Aussie girl moving to Chicago

[Rebecca.skennar]

Ok. Well that sounds perfect. I want a vibrant area. I guess its hard to adjust thinking. 15Min train ride out of melbourne is the suburbs, 45min is potentially country outskirts, so the thought of 15 min out of city and still in city, feels like im not living in the city. Its like 2am nearly so im off to bed. Hope i find alot of helpful tips when i wake. You guys are great. Thanks.

[Chicago60614]

You don't want to live RIGHT downtown. I'd pick Lincoln Park, or more so Lakeview. Roscoe Village, Bucktown/Wicker Park.

Really just anything north of North Ave, south of Montrose, west of the lake and east of Ashland would certainly be fine if you're here for a limited amount of time and want to be in a very vibrant area.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Rebecca.skennar

People seem to be reading this but not responding, i hope its not because people think im asking silly questions. So i heard there was this real estate agent that took walk ins them took you around to vacant places, anyone know a name? Also, is 800-1000 a month enough? I only want one bedroom, bathroom and a living/kitchen area. Ok, another crazy thing, are there places like ikea where i can furnish. Im sorry i really want to do this but im worried that reading books and websites isnt enough and because i havnt looked around, asked enough questions il fail, and i cant fail and be a family laughing stock, i wanna make this work. I hope you can all be apart of helping me reach my, what seems very far fetched goal.

The reason nobody was responding is because when you posted your question, it was 3 in the morning here, and the "people" who were reading your post were probably just search engine indexing robots.

$800 to $1000/mo is plenty for a one-bedroom in any of several nice neighborhoods.

I think what you're talking about in terms of a "realtor showing vacant places" is a rental agency. there's a list of rental agencies and a rundown of the more popular Chicago neighborhoods in the first thread of the Chicago forum. I disagree with aragx6, I think you can swing a 1-bedroom in Lincoln Park for $1,000/mo, but it would probably be small. There are several other alternative neighborhoods if you want more space.

That said, where you live should depend a lot on where you find work because otherwise you may get stuck with an unmanageable commute. For that reason, I'd focus on that part first and arrange for short-term housing in corporate housing facility while you search for a more permanent place after you land a job.

There is are two Ikea stores in the area, about 20-25 miles out into the suburbs. There are also some good second-hand furniture shops in town.

[Rebecca.skennar]

Ok, that was fantastic. Thanks. So if you were in my shoes with my qualifications, 2 degrees,sports and events, what would you do to land a job before you get there. I tried applying for positions straight off monster, but of course they see australia, think hard work and ignore the resume. I know they say just get over and do the interviews and hunt but thats costly and time consuming, i want to leave oz with an offer, a visa and direction. Are there headhunters who deal with that? Any hints? Anyone done it or know someone who's done it. Im brushing up on my knowledge of international sports, takes me back to uni days thats for sure.

[uvbears]

best bet is jsut to come out to chicago and look around. job market is probally a bit better then someother cities in the states. not ideal right now, but not too bad. you should be able to get a job somewhat quickly. maybe not the perfect job, but at least something you can use as a jumping off point. i have lived in and around chicago most of my life so feel free to ask me whatever. i dont spend a ton of time on this board so feel free to send me an emailadamlhirsch@gmail.com