Moving from dc to the chicago area, need help! (Naperville: apartments, rentals)

[Ssandiebeaches]

I am relocating to the Chicago area from DC due to my job. I will be working from home so I don't have to worry about a daily commute into the city. I am looking for either a single family house or a townhouse to rent and I am not having any luck online. I was looking in the Shaumburg area or any of the NW suburbs. I don't want to go over $1,200/mo. Does anyone know a good realtor or where I could search for listings besides hotpads etc because most of those listings are fraudulent. Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

Edit: Any suggestions on nice apartments would be welcomed as well. I just don't know where to begin to look!

[Skatemore]

Welcome to the burbs, Schaumburg has some great apartments, townhouses, check also Palatine, Arlington Heights but you might want to check Lake County and/or Dupage County for more reasonable rents and taxes. Cook County is very expensive and living downtown is amazingly so.

My daughter just moved out of the city after graduating college and she was paying $1200 for a studio in Old Town if that gives you an idea.

It depends on what you need to have nearby and how far you might be willing to drive to where you wish to go.

[ChicagoGolfer]

Schaumburg is good, it has a lot going on, but you'll get a lot more for your money the further west you go. I guess it depends on how close you really need to be to Chicago.

[greg1970]

If you are not going to commute every day look more west like others say. I live in Bartlett for example and I like it, average and better than average houses, lots of parks, another choice would be St. Charles, very pretty city with old downtown, might be more expensive though...I always liked North Hoffman Estates, close to Inverness and Barrington area. Good luck! Be prepared for our winters, humidity in summer, traffic, lots of mosquitoes, taxes and huge corruption!

[knitgirl]

Originally Posted by greg1970

If you are not going to commute every day look more west like others say. I live in Bartlett for example and I like it, average and better than average houses, lots of parks, another choice would be St. Charles, very pretty city with old downtown, might be more expensive though...I always liked North Hoffman Estates, close to Inverness and Barrington area. Good luck! Be prepared for our winters, humidity in summer, traffic, lots of mosquitoes, taxes and huge corruption!

The OP is moving from DC, summer in Chicago should be a breeze after that!

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Skatemore

Welcome to the burbs, Schaumburg has some great apartments, townhouses, check also Palatine, Arlington Heights but you might want to check Lake County and/or Dupage County for more reasonable rents and taxes. Cook County is very expensive and living downtown is amazingly so.

My daughter just moved out of the city after graduating college and she was paying $1200 for a studio in Old Town if that gives you an idea.

It depends on what you need to have nearby and how far you might be willing to drive to where you wish to go.

In general most of this is crap.

[chet everett]

Well the facts are somewhat shaped by the the WIDE range of rentals that are available in the whole region, some VERY minor distances can make MAJOR differences in price both inside Chicago and in the burbs.

A newer building with first class features (like in building pool / work out / grocery) might cost double or more a similar size unit in a building that is older and has less of these things. Factor in a premium for a building in a very safe and convenient area vs one that is across from run down / not yet redeveloped public housing and it is not hard to understand why such prices gaps develop...

Similarly suburbs that have good schools tend to have a limited number of affordable family sized rentals in contrast to areas where a large number of inexpensive rentals may result in the schools being overwhelmed with underprepared students...

Portion of the region where tax RATES are high tend to be that way becuase of the low value of the housing (including multi-family rental units) wherea areas with high value properties tend to have lower tax rates. Thus a huge beautiful home in a nice area may have a signficantly lower tax bill than a run of the mill home in a struggling area. The effects of timing of growth also enter into the equation -- towns that rapidly "boom" have to cope with the need to improve roads and schools and increase the size of government all at once leading to rather high property taxes while towns that have amortized these costs over a longer period of time tend to have more affordable taxes.

The net supply of rentals in certain parts of Chicago is running above the rate of absorptation so that rents are inexpensive (on a relative basis) in some area due to overbuilding. Meanwhile lack of new construction in some area means rental units are in short supply and landlords are able to raise rents.

The OP has a budget ($1200) that could snag them a wide range of nice places in EITHER Chicago or the suburbs and without more information there is not enough to recommend one over the other.

Does their desire for a rental home / townhouse come from a NEED for a yard, like for pets? Or merely a desire to have quiet? Is the former I would caution that while you can probably get a townhouse for $1200 a month in some suburbs it probably will not be the highest quality and few homes would be available in all but the least desirable areas at that price point. If the latter (a desire for quiet) is more important there are building of solid masonary / concrete construction that ought to be about noise proof as a bomb shelter and inside your budget...

Work from home implies no need to worry about commute, but perhaps also a need for some social outlets and I tend to agree that for pretty much every age group / interest living inside Chicago allows for more social interests. Of course if you have school age kids, are timid about using public transit, or have an aversion to the limits / costs that go with city living that may not be the right thing for the OP.

The region has a number of well developed suburbs that while no where near as dense as Chicago's most urban areas do have the kinds of amenities that should be attractive to someone that works from home. Towns like Elmhurst, Naperville, Geneva and others in the western burbs may have more rentals than the towns NW of Schaumburg...

[GolfLover2]

If you're looking for advice and information regarding Schaumburg via a Realtor, I suggest that you contact Lyn Sims, at Re/Max Suburban ... http://www.LynSims.net. She's a pro regarding Schaumburg, and the surrounding areas. Best of luck to you ...
Gene

[Skatemore]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

In general most of this is crap.

Would you like to explain exactly which part of this isn't true? Would you like to substantiate your comment instead of a blanket statement like this that is not helpful to newcomers?

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Skatemore

Welcome to the burbs, Schaumburg has some great apartments, townhouses, check also Palatine, Arlington Heights but you might want to check Lake County and/or Dupage County for more reasonable rents and taxes. Cook County is very expensive and living downtown is amazingly so.

My daughter just moved out of the city after graduating college and she was paying $1200 for a studio in Old Town if that gives you an idea.

It depends on what you need to have nearby and how far you might be willing to drive to where you wish to go.

RE taxes are lower in Chicago than in the suburbs.

You don't have to live in Old Town and pay $1200 for a studio. You can live in Lincoln Square and a 2-BD for that price.