Moving with Family of Four (Chicago, Arlington Heights: apartment complexes, rentals, high schools)

[PeterDavid]

Dear Friends,

We will moving to the Chicago area in a few months time. I will be working at Northbrook. I am looking to rent a 3 bedroom initially (couple of years) then buy. Can you please suggest some nice areas to stay - not very far and with good middle and high schools. I would prefer the rent to be below or around 2000 USD. But I may be able to spend a little more.

Thank you

[chet everett]

I might try to raise my price point by 25% or so and aim for towns like Glenview or Buffalo Grove. I don't see a lot of rentals in Northbrook itself and some of the surrounding towns tend to have the rather large complexes that are not very quiet...

[PeterDavid]

Thanks Chet,

I would do that if necessary. I have a correction and a question. I will be working at Northfield and not Northbrook.

What will be a reasonable distance to travel to work and back each day. That way I could potentially balance the cost of the apartment and the travel time. This will be our first move to to a place where we have to drive in snowy conditions. Are Deerfield and Highland park out of the range? and how is the Arlington Heights area?

Thanks

[chet everett]

Northfield is actually the next town due east of Northbrook so the suggestions still work.


Deerfield is due north of Northfield and Northbrook, it is mostly a very pleasant town to live in. Highland Park is due east of Deefield and is technically a "North Shore" commmunity as its eastern border is Lake Michigan, the are a very small number of rentals in Highland Park and anything in your price range is almost certainly rather small / un-updated but it likely is served by excellent schools and could be a very introduction to some of the offerings the region has.

Arlignton Heights covers a larger geographic area than the other towns and portions of it with large apartment complexes exist near the border with Palatine that may be a bit less desirable but still worth considering as drive via surface streets is not bad at all.

I would not worry too much about "snowy conditions" as the routes between Northfield and the other towns are all rather well maintained -- worst case there may be one or two rush hour winter weather situations that do bring traffic to a crawl but short of an actual blizzard everything is plowed and salted within a few hours.