Help with possible move to Lake County! (Chicago, Gurnee: for sale, mortgage)

[Spartanacus]

Thanks. Yeah, we're sticking to either Lake County or Kenosha County. This is the hardest decision we've ever been faced with. Yesterday they raised their offer to meet her minimum demand (their first offer fell $5K short of what we had in mind as a minimum consideration figure).

But after checking daycare prices today, we're looking at paying $11K more a year (unless we find a home or ministry...not sure if they have ministry daycares in IL).

So now we're contemplating her asking her current boss for a 27% raise to stay put, or we will ask for another $5K a year and commit to Lake Forest...then hopefully I'll get a nice raise too and we can afford these higher home/tax/daycare costs without sacrificing our quality of life too much. As far as living in WI being boring...that's okay with me. We live and die by Netflix after we put the kids to bed. : ) If they have one Mexican restaurant in the area, one Lowe's, and one grocery store, we'll be fine.

[o.c.momof3]

Originally Posted by Spartanacus

Thanks! I'm also wondering if anyone has a link to a ranking of Lake County school systems. I was browsing yesterday and found one (might have been for all of IL or Chicago area) and I lost it.

I have been looking for the same info as my husband may also be taking a job in Lake forest. We havie been searching realtor.com for houses and have found the schools in the home profile then looked up the school report card to gain info. Seems like good schools in Waucanda as well as beautiful homes in a developing community. WE are relocating from Tennessee. Originally from southern California. good luck and please pass on any information on the areas.

[o.c.momof3]

What about Waucanda ?

[Switch625]

I have a friend who might be getting a job transfer to Lake Villa. She would be earning around 45k per year. Where would be a reasonable place to live on that sort of income in the Lake County area? She is looking to rent, not to buy. An apartment is fine for her, though she'd prefer a townhome. A house would be ideal, but she is thinking that probably wouldn't be realistic.

[Spartanacus]

Originally Posted by o.c.momof3

I have been looking for the same info as my husband may also be taking a job in Lake forest. We havie been searching realtor.com for houses and have found the schools in the home profile then looked up the school report card to gain info. Seems like good schools in Waucanda as well as beautiful homes in a developing community. WE are relocating from Tennessee. Originally from southern California. good luck and please pass on any information on the areas.

The closest thing I've found so far has been...

http://www.greatschools.net/

Good luck. My wife just accepted the Lake Forest job today. Unfortunately we can't afford that area!

Hey...what company is your husband considering? I wonder if we have the same TN based recruiter working for us/the companies they get paid by. I know that her company is looking to fill two positions. That would be extremely weird/cool if it was the same recruiter/hiring company

Let me know or PM me.

[chitownnburbs4eva]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...cationmain-utl

link for best high schools in the chicagoland area

[AngelikaV]

Originally Posted by Switch625

I have a friend who might be getting a job transfer to Lake Villa. She would be earning around 45k per year. Where would be a reasonable place to live on that sort of income in the Lake County area? She is looking to rent, not to buy. An apartment is fine for her, though she'd prefer a townhome. A house would be ideal, but she is thinking that probably wouldn't be realistic.

Hi there. I lived in Chicago for 25 years, worked all over the city, suburbs, and across the midwest as a commercial real estate investment professional and am very familiar with "class A" garden apartment communities in the Chicago area. There are nice, relatively new apartment communities all over Lake County. There's also quite a bit of junk. Personally, if I worked in Lake Villa and made $45K/yr. I'd stay west of I94 and look in Lake Villa, Round Lake, Grayslake and Gurney which straddles I94. It'd make the commute a whole lot easier. If I had to I'd look as far north as Antioch and as far south as Mundelein. I'd pretty much stay away from Waukegan. Not that you can't find nice apartments there, but it'll take more time to separate the wheat from the chaffe, so to speak, and it'll be a longer commute.

There are plenty of resources available for locating a nice apartment. I'd start by using the free Chicago and Suburbs Apartment Guide. It can be picked up in most local supermarkets or she can go to apartmentguide.com . There are also apartment locator services, but under no circumstances should she pay a fee to anyone for help in finding an apartment. All the reputable apartment agents get paid commissions by the owners. Finally, there are the classifieds in the local newspapers and the Lake County edition of the Chicago Tribune. If she's looking for a rental townhouse in a mostly owner-occupied community, she'll have to stick to the classifieds; but there are plenty of townhouse communities in the area, so she should be able to find one if that's what she really wants.

A single family home is gonna be a lot dicier, not that it can't be found. It's just that in her price range she'd most likely get stuck in a tiny shoe box- sized former summer cottage -- not the best housing alternative -- or a not so nice house in Waukegan or North Chicago near the Great Lakes Naval Base. If I were her I'd stick to a nice garden apartment community. She'll get more for her money plus amenities like a clubhouse with workout room and a pool. And I know for a fact there's a very nice apartment community in Gurnee built in the mid-1990s with tax credits that's required to restrict rental to middle income people. I'm not talking low income housing or Section 8 here, but NICE CLASS "A" garden apartments. They're specifically intended for people who earn right around the median income. Low income people can't qualify. Neither can people much above the median income. They're a really good deal. Based on your friend's income, I'm pretty sure she'd qualify. The people at the Apartment Guide know which properties require "income qualified" residents and can direct her to them.

Good luck to your friend! I'm sure she'll find something to meet her needs.

[Switch625]

Thank you very much for your help!

[poettreephoto]

We have been up here 15 yrs. moving from an affluent suburb of chicago, the biggest difference we noticed was the level of education and classes available. Grayslake has a good rep., Kenosha has a great christian school up there, large and well rounded education. We found better levels of education and such, in christian schools. We did see a difference when our kids took the ACT, in Fox Lake they had not taught some of the info. that was basic on the ACT, therefore, our kids got zeros in those areas.
Lake Forest has excellent education, are there unincorporated areas that would use those schools? What about Long Grove? I would spend a few days physically visiting the schools-high school being the biggest denominator. I agree that you will want to stear clear of waukegan, zion, round lake,north chicago, park city,winthrop harbor.
I am not sure of your social class, but perhaps checking out the area country clubs would give you some honest answers to some uncomfortable questions that we wanted to ask when we came up here. What we found is that people who grew up up here think it is the greatest place on earth(probably true no matter where you go), but we had other experiences to compare it to, so great, wonderful, quality, safe had different meanings for us verses them. I also would have shopped in the local food stores and wal-marts to see who lives around here and how they live..feel free to email me at Poettreephoto@yahoo.com. I know it is such a difficult decision, all in all, we are glad we moved, now that we are empty nesters we are thinking of moving again and are much like you also..

[elizabeth65]

Winthrop harbor is a nice , safe village with a a very good schools.