Moving from India, need place to live (Chicago, Naperville: real estate, rent)

[nitinkumarreddy]

Hello all,
I am in the process of moving with my family from Hyderabad, India to the Chicago area and I had a few concerns. Firstly, I need a good place to live with both good schools and a good community. I will be working in Deerfield, and my wife will be working in Buffalo Grove. We want an area with both a high Indian population and good schools, along with a good commute, for us to live in. We don’t mind renting, although we could buy a home for up to 500K. My son is age 6, daughter age 3. Son is a high achiever in India. What is a good school for him to move to? Additionally, we would like good Telugu speaking community for our kids, to be connected to the US. Please let me know your suggestions. Thank you!
- Nitin

[EllieKay56]

This may be of some help.

http://www.tagc.org/

Also there is a large Indian population in Rogers Park-north side of Chicago.
Suburbs it looks like more western suburbs...Naperville which would be a long commute.
I also heard that Glenview has a larger group too. Glenview has good schools and not a bad commute to your jobs. Good luck.

[BOBNCHI]

Glenview, Buffalo Grove (Lake County side for schools), Vernon Hills and Libertyville have a sizable Indian community, all have excellent schools and the commute would be easy for both of you. Next , but farther away, the Schaumburg area and even farther, Naperville.

May I suggest, rent first to get a sense of the area.

[Pseudonym18123]

Your job offers are in the suburbs and you’re better off looking there for answers.

That said, why not just Buffalo Grove or Deerfield? Easy commute, excellent schools, HUGE Indian community. In BG especially, you can get a nice 400K home that goes to Stevenson High School, one of the best in the entire country. The only downside is that the property taxes are a killer, but that’ll be the case in Deerfield as well. Hope this helps!

[wjj]

This one is easy. Lake County side of Buffalo Grove. Large Indian (and South Asian) community, most with kids, and some of the best schools in the state - and in the case of Stevenson HS, of the country. $500K might get you a 4 bed, 2.5 bath 2,500 sq. ft. updated 1980s-built home in Lake County BG. The problem will be that there is very limited inventory on the market. And expect to pay between $12,000 and $15,000 in annual real estate taxes for a house along those lines. Much more for a newer and more expensive house.

[Don Cuccino]

I think Schaumburg has a sizeable Indian community. Not sure about the schools but I think they are pretty decent.

[personone]

I would probably ask this question in the “Chicago Suburbs” forum as well. Chicagoland has one of the largest Indian American populations in the country. Several suburbs have very large communities, and you may get more specific in that forum. In the actual city, as mentioned, the Rogers Park/Devon area is the area most people are familiar with. But you will find Indians all over the city as well.

[eb23]

As a newly comer I know nothing so not recommending anything. My own interest in SEA communities would be grocery shopping that's why this thread brought me in. While not a fan of Asian-Indian cuisine, finding decent ingredients for Thai and Malay dishes I love to cook has been a challenge..

BG has caught my attention since one friend (she's been in Chicagoland about 20 years) had mentioned that BG was a very Russian place. In her words, you could hardly hear anything else but Russian. I haven't visited so cannot say much.

When I was considering my own move here not so long ago, schools were of a major deciding factor and Walden in Deerfield came up among the top however, according to schooldigger data, it does not appear to be much diverse -- 84% white, 6% hispanics, 5.3% mixed. Not that we concerned ourselves with identifying a particular ethnical enclave.

[wjj]

Originally Posted by eb23

As a newly comer I know nothing so not recommending anything. My own interest in SEA communities would be grocery shopping that's why this thread brought me in. While not a fan of Asian-Indian cuisine, finding decent ingredients for Thai and Malay dishes I love to cook has been a challenge..

BG has caught my attention since one friend (she's been in Chicagoland about 20 years) had mentioned that BG was a very Russian place. In her words, you could hardly hear anything else but Russian. I haven't visited so cannot say much.

When I was considering my own move here not so long ago, schools were of a major deciding factor and Walden in Deerfield came up among the top however, according to schooldigger data, it does not appear to be much diverse -- 84% white, 6% hispanics, 5.3% mixed. Not that we concerned ourselves with identifying a particular ethnical enclave.

There is a significant Russian/Ukraine community in BG, but it has been surpassed several times over by Asian families (South and East) moving into BG, especially the Lake County side of BG due to Stevenson HS. SHS is now about 1/3 Asian, which is a pretty big number in a school of 4,300 students.


As someone who has lived in BG for over 35 years and has seen it change a lot over that time, it is nice to see lots of kids in the neighborhood again.

[eb23]

Originally Posted by wjj

There is a significant Russian/Ukraine community in BG, but it has been surpassed several times over by Asian families (South and East) moving into BG, especially the Lake County side of BG due to Stevenson HS. SHS is now about 1/3 Asian, which is a pretty big number in a school of 4,300 students.


As someone who has lived in BG for over 35 years and has seen it change a lot over that time, it is nice to see lots of kids in the neighborhood again.

Thank You. It makes sense. On my crusade to discover international foods (along the local stuff of course -- horseradish, Wisconsin brats and so much more!!!) I've visited all the Fresh Farms in the North including the one in Wheeling. I've just realised it was next to BG. I've been there a few times, I can definitely say the amount of Russian language there was prominent (being born in Ukraine I have a good ability to distinguish most of Slavic languages) in there -- much more compared to the stores in Niles (Touhey or Golf) -- there are more Middle East in there. At the same time I've registered a lot of Philippino and South Asian in Wheeling...

The major concentration on Asian-Indian I'm yet to encounter was in IKEA Schamburg. Well, that was probably IKEA, not Schamburg -- my 7yo, born and raised in Sydney before we moved to IL, when she was there said she felt like home (Sydney), being a very diverse and multicultural mix of people.

In Kenilworth I met a few families with Indian roots, however those were more American and Dutch albeit doing the Diwali Lights as a heritage thing. That Russian lady I mentioned, she has two Indian children who took after their dad and speak perfect Russian but even better English. Compared to Sydney I hardly see any Asian - Indian people in where I am. There are of course, but after what it feels 30% in Australia here are just occasional encounters. The most Asian Indians I see these days would be when I have Webex with the teams in APAC.