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Relocating to Chicago from overseas



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Hannie




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 15 2014, 7:49 am
Hello everyone,

I am a new member and this is my very first post !

My husband and I are planning on moving to the USA (he is American and I am European). We have decided to settle in Chicago, where I know the city and a few people.

We do need a few information, about the orthodox community (MO, Chabad...) and schools.

I was thinking Skokie is more blended than Rogers Park but I am not sure because I have never been to Rogers Park, just heard about it from people.

We are not affiliated with any group where we live, we just belong to an orthodox congregation with mixed sefardic ashkenazi and some very religious some not. Our child goes to a chabad school.

I think I would prefer a MO community but I like to have all types of Jews around me, I don't like living in an exclusive frum community. Also I think our child would be better in a MO or Chabad (if they accept all types of observant families, not only chabad) school.

Do you think it is nice living in Skokie ? (I have heard that more and more muslim-pakistanis live there, is it safe?)

Also how about the budget ? We would need a 3 bedrooms-2bathrooms apartment in the long term, but at the beginning we are thinking about renting a furnished cheap apartment (even a basement), school, one car, health insurance, public transportation, food, etc (we don't go out often, only restaurant once a month, a few times movie theater).
Husband is looking for work from here but doesn't work he needs to be there for interviews etc, but most of job offers are between 70k to 100k a year.

Also do you know of any agency or family who rent furnished apartment or basement in the jewish community for about 2-3 months minimum, can be extended to more depending on the place (if really comfortable and affordable compare to renting out and buying furnitures the first few months)

Thank you for reading my long post !

Shabbat Shalom !!
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bigsis144




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 15 2014, 9:33 am
I'm still pretty new to Chicago myself, so I don't have any leads, but I just wanted to say welcome! Smile
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cbsmommy




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 15 2014, 10:58 am
Contact the Chicago Center for Torah and Chesed - 773-761-4005 to see if they have any hachnoses orchim apartments for rent. You wouldn't be able to get them for 2 months, but maybe for the first week or two. Also Park Plaza in Chicago (WRP) has furnished apartments for rent. I don't know much about their prices, but I know that they offer that service.

Skokie is a fairly safe (remember, nothing is perfect) community with lots of vibrant families. That being said there are very few apartments. Skokie is primarily composed of single family homes. Skokie homes vary from being $300,000, to being $3 million; rent for single family homes range from $1,800 a month to $3,000 a month.

Welcome to the Windy City!
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Tamiri




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 15 2014, 11:06 am
We rented in Skokie and when we left in 2000 the rent was $1150 IIRC. Go check out 9301 N. Kenton. It was a GREAT apartment!!!! In Skokie you will of course need a car.
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Tamiri




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 15 2014, 11:09 am
You can also look for "corporate apartments". When we were there, none existed in Skokie so we took on in Buffalo Grove. It came fully equipped, even with (new) dishes/pots/cutlery and washer/dryer BUT... I think it was about $2500/month (paid for by the employer). Back then it was a 3 mile walk each way to shul but things may have changed in BG...
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Hannie




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 17 2014, 2:10 pm
bigsis144 wrote:
I'm still pretty new to Chicago myself, so I don't have any leads, but I just wanted to say welcome! Smile


Shavua tov !

Thank you Bigsis144 this is so sweet of you :-D
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Hannie




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 17 2014, 2:17 pm
cbsmommy wrote:
Contact the Chicago Center for Torah and Chesed - 773-761-4005 to see if they have any hachnoses orchim apartments for rent. You wouldn't be able to get them for 2 months, but maybe for the first week or two. Also Park Plaza in Chicago (WRP) has furnished apartments for rent. I don't know much about their prices, but I know that they offer that service.

Skokie is a fairly safe (remember, nothing is perfect) community with lots of vibrant families. That being said there are very few apartments. Skokie is primarily composed of single family homes. Skokie homes vary from being $300,000, to being $3 million; rent for single family homes range from $1,800 a month to $3,000 a month.

Welcome to the Windy City!


Shavua tov CBSMommy,

This is very helpful, I didn't know about the Chicago Center for Torah and Chesed, I will contact them and see if they could help or advise us.

I quickly checked the Park Plaza's website, it is apparently only for the Elderly but it doesn't cost to give it a call !

I do not know about bying a house right away because I have no idea how the American banking sytem works regarding to mortgages and other stuff, also we won't have any savings for that purpose at the time of the moving ;-) I also prefer living in a building, I have never lived in single home and that freaks me out ( Rolling Eyes )

Would you have any advise regarding schooling system in the jewish community ?

Thank you so much for your answers
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Hannie




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 17 2014, 2:23 pm
Tamiri wrote:
We rented in Skokie and when we left in 2000 the rent was $1150 IIRC. Go check out 9301 N. Kenton. It was a GREAT apartment!!!! In Skokie you will of course need a car.


Shavua tov Tamiri,

I have seen this building before when I searched for apartments on Trulia and other real estate website I must say this is pretty much what we are looking for ! The price is very reasonnable, I don't think we would go higher than 1600-1700 dollars a month !

Last time I was in Chicago is about 8 years ago (this is a very long time) I never used the public transportation as I stayed in Des Plaines and needed a car. I think having two cars at the beginning won't be possible for us and husband might need it for work, which would leave me carless, do you think it's easy enough to commute from Skokie to Chicago and to stores and markets (other than spefically kosher) ?

Thank you !
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Hannie




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 17 2014, 2:28 pm
Tamiri wrote:
You can also look for "corporate apartments". When we were there, none existed in Skokie so we took on in Buffalo Grove. It came fully equipped, even with (new) dishes/pots/cutlery and washer/dryer BUT... I think it was about $2500/month (paid for by the employer). Back then it was a 3 mile walk each way to shul but things may have changed in BG...


Tamiri,

Indeed, this would be the perfect solution but I'm afraid it will be off budget, we planned on spending more or less 1500 dollars on a furnished sublet... Unless you think it is completly unrealistic ?
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yaelinIN




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 17 2014, 2:39 pm
The Park Plaza is a home for the elderly but you/anyone can rent out rooms (with optional meals - kosher of course!) there as well.
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Hannie




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 17 2014, 3:42 pm
yaelinIN wrote:
The Park Plaza is a home for the elderly but you/anyone can rent out rooms (with optional meals - kosher of course!) there as well.


Shavua tov YAeliIN,

This is very good to know, I will let my husband know about this, and see if this can be a fit for us :-)

Thank you
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grace413




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 17 2014, 4:03 pm
Sorry, but it's impossible to get around Skokie/West Rogers Park without a car. Where will your dh be working? If he;s working downtown you can drive him to public transportation and keep the car.

Do you have school age kids? Kids are driven to school by parents. Nothing is within walking distance and of course in the winter it's too cold to walk anyway.
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finprof




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 17 2014, 6:35 pm
Fully furnished apartments in Skokie are rare. Your best bet would be to go on facebook and join Chicago Jewish Mommies and Singles and Chicago Jewish Central and post there what you are looking for. The major schools do have busses and you can arrange carpools.
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yaelinIN




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 17 2014, 7:29 pm
I do have a single friend who sometimes sublets her 1 BR apt in Lakeview (a neighborhood with an MO shul) in the summer.
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amother


 

Post Mon, Aug 18 2014, 12:05 am
Welcome to Chicago.
Skokie would be the place if you want MO with others around.
Chabad is pretty active in Skokie too. Give them a call they are really nice and helpful. They might even be able to help you with finding a rental apartment.
They have a preschool and the chabad school in Chicago is in skokie too. It is very good.
There are other schools too. Hillel Torah and ari crown would be the 2i would think you should look into.
You definately need a car, but I'm site you'll figure things out.
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Hannie




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 19 2014, 4:50 am
grace413 wrote:
Sorry, but it's impossible to get around Skokie/West Rogers Park without a car. Where will your dh be working? If he;s working downtown you can drive him to public transportation and keep the car.

Do you have school age kids? Kids are driven to school by parents. Nothing is within walking distance and of course in the winter it's too cold to walk anyway.


Hello Grace413,

For the moment he doesn't have any job contract, so we do not know where he would find work (downtown a bit outisde...).

Our child is entering 6th grade in september.
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Hannie




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 19 2014, 5:01 am
finprof wrote:
Fully furnished apartments in Skokie are rare. Your best bet would be to go on facebook and join Chicago Jewish Mommies and Singles and Chicago Jewish Central and post there what you are looking for. The major schools do have busses and you can arrange carpools.


Hello Finprof,

At the beginning for a furnished apartment we wouldn't be picky and necessary want to be in Skokie or WRP becauses we just need to arrive and sleep somewhere and hotel would be just too expensive, it's just a temporary solution, but it's true it would be much easier if within the jewish community.
Thank you for the facebook groups I will send a request to join !
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Hannie




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 19 2014, 5:06 am
yaelinIN wrote:
I do have a single friend who sometimes sublets her 1 BR apt in Lakeview (a neighborhood with an MO shul) in the summer.


YaelIn,

We are planning on relocation around march (if everything goes well bh)
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Hannie




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 19 2014, 5:09 am
amother wrote:
Welcome to Chicago.
Skokie would be the place if you want MO with others around.
Chabad is pretty active in Skokie too. Give them a call they are really nice and helpful. They might even be able to help you with finding a rental apartment.
They have a preschool and the chabad school in Chicago is in skokie too. It is very good.
There are other schools too. Hillel Torah and ari crown would be the 2i would think you should look into.
You definately need a car, but I'm site you'll figure things out.


Hello Amother,

I will try and contact Chabad there, as for the car apparently this is a must and I will have to let hubby know that we need to include this in our moving budget (we didn't think it would be necessary to have one right when we arrive but rather start using public transportation until he gets a job and then buy or lease a car) !
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grace413




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 19 2014, 6:20 am
Just to clarify- while the Chabad school is technically in Skokie it is not in the area of Skokie where the frum population is and where the shuls are. Hillel Torah is the same story. Arie Crown is more right wing but located near the Skokie frum population.
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