Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

I actually live in Chicago but commute to the Long Grove / Lake Zurich area everyday, its just a couple of miles from Buffalo Grove where I did used to work. Let me assure you, you will love Chicago it is a great city and as the first response pretty much summed up the suburbs seem to be a great place to live, my favourite thing about the suburbs is how clean they are kept, many corners have water features that you simply wouldnt see in England. For me personally I chose to live in the city, Wrigleyville to be exact, as I'm young (23) and still feel the need to be in the middle of everything. This does come at a cost though as the traffic on the Edens is simply a nightmare, ive taken to work 7-4 hours to beat the main congestion. The traffic is still bad in the suburbs too so that is something to watch out for.
In the summers the Chicagoland Area is the greatest place to be, I spend most of my free time at the beach, public swimming pools or having barbeques with friends - things I would be hard pressed to do as often in England. If your in the north suburbs you can take your kids to Six Flags - a huge amusement & water park, which is really great fun, even at my age, or Wisconsin Dells.
I do have to come to it tho. Winter is colder than anything I've ever experienced in Britain, and I lived in the welsh valleys for a few years. There are times when it is unbearable, especially for me with my long commute i'd barely see the sun. It seemed there was constantly deep snow and ice on the ground from January right through to March this winter. Normal chores like going food shopping suddenly seem like a mountain to climb as, for me anyway once i'd made it home from work there was no way in hell i was going back out there - unless there was a cold pint at the end of my journey.

Overall however, in my opinion the summers outweigh the winters and i dont regret moving here for a second, im sure you wont either. Good luck

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

It's an adventure. You look out the window and it is bright and sunny and you are like 'wow, looks nice out'. You then go outside and WHAM, you can feel the moisture in your skin instantly freezing and your skin starting to shrivel. You take a deep breath and fire burns through your lungs as the cold just rips you up from the inside. And that is just on your front doorstep. And then there is wind chill. When the wind gets ripping it feels even colder.

But you'll get used to it. Honestly. You will. It's not that bone chilling damp cold that gets under you skin, it's more an ice cold that just sort of freezes you. I was totally serious about long underwear, and scarves and hats and mittens. You'll use them.

I know you have a lot of things going on in your head planning for this trip, but if there was one piece of advice I could offer it would be to keep as open a mind as possible for the next few months. Consider this not a trip to Chicago, a place you have visited where they speak English and have similar culutural history, but consider it as if you were an expat to China, located deep in a town without a clue as to the language or customs. Where things will happen that you'll have no control over and that you just have to make the best of. With that sort of 'I'll deal with it attitude' you'll stay a lot saner than the 'It's better in the UK attitude' (even if it is).

I wish you luck.

p.s. how long are you coming over for? 1 year, 3, forever?

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

Thanks for the invaluable info gd jones. There's so much to take on board.

And in answer to your question Penguinsix I am not totally sure. My husband is being relocated through work and he has the choice between permanent (where he would lose all his English benefits such as pension etc) or a 4 year secondment (where he gets to keep the English perks.)
So I suppose it'll probably be the latter, but nothing is set in stone yet!

I'm not sure whether we would be better off renting permanently (as his company will pay the rent - or a large portion of it) or try to build up a good credit score and then buy. We are selling our property over here,and my main concern is the fact that we will be off the property ladder for a while - and 4 years goes by very quickly - I'm not sure what position we will find ourselves in 4 years if we have to return? Any suggestions?

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

Stay with the secondment...at least for the foreseeable future...that's exactly what we did. However when we decided to apply for the GC my husband had to transfer to the US firm. Make sure the firm agree to pay for all your relocation expenses back to the UK if it doesn't work out...get it in writing...preferably in stone. :lol:

Do not sell your house in the UK...we kept ours for 2 years then sold it...I wish we hadn't now.

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

We had intended to sell the house to release the equity we had in it to put down on a house in the states, but what with all the bloomin' credit score criteria going on, that day is gonna be a long time coming!
I don't like the idea of letting the house out, and our mortgate is a bit steep so don't think we could keep it and live comfortably in the STates?
You're right about the "get everything in writing" bit - we will!!

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

A few weeks ago someone who was relocating asked what sort of deal they should ask their employers for. Some of the points raised may be useful to you ie transfer holiday allowance, paid trip to the UK in case of a immediate family emergency etc. I'll see if I can find it for you.

We intended renting out our house...but I couldn't face someone else living in my home. What a mistake...I should have looked at it as a business instead of from the emotional point of view.

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

Could you refinance at the current value (higher) and use the available cash as a vehicle to keep the house or to help you secure the new property? Might be a way to get some access that equity. You'll really need to run the numbers to see if it makes financial sense though.

Take a look at the percentage rise in home values in the town you are going to buy in in the US vs. the town you are living in before you jump off the property ladder. If you move to a zero growth town you are going to be much farther behind when you want to return. (There are many expats here who simply cannot afford to go home again).

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

Here it is:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ion+allowances

Here is more threads that my search came up with:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/searc...earchid=715397

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

There's some good points there. I know i"m gonna sound really thick but my husband deals with all our finances coz it's all greek to me! I'll get him to look at your ideas and translate them into "keira-2007 thick language"!!
Then I'll be able to give an intelligent reply...

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

Lion in Winter lives in Chicago .........sigh............

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

LOL no one in this thread will know who she is.

Never mind only 5 mths to Christmas...she'll probably be back then to say hello.

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

We sold our house when we moved here, in Oct 2005, because we needed the money to buy here and renting wasn't an option. We couldn't have easily let our house in the UK as it was a big old Victorian and it would have been very difficult to find tennants.
Our relocation company arranged for several lenders here to talk to us about mortgages, before we moved. We chose Wells Fargo because they were on the ball and really helpful.
US mortgages are all in a different language and they talked us through the whole thing lots of times. It was a special department that dealt with expats.We put down a big deposit and that helped.
We also had a really good realtor, again a referral by the relocation company.Luckily she was familiar with the way houses are bought and sold in the UK and that really helped.
She did so much else for us as well....helping us set up our utilities, taking us sightseeing, helping my teenagers find stuff to do ..it was endless. We have been here nearly two years and she is a really good friend now.

Wells Fargo also arranged for us to have a credit card. Not a huge limit but it was a start. We used that to build up our credit score. The relocation company also arranged for us to buy two cars from International Autosource (there are several threads on them) and we chose to have financing on them to also build up our credit score. We paid one car off after 6 months and have kept the other one running.
We now have three credit cards and a couple of store cards and the limit is much bigger.

We bank with the Royal Bank of Scotland in the UK and they are part of the same group as the Citizens bank here, so we set up accounts while we were here on a vist.

It seems such a daunting task at the beginning and I wouldn't like to do it all again but it does all sort itself out.

PS. We set up all the mortgage, bank accounts,credit card and utilities before we arrived and without a social security number....so it can be done, it's just tricky at times.

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

Thanks Jerseygirl - those links are invaluable. I'm gonna make sure hubbie reads this thru too as he's the one earning the spondoolicks!

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

This is all really interesting. I spoke to hubbie earlier (he is in Chicago at the mo) and he had had a meeting with a bank manager just yesterday. (Chase Bank I think he said?) He was fine to set up an account but he was told he can't get credit cards until he has a social security number, and he can't get that until he has got his visa, so he's come to a bit of a brick wall.
Incidentally, how did you manage to buy a house immediately on arrival with no credit score?
We should have about $200,000 equity released from the sale of our house in the UK, which we could put down as a deposit on a new property in the States but that doesn't appear to make any difference because of the credit score system. I'm confused??

Re: Illinois - where to go/where to avoid?
 

OMG we are with Chase...I would not recommend them.

The lack of a credit rating does not prevent you from buying anything in the US...it just means you will pay more for it.