When Is the Best Time to Rent a Single Family Home?

From my understanding, you should be moved in prior to September so you can register for school. Otherwise, you will be registering late and she will be starting school late. I would suggest moving in May and sending her to a summer camp in the new town, so she can make some new friends before school starts. Then, when she starts she will see some familiar faces and feel more at ease in her new school! Good luck with whatever decision you make!

Seems like to me that housing changes hands a lot right after the school year ends. People put off moving so kids can finish the semester at school then they take off and move. Just like you are thinking about doing. I am not from the Chicago area so I don't know how far, miles, it is from your current location to the area you would like to move to but is it possible to move now as the Realtor is suggesting? I drive our little one several miles one way to go to his preschool. Once he is old enough for pre-K then he will of course go to the same school as our girl who will be in 2nd in the Fall.

If I were planning on moving I would also consider moving before the school year is finished so the kids can make friends this year that will carry over Summer and into the Fall. I am not a big fan of that though. I think staying with current friends until the end sounds more fun. But I would consider it, especially if I found the most perfect house in the world and it was available right now.

Go ahead and take some time and look at what is renting. The longer you wait to move the fewer choices you'll have. I still think having a move ready to do by the end of May is the better choice though, for me it would be what I would do. I would have the Realtors in the area keeping a list of homes coming up for rent at the end of May by the middle of April. Lots of people do give notice early to their landlords who go ahead and list the homes for rent on 1st of a future month.

Good luck finding something wonderful.

Just an after thought:

If you get a chance to go looking some days in early May you can also visit the schools that the kids would be assigned to by where the houses are...you know, if you live in this neighboorhood your kids go to that school a few blocks away, the school districts usually have a website that shows a map with their boundaries. They usually also have individual schools listed and you can see each schools website and check out the teachers and their pages too. That might help you decide which areas of town you want to focus on.

Check with the school district but most suburban Chicago school districts begin in August so you should move in May. Many kids will be new to each other when they start school at that age (many would not have been in a pre-school or the same pre-school) so if you can start your daughter on the first day she won't be "the new kid".

My advice would be to not wait until Sept 1. From what I have seen on the North Shore where I live, people stay in their homes to finish out the school year and then move during the summer so that they are settled by the time school starts. Also if you wait until Sept 1 to move you may not fulfill the residency requirements to register for school where you are moving. You should check with the school district.

I live in the NW Burbs & we moved her from Fla 3 yrs. Ago & have rented ever since we moved here, we have 3 kids 1 in high school, 1 in middle school,& 1 in elementary school,with that said when we moved here from Fla we ended up moving in Oct, altho my husband came here a month before myself & the kids & it was tough finding something that time of the year & I feel it's because everyone wants to get moved in & settled before the winter & we've also found that around July the good rentals seem to ALL get rented & it's more them likely because the size house we would need is a larger size & most people that would look at the size houses we also look at more then likely have kids as well & where I'm at school starts in mid to late Aug. so again people want to sign the lease in July or even move in July to be settled before school starts in Aug. so I feel that if you start looking now & pin point a neighborhood you feel you want to live in if you don't already know & then see what's available around there now which from our experience isn't too much as most peoples lease isn't up for a few more months & may not be required to give notice to their landlord yet. In a nut shell I would start looking for what's available in the neighborhood I wanted to live & in the surrounding area & by the end of May & forsure in June the serious search to find that perfect house & sign a lease should be on so this way you could move In by July or Aug.. I hope my info was of some help to you & again it's just my personal experience since we moved here 3 years ago & we have moves twice but stayed in the same area & the only reason we moved is because the first place we took because we felt if we didn't we may end up with nothing & it was a townhouse & after living there 2 yrs I REALLY started missing living in a house which we always owned our houses in Fla & now we are in a house & we love it & don't plan on moving again unless we buy our own home.. GOOD LUCK !!!

Planning the move now and moving during spring and summer would be easiest. Preparing for the 2011-12 school year really begins in the spring and by summer many programs are already set. For instance, sign up is beginning soon for things like busing (in Wilmette and Winnetka there is likely a July deadline for taking the bus), after school programs, etc. You could still send your daughter to camp in the city even if you move during the summer(it's not that far and would be a great way to segueway into the suburban life while saying good-bye to the city). By moving during the spring or summer, you give yourself time to get adjusted to your new situation. It also means you can get beach and pool passes so that you can start to meet a few people prior to the beginning of the school year. I moved to the 'burbs at the beginning of June and it made the fall go much more smoothly.