Apartment Hunting?

[Michelle]

Hello Ladies,

So my husband is expected to graduate from boot camp Nov 30 and will stay right in Great Lakes for his A school. He's A school is about a year long so of course me and my daughter just have to pick up and move to the windy city to be close to him! This will be my first time moving on my own anywhere so I am not sure how long the process will take. We are not using the Navy for the move this time, we're planning on doing it our own and finding a near by apartment off base. I am planning on moving out there after the holidays in the start of January. 

I would love to hear some opinions, money is very tight and I will still be in school till the end of December so I wont be able to travel back and fourth from NYC to Chicago for apartment hunting. Should I head out a few days before PIR (Nov.30) to look for apartments or should I just let my husband find us a place while his there? I'm worried that he might be too busy with school to be able to go out and look for anything. 

[meagan5220]

If you go through the RPP that will help a lot because he should automatically get approved either way. The housing office should be able to email you a list of properties that participate. Seeing that he has steady income helps too! Def make sure you get the miltiary clause, if you have a lease that says anything about signing away your rights under the military clause take it to the housing office or email them. They can read the lease and make sure its all good. They can do that either way and explain to you anything you might not understand. :)

[Anti M]

Your lease will need the military clause which lets you break the lease if his orders are changed.  It is pretty standard in the areas near bases.

[Angie]

Also if you are confused about the contract you will be signing for a place to rent (if you don't get into housing) you can take it to legal on base (for free) and have them review the contract. 

There are LOTS of not to great places to live in IL

http://www.fcnavygreatlakes.com/

[tiffanyk2010]

My husband graduated BC 2/3 and I was here moving in to our apartment 2/28. You want to have those orders in hand before you put any money down. We live in Northgate apartments in Waukegan and love it. We pay less in utilities and rent than our BAH which is awesome. There is a lot of military here and we are about 15min from base. I also know some military couples that live in Gurnee at The Preserve at Ospry Lake and they have been happy there. Make sure to ask for those military discounts! Let me know if you have any other questions about the area and living here. :)

[Michelle]

Hi Tiffany,

I just looked up those apartments and WOW they look amazing! When did you start looking for your apartments? Since me and my daughter will most likely be living on our own for the first few months till my husband gets approved to move in with us, would you recommend living in gated communities such as those or is it ok to look for some apartments out in the city that are rented by the owners? I've never been to Chicago so I have no idea what the areas are like, my brother is no help since all he tells me is there are alot of bad areas out there but that can be said about every state because there's a TON of not so good neighborhoods here in NYC. 

[tiffanyk2010]

Honestly I didn't start looking until after PIR. I stayed an extra day and went into the personal property office for information and they referred me to the www.ahrn.com website. These are all places that they have checked out and approved. I found our apartment that first week. It really won't take long for your husband to be able to move in with you. If he is on the paperwork it will only take about 3 weeks. My husband graduated 2/3 and by the time I got here with all of our stuff on 2/28 he was able to live with me off base. Do be careful, like you said, there are bad areas everywhere. I liked our complex for the security. I also called the local police department to find out about the safety of our complex before I even turned in our application. Turned out the cop I talked to lived here already. :)

[Elizabeth]

we lived on base housing when my husband had school for ET. after he graduated bootcamp i went back home, then flew to great lakes and got married then moved up there when he got the base housing set up and everything. but apartment would be better cause you would save money from your housing allowance if it was good price :)