Relocating to Chicago

Live in Chicago before you buy in Chicago.

You took the job. The start date is set, the house back home may not be sold yet, and you get one shot at a neighborhood you've never lived in. Buying blind is a six-figure guess. Lease a verified home there first, drive the real commute, live a season on the street, then buy when you're sure.

Reserve a home in Chicago How it works
RESERVED CHICAGO
Like a dinner reservation, the good ones are spoken for early.
The timing problem

Your search starts early. Good rentals don't wait.

Corporate moves get planned months ahead, but rentals don't hit the market until the current tenant gives notice. Reserving early closes that gap.

~120 days outYou learn you're moving and start looking
60–90 days outWe start asking around about upcoming vacancies
~30 days outHomes appear on public rental sites
Days laterThe good ones are already leased
Move dayYou arrive with a lease already signed
Asking around earlyPublic market
How it works

Four steps from offer letter to keys.

1

Reserve a home

Tell us your move date, preferred areas, budget, and must-haves. No obligation to join.

2

We connect you

We ask around about upcoming vacancies, then refer you to a licensed Chicago brokerage to tour and lease.

3

Tour from anywhere

See homes by live video tour from wherever you are now, with honest answers about the neighborhood and commute.

4

Lease before you land

Apply and sign ahead of time, with a lease start that lines up with your move.

Areas we cover

The LoopRiver NorthWest LoopGold CoastStreetervilleSouth LoopLincoln ParkLakeviewWicker ParkEvanstonOak ParkNaperville

Read the moving guide  ·  Town-by-town guides: schools, utilities, commutes  ·  Chicago or Indiana? Compare the city, suburbs and NW Indiana

Watch

Don't move into an unknown house alone.

Working in Chicago and choosing where to live? Five short videos on the questions newcomers ask most, and how we help.

The home you've never seen
City, suburbs or Indiana?
Who owns this home?
The rental clock
Rent now, buy later
How our referrals work

We ask around early. A local licensed broker does the work.

  • You reserve here, at no cost and with no obligation
  • We refer you to a licensed Illinois brokerage, with a written referral-fee disclosure first
  • They show homes, screen applicants and handle your lease
  • The Illinois brokerage may pay Flatland a referral fee; you pay nothing for the referral

Licensed Illinois brokers

We refer you to an established, Illinois-licensed brokerage matched to your neighborhood and budget. Before any hand-off, we provide a written disclosure of any referral fee.

For employers & HR

Make relocation one less thing your new hire worries about.

We work directly with HR teams and relocation managers. Your transferee gets an early start on quality rentals near the office, and you get a single point of contact connected to a licensed Chicago brokerage that knows the market.

Faster starts

New hires who have a home lined up arrive settled and ready to work.

One contact

One point of contact for every transferee you send, with licensed local brokers handling tours and leases.

Simple billing

Ask about invoicing through your relocation package.

How relocation partners work

For landlords

An empty month is rent you never get back.

A vacant home earns nothing, and that month can't be made up later. Tell us about an upcoming turnover 60–90 days early and we'll refer you to a licensed Illinois brokerage that can work to place a tenant before it sits empty.

  • Pre-lease before the current tenant moves out
  • Applicants relocating for established employers
  • Written, uniform screening criteria applied to every applicant
  • Tenant placement handled by a licensed Illinois brokerage; fee paid only when a tenant is placed

List an upcoming vacancy

Who we are

chi2rent is a referral service of Flatland Real Estate LLC, a licensed Indiana real estate brokerage. Flatland does not provide real estate brokerage services in Illinois.

Licensed real estate brokerage services in Illinois are provided by the independent, Illinois-licensed brokerage we refer you to, which will identify itself and its license before working with you.

Flatland Real Estate LLC may receive a referral fee from the Illinois brokerage. You are never charged for the referral.

Lease with an option to buy

Fall for the house? Keep it. One move, not two.

Most relocations take two moves: into a rental, then a year later into the house you buy. The second one costs another truck, another round of packing, utility and address changes, days off work, and sometimes a school change in the middle of the year. A lease with an option to buy turns that into one move, and lets you buy a house you already know from the inside.

The usual way
  1. Move into a rental in Chicago
  2. Search again while you learn a new job
  3. Move a second time
  4. Redo utilities, address and possibly schools
Lease with an option to buy
  1. Move once
  2. Live in the home for 6 to 24 months
  3. Buy it at a price agreed up front
  4. Or walk away when the term ends

How it works

  1. Owners open to it. We ask owners who might say yes. Not every owner offers an option to buy; in Illinois a licensed Illinois brokerage asks and writes it, and on the Indiana side I do.
  2. Two documents. A regular lease, plus a separate option to buy that sets the price, the term and the option fee. When the owner agrees, part of your rent can be credited toward the purchase.
  3. Live there. Learn the commute, the school year, the neighbors, and how the basement does in a March rain.
  4. Decide. Buy the house you already live in, or let the option expire. The option fee is usually credited at closing if you buy and kept by the owner if you don't.

Every option is negotiated and put in writing. Have your own attorney and lender review it before you sign. General information, not legal or tax advice.

Show me homes with an option to buy

Your broker · Douglas Willems

Not a tour guide. 29 years on every side of this move.

Relocations go wrong in the gaps: between the offer letter and the start date, between the house you're leaving and the one you'll buy, between what a listing shows and what the street is like at 7:30 on a school morning. Closing those gaps is the work I've done since 1997.

Licensed since 1997

Indiana real estate broker for 29 years. In Chicago, a licensed Illinois brokerage handles your home and I stay your point of contact. In Northwest Indiana, I handle it myself.

A landlord since 1998

I know what makes an owner say yes: a 6-month term, a start date that matches yours, a pet, an option to buy. I negotiate from the owner's side of the table because I sit there too.

Placing tenants since 2008

Eighteen years of lining up homes before they hit the market, with written screening criteria applied the same way to everyone, so a complete application moves fast.

The buy-later plan

A rent-first year when you want to be sure, or a lease-to-own option when the old house hasn't sold. When you're ready to buy, the people helping you already know the streets you liked.

Reserve a home   Text me or call (219) 440-2828

No cost to you

We match you with a licensed Illinois brokerage and line up your home before you land.

  • One move, not twoAsk for homes with an option to buy: live there first, buy at a price set up front, and skip the second move. A licensed Illinois brokerage arranges it in Illinois; I handle the Indiana side.
  • First look before listingWe ask around about homes coming open 60–90 days out, before they hit public rental sites.
  • Verified, no scamsA licensed Illinois brokerage confirms the owner and shows you the home, in person or by live video.
  • Commute checkRush-hour travel time from each home to your office, by car or train.
  • School district lookupThe official district and its address lookup for each home. Facts, never rankings.
  • Dates that fit your startYour broker asks owners for lease dates that line up with your move.
  • Chicago, suburbs or Indiana?Not sure which side? We lay out the city, the suburbs and Northwest Indiana side by side.

No cost to you: the Illinois brokerage may pay Flatland a referral fee, disclosed in writing first. HR and relocation teams: how we work with you.

Prefer to talk?
Call or text (219) 440-2828
reserve@chi2rent.com

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Download it the moment you send this. Then we start asking owners about homes coming open around your date.

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