Neighborhood for $1M-2M 4000+ sqr-ft houses (Chicago, Naperville: best town, neighborhoods, buying)

[wtm1114]

Hi forum,

NOTE: I did use the search function but did not find threads that were particularly helpful.

I am a cardiovascular surgeon who is about to have a practice in Chicago. I'm looking forward to buying a single-home house that's between $1-2 million dollars and larger than 4000 square-feet. Ideally, it's going to be within one-hour driving distance from downtown. I don't mind suburb at all. Nice neighborhood and decent school district. Any inputs will be very much appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

[chet everett]

I'd move this to the Chicago suburbs thread.

Will you be working at Northwestern downtown or some other hospital?

Do you care about schools / community or is size of the house the only hopping factor??

[CoolSocks]

Are You Getting Ready to Buy a Home? : On TV : Home & Garden Television

[Dport7674]

I'm not familiar with it but as far as suburbs go, Money Magazine named Naperville the #2 or 3 best town to live in a couple of years ago.

[nikitakolata]

Originally Posted by wtm1114

Hi forum,

NOTE: I did use the search function but did not find threads that were particularly helpful.

I am a cardiovascular surgeon who is about to have a practice in Chicago. I'm looking forward to buying a single-home house that's between $1-2 million dollars and larger than 4000 square-feet. Ideally, it's going to be within one-hour driving distance from downtown. I don't mind suburb at all. Nice neighborhood and decent school district. Any inputs will be very much appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

There are a lot of places that could potentially meet your criteria, even within the Chicago city limits. Some city neighborhoods that could be good options are Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Lincoln Square, and Bucktown/Wicker Park. There are a lot of houses that are over 4000 square feet; as your price point increases you can get larger/double lots and there is still yard space. But, if having a lot of land is really critical, then the suburbs are where you want to be. Also, the school system in Chicago varies a lot and I personally don't know much about it at all, so that's important to consider.

As for the suburbs, the north shore suburbs would fit your criteria as well, but the houses will be older/smaller than houses at the same price point within the city. The taxes will be higher as well (in some cases, dramatically so, my parents' taxes are 50% higher than mine even though our houses are comparable in size and luxury).

If you look at the north shore suburbs, such as Wilmette, Winnetka, Kenilworth, you will not get as much for your money as if you look at most other suburbs. Those are the most expensive suburbs in the area and are among the most expensive places in the entire country, actually. Other places to consider would be Arlington Heights, Barrington, Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, Hinsdale, LaGrange, Glenview, Park Ridge, Downers Grove, Naperville, I could name more suburbs, but that's probably plenty.

When my husband and I were personally looking for houses in the suburbs Wilmette and Glen Ellyn were near the top of our list for a variety of reasons. It really depends a lot on exactly what you want. From the suburbs we wanted a newer/nice house with an open floor plan, a yard that was nice but not huge, walking distance to the metra train, a cute downtown area. I don't know if that is helpful at all, but based on those criteria, Glen Ellyn and Wilmette were high on our list. Wilmette was also great because it is close to the Northwestern campus and we have season tickets there, so it made getting to the games very easy.

[Manigault]

Originally Posted by wtm1114

Hi forum,

NOTE: I did use the search function but did not find threads that were particularly helpful.

I am a cardiovascular surgeon who is about to have a practice in Chicago. I'm looking forward to buying a single-home house that's between $1-2 million dollars and larger than 4000 square-feet. Ideally, it's going to be within one-hour driving distance from downtown. I don't mind suburb at all. Nice neighborhood and decent school district. Any inputs will be very much appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

No one else will mention it, but check out Kenwood on the south side. You realize that it was a married couple of two doctors who sold the president his home, right? There are a number of large places and they are in your price range.

Check in the local paper:

Hyde Park Herald, Chicago's oldest Community Newspaper, since 1882, also featuring The Lakefront Outlook

[ajolotl]

I second this. If I were in that price range I always said I would buy one of the large, beautiful Kenwood homes. If you want to be near the city center and still have space it is (in my opinion) an excellent deal.

Originally Posted by Manigault

No one else will mention it, but check out Kenwood on the south side. You realize that it was a married couple of two doctors who sold the president his home, right? There are a number of large places and they are in your price range.

Check in the local paper:

Hyde Park Herald, Chicago's oldest Community Newspaper, since 1882, also featuring The Lakefront Outlook

[Jandur]

With that price range you can live just about anywhere. There are several 4000 sqft homes listed for just under $2million in the city itself. The suburbs are generally cheaper with very few exceptions. It really just comes down to what type of area you would prefer. You can live in the city near work, or you can get a pretty huge house (10k sqft+) in the suburbs if you really wanted.

[Manigault]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

I second this. If I were in that price range I always said I would buy one of the large, beautiful Kenwood homes. If you want to be near the city center and still have space it is (in my opinion) an excellent deal.

The thing is, Kenwood homes are near the major hospital centers downtown, in Hyde Park and on the near west side. I don't think other neighborhoods can make that claim.

[tonythetuna]

Originally Posted by Manigault

The thing is, Kenwood homes are near the major hospital centers downtown, in Hyde Park and on the near west side. I don't think other neighborhoods can make that claim.

Kenwood is not really any closer to the medical campus or the downtown hospitals than Lincoln Park and Lake View are.