Family relocating to Chicago Suburbs (Tinley Park, Oak Forest: sale, condo, home search)

[Irina17]

My family is relocating to Chicago. My older sister's fiance got a job near the loop and he purchased a condo and asked her to move in. So she's moving in there, and my parents and I are following them so that we can stay together.

We don't mind being as far as an hour away from the loop or anything as long as it's a safe and affordable area. My parents are big on new construction (or maximum 10 years old) and I'm having a really difficult time with the home searches. I'm 22 and about to graduate college, so the school system isn't a factor at all. It'd be nice if there was some type of public transportation nearby, but we're not really picky and plan to take one or two cars over.

The maximum that we are willing to spend is $350k but would like to spend 275-ish.

My parents are getting older and retirement communities wouldn't be out of the question.

Can anyone recommend a good and safe area? I've been searching for over a month now and it's difficult because I've never even visited the city.

Thanks so much!

[Vlajos]

Where you coming from?

[Irina17]

Overland Park, Kansas

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Originally Posted by Irina17

My family is relocating to Chicago. My older sister's fiance got a job near the loop and he purchased a condo and asked her to move in. So she's moving in there, and my parents and I are following them so that we can stay together.

We don't mind being as far as an hour away from the loop or anything as long as it's a safe and affordable area. My parents are big on new construction (or maximum 10 years old) and I'm having a really difficult time with the home searches. I'm 22 and about to graduate college, so the school system isn't a factor at all. It'd be nice if there was some type of public transportation nearby, but we're not really picky and plan to take one or two cars over.

The maximum that we are willing to spend is $350k but would like to spend 275-ish.

My parents are getting older and retirement communities wouldn't be out of the question.

Can anyone recommend a good and safe area? I've been searching for over a month now and it's difficult because I've never even visited the city.

Thanks so much!

You can get a lot for your money in the south suburbs
Tinley Park- Oak Forest- Crestwood, Homewood.
All have public Transportation and all are near retirement homes
All have adequate shopping distritcs and decent quality of life

[chet everett]

Southwest burbs are a fair bet, but so would be the fringe NW burbs like Huntley -- big retirement development by Del Webb out that way. In either location you would be stretching the hour long drive during the week, but weekends would be OK. I suspect the fiance will be OK with that, but maybe you all wanna be closer together...

New construction under $300k within an hour of Chicago is not easy to find -- even if you cross over into northwest Indiana, which might make sense, the drive during the week would be tough. Commuter rail would work for work related travel, but less good for weekends travel.

[Chummy Waters]

Chet's right on the money, if you ditch the new construction requirement, you'd open up a lot more options.

[chicagojlo]

There is a massive amount of new build in that price range out in Huntley. It seems like the area is improving a lot too.

[Vlajos]

Probably fire sale prices in Huntley as well.

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Southwest burbs are a fair bet, but so would be the fringe NW burbs like Huntley -- big retirement development by Del Webb out that way. In either location you would be stretching the hour long drive during the week, but weekends would be OK. I suspect the fiance will be OK with that, but maybe you all wanna be closer together...

New construction under $300k within an hour of Chicago is not easy to find -- even if you cross over into northwest Indiana, which might make sense, the drive during the week would be tough. Commuter rail would work for work related travel, but less good for weekends travel.

I am not familiar with the Huntley area and will have to make a drive out there sometime.

Looks like a decent area from what I read on google and other spots.

The drive to the city from NorthWest Indiana is horrible at best
The Northern Indiana Transit does not seem to have nearly as many trains running.

Since this is the Illinois side I will have to defend Illinois in this case.
I dont know but commuting from NW Indiana would wear me down after a while.

[Hatchetman]

Huntley may be a good idea for your parents, but not for you....unless you plan on moving soon. Huntley is way the hell out there. During rush hour you are looking at 1.5 to 2 hour commutes to the loop during rush hour driving or train. There is nothing for a 22 year old to do out there, no jobs either. You will be miserable.