Best Bet In Southwest Suburbs? Lenox, Manhattan, Mokena, Tinley Park... (Chicago: real estate, renting)

[s1nsp4wn]

Hello!!! This will be a long one looking for opinions on the SouthWest burbs, fair warning:

I'm a 35yo black male professional who works in downtown Chicago.* I currently live in the Palos Hills area, but am looking to move further into the southwest suburbs with my wife and two young kids. Out of the towns in that area I'm most comfortable with New Lenox, Mokena, and Manhattan in the affordability sense. My question is which of these towns is the best bet if I'd like more than 1800+ square feet, want to stay at/under $260,000 (even if I try to wiggle from 270), need high-speed internet at home (I work from home and the kids stream Netflix/Amazon a lot), and want access to the Lincoln-Way school district?

Tinley has a ton of homes in my price range, BUT my issues with them are that I'd have to be in an area west of Harlem to get district 230 schools and my wife and I are not fans of split-levels. We prefer two-stories and or homes with basements. That's also the reason I'm put off from Orland Park. I have family there and I like the area, but there's just too much traffic and I'll have to spend much much more.

A quick glance online tells me you get more home for your money in Manhattan, but you get more local businesses and attractions in and around New Lenox and Mokena. My goal is to position myself (and family) in a location that has access to Metra and a freeway, good potential for resale value when I sell in 20+ years, and to not have my house burned down by "unfriendlies" if you catch my drift.

What should I do? Any cons/pros I'm missing?
Manhattan - Long train ride, reports of slow internet/great schools, affordable homes
New Lenox - Long train ride, high taxes/great schools, semi large homes for my money
Mokena - Sleepy town/Nice homes
Frankfort - Can't even afford, too many split levels/Beautiful but out of my range
Orland Park - Expensive for size of home you get/Great schools, everything you need is there
Tinley Park - Too many split-levels, feels like Orland's little brother/Victor Andrew is great, I can afford a lot

Thanks in advance!!!!

*=I didn't mention this for special treatment or to be by an arbitrary number of people from different backgrounds to check a box. It's only there because I don't wanna be in a position where there's active klan crap going on and I'm not trying to cause white flight since I keep to myself and want to make a return on my investment same as anyone else.

[chet everett]

I have a few friends that are still teachers in some of the SW suburban districts and they have all noticed shifts in the demographics. For the most part the older mindsets, against integration, are rare, which is a good thing. That said, where there are "disputes" from everything about grading policies to sports team selection to who is best suited for "Home Coming Court" there are sadly some racial tensions exposed. I suspect that anyone who is a minority still has to deal with some of those things but it does seem like the higher the relative affluence of community is AND the more positive trends like home values are heading the LESS worries one is going to encounter -- folks who feel more pressure from shrinking income and declining property values are more likely to look for scapegoats...

With that in mind, AND YOUR desire, which I heartily support, I would suggest focusing on Frankfort. Even though it is more costly, the VALUE for your families education / life experience AND long term price stability is probably hard to beat. If you look at homes that might need a bit of TLC and/or is not the "typical" cookie cutter split leve you should be OK at your target price:

https://www.redfin.com/IL/Frankfort/.../home/23322757
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Frankfort/.../home/23389551
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Frankfort/.../home/23244961 (interior and addition make this a winner against blah front picture, update that down the road and you'd be very happy when it comes time to sell)

This one has terrible photo(s) but that helps you as a buyer -- https://www.redfin.com/IL/Frankfort/.../home/23266918

[s1nsp4wn]

Originally Posted by chet everett

....I suspect that anyone who is a minority still has to deal with some of those things but it does seem like the higher the relative affluence of community is AND the more positive trends like home values are heading the LESS worries one is going to encounter -- folks who feel more pressure from shrinking income and declining property values are more likely to look for scapegoats...

Thanks Chet. And I fully agree. The "problem" will never totally go away and I don't expect it to. Seeing as how I can't control people, it's not worth losing sleep over. That said, my wife and I go to the Frankfort outdoor market every Sunday and we have friends and family out there as well (definitely more well off than me), but I find their taxes to be the biggest detriment to me. Still though, thanks for sharing as a few of those homes I never saw before.

Hypothetically, if I took Frankfort off the table...what would you/anyone suggest as a secondary?

[CGab]

FWI.....Lincolnway just closed a high school that they built and charged the tax payers for in 2007!


Lincoln-Way board votes to close North high school | abc7chicago.com


With that said, Frankfort and Tinley are the most costly, but you can find homes there in your price range! Tinley Park and Frankfort will have the highest property taxes (especially in the Will County part of town). Both towns are not too accepting of minorities.


Price and tax wise, Manhattan or New Lenox would be your best bet!

[s1nsp4wn]

Originally Posted by CGab

Tinley Park and Frankfort will have the highest property taxes (especially in the Will County part of town). Both towns are not too accepting of minorities.

Curious, what examples can support this info? I know quite a few minorities in Tinley who report no real issue.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by s1nsp4wn

Thanks Chet. And I fully agree. The "problem" will never totally go away and I don't expect it to. Seeing as how I can't control people, it's not worth losing sleep over. That said, my wife and I go to the Frankfort outdoor market every Sunday and we have friends and family out there as well (definitely more well off than me), but I find their taxes to be the biggest detriment to me. Still though, thanks for sharing as a few of those homes I never saw before.

Hypothetically, if I took Frankfort off the table...what would you/anyone suggest as a secondary?

... on paper I think I would have to say New Lenox is a good second choice BUT I suspect that you are really in a situation where factors like your own family and job situation MIGHT be worth using to weigh your decision too. If you have friends in the area and want to be close to them that is something valuable to you / your kids and I won't disagree that the VALUE of having family nearby is HUGE...

The thing too is that although I do talk to LOTS of my friends that are in real estate AS WELL AS lots of friends that are still teachers there are all kinds of factors that are HURTING basically every part of Illinois.
You may know that I am big supporter of buying "the most affordable house in the nicest town". By that measure it might sense to buy a tiny home in LaGrange or Countryside and fix it up. Heck if you could find even a rundown home in the portions of Westmont, Darien or Wilowbrook served by Hinsdale D86 I would generally say that is great value BUT the trends of buyers AT ALL PRICE LEVELS being spooked by the likelihood of taxes increasing until Mike Madigan dies is hurting most communities in the region. It is not just hyperbole! There was a nice uptick in closing after the elections but now many communities are seeing new inventory and growing market time. Sure, some of it might be blamed on rising interest rates, but with lots of deals under 4% that is still TERRIFIC long term rates, the kind of thing that buyers would have killed for a few years back... I guess you can say that the cold wet spring is hurting things too, but with so many buyers using online photos over "open houses" to screen homes that excuse is a stretch...

I don't want to scare the OP or anybody else, I do think for most people like the OP buying makes lots more sense than renting. I also know that some sub-markets are quite "hot" and that has as much to do with tiny shifts in demographics as anything, but overall there are more and more "close calls" and fewer and fewer areas that are totally immune from the stupidity of Illinois legislators that continue to pretend that taxes are not squeezing people out of homes...

[CGab]

Originally Posted by s1nsp4wn

Curious, what examples can support this info? I know quite a few minorities in Tinley who report no real issue.

https://www.city-data.com/city/Tinley-Park-Illinois.html


I have relatives and friends who live there and I grew up near by so I know the area well. Tinley is infamous for trying to keep minorities out! Will you have an issue there? Probably not. But neighbors might not be as friendly, your kids might not have as many friends. You asked for the truth!


I personally don't know too much about Manhattan except that the homes and taxes are cheaper, but there's only 1% of a black population there.


https://www.city-data.com/city/Manhattan-Illinois.html

[s1nsp4wn]

Understood. But I don't necessarily equate demographic numbers to racial fear-tactics so to speak. Example: I currently own in Worth (though I have Palos schools thankfully) and it's about 2.5% Black. That said my kids and I have had no trouble. Contrast that with Chicago which is 30% Black and supposedly a melting pot. I've been called derogatory names in Chicago (like shouted via car) more than any suburb. A lot of times by another black person. Sadly I can remember which suburb and when.

So are ignorant people escapable? Nope. But that doesn't mean I don't wanna position myself and my family in the best situation I can afford.

[CGab]

Originally Posted by s1nsp4wn

Understood. But I don't necessarily equate demographic numbers to racial fear-tactics so to speak. Example: I currently own in Worth (though I have Palos schools thankfully) and it's about 2.5% Black. That said my kids and I have had no trouble. Contrast that with Chicago which is 30% Black and supposedly a melting pot. I've been called derogatory names in Chicago (like shouted via car) more than any suburb. A lot of times by another black person. Sadly I can remember which suburb and when.

So are ignorant people escapable? Nope. But that doesn't mean I don't wanna position myself and my family in the best situation I can afford.

Agreed! Good luck with your search!

[s1nsp4wn]

Originally Posted by chet everett

...BUT the trends of buyers AT ALL PRICE LEVELS being spooked by the likelihood of taxes increasing until Mike Madigan dies is hurting most communities in the region.

It is indeed a concern. Those are all valid points. I would say that you've put Frankfort back on the map for me Chet, but those taxes hurt.

Without getting too far into it, I'm definitely not the 'victim' type and realize when I'm being screwed by politicians living in gated communities and well-to-do towns. That said, those are the points that scare me off of Frankfort and New Lenox (and the whole embezzlement and LWN thing). Ultimately I'll have to suck it up and pay one of them cus awesome school districts are certainly not cheap.

My wife hates cookiecutter homes and for my price range, that can be problematic in New Lenox. I'm less against cookie-cutter than her, but I fully intend to honor her wishes as a full time SAHM. We were drawn to Manhattan due to the fact that we've found a slew of 2000+ sq ft homes for under 270K, but no offense to anyone who lives out there, I don't see enough industry and convenience out there for me to be willing to put up with a 3 hour commute round trip to downtown Chicago. Not to mention having to go all the way to New Lenox for a hospital (Silver Cross) and just about everything else if not Joliet.