Southwest suburb apartment living (Naperville, Palatine: sales, coupon, to rent)

[awestover89]

I am getting married early next year, and my fiance and I are looking for someplace to live that is near equal commute for both of us. I work in Crown Point, IN and my fiance works in Palatine IL. Looking at the maps, Alsip area is about perfectly centered but we are not certain and are looking at several suburbs around that area.

We have no plans of children, so school districts are not a concern, and are looking to rent an apartment, not buy a house. We'd prefer something relatively nice, but not necessarily luxury, with easy access to stores, restaurants, etc.

We have heard bad things about the cost of living in Cook and Will counties, high taxes leading to higher than normal gas prices and grocery costs, is this the case? Right now my fiance lives in Crystal Lake in McHenry county, and crossing the border into Cook county usually does have gas prices jump by about 20-30 cents.

Some of the areas we are considering include Alsip, Worth, Frankfort, Downers Grove, Willowbrook, Orland Park. Downers Grove and Willowbrook look nice but are quite a bit more of a commute for me than my fiance. We are looking for a 2 br in the range of about 1000 a month.

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Originally Posted by awestover89

I am getting married early next year, and my fiance and I are looking for someplace to live that is near equal commute for both of us. I work in Crown Point, IN and my fiance works in Palatine IL. Looking at the maps, Alsip area is about perfectly centered but we are not certain and are looking at several suburbs around that area.

We have no plans of children, so school districts are not a concern, and are looking to rent an apartment, not buy a house. We'd prefer something relatively nice, but not necessarily luxury, with easy access to stores, restaurants, etc.

We have heard bad things about the cost of living in Cook and Will counties, high taxes leading to higher than normal gas prices and grocery costs, is this the case? Right now my fiance lives in Crystal Lake in McHenry county, and crossing the border into Cook county usually does have gas prices jump by about 20-30 cents.

Some of the areas we are considering include Alsip, Worth, Frankfort, Downers Grove, Willowbrook, Orland Park. Downers Grove and Willowbrook look nice but are quite a bit more of a commute for me than my fiance. We are looking for a 2 br in the range of about 1000 a month.

Why not check out Homewood, Tinley, Orland , Oak Forest
all good areas close to expressways and mass tranit , shopping,

[mattywo85]

The closer to the city you are the more expensive it is. If you are looking the SW you can check out Orland Park/Tinley Park area or more west try the Naperville/Bolingbrook area.

[awestover89]

Originally Posted by mattywo85

The closer to the city you are the more expensive it is. If you are looking the SW you can check out Orland Park/Tinley Park area or more west try the Naperville/Bolingbrook area.

Originally Posted by sunnyandcloudydays

Why not check out Homewood, Tinley, Orland , Oak Forest
all good areas close to expressways and mass tranit , shopping,

Tinley and Orland Park both look like they have a few nice places and is a decent middle ground for both of our commutes. I'll definitely look more into these areas

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Crown point would not be that bad of a drive from tinley park assuming since you live close you know that part of tinley is in cook and a small portion in will county , not sure what apt would be available in that portion of will
groceries being more money -no i am basing this info on my wife because she is a major coupon clipper and shops in cook county and will county and sometimes even goes to indiana for the sales but the food prices are not different in my opinion. property tax yes illinois is more but cook for the most average house appears to be lower than majority of will co.

i just dont think the cost of living in illinois is bad - comared to metros of the same size

[Petera]

I don't know about commute from Crown Port, but driving from Tinley Park to Palatine is about 1.5 - 2 hours, depends on traffic.
P.S. Don't move to Alsip, it's pretty boring village and Robbince (hmm.. not good place) is close.