Recommendations for relo? (Chicago, Homewood, Hinsdale: house, schools, property taxes)

[sloroag]

I just received a job offer from a firm in south Chicagoland (Glenwood, IL) and my wife & 12 month old daughter and I will be moving down south (from Minneapolis, MN).

We know very little about the Chicago suburbs... This forums looks like it might be helpful, however I'd like to ask a few questions.

- Should we consider living in Indiana & commuting to Glenwood, IL?
- Any recommendations on Chicagoland suburbs that we should consider?
- Any online resources that you recommend to help us with our investigation?
- Are there any Mandarin immersion schools that we can enroll our daughter in?

Thanks!

[chet everett]

Interesting dilemma.

Glenwood is a southern suburb, and an older one with some rundown areas at that. I suspect the job might be in one of the industrial areas that are closer to the expressway, still might not be great to commute from Indiana both for distance / congestion issues as well as relative lackmof Chinese offerings.

Frankly if are serious about top priority being a Mandarine immersion program the only k-12 offering in the whole broad area is in Barrington,which is really too far to commute to Glenwood...

If you are looking for a newer suburb maybe someplace like Frankfort or Mokena makes sense.

If you want a more established town with affluent neighbors and top tier schools maybe someplace Hinsdale makes sense.

We need more info about budget / desirable traits.

[knighthood82]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Interesting dilemma.

Glenwood is a southern suburb, and an older one with some rundown areas at that. I suspect the job might be in one of the industrial areas that are closer to the expressway, still might not be great to commute from Indiana both for distance / congestion issues as well as relative lackmof Chinese offerings.

Frankly if are serious about top priority being a Mandarine immersion program the only k-12 offering in the whole broad area is in Barrington,which is really too far to commute to Glenwood...

If you are looking for a newer suburb maybe someplace like Frankfort or Mokena makes sense.

If you want a more established town with affluent neighbors and top tier schools maybe someplace Hinsdale makes sense.

We need more info about budget / desirable traits.

Northwest Indiana to Glenwood would actually be a pretty easy commute. I can usually make it from my house to Glenwood in about 15-20 minutes no problem. Some towns you may want to check out include Dyer, Munster, Schererville and St. John. You would save a considerable amount in property taxes in these towns vs. a comparable home in Frankfort or Mokena and the schools are fine. Here is an article about a Chinese language program in Munster that may interest you: http://www.thesteeplegallery.com/pdfs/2008feb7_cp06.pdf

[Vlajos]

If you like the smell of steel mills NW Indiana will be perfect.

[knighthood82]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

If you like the smell of steel mills NW Indiana will be perfect.

Haha, get real buddy. Maybe if you lived in industrial East Chicago or Gary but none of towns I mentioned If you like being taxed to death and live in a broke, deadbeat state then Illinois will be perfect

[urza216]

State Street in Chicago heights rolls right into Glenwood. There are several steel mills still open just outside of Glenwood on State Street. Some closed down ones too. Glenwood is A LOT closer to a large industrial area than any of the towns in Indiana that have been recomended.

There are no run down areas in Glenwood though. That's just the cliche statement people like to advise in why you shouldn't move to ANY south suburb east of I-57.

I'd suggest Homewood. It's a very nice community and is even closer to Glenwood than anywhere in NWI.