What Suburb for me? (Chicago, Evanston: house, buy, school)

[Dusty8940]

I am considering a relocation to the Chicago area. I own a flooring business, so I would be relocating that as well. I am interested in some areas that I could start exploring. Here is what I would need in a location. First, somewhere I can buy a single family home with a 2 car garage for $300,000 or less. Size does not matter. Then I would like the location to be somewhat central. Finally, I would like to be walking distance to an el train station, so I can easily go into the city for dinner, bars, cubs games etc.

I have visited friends in the area several times and really liked Evanston. It seemed very close to the city, and from the little bit of searching I have done you can find a small house for $300,000. However, it does not seem very central. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[chirack]

There are a lot of burbs that fit the description.

If you need CTA EL access that limits you to some near burbs like Evanston, Skokie, Forrest Park, Oak Park and burbs near the Orange and O’hare part of the blue line.

If you use METRA (our commuter rail) then there are dozens of places that fit your bill. If you need to drive around Chicago itself then you might need to pick a side of town cause it can take an hour just to drive across town from north to south in rush hour traffic and 30 mins from downtown to the nearest burb(Oak Park).

The trouble is this area is large and you do not want to be somewhat central better to be near work/school or whatever. The near west burbs are more central and are quicker into the city but that is in general(i.e. it is still a hual from the near west burbs to the far north side/ far south side or north\south burbs).

My suggestion is to figure out where you want to locate your flooring business and work from there.

[Dusty8940]

Thanks a lot for the reply. My business is more service oriented and I do not intend to have a store front. So my location will pretty much come down to the area I want to be in. I had a feeling that trying to service all of the city and surrounding suburbs may be a stretch. That reaspose has basically answered many of my questions. I think I may just try to get in the Evanston area and try to service th Northern part of the city and the north shore. This would probably save me a lot of driving. Plus I have to assume with the high incomes in this area that their would be a lot of work for me.. Thanks again