Looking for nice suburb South of Chicago (New job in Calumet City) (Orland Park: to rent)

[johnjohn11]

My family may be potentially relocating to Chicago at the end of the year. We're in the process of looking for a place in one of the southern suburbs. I've browsed a lot of the forums on areas sout of the city and it seems like there are a few that stand out: Tinley Park, Orland Park, Homewood, and Flossmoor. I've scoured various sites looking at the data for each. Now I really just want some "on the ground" observations of the pros and cons for all of them. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Here are the things we are looking for:

1. Great schools
We have a 2-year old and this is probably a permanent move, so we want a great public school district.

2. Great family activities
A place relatively close to parks and other places for family-friendly fun.

3. Diverse community
This may be hard to find in some suburbs, but we really like the diversity of our current city and would like to experience that after we move to the Chicago-area.

4. Easy commute to Calumet City
I believe I'll be traveling on the 94 for a part of the commute and wasn't sure when traffic headed into Chicago backed up. Hopefully I miss it alltogether.

We'd like to rent a home in the area first and are willing to pay up to $1600 in rent. Otherwise, we may consider purchasing a home if we are comfortable the area suits all our needs. So we're looking at the $200,000-250,000 range on a home.

Any help you might be able to provide would be greatly appreciated. We look forward to our move and like to get a head start on brainstorming areas to look at for our transition.

[urza216]

Cal City borders Indiana so chet is right. I just moved to a condo in Flossmoor. But this is far from your only option. Cal City is very east so your sights seem narrow if you are looking at 2 southwest burbs out of a total of 4 burbs. Highland, IN. Maybe even look into Crete in Will County. Cal City is right up the road on 394. It's not a bad commute at all. The towns you are already looking at are good too. But honestly, I'd suggest taking a look around Lansing and at least giving it a chance. Lansing ain't too bad either. For diversity, Lansing, Homewood and Flossmoor make the most sense..

[johnjohn11]

Okay great. Didn't quite think about Northwest Indiana. Although I heard Munster was a viable option in the Hoosier State. I've seen some red flags on Hammond though. I'll try to post something over in Indiana forum as a follow up. Thanks for the suggestions.

[chet everett]

Munster is surprisingly pleasant. The obvious care that most folks take maintaining their homes, high participation rate in things like youth sports, school activities and community events are all very good signs for long term stability

[urza216]

Originally Posted by johnjohn11

Okay great. Didn't quite think about Northwest Indiana. Although I heard Munster was a viable option in the Hoosier State. I've seen some red flags on Hammond though. I'll try to post something over in Indiana forum as a follow up. Thanks for the suggestions.

umm.. Well, no one recommended Hammond. No one has prabobly told you to "just move to Calumet City" either, am I right?

If you're open to living in Hammond, you might as well start looking around in Cal City too..

[johnjohn11]

I'm not open to living in Hammond. Like I said, a lot of red flags and was never really an option. Indiana wasn't really on the radar because I really didn't want to deal with tax issues (although there is some slight reciprocity between the states). Visited Cal City on a trip up. Wasn't very impressed at all and some in forums don't have great things to say about it. Not sure there are as many parks there as the other locations we've been looking at. Besides, distance isn't really a MAJOR issue since I'm not driving into Chicago and I am assuming that's where I'd hit the most traffic. I don't mind a 30 or so mile commute to Cal City (beats the 1.5 hour commute to West Los Angeles). so living in a nice suburb and commuting to Cal City certainly isn't an issue. Again, thanks for all the advice.

[supportyourschools]

If your children are going to attend public schools, then I would look into Homewood, Flossmoor, Orland Park/Orland Hills or Tinley Park, with Tinley Park being the least diverse on the list. Lansing is a decent town, but their schools aren't as good as the previous suburbs. Munster is nice with good schools, but also not as diverse. Cal City is a definite NO.

[dude1984]

Orland Park and Tinley Park are nice. Frankfort is also pretty good.