Picking a suburb to buy a home (Chicago, Arlington Heights: 2014, apartment)

[awestover89]

My husband and I are starting to look at homes. Our apartment lease is up in May, and we will most likely be looking for a house either for May 2013 or May 2014. The main problem is that we don't even have a suburb picked yet, so actually looking at houses is but a pipe dream. Some of the crucial points:

My husband works in Palatine, usually night shift, but his schedule changes. The commute to Palatine cannot be horrible, preferably under 20-30 minutes. We are not really into "night life", so that is not important.

We do not have kids and won't be having kids, so school zones are not an issue for us. Still, a good school zone would be useful for resale, but since that can very well change before we move, it is not too important.

Safety/crime rate is very important. I do not want to pay for a house just to not feel safe living there.

Budget and property tax is very important. Under 200K would be ideal, over 300K is starting to get unrealistic. I know that in the Chicago suburbs this is a hard number to reach, and if necessary we will wait a few years to get a better budget, but we would prefer to find something in this range.

Preference is a 3-4 bedroom, single family home with 2-2.5 bathrooms, 1500 sq ft or more. Our current apartment is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1400 sqft. and we don't want to downgrade.

I work in Northwest Indiana, but most of my time is spent working from home. Commute is no issue for me since I rarely make it.

We lived in Crystal Lake before, and now live in Glendale Heights.

So, city-data peeps, any suburb suggestions? Any information regarding property tax rates for different suburbs?

[divakat]

I would look into some of the towns in McHenry County. Less expensive homes in areas like Crystal Lake for example, and your hubby's commute would likely be 30 minutes to Palatine.

[cubssoxfan]

A smaller home in Arlington Heights. The Arlington Vista neighborhood perhaps. It is off Palatine Rd., between I-294 and Rte 53 giving you good access to getting into. it is also very convenient to husbands job. Maybe Mt. Prospect or Rolling Meadows. Although if you get too far from palatine Rd, your next entrance to I-294 south is off of Rand just south of Dempster. Staying about 30 minutes or less for husbands job and close to I-294 for your trip to NW Indiana should be priorities. Maybe Des Plaines. Housing is less because the schools aren't as highly rated as other nearby NW suburbs. McHenry County is not a good choice. Waay too much extra time commuting for you to NW Indiana and also unnecessarily far from husbands job in Palatine. If you want a more country feel, look into Lake Zurich or Wauconda. Closer to palatine, but again you are adding an extra 30 minutes to your occasional commute to NW Indiana.