Working in Hoffman Estates - Family should live where? (Chicago: section 8, houses)

[DecisionTime]

Hi! My husband just accepted a position working in Hoffman Estates. We will be relocating from Philadelphia suburbs. We have 4 children ranging in age from baby to grade 6. We are looking for a house in the $400K - $525k range. We are concerned about both Schools and Resale value. We are coming from a town of appr 50,000 with its own school district and A+ schools. Academics and athletics are key. My son plays soccer and la cross. We want to get into a family community where it will be easy to establish friendships (we don't know a soul in all of IL) and be part of the community. We have heard about Huntley and Lake in the Hills as being possible candidates. I haven't seen much posted about either. Is Huntley growing too quickly to have a strong academic program at the HS? Any suggestions/thoughts. We want a fairly short commute - appr. 30 minutes or less. P.S. Also interested in knowing how schools are funded in IL... Your thoughts are appreciated. THANKS!

[nanannie]

I would suggest Arlington Heights or Barrington. Good sought after family towns,good schools,great park dist/athletic programs,easy commute to H.Estates and metra lines to Chicago. Huntley and Lake in the Hills, are cookie cutter sub division and strip mall explosions.Maybe thats ok for you,but the commute would be longer. The growth has been so rapid that the schools are pretty crowded.

[DecisionTime]

How about Geneva? Is this too far?

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by DecisionTime

How about Geneva? Is this too far?

FO-GETTABOU-IT! There is just plain old two lane everywhere trying to service exploding communities. The traffic is absolutley horrendous during rush hour. The person who suggested Arlington Heights and that area is right. You can just hop on the 90 and shoot right over to Hoffman Estates. Better yet, why not just live in H.E.? H.E. is very nice.

[DecisionTime]

I heard the H.E. is very commercial - a lot of business, with residential areas sprouting around it.....true? We want a community, small-town feel.

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by DecisionTime

I heard the H.E. is very commercial - a lot of business, with residential areas sprouting around it.....true? We want a community, small-town feel.

Hoffman Estates is a mix bag of everything really. You may want to consider Algonquin or as someone else said, Arlington Heights. Both are very nice towns. A.H. is a HUGE town, but surprisingly has a small town feel to it's neighborhoods. A.H. is also an older town with most of it's homes being from the 1960's and 70's, but residents have some pretty good pride in their homes in that area and the houses are in good shape.

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by DecisionTime

I heard the H.E. is very commercial - a lot of business, with residential areas sprouting around it.....true? We want a community, small-town feel.

Yes it is,you heard right. Nice place to work,but my Arlington Hts,Barrington ideas are worth looking into. The downtown of Algonquin is 'small town' feel but those cookie cutter sub-divisions and strip malls are there and it will be a longer commute for you,depends where work is in HE. You might also check out Palatine. Another nice downtown with metra line and good schools. Some small pockets of section 8 housing along Hicks and Rt 12 (Rand rd),but other then that, great community that fits your requests.

[DecisionTime]

Thanks all for your opinions - this really helps. Having never been to Chicago, other than for an in-and-out business trip, this board is so very helpful.

[nanannie]

Good luck to you and welcome to Illinois. Hope you find "home"

[mendelman]

I would echo Arlington Heights. Hoffman Estates is Ok for living, but there is no real center (and it is not "commerical with houses around - that is Schaumburg).

Arlington Heights is also better than Barrington, becuase it is much larger and better located for access to nearby shopping (any store you can think of), amenities (great parks and has two huge forest preserves at either end), and has a nice urban small downtown area and great older house neighorhoods.

In your price range you could easily find something pretty nice within 1-2 miles of downtown Arlington Heights (which is really the best part of Arlington Heights).