West and South Suburbs (Chicago, Elgin: new house, established neighborhood, buying)

[wailand]

Considering a move to Metro Chicago. Job would be in Hoffman Estates. We know we cannot afford that immediate area. Looking for recommendations for nice, established neighborhoods within a half hour drive. Houses in the 150,000 to 200,000 range. Any suggestions?????? Thanks from Detroit.

[cokekiller]

Just look on the map around Hoffman Estates. It is solid suburbia out there. There are subdivisions in Hoffman Estates, Elgin, Barrington, Schaumburg, Streamwood ect...tht run the whole price range from yours to 1+ million. In your price range you are probably going to have to use a little shoe leather and find some diamonds in the rough, but they are definately out there...Look on realtor.com and search by zip code/ city and filter it with your price range. Look at the realtors that have multiple listings in the cities you look at. You want realtors that specialize in that area. Call em up and have them be your buyers agent. They will instantly know where the best house in that range are....

sorry there isn't a better answer, but I find that buying a new house, most of the fun is in the search and fixing it up. Its boring when its all done :-)

[margie]

In addition to cokekiller... I grew up in Hoffman, my family sold our home last summer. You can definately find something for under $200K. Great schools in the Hoffman/Schaumburg area. I live in Streamwood, just west and a little south of HE. Homes are a little more affordable here. $150K would get you a small, 30-40 year old home, maybe. Depends what you want. The further east and north you go the more expensive. Although west, like Algonquin and Crystal Lake, are getting high also. Best bet is to drive a bit to see where you might want to be and find a realtor. Don't pass up the for-sale-by-owner homes. At any rate, good luck!