Narrowing down our search (Chicago, Palatine: lease, house, to buy)

[copelscope]

Hi everyone . My family has been in the Chicago burbs for about 18mo renting, and we plan to buy a home in the spring (our lease is up in June, but for the right house we would happily close late April/early May and finish the school year in our current district).

Currently we are in western Rolling Meadows (in Fremd district), but hubby works in Glenview. His office will be moving to Northfield next summer, and we would like to cut his commute down a bit from the current 45min-hr with traffic (we would be ok with shaving off 10-15min, but prefer more). My work isn't too much of an issue, but I would prefer easy access from the city (I run a photography business, and 90% of my clients come up from the city)-- it's not a deal breaker though.

We have 4 kids ages 2-8, and a good school track is important-- doesn't have to be a top elementary or high school, but needs to be consistently decent (we do have a child with an IEP if that factors in).

Our budget will be around $425 (prefer a 2 story, 2700+sqft), but obviously would prefer less . Ideally we would find a 5BDR, but we would make 4 work as well. If only 4 bed, finished basement is a must-have.

We do like the Palatine area, but it wouldn't shorten the commute (and we don't want Palatine HS by going north a bit to get the commute shaved a hair). Wheeling would be fine as far as the housing inventory looks, but not sure what areas would feed into a good school vs a ho-hum or substandard school since I've seen very mixed things about the area schools. Ideally we would be in AH, Glenview, etc, but not sure how realistic it is with our budget. We are more than happy to purchase a home that needs improvements/updating (everything needs to be safe and functional, but an ugly kitchen or old carpet wouldn't be a big deal as long as the floor plan and bones are good).

I appreciate any insights or advice offered . We are here for the long-term (prior military family), ready to put down roots, and it would be great to finally have some permanence for the kids and find a sense of community



If something doesn't make sense, I blame autocorrect.

[copelscope]

We are open to Lake county as well, as long as the property tax/commute aren't unrealistic (taxes over 13k)
(Sorry, it wouldn't let me edit to add)


If something doesn't make sense, I blame autocorrect.