Park Ridge vs. Mount Prospect/Arlington Heights (Chicago, Washington: for sale, income)

[nwsubsearch]

Hi Everyone,

My wife and I have been looking at houses now for several months in Park Ridge. We picked Park Ridge as a place to look for all the reasons that have been mentioned in several previous posts here: good schools, proximity to Chicago/294/North and NW suburbs, public transportation options (Metra/blue line) and charming downtown area with older homes. However, we have not had a lot of luck finding anything (even a fixer-upper) in our price range (450-550). We knew going in that Park Ridge was on the expensive side, but I'm beginning to wonder if the town is simply overhyped/overpriced.

Consider the following comparisons with Mt Prospect and Arlington Heights:

- Mt Prospect and Arlington Heights are are only 7-8 miles NW from Park Ridge and are really not that much further from Chicago. The Metra ride would be about 12-15 minutes longer to downtown on a local train. The drive would be a bit tougher because of the bottlenecks at the Devon toll plaza, but it seems that this could be avoided by simply taking NW highway.

- According to the Interactive Illinois Report Card (Interactive Illinois Report Card), the elementary schools near the Mt. Prospect and Arlington Heights downtowns (Lions Park, Fairview, Dryden, Windsor) score as good as or better than (especially in the case of Dryden) their equivalents in Park Ridge (Roosevelt, Washington, Field). Prospect High, which covers the same downtown areas in Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect, scores exactly the same as Maine South in Park Ridge.

- Mt Prospect and Arlington Heights are somewhat further away from the airport noise at O'Hare and if I understand the modernization plan for the runways correctly, both towns will see even further reductions in overflights in the future (O'Hare International Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Park Ridge, on the other hand, is already very noisy and will be getting even more flights with the building of the new north runway that runs east-west along Touhy.

On the more subjective side of things, the downtowns for Mt. Prospect and Arlington Heights do not seem as nice as Park Ridge -- in terms of restaurants to choose from, pedestrian-friendliness, architecture; but, they are also not bad. And there is the snob factor coming from the higher median family-income and higher number of professionals/graduate degree holders in Park Ridge (but not that much more on average). However, does this justify the roughly 200K difference in average sale prices between Park Ridge and these other two towns (Park Ridge=631K; Mt Prospect=389K; Arlington Heights=465K -- see Freeze Frame - Chicago Magazine - October 2007 - Chicago

Could someone help me understand the disconnect here? Is the convenience of being just that much closer to Chicago (despite all other things being equal) really worth a 200K premium? It seems that buying something in the country club/lions park area in Mt Prospect or Scarsdale in Arlington Heights would give you much more house for your money. Thoughts?

[mendelman]

Originally Posted by nwsubsearch

Could someone help me understand the disconnect here? Is the convenience of being just that much closer to Chicago (despite all other things being equal) really worth a 200K premium? It seems that buying something in the country club/lions park area in Mt Prospect or Scarsdale in Arlington Heights would give you much more house for your money. Thoughts?

No, I don't think the 200K premium is worth it. Understand that I have limited experience with Park Ridge, but I have extensive experience with Arlington Heights and to a lesser extent Mount Prospect. For your price range, you could find a nice sized fixer-upper within 1/2 mile of downtown Arlington Heights or probably one that just needs comestic work. Downtown AH is much larger and diverse than MP's and Arlington Heights gives you a ton of access to all the shopping and recreation you could want.

If you are amenable to 2nd ring suburban living, than Arlington Heights is the place for you.

Good Luck.

[tc60068]

I have lived in Park Ridge for 16 years and I really like it. You mentioned the commute time to the city- in a car in rush hour- Arlington Heights or Mount Prospect can be another 45 minutes-hour in traffic. Park Ridge has been a great place to raise kids. The sports programs are great, the park district offers all kinds of programs, the schools are very good. My son is at Carpenter school right now and I am VERY pleased with his education. My daughter is at Maine South and that also I am very happy with. There are lot of houses in town for sale right now.It really is a buyer's market. I actually have my house for sale as a teardown and I plan on moving to another place in Park Ridge. So I like it so much I plan on staying. There are alot of organizations in town - it feels like a small town - I think more than Arlington Heights would. You can get involved in all kinds of things with your kids, which I liked. People who were raised here tend to come back here which is also a good sign. Good luck finding the right house!