Alternatives to Oak Park (Chicago, Naperville: real estate, houses, neighborhoods)

[ShowGal]

I'm hoping some people have some suggestions for us. We fell in love with Oak Park while looking at wedding venues and have been looking for a home there for the past year and a half. I guess you could say we're being pretty selective and have a somewhat needy, but not insane want list. Recently we've discussed abandoning our search because we don't want to be paying $12-15K in property taxes if we don't have kids (we're in our late 30s), and thus don't take advantage of the OP school system. We're pretty familiar with the NW suburbs (along Rt 14), but where else should we be looking?

Here's our wish list:

walkable (< a mile) to a "downtown" type area with restaurants/grocery store
walkable (< 15 min) to a train station for commuting downtown with less than 45 min ride
less than 45 minute commute to Rosemont
less than $550K for a single family home
bungalow or American foursquare
mature neighborhood like OP
at least a 2 car garage
outdoor space (patio, deck, space for a grill...)

[ToriaT]

Places that have bungalows or American foursquares in walkable, mature neighborhoods are going to be places such as Oak Park, Elmwood Park, Berwyn, NW side of Chicago, possibly Park Ridge, Riverside, Forest Park, you will probably find one or the other kind of housing in the older towns of Du Page county too such as Naperville, Wheaton and Glen Elllyn. For example there are a number of Foursquares here in Wheaton but only a few bungalows. Possibly some in North Shore towns too such as Wilmette if you look for them in the town centers. On a good day you might be able to get to Rosemont from most of the areas mentioned in forty five min. but it would most likely be an hour in rush hour, could be more on bad days. Most areas I mentioned are forty five min to Chicago by train or less.

[chet everett]

In addition to places like Forest Park & Elmwood Park that I do not generally recommend because of issues with the schools I would add Berwyn and Brookfield which do have better schools but are still good value priced towns.

I would also look NW to Desplaines, Wheeling, Palatine and Arlington Heights. With a ceiling of $550k or so you ought to find some pretty good options that are near the most walkable parts of each town, easy commute to Rosemont and nice selection of houses in the style you prefer...

Heading out to Woodstock will likely bust your commute to over an hour but it has a picturesque town center and lovely homes to match...

[BigLake]

I'll throw a hat in for Forest Park. It's right next door to OP, housing/taxes are much less expensive, but you still get access to el lines and Metra... and Oak Park. Frankly, I think Forest Park's downtown is funkier/more fun than OPs. There are actual "bars" in Forest Park as well (literally hundreds of thousands of them on Madison St.). It is quite a bit more "worn" than OP, but it has decent housing stock and it's near everything.

I'm not as big a fan of Berwyn, which is just to the south of OP.

[Lookout Kid]

There are literally dozens of towns along Metra routes that meet these criteria, but the Rosemont commute is something I haven't tried. Perhaps you could look at:

With good schools and higher prices:
La Grange
La Grange Park (Harding Woods Neighborhood)
Western Springs
Park Ridge
Riverside
Arlington Heights (near downtown)
Elmhurst

With questionable schools and lower prices:
Des Plaines
Palatine
South Berwyn
Forest Park

Or, in the city:
Old Irving Park
Norwood Park


Naperville, Wheaton, and Glen Ellyn also have what you are asking for, but I worry about the commute to Rosemont from any of those. But like I said, I don't have experience with this. It seems like sticking close to I-90 or I-294 would be your best bet.

Keep in mind that having good schools also helps with your property values even if you don't need them for your own family.

[Hatchetman]

Well if you want Oak Park.......look in 1)Galewood just north of North between Oak Park Ave and Harlem and 2) Elmwood Park, near North and Harlem. That is the closest thing to Oak Park, without actually being in Oak Park.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

There are literally dozens of towns along Metra routes that meet these criteria, but the Rosemont commute is something I haven't tried. Perhaps you could look at:

With good schools and higher prices:
La Grange
La Grange Park (Harding Woods Neighborhood)
Western Springs
Park Ridge
Riverside
Arlington Heights (near downtown)
Elmhurst

With questionable schools and lower prices:
Des Plaines
Palatine
South Berwyn
Forest Park

Or, in the city:
Old Irving Park
Norwood Park


Naperville, Wheaton, and Glen Ellyn also have what you are asking for, but I worry about the commute to Rosemont from any of those. But like I said, I don't have experience with this. It seems like sticking close to I-90 or I-294 would be your best bet.

Keep in mind that having good schools also helps with your property values even if you don't need them for your own family.

Not a bad list; but I would not consider Palatine Schools "questionable". Why do you?

[linicx]

You might look next door at River Forest. OP/RF share a high school and other things.

The last place I would live is in a town with a reputation of having "literally hundreds of thousands of them (bars)" -- espeically if I was thinking of a future family.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

Not a bad list; but I would not consider Palatine Schools "questionable". Why do you?

Yeah, I guess I'd call them more of a "mixed bag" with some good and some questionable. Fremd is a great high school, but Palatine High School is a bit borderline, but certainly not a "failing school" by any means. So I guess it depends on where you live in Palatine. Elementaries are mixed.

Also, some in Arlington Heights have issues with Rolling Meadows High School, and real estate prices seem to track higher in the Prospect and Hersey High School attendance areas. Others may have no problem with RMHS.

[cubssoxfan]

I compared Riverside Brookfield with Palatine and then stopped............Palatine had better test scores comparing white and Asian students. When comparing with a school that is primarily white or white & Asian, I always compare similar sub groups when the high school has a less homogenous student mix.
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