Hoffman Estates? (Elgin, Palatine, Buffalo Grove: job, new home, crime)

[rgm]

Hi,

We are new to chicago area. We are looking to buy a new home in chicago suburbs. our range is around 425K. My husband works in deerfield. I don't know my work place yet as i have to find a new job. mostly it will be in northwest suburbs or downtown. We have seen new homes in hoffman estates in Becon pointe subdivision. This is located just off the I-90 on shoe factory rd. The schools district comes under elgin schools. Our son is 1 year old so we have lot of time to think about schools. But we do need to think about the resale value. I want to know how the area will be in general, the crime rate. or are there any other suburbs u recommend in our price range.

Thanks

[sbd78]

The area you are talking about has a lot of nice new homes going up, however schools might be a problem. Elgin (District U-46) is not very good. Elgin High and Larkin High have bad reps. I'm not sure what elementary schools would be served by that area, these may be better than the high schools, I don't know. A good resource to look up the school stats are GreatSchools.net Hoffman Estates has a good school district, but the area you are talking about doesn't fall in Hoffman Estate's schools.

[BUalumni]

Stay far away from Elgin schools! Hoffman Estates is a great choice, but in this case, the schools are the real issue. With that kind of price range, you should be able to find other areas that offer the same lifestyle, with far better schools.

[mendelman]

Go with the portion of Hoffman Estates north of I-90 and east of Barrington Rd. Older houses, but the demand is strong schools are good and there is a giant forest preserve on the south of Algonquin Rd.

My wife's cousin and his family live in the Charlemagne neighborhood and really like it. It consists of mid-size houses (3-4 bd, 2+ baths) built in the early to mid 1980s. Your price range may get you one of the smaller houses or you could go a couple streets east or west and get slightly smaller house, but still have all the nice amenities.

[tcs1366]

if your husband is going to be working in Deerfield, why not look up "north"?

Hoffman is quite a drive to Deerfield, and I90 is the only route... that's an hour ++ in rush hour.

if you go north, say Gurnee or so... that would be a much better commute.

I live closer to Hoffman, so i can't tell you much about Lake County or norther Cook ... but i can tell you about traffic. it stinks.

i wouldn't look in the farNW 'burbs ... look up 290/94 on the map and check out some of those areas.... just not too far east, or you will be out of your price range pretty quickly... the North Shore is pretty costly.

[Windy City John]

Hoffman Estate sounds logical..... Crystal Lake if you want country

[tcs1366]

Originally Posted by tcs1366

i wouldn't look in the farNW 'burbs ... look up 290/94 on the map and check out some of those areas....

that should be 294 or 94 not 290

and i mapquested the basic route, not knowing where in HE or Deerfield, and mapquest did not choose the highway route, but local roads, and even at that, it's 32 min NO traffic.

if you checked out Buffalo Grove, Palatine, Prospect Heights or
going north of Deerfield, you have Libertyville, Mundelein area.

some of the other towns up there have pretty hefty price tags on homes.

but again --- I'd use the city-data info on towns to aid in your search. It has pretty detailed info on each city.

and yes, Crystal Lake is nice and more "county like", but you wont make it to Deerfield in 30 min, more closer to an hour.

[nanannie]

Has anyone been to Crystal Lake recently? Where o where is "country"??

[tcs1366]

no kidding nanannie.

seems you've got to go at least to Gilberts to see county.

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by tcs1366

no kidding nanannie.

seems you've got to go at least to Gilberts to see county.

And the notorious sub division/strip mall monster is quickly devouring Gilberts as well