Chicago Northwest Suburbs, need advice!

[middle-aged mom]

Originally Posted by warren2012

Thank you! What about finding a house or renting a house for around 300K/2k a month??

Have you familiarized yourself with property taxes? They tend to shock many who are relocating to the area from out of state.

Your best bang for the housing buck will likely be in Crystal lake, Algonquin or perhaps Cary.

[Paulina001]

I am looking for a good school district in northwest suburbs ... any advice? Bloomingdale , carol stream, roselle, glen ellyn ? any advice ? thanks

[MSchemist80]

I worked in Barrington for a while and most of my coworkers lived in Crystal Lake.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Paulina001

I am looking for a good school district in northwest suburbs ... any advice? Bloomingdale , carol stream, roselle, glen ellyn ? any advice ? thanks

Where is work? If your job is in the extreme NW corner of DuPage Co it might make a big difference in travel times coming from Roselle vs the others.

Glen Ellyn likely is the most costly of the towns, with the perceived value of schools being highest. Depending on where you work you might add Wheaton or other towns to the list for consideration...

[holl1ngsworth]

Originally Posted by Paulina001

I am looking for a good school district in northwest suburbs ... any advice? Bloomingdale , carol stream, roselle, glen ellyn ? any advice ? thanks

Carol Stream and Glen Ellyn are generally considered "Western" suburbs -- Roselle and Bloomingdale kinda toe the line. Are you looking at the Northwest and West? Plenty of good school districts all over the region. Arlington Heights, Mt. Prospect, Inverness and Barrington are traditional "Northwest" towns with great schools.

Glen Ellyn is probably perceived as the "best" out of what you listed.

There are two elementary school districts in Glen Ellyn. CCSD 89 generally serves the portion of the city south of Roosevelt Road, while Glen Ellyn SD 41 serves everything north of Roosevelt. CCSD 89 feeds into Glenbard South High School and SD 41 feeds into Glenbard West.

Of the two, SD 41 and Glenbard West probably get the nod for being more "desirable." Both are exceptional though.

North Glen Ellyn (SD 41) is an area of great affluence and real estate prices are quite high there. If you would like to buy into SD 41 without paying North Glen Ellyn prices, check the areas of Glendale Heights that feed into the district. Just north and just south of North Avenue.

This map might help: http://www.d41.org/images/boundarymap.pdf

[chet everett]

Be careful when shopping as most of Glendale Heights feeds into the considerably less desirable Glenbard North and Glenbard East attendance areas. Similarly the majority of folks in Carol Stream are int he Glenbard North attendance area.

[holl1ngsworth]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Be careful when shopping as most of Glendale Heights feeds into the considerably less desirable Glenbard North and Glenbard East attendance areas. Similarly the majority of folks in Carol Stream are int he Glenbard North attendance area.

Yes, the map delineates the shoppable portions of Glendale Heights.

[Threes-A-Charm]

Originally Posted by holl1ngsworth

Carol Stream and Glen Ellyn are generally considered "Western" suburbs -- Roselle and Bloomingdale kinda toe the line. Are you looking at the Northwest and West? Plenty of good school districts all over the region. Arlington Heights, Mt. Prospect, Inverness and Barrington are traditional "Northwest" towns with great schools.

Glen Ellyn is probably perceived as the "best" out of what you listed.

The schools in Glen Ellyn are perceived better than AH and Palatine? Just checking as I do hear a lot about John Hersey and Wm Fremd and Prospect HS, and Barrington HS. Thoughts?

Thanks

[holl1ngsworth]

Originally Posted by Threes-A-Charm

The schools in Glen Ellyn are perceived better than AH and Palatine? Just checking as I do hear a lot about John Hersey and Wm Fremd and Prospect HS, and Barrington HS. Thoughts?

Thanks

Certainly not.

The question was about the "Northwest" suburbs, but for some reason only schools in Carol Stream, Roselle, Bloomingdale and Glen Ellyn were asked about.

I brought up the Hersey/Fremd/Prospect/Barrington areas because they contain great schools within the traditional Northwest.

For "perceived quality" the nod would probably go to the four you listed over Glenbard West -- they typically score higher -- but all five are exemplary schools.

Glenbard West does handily win the "best campus" award though. It's beautiful! Have you seen the movie Lucas?

[chet everett]

Given the paucity of traditional type development in the area served by Fremd it may not be easy to find a "charming" area with walkable amenities even compared to other school attendance in the greater NW suburbs. The sections of Barrington, Arlington Heights, or Mt. Prospect that offer traditional train-centric neighborhoods for easy commuting to the Loop might be more resistant to shifts as the relative "fungibility" of working in one high rise or another serves to minimize incentive to relocate should one Loop based employer shut down / relocate...

In fact, given the retrenchment of many employers that once were "powerhouses" of employment in the NW suburbs (like Motorola, AT&T, Sears, etc...) the general level of income may face some challenges. To be sure, there are certainly other employers that are expanding (notably the Swiss insurer, Zurich) but it would still be prudent to consider such factors for a longer term purchase...