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That's nice to hear. We are similar culturally and are English-American couple so it would be nice to meet others like us. Can I ask which area of Glen Ellyn you recommend?
North Glen Ellyn, which generally means everything north of Roosevelt Road. IMO, the closer to downtown and/or Lake Ellyn the better. I know this was for LoK; just giving my opinion, don't think his will be too much different.
Glad to see you're thinking about considering Glen Ellyn. But I wouldn't write off Wheaton, Elmhurst or even the central parts of Downers Grove and Naperville. Especially if you want to truly know what your options are in the West. All have great schools, park districts and amenities, and though similar, each has its own nuances.
As a general rule, properties toward the center of each town, and walkable to shops, Metra, restuarants, parks, etc. are the most desirable. But each town will have an inventory of lovely large homes, typically on larger lots, outside of their respective downtown districts. Pockets of such inventory can also be very desirable.
Last edited by holl1ngsworth; 07-18-2014 at 10:08 AM..
Previously received helpful advice from the forum regards a potential relocation to Chicago from the UK.
Hinsdale and the surrounding area seem a good fit for our criteria: quaint/older towns with properties that reflect this, walkable downtown, commutable to Itasca, excellent schools and amenities for children. Avg Hinsdale property is within budget as well (and I appreciate this is a nice thing).
My question - is my focus too narrow? Are there Northern or Northwestern suburbs we should consider? Aiming to visit within the next few months and I think it would helpful to have a slightly longer list.
Thanks.
...given that OP understands pricing in Hinsdale and is comfortable which budget there is really little reason to give edge to other communities in DuPage County. The odds of finding similarly well-heeled ex-pats is a greater likelihood in Hinsdale. Additionally, the total value equation, factoring in propety taxes and resale potential also favors Hinsdale. Heck even the potential for reduced travel time from places closer to 355 is so slight as to be a non-issue.
When it comes to commute, the other options, be they places like Park Ridge or the core of Arlington Heights , or Barrington NW of Chicago, or the North Shore, the negatives are rather signficant.
In fact, given these constraints, it is really hard to suggest anything other than what the OP has already focused on...
I often fall back on analogies to car shopping. Once somebody looking for an imported sportscar with a long history of retaining value, excellent build quality, large pool of enthusiatic supporters and similar postives traits they might focus on say Porsche. Sure an argument can still be made to also take a look at offerings from Italy or England, but realistically the ad slogan kind of does hold true "there is no substitute"
Yep, I strongly prefer the older part of Glen Ellyn north of Roosevelt Rd. There are four elementary schools that serve this area, and one has lower test scores (Churchill), but mainly due to the socioeconomic diversity of the students there and the "English Language Learners" program. The curriculum is identical to that in the other three schools and the parents I know with kids there like it quite a bit. They all feed in to the excellent Hadley Middle School, and then go on to Glenbard West, which draws about a third of it's students from Glendale Heights, along with a very small number from Wheaton and Carol Stream.
The area around Lake Ellyn is considered the most desirable part of town, since it features some stunning homes on hills leading down to a small lake and park. But I live south of the tracks, and see more kids out playing and social interaction around here (we mostly have the smaller 50'-60' widths, so there are more people per acre).
Additionally, the total value equation, factoring in propety taxes and resale potential also favors Hinsdale.
That's funny, I think this is the primary reason to NOT consider Hinsdale. I think it's totally overpriced due to marginal or imagined advantages and "status shoppers". I don't think the marginal improvements in school performance justify the housing costs. Stripping emotion out of the decision, I actually think the "total value equation" favors Clarendon Hills over Hinsdale, and is probably most in favor of towns like Deerfield, Northbrook, Arlington Heights, and Mount Prospect. Weighing property taxes, it's also hard to beat northern Downers Grove.
Truth be told if I was kind of guy that was gonna drop something deep in the 7 (or 8 ...) figures on a home and I was in the part of my life where I had to count on an employer giving me a paycheck to keep the the cars fueled and the kids in school and everything else PLUS the uncertainity of relocation I don't know what I would really do becuase I have never faced that.
I do know that tremendous numbers of people that are in that situation do in fact use essentially the same logic and as I alluded to the same sort of factors go into the car thing -- "if I decide that a 911 is not right for me I can pretty much expect that somebody will take it off my hands a lot more quickly / with less risk than trying to unload something with a dancing stallion or notoriously unreliable British electronics"...
That's funny, I think this is the primary reason to NOT consider Hinsdale. I think it's totally overpriced due to marginal or imagined advantages and "status shoppers". I don't think the marginal improvements in school performance justify the housing costs. Stripping emotion out of the decision, I actually think the "total value equation" favors Clarendon Hills over Hinsdale, and is probably most in favor of towns like Deerfield, Northbrook, Arlington Heights, and Mount Prospect. Weighing property taxes, it's also hard to beat northern Downers Grove.
I wholly agree, and it's the same reason we picked Wheaton. And definitely Clarendon Hills > Hinsdale value-wise. I would contend Wheaton represents the best value given the high performance of the schools and relatively low barriers to entry. Northern Downers Grove is another contender.
The commuting factors Chet mentioned plus the fact that N & NW home prices didn't fare as well during the housing crisis make the "value" of a Deerfield or Northbrook less appealing. Also, with the exception of Arlington Heights, the N & NW suburbs also tend to lack the large, historic downtowns that make the Western suburbs so charming.
There is no reason even a "status shopper" shouldn't feel comfortable in Wheaton or Glen Ellyn. The economic demographics of downtown Wheaton, Danada (south Wheaton) and downtown Glen Ellyn are largely the same as Hinsdale/Clarendon Hills -- outside of the Woodlands of course. And the attached C-D income heat map clearly demonstrates that.
Last edited by holl1ngsworth; 07-18-2014 at 02:51 PM..
Looking at the really high end $1 million+ price range, I see Chet's point about retaining value and ease of resale. I will concede that point.
And I totally agree with Holl1ngsworth that places like Deerfield and Northbrook lack a certain amount of charm. But from an amenity standpoint, including the all-important issue of school quality, they offer a mix of pretty much everything except for the walkability and charm of the older suburbs. We didn't choose that for ourselves, and just maybe fell for charm and beauty more than we should have... I could never sell my wife on Elmhurst for purely emotional reasons. She was also "meh" on Downers, but loved Glen Ellyn (that's what I get for marrying someone with an art background). And I will say, it is nice to go for a walk around the lake looking at all of the stunning houses. I'm not sure what it's worth to live in a beautiful place in terms of dollars, but it definitely factors in to home prices in a big way.
I often fall back on analogies to car shopping. Once somebody looking for an imported sportscar with a long history of retaining value, excellent build quality, large pool of enthusiatic supporters and similar postives traits they might focus on say Porsche. Sure an argument can still be made to also take a look at offerings from Italy or England, but realistically the ad slogan kind of does hold true "there is no substitute"
Ok, I'll take this one step further:
Wheaton is like a fully-loaded Porsche 911 Carrera. Beautiful car, great all-around performance -- a "daily driver" if you will. And you can get it out-the-door for under $100k.
Hinsdale is like a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Same beautiful car, but they've tuned it up and squeezed out every last bit of performance -- yanking the A/C in the process. It's got a boost, but nothing you'll notice outside of a racetrack. What's it gonna cost? An eye-popping $150k.
Point: If your only concern is a sub 4-second 0-60 time or how fast you can lap Nurburgring (performance), the GT3 (Hinsdale) is probably the right car for you. But if you want something that is comfortable for the daily commute and won't necessarily break the bank (value), get yourself a Carrera (Wheaton). They are bothPorsches. One is comfortable and reasonably priced. The other has a flashy fender, performs a little better and will cost you dearly.
Last edited by holl1ngsworth; 07-18-2014 at 04:11 PM..
Oh, there is no "lack of air conditioning" on the GT3 nor is anything in Hinsdale "not fit for daily driving" so long as you can "tick off the right boxes on the order form"...
2014 Porsche 911 GT3 drive review | Autoweek While I don't own a Porsche, I have a friendly neighbor that does as well as wife that really enjoys walking the dog around the dealer's lot so I know all about the wonderful options...
With enough cash (or friendly enough bankers...) you can put yourself "in the drivers seat" of both a really fantastic automobile and one heck of a great home to garage it (and plenty of other vehicles). There are plenty of great homes in Hinsdale that really are going to be easier to sell than similarly priced / situated home in other towns due to relative demand and overall ease or appraisal.
I do live in CH and have considered many homes in Hinsdale (as well as other towns) but Ulitimately when I had kids in schools they were the reason for not "uprooting them" even thoughthey'd be in the same district but would have same friends on the block and such and now that they have moved away me and Mrs.E just don't have the motivation to box everything up and unpack if we are not going to move to someplace with a whole differernt quality of life...
Oh, there is no "lack of air conditioning" on the GT3 nor is anything in Hinsdale "not fit for daily driving" so long as you can "tick off the right boxes on the order form"...
2014 Porsche 911 GT3 drive review | Autoweek While I don't own a Porsche, I have a friendly neighbor that does as well as wife that really enjoys walking the dog around the dealer's lot so I know all about the wonderful options...
With enough cash (or friendly enough bankers...) you can put yourself "in the drivers seat" of both a really fantastic automobile and one heck of a great home to garage it (and plenty of other vehicles). There are plenty of great homes in Hinsdale that really are going to be easier to sell than similarly priced / situated home in other towns due to relative demand and overall ease or appraisal.
I do live in CH and have considered many homes in Hinsdale (as well as other towns) but Ulitimately when I had kids in schools they were the reason for not "uprooting them" even thoughthey'd be in the same district but would have same friends on the block and such and now that they have moved away me and Mrs.E just don't have the motivation to box everything up and unpack if we are not going to move to someplace with a whole differernt quality of life...
I don't understand your point and here is why:
A newer construction or rehabbed 3,500 square foot in-town Hinsdale home will run about $1.5mil. An identical in-town Wheaton home will cost roughly $750k. Now, if we use the 28% rule (mortgage + taxes per month shouldn't exceed 28% of gross monthly income) we can deduce that a buyer for the Hinsdale home should be making roughly $350k annually. Using the same math, we can conclude that a buyer of the Wheaton home should be making at least $150k annually. Last I checked, only the top 1% of earners report $350k or more on their tax return each year -- where as 5% report $150k or more. This fact alone means comparable Wheaton homes will always have more people able to buy them and, all other factors remaining constant, they will see more demand.
This certainly is playing out in the current real estate market -- the average Hinsdale SF home takes 140-150 days to sell whereas the average Wheaton SF home takes only 90-100 days.
I can concede some of your points on Hinsdale, but the fact is that a $1.5mil+ home will always be a tougher sale than a comparable one that costs 1/2 the price. It's a little silly to suggest otherwise. If you buy an expensive home, even in Hinsdale, you can expect to have to wait a little longer to sell it than the guy one zip code over who paid significantly less for the same product.
And OK... I guess the A/C is optional on the GT3 RS -- so you can have it back -- but my point works the same. Did you notice that your article's biggest touts are the GT3's acceleration and how fast it can go around Nurburgring? I was kinda right, lol. Pull up an article about the Carrera and it will tout the car's refinement and on-road comfort.
Last edited by holl1ngsworth; 07-18-2014 at 05:06 PM..
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