Possibly relocating to Hoffman Estates, a few condo questions? (Chicago: for sale, real estate)

[t93]

Hi! We're long established in our current town. We own a house and rental in a place where houses sit for sale for years or months, seldom selling right away. My husband has been offered a promotion and we are coming to salary negotiations in the next few days. We have to float a mortgage on our existing house for possibly a few years, so our current house budget is only around 200-250,000.00 with a possible upgrade after it sells. We really want to stay at 2 bedrooms from this point on so probably not. We are keeping a rental.
We're older, we have one child left at home in early elementary school, more on the strictly educational track than sports track. We probably won't be looking to find a place that cultivates an elite athlete.
We were thinking a condo-possibly Hoffman Estates or Schaumburg. However, The Lake Barrington condo community looks very appealing from a distance. I searched the older threads on Barrington and there was a lot of talk about how exclusive it is, and I'm not quite sure what to think. We have lived in a few of the wealthiest counties in the country and have been fine, but my oldest son is concerned his little brother would feel "less than" if we're practical and buy a smaller condo in this community. I drive an older paid off car, not super into "things". I do however work with an elite tennis team where the kids drive better cars than I do, so I do get how things can be. Hubby also will not tolerate excessive pretension,so there is that. I also have a small boxer mix, 45 lbs, and a 15 lb puggle I run with.(I'm a personal trainer/yoga instructor). I would love to run on nature paths. Some places are leery of dogs bigger than a chihuahua. These dogs spend a lot of time with me. An outdoor lifestyle just seems more practical as opposed to more urban areas.
I would love any input-I'm sure these questions have been asked a million times, but this relocation has almost happened a few times in the past, and I've noticed a rise in foreclosures, especially in Hoffman Estates. I am not opposed to Schaumburg or Hoffman Estates, it looks like you get a lot of bang for your buck. I don't want to be stuck later if we have to sell, however.

If you made sense of any of this, I would love some advice! We're using what info we can cultivate to decide how much we need in order to move. Thanks in advance! We haven't retained a realtor yet, but will in the next week. My experience has been people familiar with an area give info that is more constructive , that's why I asked here first.

[4122]

You could also look in Palatine or Arlington Heights. They have better schools than in Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates. These towns are zoned for multiple districts though. Some of the school districts in Arlington Heights have middle schools where not all students go to the same school, so you need to make sure you buy a property where your child goes to the high school you want them too.

Here's the high schools your child can go to after elementary school and middle school:

Arlington Heights:
-Hersey in Arlington Heights
-Rolling Meadows in Rolling Meadows
-Prospect in Mt. Prospect
-Wheeling in Wheeling (small portion of AH)
-Buffalo Grove (small portion of AH)
-Palatine in Palatine (very tiny portion of AH)
Palatine:
-Palatine
-Fremd in Palatine

If you decide to move to Palatine, try to stay in the Fremd HS boundaries. Also, in both towns, don't buy or rent a condo by lake cook or 53, even though Arlington Heights and Palatine are very safe towns.
Barrington is also very nice area, but I do agree it can be exclusive which would be a little tough for new residents, even though people in Barrington are as friendly as any other suburb.

I would recommend searching in the Fremd HS boundaries and the Hersey HS boundaries.

[t93]

Thank you! We had tried to research Palatine when looking at condos but couldn't get much consistent info on it. I will expand the search. Thanks again!

[chet everett]

The Lake Barrington Shore development is NOT really "exclusive" in an income type way. It is more a place for folks that DO NOT WANT to have responsibilities for outside maintenance. This means it appeals OVER WHELMINGLY to retired people and though kids are not technically "banned" it is not common for them be around, especially at school age.

In fact, given that there are more than a few single parents living in a multi-generational type situation in LBS it is more or less a "transitional' type situation for people that might need / want to use grandparents as a childcare and such.

I tend to agree that this would not be the situation for a school aged child and it less do with "signs of material wealth" and more to do with the simple fact that there are few kids in this development. That would be hard enough for somebody that grew up in the area but for somebody transferring in it is even more of a challenge.

I would rather try to track down a nice single family home to rent closer to the center of Barrington to give more social options to your school aged child.

There are a fair number of nature areas in and around Barrington that are mostly pleasant. Barrington has a long association with nature lovers and equestrians. You ought to be able to track down a rental that would be OK with your dogs.

Barrington has a good tradition of tennis, but I don't know how many players are really "elite" as in destined for success on the professional tour or even NCAA level -- Barrington takes aim at 20th straight MSL title - DailyHerald.com

[t93]

More excellent info, thank you. I will be retiring once we move, so I won't be looking to continue to work with tennis players. I'm also sure elite in the Chicago area is not the same as elite where we are. We're in a more rural setting currently. Closest large metro is 30 minutes away. Our kids go to state frequently but don't really go national.
We're grandparents also,and done with maintaining our yard, so it sounds like Lake Barrington would be great for us - not so much our youngest.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by t93

More excellent info, thank you. I will be retiring once we move, so I won't be looking to continue to work with tennis players. I'm also sure elite in the Chicago area is not the same as elite where we are. We're in a more rural setting currently. Closest large metro is 30 minutes away. Our kids go to state frequently but don't really go national.
We're grandparents also,and done with maintaining our yard, so it sounds like Lake Barrington would be great for us - not so much our youngest.

I sympathize with our situation. The cost of nicer real estate in the greater Chicago region can be daunting. There are annoyingly few options for folks that prefer not to have to deal with snow and lawn care, though hiring that out is not all that costly...

Being a child of somewhat older parents myself I am sympathize with desire to make the right transition.

Not easy!

[t93]

Thanks. We are really trying to please everyone, and it's hard to plan anything long distance. All of the info I've gotten helps a lot.