is aurora il really that "extremely cheap" "Low crime rate"? (Chicago: apartments, to rent)

[emily55]

I live on the East Coast, a lot of my family lived in aurora and are telling me is extremely cheap and No murders. and ill beable o afford a single famly home unlike where i currenly live in NY

I see houses listed for 30,000 to 75,000 on realtor.com, But are those undesriable negihorhoods to be careful of? If anyone knows more about aurora let me know. I only visited

[4122]

There are a lot of bad areas in Aurora that are undesirable and have a lot of crime. However, the parts of Aurora by Naperville and Exposition view are nice areas. Exposition View is an area in northwest Aurora near North Aurora which is another town that's very nice.

[Carl26]

I guess it all depends on your budget and the quality of life you are accustomed to. There is nothing wrong with buying a $30-75K house, but you may not be in the best school district if that is important to you or in the safest neighborhood. At that price range you'll probably be in an older house as well. There is a wide range of home prices in Aurora. There are nicer areas and some not so nice areas. Most, but not all areas near or even in Naperville are "nice". In my opinion, there are some desirable areas in Aurora that are nowhere near Naperville. This is kind of a difficult question to answer without making a blanket statement since we all have different opinions on what we think is desirable. It sounds like you're asking if a neighborhood with homes in that price range is unsafe. I would have to lean towards maybe.

[Vasily]

Aurora has a terrible history of violect crime bur things have greatly improved in recent years, I suspect because of an ordinance that made it much more difficult fir gangbangers to rent in the city (however it still has a high property crime rate compared to some other nearby communities)

http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime...-Illinois.html

[ToriaT]

Its not a desirable area but it has some good places but its the kind of thing where you really have to know the neighborhood well if you plan on buying.

[aga412]

As someone living in the Aurora area, it seems like there has been an uptick/surge in crime recently (it's been all over the news). This is occurring on the east side (Scraper-Moecherville area). However, like others have said, there are desirable options in Aurora, and these tend to be in the areas served by Batavia or 204 schools. Again, these will be pricier options, but there are plenty of apartments/condos within both areas, if you're interested in that.

[ToriaT]

I think its always dicey for someone from out of state to plop somewhere in the Chicago area without knowing what they are getting into. It would be better to rent at first. So much depends on various areas, the commute, as well as a bunch of other things.

[jneimeyer]

I lived in Aurora my entire life until I moved to Iowa earlier this year. My dad's side of the family has been in Aurora since the 1800's so for me, Aurora holds a special place in my heart and family...but with that being said, I was constantly hearing from my family that it wasn't even remotely the same as it was when my dad was in high school in the 80's. There ARE bad areas of Aurora, mainly the East Side, so be careful when searching for housing, because more than likely you are going to be finding these homes in less than desirable areas. Chicagoland in general is not known for being, "extremely cheap." Maybe in comparison to other suburbs, Aurora can be cheap, but it is certainly not a cheap place to live as I've seen having lived in FAR southwest Iowa. My advice to you, is to find a realtor when/if you get to Aurora, they can steer you clear of any bad neighborhoods and give you some good advice. I do love Aurora though, you are so close to the City, but you have everything you need right in your own backyard.

[OccidentExpress]

Chicagoland is a two-tiered metro. Bad suburbs are getting worse, middle-of-the-road suburbs are turning bad, and the 'desirable' suburbs are moving into the stratosphere in terms of housing costs and property tax rates. In other words, any suburb with a significant amount of housing stock priced below $200K is either bad or on its way out. Aurora, unfortunately, fits that description.

A buddy of mine owned a house in one of the cheaper areas of Aurora. One day, as he was letting his dogs out, he caught a [mod cut] casing one of the windows on the house next door, which had been vacant for a few days because the family that lived there was on vacation. The guy made up some lame excuse for being on his property ("Sorry man, I had to pee." Uh huh.) and ran off. That was the last straw for him, as a number of houses had already been burlarized on his block and there was a murder down the street that year. He offed the place and moved down south. That was almost 20 years ago.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by OccidentExpress

Chicagoland is a two-tiered metro. Bad suburbs are getting worse, middle-of-the-road suburbs are turning bad, and the 'desirable' suburbs are moving into the stratosphere in terms of housing costs and property tax rates.

These demographic changes are affecting the entire nation, and what you are seeing in more affordable suburbs is the spread of the now-significant Hispanic population and the downward pressure on the middle class. Fortunately this phenomenon is not happening so fast that "middle-of-the-road suburbs" are turning in to gang-ridden crime pits, and perhaps this will never happen. Crime is still very low in the Carol Streams and Bloomingdales of the world, but you can definitely see the effects of demographic changes on public schools.