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Old 02-11-2015, 06:19 PM
 
Location: Chicago
3,339 posts, read 5,986,416 times
Reputation: 4242

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Quote:
Originally Posted by agallan View Post
To be honest, my personal opinion (and many will disagree with me) is that people over-pay to be "walk to train" at a distance of 1.5 miles or so from the tracks. These houses still command a significant premium compared to houses a little further away across the borders to a town that doesn't have its own train station (but of course not as much as houses a couple blocks away from the train). While I know there are some that happily make the 1.5 mile walk twice a day (not to mention the walk on the other end downtown), I personally would't want to be doing that every day in the Chicago winter...or blazing summer heat in a suit. And if you're going to drive to the train parking lot, I don't think a 3 mile vs 1.5 mile drive justifies a significantly higher cost. A good example would be the Country Club neighborhood of La Grange. Just my 2 cents...
I agree with you to a point. If my husband and I didn't both take the train every single work day then the premium definitely wouldn't be worth it. I think about how many more options we'd have if we both drove to work, but neither of us does and it's unlikely either of us ever will given our jobs. Of course, I should qualify this by saying that I don't consider 1.5 miles from a train station to be worth any premium at all. Anything more than .75 miles away is far enough that I'd drive whenever the weather wasn't good and therefore isn't worth any premium to me personally. We're about .5 miles now and I've driven 3 times this winter (my husband never has). That is worth something for us.

If we didn't both work downtown we would have had very different priorities when we were looking for a house.

In terms of over/under rated, these are my thoughts:

Oak Park - Overrated
North Shore in general - Overrated

St. Charles - Underrated (due to the lack of metra)

I guess that's all that stands out to me...
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Old 02-11-2015, 07:27 PM
 
Location: Tri-Cities
720 posts, read 1,083,557 times
Reputation: 633
Overrated:

Geneva
St. Charles
Oak Park
Berwyn - I see a ton of love for it on this forum
NW Indiana Suburbs

Underrated:

Batavia
Warrenville
Lisle
Sycamore
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Old 02-11-2015, 07:47 PM
 
107 posts, read 247,093 times
Reputation: 76
I wouldnt even look at houses unless it was under a mile from the metra. Everyone is different but it just really bugs me to have to drive to train. Plus it forces me to get some exercise. I walk regardless of weather. Rain, snow cold. Never once drove to train in the 4 years I have been at my current house but I am only half a mile.

As far as being near a metra, sure you could have a job by argonne, abbot, baxter but what happens if you lose the job for some reason. You are stuck narrowing your search to companies around your house or face a hellacious commute to DT.

Plus if I go out for a happy hour after work or a bulls/bears/cubs/blackhawks game and have a few cocktails I dont have to worry about driving.
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Old 02-11-2015, 07:54 PM
 
1,231 posts, read 2,082,671 times
Reputation: 387
I disagree with Libertyville being underrated. I think it was underrated four or five years ago, but now people are starting to realize how good it really which leads to more people moving there. This shown by how expensive Libertyville's housing market has gotten over the past years. I was thinking about moving to Libertyville during it's underrated times because of good schools, safe town, great downtown, closer to everything, yet more affordable. We found a lot of great houses, but we didn't because I worked in the city at the time and it would've too far of commute. Not too long ago, my work got moved up in the north and northwestern suburbs and I looked at Libertyville again and unfortunatley, I couldn't find a nice house in my price range because of how expensive the market there has gotten. I don't think that Libertyville is overrated though, it's just not underrated.

overrated
I agree with the North Shore and Oak Park
Mt Prospect
Hinsdale
Wheaton
Arlingtom Heights' downtown

underrated
agree with Willowbrook and Countryside
The Palos area
Orland Park and Orland Hills
Tinley Park
Gurnee/Wadsworth
Lindenhurst
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Old 02-11-2015, 08:05 PM
 
Location: Tri-Cities
720 posts, read 1,083,557 times
Reputation: 633
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4122 View Post
I disagree with Libertyville being underrated. I think it was underrated four or five years ago, but now people are starting to realize how good it really which leads to more people moving there. This shown by how expensive Libertyville's housing market has gotten over the past years. I was thinking about moving to Libertyville during it's underrated times because of good schools, safe town, great downtown, closer to everything, yet more affordable. We found a lot of great houses, but we didn't because I worked in the city at the time and it would've too far of commute. Not too long ago, my work got moved up in the north and northwestern suburbs and I looked at Libertyville again and unfortunatley, I couldn't find a nice house in my price range because of how expensive the market there has gotten. I don't think that Libertyville is overrated though, it's just not underrated.

overrated
I agree with the North Shore and Oak Park
Mt Prospect
Hinsdale
Wheaton
Arlingtom Heights' downtown

underrated
agree with Willowbrook and Countryside
The Palos area
Orland Park and Orland Hills
Tinley Park
Gurnee/Wadsworth
Lindenhurst
Agree with Wheaton being overrated as well. Also add Homewood/Flossmoor and Frankfort to my overrated as well. Aspects of Aurora being underrated.
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Old 02-11-2015, 08:36 PM
 
3,495 posts, read 2,183,824 times
Reputation: 1950
Underrated
Westmont
La Grange Park
Brookfield
Western Springs

Overrated
Lake Forest
Highland Park
Burr Ridge
Northbrook
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Old 02-11-2015, 09:38 PM
 
165 posts, read 309,762 times
Reputation: 180
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianHunter View Post
I wouldnt even look at houses unless it was under a mile from the metra. Everyone is different but it just really bugs me to have to drive to train. Plus it forces me to get some exercise. I walk regardless of weather. Rain, snow cold. Never once drove to train in the 4 years I have been at my current house but I am only half a mile.

As far as being near a metra, sure you could have a job by argonne, abbot, baxter but what happens if you lose the job for some reason. You are stuck narrowing your search to companies around your house or face a hellacious commute to DT.

Plus if I go out for a happy hour after work or a bulls/bears/cubs/blackhawks game and have a few cocktails I dont have to worry about driving.
Trust me, I get it, being close to a downtown/metra is nice. I live 2 blocks away and it is awesome to walk to a bar and not worry about driving. And yeah its nice to have built in exercise. But the reality is that for most people they can't afford a (1) big home (2) that is updated (3) on a big lot (4) near the train/downtown (5) in a desirable town (6) with excellent schools. Something has to give, even if you have a large but not exorbitant budget ($500-700k?). Something has to give, and I think for a lot of people it is reasonable to give up the location right by train because that carries a hefty marginal cost.
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Old 02-12-2015, 06:21 AM
 
768 posts, read 1,103,034 times
Reputation: 370
Overrated: Highland Park and pretty much all of the NS... Evanston is the only town with life up there and even they try to point separation out with this tag line "Where Chicago and the north shore meet" IMO...
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Old 02-12-2015, 06:55 AM
 
4,152 posts, read 7,936,800 times
Reputation: 2727
I don't think Wheaton is overrated at all!!! I think its a wonderful place to live.!!!
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Old 02-12-2015, 07:40 AM
 
107 posts, read 247,093 times
Reputation: 76
Quote:
Originally Posted by ToriaT View Post
I don't think Wheaton is overrated at all!!! I think its a wonderful place to live.!!!
I think this is more of a fun opinion thread where people can put out completely subjective opinions that have little/no support to back them up. Especially those people that dont explain why the suburb is over rated. Naperville is an example, alot of people that have never lived in Naperville like to bash Naperville but I lived there for 3 years and it really is a great place to live. Great schools, great downtown/riverwalk, great nightlife/restaurants, great metra, financially sound, and they put on some really cool activities like ribfest, last fling etc. The reason i moved is I wanted to be closer to the lake and family in the north burbs.

Unless you have lived in a town for a number of years I do not see how you would have enough experience to determine if a town is overrated. Also, the market dictates prices in towns and that is a real barometer on desirability.
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