what are the bad south suburbs of chicago (Naperville, Orland Park: hotels, house)

[BarbaraL]

Yes, Blue Island
I have been working in Blue Island for the last few years and I find it a very safe, friendly place - with nice neighbors. Blue Island is also going thru a big redevelopment plan, they even have new construction - the Fay's Point Community with townhomes, condos, marina and boat slips. Where else can you find these kind of amenites so close to Chicago?

[AnnieLeigh]

My boyfriend and I recently bought a home in the histroic area of Blue Island and it is awesome! I was able to move out of a tiny house in the city and purchase an Arts & Crafts dream home. I'm not too familiar with the school districts but we don't plan on having kids anytime soon. 2 other couples have also bought homes within 6 blocks of us and this town is an up and coming area, especially amongst young couples previously living in the city. I walk to the train everyday for work and feel totally safe. I-57 is nearby and the new Marina seems pretty cool. We go out there in the summer once in awhile to sit outside and have a beer.

If you don't have a budget, Frankfort, Palos Heights, Tinley and Orland are all very nice and family orientated typical suburbs. Some have beautiful older areas as well, but Orland is too congested with shopping districts for me personally. I like affordable, promising, and old charm and I am happy with my choice.

[Marcus23]

I've been to Oak Lawn and it's a pretty nice quiet town, so that would be a good south suburb, and there arent that many that are good south. You should look into north or the northwest suburbs.

[CBexp.]

Homewood is the best most reasonable choice, Flossmoor is great too, but more pricey. The schools and park districts are both national award winners, and both towns have a great village atmosphere. Tinley Park, I find is over built, crowded and way over priced for the 80's stle subdivisions that are available.

[right1only]

Blue Island has seen better days. All the communites surrounding the Cal-Sag hope to use it to their advantage. My sister stays there and my mom works out there and their versions of the city change. Although the mayor is republican, I'm hoping he can make up for that by pushing the community out of the rut that it is in.

[NSH]

The city of Park Forest makes Illinois top 150 must see sites
http://www.illinoisgreatplaces.com/
It really is an amazing time capsule out there.

[Leelee]

I heard that Gary, ID was terrible.

The pop. is around 100,000 and there was 100 murders 1 year!!

Where I live which is about the same size wouldn't expect even half of that in 10 years!

[SuburbanLiving]

Homewood Flossmoor is the place to be! You get the "Mayberrry" feeling with movies in the parks, amazing little league, soccer, swimming and tennis clubs. Amazing award winning schools, and parks. Stand in line at the Dairy Queen on a hot summer night and the person behind you was your teacher in Junior High, the person in front of you played on your little league team and the person in front of him is someone you coached at soccer! If people had a clue what these towns had to offer the average home would be $800,000 instead of around $190,000-240,000. Did I mention it is only a 30 minute Metra train commute into Downtown Chicago?

[nanannie]

Sounds nice,but with the exception of the home price,this is a description of at least a dozen chicago 'burbs.

[WestRoPaJay]

i would recommend Blue Island over Alsip/Crestwood/Worth in a heartbeat. I was recently in B.I. and their downtown looks better now than I ever remember it.
We always felt superior in Alsip, but Alsip just doesn't have any...personality. Crappy bilevels on little lots. But the park district is pretty cool.