Orland Park or Hinsdale??

[atamas]

I secon Justabystander's assertion on the topic while I sympathize with NYrules but I must say I enjoyed the brief back and forth.

I think Hinsdale and Orland Park are not even in the same category so it's not really fair to compare the two suburbs. Hinsdale is a high-end upper class town while I would rate Orland Park as being on the higher end of the Middle Class.

Why? Well, I checked in MLS just now and found 279 listings for Orland Park with 18 listed at $1million or more while in Hinsdale there were 305 listings with 153 of those listed at $1million or more. The highest listing in Orland Park was $2.2 million while Hinsdale boasts one at $12.8 million. So to translate this into a picture, you can cruise around Orland Park and see less than 1% of the homes being million dollar homes while in Hinsdale 50% are million dollar homes. Also if you look at Wikipedia, you'll find that the median family income in Orland park is $77K while the median income for Hinsdale is almost twice as much at $133K - hopefully this proves the point.

I would say that Hinsdale would need to be compared with Oak Brook or the dozen or so North Shore suburbs of Winnetka, Glencoe, Kenilworth and so on. Check out this link on Forbes' most expensive Zip Codes: http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/06/zip...odes_land.html. Hinsdale is there with a median home sale price of $916,000 while Orland Park is not even on the map (Have you heard of the suburb Kenilworth? It's #21 on the list of most expensive zip codes).

Orland Park can be more appropriately compared against Naperville where I would rank Naperville a little better in that contest. Although I seem to remember an advertisement somewhere that mentioned that the homes in Orland Park are made of brick versus the homes in in Naperville which are mostly frame :-).

So to be clear I would choose Hinsdale over Orland Park. I live in Hinsdale but am quite familiar with Orland Park as I used to work in Orland Hills years ago.

I would say that if you have kids than education is an important factor where Hinsdale probably takes the edge. Think about it, in Hinsdale there is a relatively fixed headcount since there is no land to expand. The taxes are very high and the parents demand a lot from the school system. Orland Park's population of 51K is almost three times that of Hinsdale at 17K so there is a lot going on there. Many moving parts. Many others provided links for school performance so I won’t go into that but I will say that the schools were the most important factor in our decision to move to Hinsdale.

We find that location is also ideal in Hinsdale. Nestled between i55 to the South and and i88 to the North, adjacent to i294 on the East we find that we're 20 to 30 min away from just about anything. That is it takes about 25 min to downtown, about 25 min to O'Hare and 25 min to Orland Square Mall  (in Orland Park). It takes about 10 min to go to Oak Brook Mall or 15 minutes to go a bit further to York Town mall.

I take the train to downtown where the Express is there in 22 min flat although I hear it takes years to get a permit to park by the train (so caution there).

Some of the homes in Hinsdale are honestly breathtaking. There are some gorgeous mansions here made out of brick, natural stone and stucco. I call them mini-castles. I think there is some kind of rule that they can’t build the same design that already exists which makes each home look unique. That right there is a differentiating factor that sets Hinsdale apart from Orland Park where builders use cookie cutters quite frequently. It’s like choosing between unique custom work versus production line. Nuff said.

As far as cars go, there seems to be a large number of Range Rovers and BMW’s along with the other foreign cars like Audi, Porsche and the like on the road. It’s not a mistake that there is a Ferrari, Maserati and Range Rover dealer in Hinsdale with a Lamborghini, Porshe and other luxury dealers near by (on Ogden).

The people are quite nice in Hinsdale. Most are well off and show it subtlety in person but extravagantly in their homes and cars. They are very involved with their kids and can afford to hire help around the house. There are a lot of stay at homes moms whose focus is the kids. They have maids for the chores around the home for things like cleaning, laundry, cooking and lawn care.

In closing, if you can afford Hinsdale then I would recommend it. Consider affordability should start around $600K in this buyer’s market (as of this writing) with $800K in an average market and property taxes are about $10K. Homes cheaper than that are typically intended to be knock downs for new construction.

[SouthSideWhiteTrash]

Originally Posted by atamas

I secon Justabystander's assertion on the topic while I sympathize with NYrules but I must say I enjoyed the brief back and forth.

I think Hinsdale and Orland Park are not even in the same category so it's not really fair to compare the two suburbs. Hinsdale is a high-end upper class town while I would rate Orland Park as being on the higher end of the Middle Class.

Why? Well, I checked in MLS just now and found 279 listings for Orland Park with 18 listed at $1million or more while in Hinsdale there were 305 listings with 153 of those listed at $1million or more. The highest listing in Orland Park was $2.2 million while Hinsdale boasts one at $12.8 million. So to translate this into a picture, you can cruise around Orland Park and see less than 1% of the homes being million dollar homes while in Hinsdale 50% are million dollar homes. Also if you look at Wikipedia, you'll find that the median family income in Orland park is $77K while the median income for Hinsdale is almost twice as much at $133K - hopefully this proves the point.

I would say that Hinsdale would need to be compared with Oak Brook or the dozen or so North Shore suburbs of Winnetka, Glencoe, Kenilworth and so on. Check out this link on Forbes' most expensive Zip Codes: [url=http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/06/zip-expensive-lander-forbeslife-cx_lm_1006zipcodes_land.html]America's Most Expensive Zip Codes - Forbes.com[/url]. Hinsdale is there with a median home sale price of $916,000 while Orland Park is not even on the map (Have you heard of the suburb Kenilworth? It's #21 on the list of most expensive zip codes).

Orland Park can be more appropriately compared against Naperville where I would rank Naperville a little better in that contest. Although I seem to remember an advertisement somewhere that mentioned that the homes in Orland Park are made of brick versus the homes in in Naperville which are mostly frame :-).

So to be clear I would choose Hinsdale over Orland Park. I live in Hinsdale but am quite familiar with Orland Park as I used to work in Orland Hills years ago.

I would say that if you have kids than education is an important factor where Hinsdale probably takes the edge. Think about it, in Hinsdale there is a relatively fixed headcount since there is no land to expand. The taxes are very high and the parents demand a lot from the school system. Orland Park's population of 51K is almost three times that of Hinsdale at 17K so there is a lot going on there. Many moving parts. Many others provided links for school performance so I won’t go into that but I will say that the schools were the most important factor in our decision to move to Hinsdale.

We find that location is also ideal in Hinsdale. Nestled between i55 to the South and and i88 to the North, adjacent to i294 on the East we find that we're 20 to 30 min away from just about anything. That is it takes about 25 min to downtown, about 25 min to O'Hare and 25 min to Orland Square Mall  (in Orland Park). It takes about 10 min to go to Oak Brook Mall or 15 minutes to go a bit further to York Town mall.

I take the train to downtown where the Express is there in 22 min flat although I hear it takes years to get a permit to park by the train (so caution there).

Some of the homes in Hinsdale are honestly breathtaking. There are some gorgeous mansions here made out of brick, natural stone and stucco. I call them mini-castles. I think there is some kind of rule that they can’t build the same design that already exists which makes each home look unique. That right there is a differentiating factor that sets Hinsdale apart from Orland Park where builders use cookie cutters quite frequently. It’s like choosing between unique custom work versus production line. Nuff said.

As far as cars go, there seems to be a large number of Range Rovers and BMW’s along with the other foreign cars like Audi, Porsche and the like on the road. It’s not a mistake that there is a Ferrari, Maserati and Range Rover dealer in Hinsdale with a Lamborghini, Porshe and other luxury dealers near by (on Ogden).

The people are quite nice in Hinsdale. Most are well off and show it subtlety in person but extravagantly in their homes and cars. They are very involved with their kids and can afford to hire help around the house. There are a lot of stay at homes moms whose focus is the kids. They have maids for the chores around the home for things like cleaning, laundry, cooking and lawn care.

In closing, if you can afford Hinsdale then I would recommend it. Consider affordability should start around $600K in this buyer’s market (as of this writing) with $800K in an average market and property taxes are about $10K. Homes cheaper than that are typically intended to be knock downs for new construction.

Honestly, why would anyone want to live in a place like Hinsdale where it's a bunch of rich people driving around and living in houses that are ridiculously expensive and unneccessarily big? And people who have to hire maids and cooks are just too lazy to do anything themselves, I have no respect for people like that. Also, I think all wives should work no matter how well-off the family is. I would never let my wife sit around the house all day and not doing her fair share to make money by working a job. The affluent culture of Hinsdale sickens me and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. As for Orland Park, I currently live in Orland Park and I lived in the Tinley/Orland area all my life. I much prefer the more middle-class atmosphere of the suburbs on the south side and I find the location of Orland to be more ideal because of it's short drive to towns like Bridgeview, Oak Lawn, Worth, Evergreen Park, Matteson, Country Club Hills, etc. Hinsdale is too far off to the west and too spaced apart from the neigboring towns. Here in Orland/Tinley all the towns are pretty much across the street from each other that you're not always sure exactly where the boundaries between the towns are, THAT'S what I like. And once again about the affluencey of Hinsdale and other west an north suburbs such as Kenilworth: more people need to cut down and live a more modest lifestyle. Just because you have the money doesn't mean you have to get the most expensive house possible. Honestly, I never lived in a home with more than 3 bedrooms, I even lived in small condos and a mobile home at different points in my life, and I just don't NEED to live anywhere bigger "just because". I'm used to smaller homes and I'd be perfectly content to settle down and live in a modestly small 3-bedroom house somewhere in the south suburbs for the rest of my life. I just can't bring myself to ever entertain the thought of living in a house with extra bedrooms that I'd never use, or a basement that is big enough to put a batting cage in and still have room, like some rich people I've heard of pathetically did.

[chet everett]

Orland has more than its fair share of overly large homes.

Further, how can you say that Hinsdale is "too spaced apart from the neigboring towns"??? What does that even MEAN -- neighboring towns are BY DEFINITION right next to Hinsdale. Those would be Western Springs due east. Oak Brook to the north. Westmont north-west. Clarendon Hills due west. Willowbrook south-west. Burr Ridge due south. Indian Head Park south-east.

[hill7]

Hinsdale is a beautiful, affluent community. Most of my family lives there, & my cousins attended grade schoo & high school there. The schools are excellent; my cousins' only problem was the snob factor. I live in Orland & love it. The homes are high quality, & our taxes are lower than some other surrounding areas. Orland is great because of the potential of future growth. The far south suburbs are where it's at! The public schools are excellent, as well as the private schools in the area.

[chet everett]

Schools excellent?

Illinois State Schools Report Card:
Interactive Illinois Report Card
(data shows Carl Sandburg did not make ayp)

Marked contrast to Hinsdale Central being in the Silver category of USNews:
Hinsdale Central High School: Best High Schools - USNews.com

And all the D181 elementary were judged to be among the Top50 by the Sun Times:
Chicago area's best schools :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education


These are all OBJECTIVE measures. I think such things are much preferable than "Great" "Excellent" "Love It"...

[Sunday1]

Anytime anyone has anything negative to comment about Hinsdale they are usually met with harsh personal criticism...comments such as "sour grapes",
etc. Well, I live in one of the those $1M+ homes, have kids who have benefited from the fantastic (and yes, they are indeed fantastic) schools, and am active in the community. That said, I will reiterate that I believe we deserve our reputation pertaining to the prevalence of the "snob" factor. It is so much a part of Hinsdale's reputation that it makes me laugh when regular posters here on C-D try to deny it. Is everyone a snob? Well, of course not. Is it a community of material excess and one full of people focused on one's net worth? You bet. And I think it helps for people considering relocation to factor that into the equation. If it's a good thing to you or isn't an issue at all -- then move right in!! The schools are outstanding! And the village itself is very cute, and pedestrian-friendly.

[chet everett]

In fairness to those that I criticism about merely using subjective terms like "fantastic" or "outstanding", I will point out that there are other schools individually ranked higher than those cited. Most of them are "selective" admissions situations. One could argue that the high housing cost in Hinsdale is a pretty big barrier to entry too, though there are a handful of rental units in both the D181 and Hinsdale Central attendance area. Further, there are some exceptionally good values in Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills. The floor price has fallen to something under $400K for a habital home though the ceiling remains in the $10M+ stratosphere...

[Justabystander]

Originally Posted by SouthSideWhiteTrash

Honestly, why would anyone want to live in a place like Hinsdale where it's a bunch of rich people driving around and living in houses that are ridiculously expensive and unneccessarily big? And people who have to hire maids and cooks are just too lazy to do anything themselves, I have no respect for people like that. Also, I think all wives should work no matter how well-off the family is. I would never let my wife sit around the house all day and not doing her fair share to make money by working a job. The affluent culture of Hinsdale sickens me and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. As for Orland Park, I currently live in Orland Park and I lived in the Tinley/Orland area all my life. I much prefer the more middle-class atmosphere of the suburbs on the south side and I find the location of Orland to be more ideal because of it's short drive to towns like Bridgeview, Oak Lawn, Worth, Evergreen Park, Matteson, Country Club Hills, etc. Hinsdale is too far off to the west and too spaced apart from the neigboring towns. Here in Orland/Tinley all the towns are pretty much across the street from each other that you're not always sure exactly where the boundaries between the towns are, THAT'S what I like. And once again about the affluencey of Hinsdale and other west an north suburbs such as Kenilworth: more people need to cut down and live a more modest lifestyle. Just because you have the money doesn't mean you have to get the most expensive house possible. Honestly, I never lived in a home with more than 3 bedrooms, I even lived in small condos and a mobile home at different points in my life, and I just don't NEED to live anywhere bigger "just because". I'm used to smaller homes and I'd be perfectly content to settle down and live in a modestly small 3-bedroom house somewhere in the south suburbs for the rest of my life. I just can't bring myself to ever entertain the thought of living in a house with extra bedrooms that I'd never use, or a basement that is big enough to put a batting cage in and still have room, like some rich people I've heard of pathetically did.

If you are lucky enough to have kids, here's the deal; many people move to Hinsdale, particularly ex-southsiders, for the schools. Most of my relatives on my wife's side live in Orland, and my brothers went to Sandburg and one went to Stagg when the boundries changed. I wanted better opportunities for my kids, so we moved to Hinsdale. My kids are definitely better educated than their cousin's counterparts in Orland, and have far greater opportunities in the schools here. If you are content with your life in a small house in the south suburbs, I understand,( I like a more simple life as well) but there is nothing wrong with striving for the best, and the schools in Hinsdale may be the best for someone with south side ties who does not want to stray too far from the family. If you read your statement, you use words like "affluencey", something even my middle school kid would not use. You would not "let your wife sit around the house and not do her fair share by not working?" What kind of slave driver are you? Maybe your kids might be better off with the mom at home, working in the library and helping out at scouts. It all depends. While the affluent culture of Hinsdale may sicken you, your attitude towards women sickens me.

The only person I know who has a batting cage in their house lives in Palos Park. Orland has monstrous houses on the west side of town, but the isolation of these mansions in far off subdivisions is a turn off, even though you get twice as much for your money as Hinsdale.

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by Justabystander

If you are lucky enough to have kids, here's the deal; many people move to Hinsdale, particularly ex-southsiders, for the schools. Most of my relatives on my wife's side live in Orland, and my brothers went to Sandburg and one went to Stagg when the boundries changed. I wanted better opportunities for my kids, so we moved to Hinsdale. My kids are definitely better educated than their cousin's counterparts in Orland, and have far greater opportunities in the schools here. If you are content with your life in a small house in the south suburbs, I understand,( I like a more simple life as well) but there is nothing wrong with striving for the best, and the schools in Hinsdale may be the best for someone with south side ties who does not want to stray too far from the family. If you read your statement, you use words like "affluencey", something even my middle school kid would not use. You would not "let your wife sit around the house and not do her fair share by not working?" What kind of slave driver are you? Maybe your kids might be better off with the mom at home, working in the library and helping out at scouts. It all depends. While the affluent culture of Hinsdale may sicken you, your attitude towards women sickens me.

The only person I know who has a batting cage in their house lives in Palos Park. Orland has monstrous houses on the west side of town, but the isolation of these mansions in far off subdivisions is a turn off, even though you get twice as much for your money as Hinsdale.

I agree with you.This guy sounds like the jealousy bug has bitten him in the arse. Hinsdale, and the surrounding areas are far more desirable for many. I would invest dollars in that area before the south side. IMHO

[Sunday1]

[quote=SouthSideWhiteTrash;6739938]....Also, I think all wives should work no matter how well-off the family is. I would never let my wife sit around the house all day and not doing her fair share to make money by working a job...."

So work is only that for which one is compensated? I retired early after 24 years, which cost us dearly, so that I could be that person who drives every kid who needs a ride, takes all the behind-the-scenes work that no-one else is available to volunteer for, takes people to doctor appointments who can't drive, fundraises for sports teams and charitable organizations, etc. So when you refer to hard-working moms who make themselves available to their children on a full-time basis as "sit(ting) around all day" I take offense.

You blew it with that remark. And it has nothing to do with anything. Plenty of wealthy women make choices to stay home and plenty make the choice to continue on with their careers full time. Plenty of women who must scrimp and save from paycheck to paycheck also make those choices. You might do the residents of both Hinsdale and Orland Park a favor and choose Mars.