Suburbs with biggest bang for the buck! (Chicago, Naperville: section 8, apartment complexes)

[agallan]

My wife and I chose Brookfield precisely because we felt it was a top "Bang for your buck" suburb - relatively low cost to get great school, charming homes, excellent Metra service, friendly people, and surrounded by great towns like La Grange (and its downtown amenities), Riverside, and La Grange Park.

[4122]

Vernon Hills, Buffalo Grove, Gurnee, Willowbrook, Lisle, and Cary. Considering that most of Buffalo Grove is in the Stevenson HS district (which I believe is ranked #1 public school in the state? If not it's within the top 3). I find that more affordable towns that don't have the best schools have portions in good school districts are a bang for your buck.

[aga412]

Lisle is very secretly awesome. Probably one of the most vastly underrated burbs out there.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by 4122

Vernon Hills, Buffalo Grove, Gurnee, Willowbrook, Lisle, and Cary. Considering that most of Buffalo Grove is in the Stevenson HS district (which I believe is ranked #1 public school in the state? If not it's within the top 3). I find that more affordable towns that don't have the best schools have portions in good school districts are a bang for your buck.

...there is not much "there" to 'em. You don't need a PhD in Urban Design to understand why people prefer a place that is distinctive and identifiable as a coherent town. The same patterns that sprung up rather naturally in towns settled while the US while still a colony have a lot of appeal -- public uses at the core give kids and adults a place to interact with one another and foster community.

While I do think some listed are a reasonable choice for the budget minded specifically seeking good schools (the portion of Willowbrook served by D86 / Hinsdale Central would top that list and be closely followed by the portion of BG served by Stevenson, so we are mostly in agreement from that aspect...) but when it comes to "bang for the buck" it makes a whole lot more sense to follow the guidelines of Lookoutkid. Towns that have an actual "core" like Brookfield or Downers Grove have tons more appeal. Having a library you can walk to, some stores that serve local residents, a coffee spot and maybe a couple of places to get a beer greatly enhance the sense of place. Both of those towns also have really great Metra service on the BNSF, a huge plus for commuters to the Loop and even the presence of such commuters adds to the overall level of positive for the town. I can say in complete seriousness that folks who do work in the kind of positions that involve a downtown commute are more likely to get involved in guiding the school board, library, even village government in a positive way.

Towns like Lisle are kind of a dilema, I might lump in Lombard, Villa Park, Westmont and maybe DesPlaines too. Though these towns have a nice traditional core they also have schools that are not nearly as desirable as those in neighboring towns. That diminishes the "bang for the buck" factor, but in some of those towns (notably the portion of Lisle that feeds into Naperville school of the portion of Westmont that is served by Hinsdale Central) you can still find some really impressive deals IF you are willing to accept the relative distance from the train and similar amenities near the core. The same sorts of issues are seen in the extremely car centric towns like Vernon Hills. There is something really unappealling strip malls and big box massed in such a way as to make traffic nightmares out the entire area.

Towns like Cary and Gurnee are just so far from Chicago that they exist in kind of an "outerbelt" that really does make them less connected to pluses and problems of Chicago. That tends to foster a kind of mindset that I think is later seen among the kids that grew up their as either as either "hating the beige place they came from" or being susceptible to fearing everything about Chicago / urban areas.

[ChiAreaGuy]

Originally Posted by chet everett

...there is not much "there" to 'em. You don't need a PhD in Urban Design to understand why people prefer a place that is distinctive and identifiable as a coherent town. The same patterns that sprung up rather naturally in towns settled while the US while still a colony have a lot of appeal -- public uses at the core give kids and adults a place to interact with one another and foster community.

While I do think some listed are a reasonable choice for the budget minded specifically seeking good schools (the portion of Willowbrook served by D86 / Hinsdale Central would top that list and be closely followed by the portion of BG served by Stevenson, so we are mostly in agreement from that aspect...) but when it comes to "bang for the buck" it makes a whole lot more sense to follow the guidelines of Lookoutkid. Towns that have an actual "core" like Brookfield or Downers Grove have tons more appeal. Having a library you can walk to, some stores that serve local residents, a coffee spot and maybe a couple of places to get a beer greatly enhance the sense of place. Both of those towns also have really great Metra service on the BNSF, a huge plus for commuters to the Loop and even the presence of such commuters adds to the overall level of positive for the town. I can say in complete seriousness that folks who do work in the kind of positions that involve a downtown commute are more likely to get involved in guiding the school board, library, even village government in a positive way.

Towns like Lisle are kind of a dilema, I might lump in Lombard, Villa Park, Westmont and maybe DesPlaines too. Though these towns have a nice traditional core they also have schools that are not nearly as desirable as those in neighboring towns. That diminishes the "bang for the buck" factor, but in some of those towns (notably the portion of Lisle that feeds into Naperville school of the portion of Westmont that is served by Hinsdale Central) you can still find some really impressive deals IF you are willing to accept the relative distance from the train and similar amenities near the core. The same sorts of issues are seen in the extremely car centric towns like Vernon Hills. There is something really unappealling strip malls and big box massed in such a way as to make traffic nightmares out the entire area.

Towns like Cary and Gurnee are just so far from Chicago that they exist in kind of an "outerbelt" that really does make them less connected to pluses and problems of Chicago. That tends to foster a kind of mindset that I think is later seen among the kids that grew up their as either as either "hating the beige place they came from" or being susceptible to fearing everything about Chicago / urban areas.

I agree for the most part. But "the beige place I came from", no... just no. About the urban areas though, OH MY GOSH SO TRUE! I live in the quiet neighborhood of Hickory Corners located in Antioch and next to Wadsworth and Lake Villa, and I totally agree. Suburban kids think Chicago is all crime and ghetto and poor(except for downtown of course ).

Anyway, the biggest bang for the buck in my opinion, I say is Vernon Hills. Many might disagree, but the schools are decent, even top notch some of them, for 290k you could get a nice new spacious townhouse, and a pretty interesting nice area.

[drss01]

I'm sure I'll get chastised and yelled at for this, but I think Frankfort is a pretty good bang for your buck suburb. Awesome downtown that is totally walkable, shops, bars, restaurants, and tho the metro station is not in downtown is just a few min away (hickory creek). U can get a very nice home for under 400k, if u shop smart you can find many homes w nominal prop tax. The schools are very good, silver medalist HS lincolnway east. If ur kids are into sports, lincolnway is top 10 in state for athletics. 35 min ride by car to south loop downtown. Access to 355/80/57, and now 57 has been connected to 294. Under 10 miles away from all the retail and big box stores and resarauntst u can imagine in orland.

[mr roboto]

Highwood. HP schools, on the North Shore, relatively safe, way cheaper.

[prairiestate]

Oak Lawn of course.

[4122]

Originally Posted by ChiAreaGuy

I agree for the most part. But "the beige place I came from", no... just no. About the urban areas though, OH MY GOSH SO TRUE! I live in the quiet neighborhood of Hickory Corners located in Antioch and next to Wadsworth and Lake Villa, and I totally agree. Suburban kids think Chicago is all crime and ghetto and poor(except for downtown of course ).

Anyway, the biggest bang for the buck in my opinion, I say is Vernon Hills. Many might disagree, but the schools are decent, even top notch some of them, for 290k you could get a nice new spacious townhouse, and a pretty interesting nice area.

Vernon Hills schools are actually really good. Considering how much one can get for their money there, it definitley is a big bamg for your buck. Although Cary is far out, the schools are actually ranked really good and its amazing how much you can get for your money while in a really good school district. Besides, there are a lot of suburbs that are much further out than Cary like pretty much all of Mchenry county, far northern Lake County, far south suburbs, etc.

[bigsmoke3238]

Libertyville, Lisle, Plainfield, Lincolnwood, Schaumburg, etc..