Suburbs with biggest bang for the buck! (Chicago, Arlington Heights: low income, apartment complex)

[Fighting Fungus]

I would say mount Prospect. Pretty affordable with good schools and close to the city.

[JJski]

Riverside and La Grange Park...

[Lookout Kid]

I agree with the three mentioned above, and would add Brookfield, Wheaton, Winfield, and Warrenville. Maybe Lisle southern Downers Grove, and southern Glen Ellyn... And a whole slew of south/southwest suburbs.

But the interesting thing about Mt. Prospect is that you can get truly stellar schools on a Metra line for under $400,000 if you can live in a modest house.

[chicagoliz]

I'd throw in Skokie. Decent enough schools, good location -- TONS of shopping,etc. Easy access to Evanston and the lake, not insane to get downtown. CTA is an option for Cubs games. (I know the Swift had issues, but you can go to Evanston and get on the purple line).

[ToriaT]

I doubt if Riverside and Wheaton give the biggest bang for the buck. They are expensive suburbs and not for the budget minded, but you can find some affordable homes if you look. They will be older or on the smaller side. To me biggest bang for the buck means where can you get a large home for less money. My guess is that you could get a bigger home for the buck in Carol Stream than Wheaton if that was your top priority. Also a place like Bolingbrook. There are some larger newish homes there. But for a variety of reasons you might not want to do this and might be better off going to a better suburb and getting a smaller home.

[JJski]

To me biggest bang = combination of elements (schools, downtown, metra station distance, home proximity to core/walkability, historic attributes of town, community, etc) house size/quality also but definitely not the only recipe ingredient IMO...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by ToriaT

I doubt if Riverside and Wheaton give the biggest bang for the buck. They are expensive suburbs and not for the budget minded, but you can find some affordable homes if you look. They will be older or on the smaller side. To me biggest bang for the buck means where can you get a large home for less money. My guess is that you could get a bigger home for the buck in Carol Stream than Wheaton if that was your top priority. Also a place like Bolingbrook. There are some larger newish homes there. But for a variety of reasons you might not want to do this and might be better off going to a better suburb and getting a smaller home.

I guess the "bang" I'm referring to is a town with a good school district and amenities. I think you get a lot of positives in Wheaton for less money compared to, say, La Grange or Hinsdale.

If we're just talking about home size, you probably get more house for the money in some distant suburb like Sugar Grove or Yorkville.

[twodoor2]

Originally Posted by Fighting Fungus

I would say mount Prospect. Pretty affordable with good schools and close to the city.

Very true IF you can find some homes with a decent elementary and junior high as well. Some are not as stellar although many feed into Prospect High. I recommended Mt. Prospect to a friend on a $400K max budget for a home near his work (Palatine) and with good schools.

There's a lot of low income families in that area, which probably keeps values down. The same can be said for Arlington Heights though, which is not as good a value as Mt. Prospect. One of the nastiest slums I've ever seen is situated in the heart of Arlington Heights.

Wheeling also is a good value if you don't care about schools. It's close to the North Shore area, and you can get a really nice home for less than $400K. It's situated between Buffalo Grove and Northbrook, two great burbs. I think some parts of Wheeling feed into Prospect High, but not sure, so I would look into that for resale value.

I also think Lincolnwood has some good buys too right now for being so close to the North side of Chicago. The schools are decent enough as well.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by twodoor2

Very true IF you can find some homes with a decent elementary and junior high as well. Some are not as stellar although many feed into Prospect High. I recommended Mt. Prospect to a friend on a $400K max budget for a home near his work (Palatine) and with good schools.

There's a lot of low income families in that area, which probably keeps values down. The same can be said for Arlington Heights though, which is not as good a value as Mt. Prospect. One of the nastiest slums I've ever seen is situated in the heart of Arlington Heights.

Wheeling also is a good value if you don't care about schools. It's close to the North Shore area, and you can get a really nice home for less than $400K. It's situated between Buffalo Grove and Northbrook, two great burbs. I think some parts of Wheeling feed into Prospect High, but not sure, so I would look into that for resale value.

I also think Lincolnwood has some good buys too right now for being so close to the North side of Chicago. The schools are decent enough as well.

Anyone that characterizes the heart of Arlington Heights as "nastiest slum" clearly has not ventured afar...

[twodoor2]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Anyone that characterizes the heart of Arlington Heights as "nastiest slum" clearly has not ventured afar...

I didn't say the heart of Arlington Heights is a nasty slum, but there is a slum at the heart of Arlington Heights. If you don't believe me, here's the article. It's a gross nasty apartment complex called the Dryden apartments, and it looks like the projects.

They used to be called the Marketview Apartments back then.

Man?s lower torso and legs found in Arlington Heights - tribunedigital-chicagotribune

In any case, there's new construction being built across from those apartments. We looked at them on our home search, but if we bought one on the end, we would have to up pay $30K extra to make the corner look architecturally up to the standards of Arlington Heights buildings. It was a joke when these apartment complexes are across the street. You should see the buildings, they are filthy, unmaintained, and have ugly bed sheet and makeshift window coverings. No way would I buy there, and some homes in close proximity are having a difficult time selling because of this complex. I don't know why the village doesn't do anything about this!

I have yet to see anythng this nasty in Mt. Prospect even though it does have substantial low income apartments. Hence, I rather move to Mt. Prospect, and it has lower taxes too.