moving to chicago suburbs (Aurora, Naperville: fit in, for sale, houses)

[o.c.momof3]

I am a married mother of 3 living in Tennessee for the passed 6 years. I am a transplant from california born and raised. Husband is looking into a job in the Naperville area. Looking for a neighborhood with good schools and newer contemporary homes with young families . We can't afford naperville just yet and have a home budget of $350-380. (not much equity in Tenn. homes). Can someone please steer my family in the right direction. Plainfield maybe?:

[MarquettePark]

If you have that kind of budget, as I see it, 300K to 380K, like you said,

With that kind of money, you can buy a home like your home in tennesee, and ten more acres, in the far and i mean far southern surburbs,

You can easily find large very new if not just built homes, in the close southern burbs, and south east side of chicago, and the south side of chicago

I recommend checking these zip codes,
60803
60655
60643
60452


If you want to live in a more upscaled Tennesee type neighborhood, look into peotone, Frankfort, New Lenox, they are less than forty minutes from downtown chicago, but youd never know it,

For instance in 1992, my one bedroom house, which i bought for 69 thousand, in zipcode 60452, Oak Forest Illinois, sits on a lot, 189 feet wide, and 209 feet long, and my lot, is the 2nd smallest, out of fifteen homes on my side of the street,

The smallest lot which is two doors down from me, has a larger house, woodframe, new everything, two car garage, long driveway, little or no grass to cut, three bedrooms, one bath, just sold for 149,000 last week

Right now, in the south side and south burbs of Chicago, the housing market is in a quiet chaos, lots of homes for sale, but nobody is buying, and those people selling their homes now, are getting much less than what they were asking for.

Where will you be working? What kind of schools do you want to send your kids too?(I know you want a good school) but in the chicago land area, there is 50/50 mix, Public vs Private,

I come from a poor household, and I went to private catholic school, and high school, I know I will take some heat for this comment, "but under no circumstances should you enroll any of your children in a Chicago Public Grade School,"

If you can, post some more specifics, and you will get a lot more replies,

[MarquettePark]

I missed the Naperville location, sorry, look into Lombard, Glendale Heights, and the area west of Lombard, Dupage county has its act together, schools, and such, so you will find a good fit in those areas

[Drover]

The area MarquettePark suggests is, for all its virtues as he points out, not going to be convenient to Naperville. For a home in the price range that is convenient to Naperville with decent schools, I would suggest looking at Geneva or the portion of Aurora that feeds into Waubonsee Valley High School (which is in essence in the Naperville school district). Be wary of the Aurora school districts, especially the East Aurora school district (District 209). Also convenient to Naperville is Warrenville, which is part of the Wheaton school district (a good thing) and cheaper to live in than Wheaton (also a good thing).

[EDIT] MarquettePark is mostly right in his follow-up post about DuPage County and its school districts having their acts together (the price you pay is that DuPage is the most expensive county in the state of Illinois), but there is one minor trouble spot you'll probably want to steer clear of, and that's the West Chicago school district.

Good luck with your move.

[o.c.momof3]

Any opinions on Plainfield ? Want a newer home under 400k quality school district. Husbands territory will be in Naperville (medical sales). I am a stay home mother of three-10,7 and7(yes twins) .wE ARE IN OUR MID 30s and would like to be around other progressive young families. Grew up in Orange County California and have lived in Chattanooga Tn. for the past 6 years. (not a good fit) PLease help direct me to a suburb and or subdivision that fits our criteria. Thank you

[Drover]

Lots of newer homes in Plainfield. The area is booming. Plus it got its ass kicked hard by a tornado about 15 years ago that flattened entire subdivisions, so much of the city is "newer."

Plainfield looks convenient to Naperville on a map, but that short commute can be confouded by thick traffic and lots of stop lights. Probably nothing new for a former Orange County resident, and probably less of a hassle than most of your other options.

I hear the schools there are pretty good, but only through anecdotes. I'm sure you'll do the necessary legwork to confirm.

I'm not sure what your idea of "progressive" is. Orange County CA, if I recall correctly, is a sort of moderate Republican suburban area, quite a bit less uptight and, for lack of a better word, "reactionary" than you've probably experienced in Tennessee. Chicago suburbs tend to be the same way, at least outside of Cook County. If you're looking for Ralph Nader fans, you're not going to many in Will County. You're also not going to find a lot of Fire-And-Brimstone Bible thumpers either. Pretty standard middle-of-the-road stuff.

[marcin25]

Naperivllie is really beautiful, kinda expensive and has great schools. I have familiy living there and I think that you'd enjoy this location a lot. But not really Plainfield.
I live in Park Ridge, IL (60068) and this is a GREAT place to consider for that budget. Park Ridge is like Beverly Hills with no hills House are awesome and big as well, and schools around here are some of the best schools in area. One of the schools in top 5% in U.S. Park Ridge is close to Chicago, about 30 mins away from Naperville when there's no congestion on highways. So from that place you wouldnt have many problems getting to work in Naperville because u'd be going in the opposite way of traffic - away from Chicago.
Plainfield like it sounds is PLAIN. Only houses and nothing more. In Park Ridge everything is in your pocket.

[o.c.momof3]

Originally Posted by marcin25

Naperivllie is really beautiful, kinda expensive and has great schools. I have familiy living there and I think that you'd enjoy this location a lot. But not really Plainfield.
I live in Park Ridge, IL (60068) and this is a GREAT place to consider for that budget. Park Ridge is like Beverly Hills with no hills House are awesome and big as well, and schools around here are some of the best schools in area. One of the schools in top 5% in U.S. Park Ridge is close to Chicago, about 30 mins away from Naperville when there's no congestion on highways. So from that place you wouldnt have many problems getting to work in Naperville because u'd be going in the opposite way of traffic - away from Chicago.
Plainfield like it sounds is PLAIN. Only houses and nothing more. In Park Ridge everything is in your pocket.

Thank you for the input. Everything helps.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by marcin25

Naperivllie is really beautiful, kinda expensive and has great schools. I have familiy living there and I think that you'd enjoy this location a lot. But not really Plainfield.
I live in Park Ridge, IL (60068) and this is a GREAT place to consider for that budget. Park Ridge is like Beverly Hills with no hills House are awesome and big as well, and schools around here are some of the best schools in area. One of the schools in top 5% in U.S. Park Ridge is close to Chicago, about 30 mins away from Naperville when there's no congestion on highways. So from that place you wouldnt have many problems getting to work in Naperville because u'd be going in the opposite way of traffic - away from Chicago.
Plainfield like it sounds is PLAIN. Only houses and nothing more. In Park Ridge everything is in your pocket.

I want to caution that there is really no such thing as a "reverse commute" any more. With so many corporations setting up shop in the suburbs, commute start points and destination points no longer strictly follow the traditional "in toward the city in the morning, out toward the suburbs in the afternoon" pattern. (Besides which, you'd mostly be going perpendicular to the "standard" city-to-suburb and vice-versa pattern.)

Traffic now sucks in every direction during rush hour. I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but you can barely get to Naperville from Park Ridge in 30 minutes at 3am when the roads are empty, and that's if you're hustling. There's just no way in hell you're going to do it during normal commute hours because there is NEVER "no congestion" at that time. Figure at least an hour, maybe even more, from Park Ridge to Naperville during normal commute hours.

[Drover]

To elaborate on above: when I started dating my now-wife, she lived in Naperville and I lived in St. Charles. Unless it was past 7 or 8pm, it routinely took me 25 to 30 minutes to get to her place. And she lived on the edge of Naperville closest to St. Charles. Now consider that Park Ridge is about 3 times the distance from Naperville as St. Charles is and you'd be fighting even denser traffic. So I re-iterate, trying to commute to Naperville from Park Ridge would NOT be a fun time.