wheaton, lisle, or brookfield? (Chicago, Naperville: condos, house, to buy)

[jelman]

Thought I would jump on the bandwagon of suburb discussion!

Thinking of moving to one of the above suburbs, and thought I would see what is realistic. I would like to live 45 minutes or less by metra, within walking distance of the train if possible in a suburb with good schools.

For those of you living in these places, could one get a 3+ bedroom house for less than 400k?

[Steve-o]

Id have to recommend Wheaton. The tracks run right through town and you have a choice of two stations to board at. The school system in Wheaton is above average and the town has lots to do with a nice downtown. The only bad thing is the home prices are quite expensive as everyone and their mother wants to get in there lately for some reason. Wheaton has pushed its boundaries, so the only way to get in is to buy a resale, homes arent on the market long. For 300K you shouldnt have problems finding a 3 BR home, but it will more than likely be quite old. There are some beautiful condos just built downtown that range 250-400K that you might want to check out.

[domergurl]

you probably could in Brookfield. We used to live there and walk to the train, the Hollywood/zoo station. It was about 30 minutes into the city.

[jelman]

For those of you in the know about these areas, how are the taxes?

And how long would it take to drive into the city? Please be honest, I've heard people say Naperville is 30 minutes into the city and I know that can't possibly be true, even breaking the law.

I'm a big baseball fan and hate to think I would have to give up cheering on my guys at the ballpark.

[Steve-o]

30 minutes to Chicago from Naperville? Whoever told you that is waaaay wrong. More like 1 hour on a good day and 2 hours on a bad day. There has been times Ive moved 1 mile in 30 minutes.

[domergurl]

I never drove into the city from Brookfied during the week, but on the weekends, I could make it in 25-30 minutes. I know when I lived there, Cook County property taxes are much lower than Dupage County, but I don't know if that's changed. Brookfied is in Cook County

[prairiestate]

The Eisenhower is always at a standstill. The Stevenson is usually pretty good during non rush hour periods. One advantage of Brookfield is the accesibility to the Stevenson.

[raymar]

I've lived in Riverside for the past 26 years which is the next suburb east of Brookfield. The previous post is correct in the amount of time it would take to drive to the loop from Brookfield during off peak times. I can't speak of the grade schools in Brookfield but both Riverside and most of Brookfield go to R-B High School which is ranked in the top 5 in Illinois and the top 100 in the nation by Newsweek magazine with a 99% graduation rate. Brookfield is a middle class community with a well established housing stock which I would think is well within your price range. Taxes I'm guessing would be between $2000-4000. I used to work in both Lisle and Naperville. Lisle is the next suburb east of Naperville and its tax base is largely retail and office buildings. Areas of Lisle would be on par with Brookfield or more expensive as far as cost of homes. Wheaton would be a step up and its central area has a nice small town feel but there is a lot of newer and much more expensive homes in the rest of the suburb. I can't speak for the quality of schools in either Lisle or Wheaton.