South burbs (Chicago, Joliet, Bolingbrook: trip , jobs, homes)

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by brown fam

What's the deal?
My wife is from Chicago, and we currently live in Tampa,Fl. We are seriously looking to move to Chicagoland. The city is too expensive, so we took our search to the burbs. We only wanted to be 30 miles or less from the city. The nothern burbs are out of our price range. We have looked into the southern burbs and I am totally disapointed in some of the posts I see about the burbs in southern Chicagoland. Are they that bad? Is it all about black n' white?
Matteson has caught our eye. There are some new homes in our price range. We are looking at homes in the range of $260-$275. Schools & safety are very important too. Can anyone enlightened me on why we shouldn't move there?
THANKS

To start, Matteson is fine, but you must realize that the area has been changing for about the past 20 years now. White flight took over in the mid 80's from east to west, and the area now is made up of younger black families and older white people who are simply set in their ways and won't move what-so-ever, thus making up the school populos of mostly African Americans at this point.

In this area, there is one exception to the rule and that is Homewood and Floosmoor which have both stood their ground and are still mostly all white even though they are surrounded by African American areas.

So, sorry, it is all about black and white pretty much wherever you go in this area. Sorry.

Have you looked into Frankfort? There is an area right along Harlem Ave at the intersection of St. Francis Road which is mostly all white, and has homes that are in your price range. Now the area off to it's east is mixed up more, so if diversity is what you are looking for then this might be doable for you without you having to worry about racial tension and all that crap. The area is known as Frankfort Square. It was built in the late 70s consisiting of mostly sided homes. There are townhomes right along St. Francis with single family dwellings north of there. You will be in Frankfort's school districts which are known to be very good, and are a stone's throw away from Orland Park for all the shopping you can dream of without having to worry about your wife being mugged going out to her car alone late in the evening. Taxes will run you about $4K a year for a single family there, and $2500 for a townhome. Check it out. Here is an example of some of the homes in the area. Frankfort Square Real Estate, Illinois - Frankfort Square Homes for Sale, MLS Listings

If areas that are all white are more what you are looking for, then look into Tinley Park, Orland Park, Orland Hills, Lockport, Homer Glen, Mokena, Oak Forest, Crestwood, Palos Heights, Palos Hills, Oak Lawn, Worth, Lemont, and Palos Park, all of which are very safe, have good schools, low crime, plenty to offer a young family, tight knit, lots of parks, etc.

[freshmtt]

Originally Posted by cdc3217

Good question. I've got a couple ideas on this:

1) Schools. I looked up jr. high school test scores for all three cities, and the results were - vs a 74 state average for "% all subjects meet/exceed standard" Homewood - 86, Lansing - 72, South Holland - 67.

2) Transit. Homewood has a Metra line running through it. It's also (I believe...) a little closer to the city than the other two.

3) Looks/Housing stock. I haven't been to Lansing or South Holland much, but what little knowledge I have leads me to think there is a greater assortment of home types and more attractive neighborhoods (and downtown) in Homewood.

4) A note on the safety stats - Homewood got a score of 323.6, while the average is 323.2. That's a hardly measurable variance from average. What I did notice was their crime score jumped way up in 2006 - I wonder if that's a trend or a blip? Also, these scores are calculated to a per capita score - so the size of the town doesn't factor in. 200 is alsways better than 300, regardless if its Chicago vs Mayberry or Lansing vs Homewood.

Excellent Post, I live in Homewood, and I would have to say that we have never experienced any problems in regards to crime. I feel safe anytime of the day or night.

[brown fam]

Can you tell me if there are new home constructions in Park Forest, Homewood, Flossmoor, Frankfort, New Lenox, Mokena or Olympia Fields?
Thanks

[LIS123]

The Will County suburbs (Frankfort, New Lenox, Mokena) would likely have the most relatively new construction of the towns mentioned. The caveat is... be prepared to pay for it! I've heard prices in that area have shot up recently! It seems like the area has gotten so hot that it's former advantages (affordable newer housing, less crowded, less expensive than Cook County) may no longer be present.

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by brown fam

Can you tell me if there are new home constructions in Park Forest, Homewood, Flossmoor, Frankfort, New Lenox, Mokena or Olympia Fields?
Thanks

For Park Forest, Homewood, and Floosmoor, you might find some knock downs, but mostly it's people just re-habbing homes there. The area is landlocked now and there simply isn't any vacant land left really for "new" construction without having to knock something down.

[prairiestate]

Actually, there are a lot of new townhomes going up in Park Forest, right in the center of town (there used to be an open air mall there), and I believe some single family homes as well. You can find details on the village web site:

Village of Park Forest, Illinois 60466 (708) 748-1112

[brown fam]

Hello everyone,
I visited the Chicago area last week with my family. We visited Matteson, University Park, Crete, Beecher, Lynwood and Joliet areas. We feel Joliet is too far out. The only new construction builder (minus the Joliet area)we can afford is Montalbano Builders. They have very nice floorplans too. Those areas had Montalbano model homes.

• Which area do you recommend?
• Does anyone own a Montalbano home and how was your relationship with them.
• How well do they bargain for upgrades? (we notice they do not include a lot of upgrades; ex. Central air, shower in master bath etc.)

Our trip was very enjoyable. Everyone was very courteous and helpful. We visited a couple of Junior High Schools which were fairly new. The weather wasn't too bad. It was my daughter's 1st time seeing snow,which was great!

[At1WithNature]

the Soutwest Suburbs are some of the most pristine and rich that Chicago has to offer. Whether it be Naperville, Frankfort (home of Bernie Mac), Olympia Fields, or Flossmor. Chicagoland is home to over 10 million people so you are going to get a little bit of everything. You can research towns like Frankfort where homes range in price from $150,000(Frankfort Square)-$2.1 million (Prestwick, Butternut, ect.).

The Southwest suburbs are very nice and today it was 62 degrees in the SW burbs so that is a major advantage of living in the southwest burbs opposed to the northern ones.

[At1WithNature]

I would be leary of matteson. there is a criminal element that is knee deep in ford heights, chicago heights, richton park, and matteson (heck just follow Rt. 30). I think Matteson would be a poor choice. You should stay out of Cook County for tons of reasons. Move to Will county, the sales tax is cheaper and the criminal element isn't as bad as southern cook county. There are very active gangs in the matteson-richton park community.

[At1WithNature]

I also would be leary of the Homewood-Flossmor school. It is surrounded by very active gang communities such as Chicago Heights, East Hazel Crest, and Glenwood. The towns of Homewood and Flossmor have strong police departments and they do their best to keep the criminal element from neighboring towns spilling over to theirs, but the fact of the matter is the HF school district takes kids from those gang and drug ridden communities such as chicago heights. on the plus side, the HF school is a blue ribbon award winner and produces NBA and NFL talent such as current New Orleans Hornet Julian Wright.