South burbs (Chicago, Cicero, Oak Lawn: apartments, how much, homes)

[brown fam]

At1 With Nature,
What about University Park?

[At1WithNature]

University Park is home to the University Business Park so there are jobs available. It's wide open out there and fairly small. it borders monee to the south which is a very small community but has a stern police force and little to no crime. University Park also has the advantage of a Metra Station and Governors State University. I think the University Park/Monee area will be somewhat like the Frankfort area in 20 years. Expect the growth that is making the Frankfort-Mokena-New Lenox area hot right now to reach those further south burbs like Monee, Manhattan, University Park, ect. in about 20 years. So if you want to raise a family and not have to deal with some of the negatives that are currently happening in the Frankfor area (countless potholes, increased pollution from cars, and booming population) then Monee, University Park, or Manhattan would be a wise choice. Although those communities do have more of the "farm" feel to them but that is changing fast with the population explosion Will County is current having:

*Will County is 1st in population growth of all Illinois Counties
* Will County is 1st in new home construction in Illinois
* Joliet is the 14th fastest growing city of 100,000 or more in the US
* Bolingbrook is the 24th wealthiest zip code in Chicago land
* Will County is the 10th fastest growing county in the USA
* Will County is 36th Nationally in New Job Creation
* Will County is now 88th of the 100 Most Populous Counties in the USA

[skyeINIL]

Originally Posted by 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.

Normally, I would disagree with you about Glenwood. It is a very nice town but they had an odd jump in their crime rate from 2005 to 2006. I don't know if that's the start of a trend or just a fluke.

[brown fam]

Originally Posted by 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!

Anyone on the Montalbano Homes questions?????

[jmikota]

please consider Tinley park (andrew highschool district 230 ) Tinley Park has wonderful schools and you could come into an older subdivision and get a 3 bedroom home for just about what your price point is. JUst remember to ask for district 230

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

[At1WithNature]

Originally Posted by brown fam

At1 With Nature,
What about University Park?

University Park is a very small town that is known more for its' mammoth Business Parks home to huge corporations with mammoth warehouses. I would assume that most of University Park's crime has to do with industrial crimes since there are dozens and dozens of large businesses off of cicero ave. just south of matteson. I haven't heard anything negative about university park and it is still south enough where it should be able to avoid a lot of the ridiculous traffic.

the town only has like 5,000 people, so i would assume it is good provided you scope out the area and check out the neighbors. University Park just might have more employees at their businesses than citizens...

[NYrules]

I have to ask this... I see a mention about countless potholes on the roads and tons of traffic around Frankfort and Tinley Park... What area around Chicago doesn't have that? The area's roads have time and time again been rated among the worst in the country. Now while I will admit I do see SOME improvement, they are still REALLY bad compared with other areas surrounding NE IL. Heres a great example of our wonderous roads and this is found EVERYWHERE around here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-0k2aBpKUY &
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq3Lb...eature=related

[At1WithNature]

Originally Posted by NYrules

I have to ask this... I see a mention about countless potholes on the roads and tons of traffic around Frankfort and Tinley Park... What area around Chicago doesn't have that? The area's roads have time and time again been rated among the worst in the country. Now while I will admit I do see SOME improvement, they are still REALLY bad compared with other areas surrounding NE IL. Heres a great example of our wonderous roads and this is found EVERYWHERE around here.
YouTube - The Road From Midway Airport: Potholes on Cicero &
YouTube - Cicero Avenue en Chicago, Illinois

Thanks for the solid post and excellent links!

yes, the traffic is bad pretty much all around chicago. however, frankfort was a sleepy suburb just 8 years ago. Put it this way, Frankfort's school district (210) has seen 2 brand new high schools built in the past 2 years! That's Lincoln Way North (the Phoenix) in Frankfort Square and Lincoln Way West in Manhattan.

So the area is booming, as evidenced by Will County being the only non-sun belt county in the America's top 10 fastest growing counties. The roads have not widened AT ALL but developers are going crazy in that area (west side of matteson as well, the area which borders frankfort but is still in cook county). so people who have lived in this area for 30+ years aren't used to the increased traffic which is the polar opposite of what it was 10 years ago.

chicagoland is one of the top 25 most populous regions ON EARTH!

some people were born in the chicago area and have likes and disklikes. Traffic is one of them. Since chicago is so huge, it is routinely placed near the top of the Nation's worst traffic.

it is a part of life that people from the chicago area just have to deal with. but the good thing about it is that you can always move...

[Opkl]

brown farm-

You should think about Lynwood. It has good transportation to the city..IL-394. Nice shopping in Indiana, and new homes

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by NYrules

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.

Homewood is 75% white and Flossmoor is 62% white, I wouldn't call Flossmoor mostly white. Schools in Homewood and Flossmoor are diverse, but that too is slowly changing. I have to slightly disagree, the hispanic population is increasing in the South Suburban region, its not so black and white. In general, most of the suburbs east of I-57 are over 50% black and west of 1-57 is largely white. There are exceptions like Blue Island, Chicago Heights, and Posen that have large Hispanic( mostly Mexican) population.