NW burbs -- where to live? (Chicago, Rockford: condo, townhouse, safe area)

[HockeyFan]

My situation is a bit unique -- I am considering a move to the Chicago area, but it is a move that would be done in conjunction with my parents' moving/semi-retirement as well. Since I'm at a situation where I can still easily move, and my parents are looking at retirement before long, we're looking for places where we'd all enjoy and be close by -- Chicago is definitely in that category.

Personally, I'd be looking for some sort of condo/townhouse, preferably in a more urbanized area. Areas like the loop and Lincoln Park actually seem reasonably priced for what it is (compared to anything in SoCal or NYC especially), but I'm also open to all suburban ideas.

For my parents, they're looking for a house in the 2500-3500 square foot range, and the price range is not set in stone. The question I have is.. what are the areas in which to look? We're all somewhat familar with Chicago, albeit from 6-7 years ago. The Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates area appealed to us. We've also found some houses that seem like a great deal in Streamwood. However, I know little about Streamwood -- what I see on here is kind of mixed.

Living in a safe area is of course important, but so is being close to amenities. We've all done the far out suburb thing -- we don't care to be 15 miles from a grocery store! In fact, all of us are more comfortable in an energetic, diverse, interactive environment where you see people other than in just cars than we are in gated communities.

The NW appeals to us more than the SW at a glance for a simple fact -- we're big hockey fans. With the area teams being in places like Rockford, Rosemont, Bensenville, we're going to be closer to our main entertainment in the NW. And it seems getting to the United Center isn't much different from the NW or SW.

Anything along the lake to the north is also of interest, but the top end for the single family house would likely be in the $750K range. From what I've seen, nothing too close to the lake would fit the bill... but I could be wrong?

Considering all of this... where do we start looking? Both for a house, and for a condo?

[SPTLSS1]

We have livd in Schaumburg for the past 11 years. The first two years were on the west end near the border of Streamwood. In 1998 we had a house built on the very east end near Schaumburg Rd. & Meacham Rd. For our family Schaumburg is perfect since it has everything one could want along w/ great schools, tons of activities for the kids, of course shopping, etc. It is crowded with a population of 75,000 plus which doubles during the work day but for us it works since I work in EGV & the wife works in Schaumburg.

Having said that if you are looking for a more family friendly area you can look into areas like Vernon Hills, Arlington Heights, etc but they will be even more costly on avg than Schaumburg.

Problem w/ Streamwood is the U46 schools signifanctly decrease property values although there are those that say the schools are equal to Dist 211 or 214.

Hope that somewhat helps.

[HockeyFan]

Do school districts in Chicago tend to follow the boundaries of a particular suburb, or are they different entities? For example, here in SoCal, some parts of our suburb belong to the school district of the next suburb over, and that makes quite a difference for many people.

Family-friendly isn't really something we're looking for -- don't get me wrong, we're not looking for family-unfriendly -- but in both cases, we're distinctly looking for an area that is not all young families. Neither I nor my parents are going to be having any kids any time soon, and in an all-young family neighborhood, it's tough to meet people when you're not connected to schools, etc. Having said that, for resale purposes, a decent school district is still a selling point.

[SPTLSS1]

You may also consider the north shore like Glenview, Northbrook or Deerfield. Another area might be Park Ridge which basically borders the city & is a very nice area. You can buy homes in these areas w/ 750K but they won't be the largest or nicest homes but coming from Cali you understand that the dollar doesn't go as far as in other regions (Chicago not being one of them).

There are so many suburbs here...there was a thread and I think the last count was well over 250 suburbs in the Chicagoland area...that everyone will have an opinion one way or the other.

[HockeyFan]

One thing I should add... because of allergy concerns, new construction is a very strong preference. What are some areas with new construction taking place?

Also, I should comment... as long as it's within the Chicagoland area, it doesn't matter if the house and the condo are in dramatically different parts of town.