Help with possible move to Lake County! (Chicago, Naperville: crime, daycare)

[Spartanacus]

Hello. My wife is contemplating a job in Lake Forest (unfortunately we won't be able to afford to live there), so we're looking at living somewhere in Lake County. Our list of favorite homes that we can afford (the majority costing between $300K-$330K) are located in the towns/cities of...

Grayslake/Hainseville
Antioch
Round Lake
Island Lake
Winthrop Harbor
Lake Villa/Lindenhurst
Beach Park
Park City/Waukegan

I have no idea where I'll work, but I'd hope to stay out of downtown Chicago and work in Lake County as well.

Right now we live in Fishers, Indiana, which is a nice (yet fast growing) suburb of Indy with great schools and a great place to raise a family (probably similar to Naperville as we've been ranked in the top 35 on the Money list the last two years)...so we're looking for something similar.

So...what can you tell me??? Are we crazy to give up the relatively peaceful and serene/boring lives us Hoosiers lead (though I'm originally from Michigan) to move up to the Chicago/Lake County area and join the real rat race?

Thanks!

[reppin_the_847]

Well the nice thing for you is that although the rat race will be a bit more intense up in Lake County, it certainly won't be as rough as commuting to the downtown Chicago Loop. The fact that your wife's job will be in Lake Forest is great in the sense that this job is WELL north of the city, and is also sufficiently north of the extremely busy Lake-Cook county line job corridor as well. But the traffic can still be rough in Lake County, Illinois without a doubt. Once you get up into the northern half of the county there is a general rule of thumb. And that is, the eastern side is the more industrialized part, while the western side is more rural in nature and still has some open space left, although the space is fast disappearing and making way for neighborhoods of all sorts. A commute from the eastern half of the county (ie. Park City / Waukegan) to Lake Forest will be quite easy because of an abundance of huge north-south options such as Sheridan Road, Green Bay Road, Highway 41 (Skokie Highway), Waukegan Road, and the I-94 Toll Road if you're a little more west. The toll road of course can be the fastest option, but also can be the slowest option at other times because it is prone to very rough traffic jams (with hardly any exits). The western half of the county provides you with cheaper land, more land, is less industralized, etc. But the commute times will tend to be worse because you have jammed up, inadequate east-west roads that connect you to Lake Forest (which would essentially be southeast of you if you are in the northwest section of the county). If you can find a decent house in Grayslake or Hainesville, cool, Libertyville (or Mundelein or Vernon Hills) would be even closer to Lake Forest, but considerably more expensive as well. Pretty much all the communities you listed are within commuting distance of Lake Forest without a doubt. I think what it comes down to is what your preferences are. Although Park City is a simple commute to Lake Forest, I'd probably avoid it if you have school-age kids simply because there are gang elements / crime elements in Park City and certainly parts of Waukegan as well. Communities like Round Lake in the northwest may have such problems as well. I'd really get to know the community that you plan to buy in before you plunk down the money for a home. Good luck!

[Spartanacus]

Thanks! I'm also wondering if anyone has a link to a ranking of Lake County school systems. I was browsing yesterday and found one (might have been for all of IL or Chicago area) and I lost it.

[rgb123]

If I were choosing from your list, I would narrow it down to

Grayslake, Antioch, Lake Villa/Lindenhurst

Island Lake -- nice but a little on the far side, if your going to consider Island Lake also consider Wauconda and Fox Lake areas.

If I were you, I would avoid waukegan, park city, and winthrop harbor.

good luck with the move, I think you will like it!

[rgb123]

ps. I would avoid round lake too, neighboring areas of wauconda, grayslake, fox lake, lake villa are much nicer

[Spartanacus]

Originally Posted by rgb123

If I were choosing from your list, I would narrow it down to

Grayslake, Antioch, Lake Villa/Lindenhurst

Island Lake -- nice but a little on the far side, if your going to consider Island Lake also consider Wauconda and Fox Lake areas.

If I were you, I would avoid waukegan, park city, and winthrop harbor.

good luck with the move, I think you will like it!

We looked in GL, LV/LH, Island Lake and Mundelein on Saturday only to realize we'd be taking a big step down in standard of living, while paying a lot more. Therefore, we're going to look at WI. My wife's commute to Lake Forest would be longer, but that's okay. I also decided I didn't want to deal with working in downtown Chicago, so that makes WI a viable option now. Instead I'd look at working in Lake County or Milwaukee.

I haven't heard good things about Winthrop Harbor, but also no specific bad things. There are a few nice looking homes on my list that I'd like to check out. What's the major problem there? I realize schools aren't as good, but anything else? My girls are 2.5 and 1 so we've got a ways before they even get to Kindergarten...alothough we have to get a decent daycare until then.

Any other comments on WH or WI (Kenosha or Pleasant Prairie) would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Steve-o]

Have you checked the suburbs of DuPage? Theyre nicer than Lake County's IMO.

[Spartanacus]

No, is DuPage Cty. West of Cook Cty.?

[Steve-o]

Yep! I find that youll like it much more than Cook. I think youll find WI a bit boring, as there is not nearly as much to do up there than there is in the Chicagoland area. You might want to do a little research on St. Charles (Kane Co), Geneva (Kane Co), Wheaton, Warrenville, Winfield, Bartlett, Wasco, Glen Ellyn, Naperville.

[reppin_the_847]

The commute from DuPage County to Lake Forest would be a bear. I'd restrict the search in her case to Lake County suburbs, some of the northern & northwestern Cook County suburbs (but probably not due to their additional cost, unless she prefers being closer to Chicago which does not seem to be the case), and definitely southeastern Wisconsin (Pleasant Prairie / Kenosha areas). Keep in mind that Kenosha does have a Metra train that heads into Lake Forest, although the Kenosha, Winthrop Harbor, & Zion stops are way less frequent on that train line than the stops at points in Waukegan and south. And Sturtevant, Wisconsin (just west of Racine) is one of the stops on the Hiawatha Amtrak train that travels in between Milwaukee & Chicago (the stops are Milwaukee downtown, Milwaukee General Mitchell Airport stop which is basically South Milwaukee, Sturtevant which is west of Racine, Glenview which is a northern suburb of Chicago, and then downtown Chicago). Just some things to keep in mind if you want to avoid sitting in traffic jams on I-94 sometimes and hop on a train.

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Have you checked the suburbs of DuPage? Theyre nicer than Lake County's IMO.