Downtown Barrington (Chicago, Naperville, Arlington Heights: transplants, for rent, big home)

[chicagocpa22]

Does anyone have experience living in Barrington walking distance to the metra? From using Google Streetview, the streets seem to have a small-town feel and the housing prices have something for all types of buyers. Anyone have first hand experience and can comment on whats its like living there?

[G in MP]

I don't live downtown, but could say that you could do worse than downtown Barrington. Has 2 grocery stores, restaurants, bars, post office, UPS, movie theater, etc etc, all the other usual stuff for a Metra stop town. Lake Zurich nearby has a Walmart and Costco. Schools are good from what I know. A few nice parks. Ask away if there's anything else you want to know.

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by chicagocpa22

Does anyone have experience living in Barrington walking distance to the metra? From using Google Streetview, the streets seem to have a small-town feel and the housing prices have something for all types of buyers. Anyone have first hand experience and can comment on whats its like living there?

I find Barrington to be the nicest outer ring suburb in Chicago, bar none. I would live there in a heartbeat if I worked NW of Chicago on 90. Nice downtown, charming neighborhoods built right off of the center. It starts to sprawl within like 8 blocks of downtown, but the big homes and big lots are statement pieces for the town(s) like south Barrington, Barrington hills, etc.

But, if you're looking to buy, I can't reccomend anyone buy a place that far outside the city. With this new wave of home buyers and their preferences, coupled with the volatile housing market, I'd pick a property closer to the city. Sacrifice sq.ft. for rentability.

If any distant suburb is safe from doomsday, it's Barrington. Great schools, very established. But, again, I'd be safe and pick a commuter location closer to downtown.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by mwj119

I find Barrington to be the nicest outer ring suburb in Chicago, bar none. I would live there in a heartbeat if I worked NW of Chicago on 90. Nice downtown, charming neighborhoods built right off of the center. It starts to sprawl within like 8 blocks of downtown, but the big homes and big lots are statement pieces for the town(s) like south Barrington, Barrington hills, etc.

But, if you're looking to buy, I can't reccomend anyone buy a place that far outside the city. With this new wave of home buyers and their preferences, coupled with the volatile housing market, I'd pick a property closer to the city. Sacrifice sq.ft. for rentability.

If any distant suburb is safe from doomsday, it's Barrington. Great schools, very established. But, again, I'd be safe and pick a commuter location closer to downtown.

I too like Barrington's core a whole lot. I have in the past recommended it to folks who have jobs along the NW tollway and the quality of the schools remains a big plus. That said there are extremely troubling trends brewing in the region which are very difficult to ignore -- consolidation of offices into the Loop from suburban campuses, distress among bricks and mortar retail centers, shifts in attitudes about home ownership, preference for walkability and rail transit over car-centric development. Of those the only one that works out in favor of Barrington is the decent number of sub-50 minute express trains that can be relied to the Loop -- https://metrarail.com/maps-schedules/train-lines/UP-NW

It seems extremely unlikely that there is any way for things in the area to do other than be dragged down by Illinois tax structure, though the bigger declines are likely to hit other areas further out along the NW tollway as the "boom & bust" cycle hits those areas even harder. The thing too is that if one shops towns like Arlington Heights against Barrington it is hard not to notice that many of the homes in AH were built during the split-level and other less popular "Brady Bunch era" vs the more traditional / country styles that predominate in Barrington that seem to be more readily updated...

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I too like Barrington's core a whole lot. I have in the past recommended it to folks who have jobs along the NW tollway and the quality of the schools remains a big plus. That said there are extremely troubling trends brewing in the region which are very difficult to ignore -- consolidation of offices into the Loop from suburban campuses, distress among bricks and mortar retail centers, shifts in attitudes about home ownership, preference for walkability and rail transit over car-centric development. Of those the only one that works out in favor of Barrington is the decent number of sub-50 minute express trains that can be relied to the Loop -- https://metrarail.com/maps-schedules/train-lines/UP-NW

It seems extremely unlikely that there is any way for things in the area to do other than be dragged down by Illinois tax structure, though the bigger declines are likely to hit other areas further out along the NW tollway as the "boom & bust" cycle hits those areas even harder. The thing too is that if one shops towns like Arlington Heights against Barrington it is hard not to notice that many of the homes in AH were built during the split-level and other less popular "Brady Bunch era" vs the more traditional / country styles that predominate in Barrington that seem to be more readily updated...

Very well said.

[JJski]

When we moved here (out of state/healthy budget/professional/young family/work in loop) we never looked at suburbs over 30 minutes metra to loop. That included some nice ones (4 years later) knowing what we know now about Chicago - so for example: Naperville, Wheaton, Glen Elyn... We also drove our agent nuts because every house we looked at an iphone was pulled to map/ensure to downtown center walk <.5m... New wave of Buyers are hyper focused on micro location, location, location with the bells and whistles of a great downtown… I don’t see that trend changing but increasing as more buyers now grow up with technology -> to use data surgically evaluating all elements, schools, business districts, events, and big city proximity...

I don't know Barrington but sounds nice - just sharing my out of state transplant perspective. I think its good to know as Chicago seems to get a lot of us transplants which should be considered as your future buyers...

[chicagocpa22]

Thanks all - I agree with most of the commentary so far. I currently live in the city, but honestly don't like living within city boundaries so the areas around Barrington seems like an ideal place on the surface, with the exception of commute time obviously. I wonder if this trend of city-loving millennials will be offset by more people becoming "location-independent" with internet related jobs and the ability to work from home, etc. If I could figure out away to earn a living and not have to commute to the city or northern suburbs every day, the areas around Barrington would be high on my list.

[silvertonesx24]

Originally Posted by mwj119

I find Barrington to be the nicest outer ring suburb in Chicago, bar none. I would live there in a heartbeat if I worked NW of Chicago on 90. Nice downtown, charming neighborhoods built right off of the center. It starts to sprawl within like 8 blocks of downtown, but the big homes and big lots are statement pieces for the town(s) like south Barrington, Barrington hills, etc.

But, if you're looking to buy, I can't reccomend anyone buy a place that far outside the city. With this new wave of home buyers and their preferences, coupled with the volatile housing market, I'd pick a property closer to the city. Sacrifice sq.ft. for rentability.

If any distant suburb is safe from doomsday, it's Barrington. Great schools, very established. But, again, I'd be safe and pick a commuter location closer to downtown.

Arlington Heights. It's downtown has everything downtown Barrington has and more but is a ~20 min closer train ride to the city.

Barrington has nicer sprawl though. While Scarsdale in Arlington Heights is as nice as any Barrington neighborhood offers, you're not going to find a $2M estate 10 min from the downtown.