Relocating to Chicago Suburbs from TX - Burr Ridge commute and need ADVICE (Naperville: townhouse, neighborhoods)

[whakru]

Originally Posted by mguizi

Thank you whakru! You're right, the company is right there! It's nice to hear from someone that used to have the same drive. It's really helpful! Let me know about your house! I would love to get more info about it!

Is there difference between living in the east - west - north part of Naperville? About safety, neighborhoods and taxes?

Naperville is very large with a well established downtown area and two train stations on the BNSF metra line. There are two school districts (203 and 204) and taxes vary between the schools districts (203 tends to be on the lower side). There are also two counties that Naperville covers (DuPage and Will) that will affect your taxes.


No real difference in the areas of Naperville in terms of safety. Most people choose their area based on commute, school district, type of home/neighborhood. For instance, if you work in Burr Ridge you are not going to want to be much further west of Washington and probably not north of downtown because it will add a significant amount of time to your commute.


There is so much variability in a town this large (150,000 people)......it really comes down to what is important to you (walk to train, budget, school district, etc).


I sent you a reply to your message so if you have any other questions, just let me know.

[ToriaT]

The areas Chet mentions are better for a commute to Burr Ridge. I would skip Wood ridge or Naperville there are better, closer options.

[ToriaT]

Also look in Burr Ridge. It can be expensive but there are some more reasonable options that come on the market.

https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/.../pid_24367015/

[fusillirob1983]

It depends what type/size of house the person wants and if he values commute over other things.


In terms of housing, someone's money will go further in Naperville than in La Grange, Clarendon Hills, Western Springs, La Grange Highlands or Burr Ridge. It also depends how much work they want to do updating a house. If your focus is on future value of the home and you don't mind updating most rooms and have the cash to do so, you can find a smaller house in many of these suburbs for under $400k.


Willowbrook, Darien and Countryside can be more affordable.


I think chet makes a good point about townhome maintenance.

[LincolnFam]

Plainfield commute can be bad unless you live close to I55-- look in North Plainfield, which is closer to RT 155, and 126.

[Tonytime224]

Why would you want to move to Illinois from Texas?

[grecamama]

I live in North Plainfield and the commute is Ok, not the best but doable for us. Naperville, Woodridge are not too far from Burr Ridge. Naperville especially has a great downtown, two highly rated school districts and you can find something in your budget there.
Do you have a realtor to help you with mapping out the areas and pulling some reports on what you can get for your money? If not I can send you some info.
Have you thought of Downers Grove?

[doodlemagic]

Woodridge
Not sure how the middle schools are, I imagine decent, Downers North is a fantastic school. Woodridge is a somewhat boring suburbs but your within a short drive of Naperville, Downers Grove, Lombard, etc. My folks actually live near the 7 Bridges area, it's decent over there, have the movie theatre, some good restaurants, etc.

Plainfield
I would advise against Plainfield. Years ago during the boom it built up and ten people realized it was overpriced, too far out, etc. The taxes are incredibly high because they built too many high schools and then the housing boom ended. There's really nothing that exciting about Plainfield either and traffic near I55 and Webber is horrendous.

Naperville
If you're on the South end of Naperville it could take 30 minutes just to get to Ogden and Naper Blvd. If your in the Northern part of Naperville commute wouldn't be too bad.

Downers Grove
Downers is great, great location, pretty good access to highways, great schools, I find the taxes in Downers to be much more reasonable than many other burbs even others in Dupage county. There's a lot of new/er townhomes in the area, I"m surprised your not finding anything although I understand some may be outside of your budget. I know there's some over on Maple near Belmont that are like 3000 sq foot townhomes going for like 700k.

The only other burb I can think to throw in is Darien, I don't personally know much about it but I've heard decent things and it's in close proximity to Burr Ridge

[doodlemagic]

Originally Posted by fusillirob1983

How short of a commute do you need? Depending where in Naperville you looked and where in Burr Ridge work is, your commute can be about 20-30 minutes. Also, depending on locations, you may be able to take 75th Street most of the way.


There's plenty of houses in Naperville for under $400k and taxes tend to be a little lower than some of the surrounding burbs, other than Downers Grove which can be about on par with Naperville taxes. It shouldn't be too difficult to find a somewhat older house (built between the 1960s and 1980s) that has been updated for under $400k.

I don't know how percentages work out tax wise but just an anecdotal example I found houses in Downers with taxes of $3500 where as basically the same house, same lot size in Lombard, Lisle, etc was $5500+. To me Downers seems to have very reasonable taxes.

[HollyhockGarden]

There are townhouses in Hinsdale available in the $400K price range. However, they are not brand-new. For a trade-off you get a very short commute to Burr Ridge, excellent schools, and beautiful neighborhoods to walk in, with great parks.