What's up with Aurora and Woodridge?? (Naperville, Bolingbrook: rentals, townhomes, neighborhood)

[fluffyduffer]

My husband got a job in Woodridge, so we are moving up to the burbs from central IL, and we have to decide where to buy a house.

We have a son who will be starting kindergarten in a year, so the schools need to be good. And the neighborhood safe.

I know Naperville is pretty good. We could afford a 2 bedroom townhome there (200K or so). But I'd rather live where I can have an actual house with a yard.

So what's up with Aurora? I hear it is bad in parts. Like Georgetown? How about near Spring Lake, close to Naperville? What parts of Aurora are good?

What parts of Woodridge should be avoided?

Thanks for any help!

[sgresident]

we have some friends who live in downers grove, just north of 75th street, east of 355.
they can see the darien water tower. they really like where they live. they have 3 kids. I don't know too much more about the area. parts of aurora are bad, but some are not. there are parts of aurora that are in the naperville school district. there are parts of aurora(far west) that are in the Kaneland school district (that is the district our community is in). There are some nice homes in the Plainfield area. It is growing quickly and I think the schools are fine there(from what I have read).

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by fluffyduffer

My husband got a job in Woodridge, so we are moving up to the burbs from central IL, and we have to decide where to buy a house.

We have a son who will be starting kindergarten in a year, so the schools need to be good. And the neighborhood safe.

I know Naperville is pretty good. We could afford a 2 bedroom townhome there (200K or so). But I'd rather live where I can have an actual house with a yard.

So what's up with Aurora? I hear it is bad in parts. Like Georgetown? How about near Spring Lake, close to Naperville? What parts of Aurora are good?

What parts of Woodridge should be avoided?

Thanks for any help!

Those parts of Aurora are fine. The bad parts of Aurora are around the downtown itself. Those areas aren't anywhere near it. You might as well be in Naperville.

[sbd78]

If you decide to go with Aurora, I would try and stay out of Aurora's school district if I were you. Aurora schools are not so good. Some parts of Aurora are in Naperville's school district, that would be a good option for you because Naperville has great schools. Otherwise, like sgresident said, Plainfield is a nice town not too far from Woodridge, that might be a good option for you to look into. I'm not as familiar with Woodridge itself.

[chet everett]

Mostly agree with jdiddy, those sections of Aurora are much like Naperville BUT there are some differences.

I would caution against jumping into a home purchase -- townhomes might be even more vulnerable to economic slowdown. With only one child still a year away from kindergarten it would be smart to RENT. If you have another child or decide that the move is not working gives you much more flexibility.

Woodridge itself has plenty of rentals and townhomes too. Generally schools are not as good as Downers Grove. Area sgresident mentioned is nice too, maybe if you save up for a year or so you'd have more options.

No reason to rush into buying, prices are unlikely to move much...

[mia220]

Originally Posted by sbd78

If you decide to go with Aurora, I would try and stay out of Aurora's school district if I were you. Aurora schools are not so good.

Just out of curiosity, what's not so good about Aurora schools?

[sbd78]

Originally Posted by mia220

Just out of curiosity, what's not so good about Aurora schools?

I don't live in Aurora so I don't have first hand experience with the schools, but going by the test scores, etc. they do not rate very well. I'm not one to get totally caught up in test scores, but both Aurora High Schools are on Academic Watch Status, and both report that less than half of students meet or exceed state standards. In Aurora East High School, only 25.9% meet or exceed standards, that's not so good IMO. You can look the info up here:

Interactive Illinois Report Card

GreatSchools.net

[sgresident]

whatever you do, you definitely want to stay out of the east aurora school district. west is better. naperville, oswego, kaneland are fine as well.

[chet everett]

It is easy to confuse the schools too. The very furtherest east edge of Aurora is served by the pretty good District 204 schools Indian Prairie School District :: HomeMoving west you'd be on the rough east side of Aurora with its very under performing schools Welcome To The East Aurora District #131 Web Site! .

Moving further west the school district is much better Aurora School District 129 but still not as good as 204...

District 203, which mostly covers Naperville, has much better performance than either of these.

[littlelucy]

I just moved to Woodridge and searched ALL over the area, with the same price range. We bought a 3 bedroom, 1 bath single family home on a very large lot. WE HAVE DOWNERS GROVE school districts, too. We live north of 75th street between Janes & Woodward. Lots of cute single family homes there. I'd stay away from anything south of 75th street. Also stay away from Bolingbrook in that price range.

You can try Lisle, Downers Grove, Naperville. You might find something in that price range that will need work. I recommend my realtor Sue Daley at Remax Action in Lisle. Google for the main number. She's fantastic!