Working in Hoffman Estates - where to live? (Arlington Heights, Schaumburg: best town, houses)

[irenegillespie]

My husband is accepting a new position in Hoffman Estates. We live in beautiful Bucks County, PA. We have 4 small children so a great school system is our # 1 priority. I wouls also love a place with charm and (dare I say), not overloaded with traffic. I have been doing research online and am interested in several areas. Can you please give me your input and let me know about commute times? Our price range for a home is $600-$700k.

Thanks!

St. Charles
Geneva
Batavia
Barrington
Arlington Heights
Any other suggestions??

[Drover]

You'll be better off posting in the suburbs forum.

[nanannie]

All great choices for schools and towns, Batavia being probably on the lower end of your list compared to your other mentioned towns ( a few iffy areas)Barrington and Arlington Hts would be your easiest commutes. St Charles and Geneva are great, but your commute would be longer.That being said, I would suggest a google map from your place of employment as many of these towns are so spread out. If any towns have a hint of "Bucks County" it would be Barrington Hills and parts of lake/north Barrington. Hilly, acerage,lots of old growth trees. (Certainly not as nice as BC IMHO) Good luck to you and your family on your move.

[diane3]

It sounds like the Barrington Area is good for you. Many of the houses have charm, great school district, and good commute to Hoffman Estates. Barrington is very spread out so make sure you look at all parts of Barrington.

[aamert]

Yeah this should be moved to Suburb forums.
Hoffman estates itself has decent houses and good neighborhoods. I am sure in that price range you can find decent housing.

[chet everett]

I am not sure that I would want to spend that much in HE. The best town on your list is Barrington. Some parts should have some nice homes for that money, but don't expect a horse property unless you want to move way up in price. You might look at places as far south as Glen Ellyn. If you are interested in big horse country type stuff Wayne should be on your list too. Commute is going to be a big factor. Might be quite a grind getting to St. Charles or Geneva, Batavia even worse. Arlington Heights seems you'd be going too far north for no real benefit.

[nanannie]

This op already posted this thread on here, its at the bottom of the page with responses. Maybe a mod can combine them?

[eastsiders]

Congratulations on finding this forum. My family recently moved from Milwaukee to the Village of Barrington and my spouse and I found this forum very helpful. We also found Realtor.com and iirc.com very helpful. And we had a great realtor.

We needed good schools, a walkable downtown, a short commute to Schaumburg, a reasonable metra commute to the city and a family friendly community. While we haven't been here long enough to know that we made the right decision; we had a lot of information upon which to base our decision.

We did not choose St. Charles, Batavia or Geneva because of the commute. We did not choose Arlington Heights because we could not find a home within a short walk to the elementary school. (We are a couple of blocks away from Hough Street Elementary!)

Good luck and thanks to every contributor for all of your help.

PS You can do alot from afar but you do need to visit.

[aragx6]

Ok these threads are now combined... sorry about that guys. i moved the other one and didn't see that the OP had already reposted. Continue on with your great advice.

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by eastsiders

Congratulations on finding this forum. My family recently moved from Milwaukee to the Village of Barrington and my spouse and I found this forum very helpful. We also found Realtor.com and iirc.com very helpful. And we had a great realtor.

We needed good schools, a walkable downtown, a short commute to Schaumburg, a reasonable metra commute to the city and a family friendly community. While we haven't been here long enough to know that we made the right decision; we had a lot of information upon which to base our decision.

We did not choose St. Charles, Batavia or Geneva because of the commute. We did not choose Arlington Heights because we could not find a home within a short walk to the elementary school. (We are a couple of blocks away from Hough Street Elementary!)

Good luck and thanks to every contributor for all of your help.

PS You can do alot from afar but you do need to visit.

Hi, Welcome to Barrington. Been here a long time. Hough St is a great school in a beautiful 'hood. Good choice.(and you dont have to find parking for the 4th of july activities, you can walk : )