Wheeling, Park Ridge (Chicago, Arlington Heights, Evanston: real estate, apartment complexes, rental)

[am4graves]

Hi, we are considering a relocation to Chicago. My husband has been looking at a job in Evanston but we are concerned with the housing prices there. We are hoping for a safe suburb, good schools, single family home for under $250 (what everyone wants, right?) and were told that Wheeling and Park Ridge would be good options. So, what's the word on the street. Are those really friendly places? Safe? Schools?
Thanks !
Amanda

[Avengerfire]

Its gonna be hard to do Park Ridge on 250k unless you get a starter home that is a fixer-upper.
Try Skokie or Des Plaines. Both have drawbacks however.

[ahava]

I agree with the above suggestions of Skokie and Des Plaines. Wheeling is fine but far to drive to Evanston every day.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Its gonna be hard to do Park Ridge on 250k unless you get a starter home that is a fixer-upper.
Try Skokie or Des Plaines.

I sincerely doubt that there are buildable lots for that anywhere in PR. You might find a condo for that price, but it won't be new. Townhouses at that price are going to be darned small. Park Ridge schools make the whole town pretty pricey.

Des Plaines has some areas that you might find a place really needing some TLC for that price and the school are almost certainly dominated by the kids from the rental area that tend to have a lot of ESL kids. Skokie is not going to have much to choose from on the low end either. Even another $25 or $30K would really be make the hunt a lot more realistic.

Depending on the job and your family situation it may make a lot more sense to rent for a while...

[radiojunkie2006]

Park Ridge is a beautiful community but very pricey. The real estate taxes alone are killer. The far northwest side of Des Plaines is pretty nice but housing prices, even for smaller 2 bd homes, are over 300K as of last year. Morton Grove & Niles are other suburbs you might look into. But again the price is the question. Definitely not Wheeling as it is far from Evanston and Skokie isn't cheap either but the prices there aren't high like Evanston or Park Ridge. Good Luck!

[Karbear]

There are not too many actual houses in Wheeling (a lot of apartments) and it is a predominantly Hispanic. Just a fact, not being racist.

[Nysee53]

This thread is similar to another one, wanting good schools, safe community, etc. with a very low budget. I will tell you that I think you and your husband should rethink the move if all you can legitimately spend is $250,000 for a home. $250,000 house in the closer in Northern suburbs is the worst house in the worst school district. Even in the further out communities, you are looking at just a 2 or 3 bedroom townhouse. If you can boost your budget to around $300,000 you would be doing a little better with a fixer upper in a nice area. If you can afford $300,000, there is a rare opportunity right now to get a small ranch home in west Wilmette ($315,000) so that you would be in the New Trier School District, which is the best in Illinois.

[bosleysock]

If the drive from Wheeling to Evanston is an option (it's less than an hour) you might be able to find a small home in the area. There are plenty of houses in Wheeling and plenty of decent schools. I'd look in the Western portion...close to Shoenbeck Rd. Tarkington school gets great ratings. Wheeling is fine...despite some crappy apartment complexes.

[cubssoxfan]

There are not too many actual houses in Wheeling (a lot of apartments) and it is a predominantly Hispanic

. Depends where you live. I still don't think you are going to find anything decent, in good section, under $250K. If you bump it up to $325K, you will be able to find something in Wheeling and even Arlington Heights. Did you check out Morton Grove? I grew up in Skokie and I always thought M.G. was a little nicer than Skokie. Try to find a house that feeds into Niles North HS., it is a touch better, statistics wise, than Niles West. Niles is also worth a look.
Just stay away from the apartment clusters you find in many suburbs and you should be OK.

[golson]

Originally Posted by Karbear

There are not too many actual houses in Wheeling (a lot of apartments) and it is a predominantly Hispanic. Just a fact, not being racist.

Get your facts straight, Karbear. Wheeling is mostly single family homes and is roughly 65% white, which hardly constitutes a "predominantly Hispanic" town. There is not one single family neighborhood in Wheeling that is even remotely unsafe. Take it from a white guy who grew up in a HOUSE in Wheeling and lived there for 24 years. The only areas to avoid are a couple of seedy apartment complexes which are not even close enough to the single family homes to cause an issue. There is a growing number of Mexicans, but from what I've seen, they mostly take good care of their houses.

The neighborhood I grew up in is nice, with Dundee to the north, Hintz to the south, Milwaukee to the east and Wolf to the west. I bet there are still some sub $250k houses over there. Closer to the high school has some nice newer houses but I have a feeling those might be running $300k+ these days.