suburbs near Itasca (Chicago, Schaumburg, Elmhurst: real estate, rentals, condos)

[CE smiley]

My husband and I are moving to Illinois very soon and he will be working in Itasca. We would like to be no more than 20 minutes from Itasca, but even closer would be better. We are planning on renting probably a condo, townhome, or home. Our number one priority is safety!!! After that, we would like to live in a "small town" which still has things to do. We are young and very conservative, so we don't want to live in a "singles" town. Ideally, we would prefer the country, but don't think we'll be finding that w/in 20 minutes from Itasca. Any ideas?? Some of the places we've been checking out online are: Elmhurst, Roselle, Glen Ellyn, Schaumberg, Addison, and a few others. It sounds like Elmhurst would be a great area for us based on talking to a couple people that know it. Besides there, we don't know much of anything about the other areas. Thanks everyone for your help!

[chet everett]

There was a thread about Itasca a few days ago -- no reason it should not be on your list. Safe, small town, 20 minutes would be a good bet from any point in town to any employer in town...

Addison has some really nice homes BUT it also has some belts of rentals that are dominated by migrants from south of the border. Generally not a big safety issue, but some of the fellas drink a lot and that can be unpleasant.

Roselle is similar to Itasca itself. You can add Woodale to your list too, and Medinah, but honestly it is so small that you'd probably just stumble across a listing or two.

If you like a real country feel Wayne is close and is very country, though most of the properties are BIG and not cheap. There is a section of West Chicago that is tucked in next to Wayne that is kinda country too, but the bulk of West Chicago has the same problem as Addison... Just about zero to do if you don't have your own horses too...

Glen Ellyn is much more of the "fully developed" area that DOES have many more singles and "family oriented" folks. It will have the most to do of the towns discussed so far. Cute downtown, movie theatre, newer "chef oriented" resturants. Elmhurst is similar, though bigger and has a challenging northern border that has similar issues as Addison.

Finally you mentioned Schaumburg and it MUCH larger. There really is not much more to do and does NOT have any sort of "small town" feel because of the massive developments that it has undergone.
Looking down the road at kids/schools pretty much the best on your list would be GE, but that should not be an issue for now and I would not pay more rent just for schools -- really have to figure out exact commute to be the deciding factor.

[Drover]

There is no "small town" near Itasca. You're surrounded by 9 million people and there's really nowhere nearby to escape that sensation while still being within 20 minutes of Itasca. So you might as well settle into Itasca itself because that's about as "small-town" as you're going to get in the area. Schools are fine, they feed into Lake Park HS (a rather decent school) and it's as safe as any other white-bread suburb in America.

[tcs1366]

CE -- Drover is right.... you are not going to find that small town feel in this area .... though Itasca does have that small town feel, because it is small. There are plenty of Townhomes, not many condos, but we have them... and there are usually rentals available. Itasca is also mostly families and seniors. not a lot of 'singles'.

as mentioned... there are 2 or so other threads specifically for Itasca ... a simple search will find them.

Medinah may also give you that small town [more country like] feel ... but it's unincorporated .... i do not believe there are any condos or townhomes. Nice homes on larger lots. No police dept -- it is covered by the County.

All of the surrounding towns/villages are quite a bit larger.

This [Itasca] is one of those towns that fits under that "Location, Location, Location" things.... we have Metra Rail [that takes you to the city] ... easy access to the highways/tollways, and close to O'Hare airport. You are 5-15 minutes from any type of shopping. Good park district, plenty of churches to choose from, etc.

Out of the other towns you mentioned ... all would be good. Schaumburg is quite large... lots of traffic [though you will find that everywhere in the Chic area] and well, lots of everything there. Elmhurst is nice. I like their downtown area. Glen Ellyn is also very nice. Addison has "iffy" areas, as mentioned above... but they also have nice areas and easy access to the highway/tollway.

hope this helps,

tcs

[CE smiley]

Thank you everyone for your responses! Sorry I missed the past questions about Itasca, I was just learning how this whole site works and didn't even catch that. All the replies were very helpful.

You've peeked my curiosity about Elk Grove. Any more insight on that one? Is it considered to be one of the safest areas? Similarities/differences with Elmhurst?...

[chet everett]

The residential areas of EGV are more twisty suburban than the mostly classic grid in Elmhurst. Elmhurst has a real "downwtown" while EGV doesn't have much more than a few grocery strips. EGV has a real nice big forest preserve close by, but a lot of the town is warehouses under the O'Hare flight path so there is a "perception problem" for a lot of people that don't know it from anything other than the commercial zone. It is generally a safe area, sometimes I get the feeling that people are expecting all of Chicagoland to be engaged in some sort of warfare...

[tcs1366]

As Chet stated -- EGV does not really have a down town. it is also in Cook County where all the others, with the exception of Schaum, are in DuPage county.

huge difference is in taxes. Cook has a higher retail tax, where DuPage could be higher in real estate tax [though i'd honestly have to look that up.]

EGV does have A LOT of forest preserves .... Busse Woods are nice places to go for walks and bike ride and the sort... but they are close enough that they are accessible to everyone.

EGV is a very LARGE village. Most of it to the east is all business and industrial.
They do have a great park dist system. They would have a lot of options for housing too.

Don't forget to check out the City-Data info on all towns here ==> http://www.city-data.com/city/Illinois.html

it will give you a lot of details, but not necessarily fist hand info - like you could get in here from folks who live there.

[nanannie]

I certainly would consider Elmhurst more desirable and a better investment then EGV or even the other towns on your list.EGV,which as the other posters have said,is very 'industrial' and mostly strip malls, no charm. The forest preserves are nice,but all the nice preserves in the areas a are easily accessable for all. Elmhursts downtown,the library,the beautiful park,the walkable areas to schools, the metra to the city for an easy train commute,the college, the gorgeous 'hoods beats EGV etc IMHO.

[Humboldt1]

Just move to Itasca. Elmhurst is great but will take you 20-30 mins to commute, maybe as little as 15 on a good day.

I think Itasca is just as good of an investment as Elmhurst. I always call Itasca a smaller version of Elmhurst.

EGV around Alexian Brothers is also nice. Taxes in EGV are lower than in DuPage County but Itasca is way nicer with the exception of a few western parts of EGV.

Stick with Itasca. It is a great area where I still own a place and may buy another place in the future if I ever settle down.