Metra parking in Glenview, Wilmette (Naperville, Wheaton: credit, daycare, house)

[remus]

My wife and I both work in the loop. We have two girls who will be 4 and 1 in this summer. We are looking to buy a house around 450K in places with good schools and not-so-hard commute.

Could any one please tell me the commuter parking situation in Glenview and Wilmette? It seems to me in Wilmette it's all metered parking. What time in the morning it would be filled up? and how long is the waiting list for parking permit in Glenview?

I am also looking at naperville. The express train runs actually faster here than either wilmette or glenview. But there's no hope in getting parking permit. but it seems to me that I can get house under 400k within 1mile of the station. I am thinking of biking to the station, at least in summer time. Maybe hard when it snows.

thank you!

[chet everett]

There is a lot of "daily fee" parking at the BNSF station, $2/day. More expensive than a permit, but a good option, although here is a strong chance that the permits will go up to the same rate as daily Board to vote Metra parking fee :: Naperville Sun :: News

Bicycle is an excellent option, and the number of days that it is flat out not possible is surprisingly small.

The Pace bus service is pretty useful to get you within walking distance of probably 70% of the residential areas on Naperville in 30 minutes or less -- combined with the super fast express service this makes for a very decent total commute. Also the advantage of having thousands of people all get off the train at once is that there are pretty good odds someone from your neighborhood can car pool to the station and/or be counted on when weather is just too rough for the walk/bike ride.

$450K is going to go one heck of a lot father in Naperville than Wilmette, even Glenview has seen plenty of homes get bought for "land value" at that price point -- while Naperville has seen some teardown activity too, the percentage of the housing that would make sense to teardown at over $300K is quite small by comparison.

I also know for a fact (because I showed one option to the kids of a former client this weekend) that you could get a nice house under $500K that needs just a little TLC in a town like Park Ridge that has $1/daily parking, a very short commute, and whole bunch of other pluses.

There are options in towns like LaGrange and Western Springs too, as well as Downers Grove, Wheaton, and Glen Ellyn too. With the speculators essentially shut down by the credit tightening you can find "handyman specials" that are going to be nice places
for the traditional "new family" or spend just a bit more and be move in ready.

Nobody is going to say that New Trier high school is not "very excellent" for those in the area it serves, but neither do I think that anyone would say anything but good things about the areas I cited above and your $450K is going to put you much closer to the sweet spot of the inventory available. LOTS of nice stuff in some of those towns!

[remus]

thank chet everett for the information!

I've asked around and heard the daily fee parking lot got filled up pretty early: before 7:20am. And its pretty much all the same alone BNSF line where the best metra service goes. That makes my "flexible hours" goes to toliet :-) The fact that we need to send the kids to daycare before going to train station makes this more painful. That's why I was asking about whether parking is easier in Glenview or Wilmette

[chet everett]

I routinely park at the Park Ridge cash parking well after 8AM and there are some spots left. I have also occasionally used lots in DG, Hinsdale, Lisle, and Naperville -- while the spots closest to the station do get taken earliest that still leaves lots of spaces and maybe extra block or so of walking. Unless they've changed the policy, it has been OK if there are spots in the permit area unoccupied after 9AM to use these for daily fee -- works perfect for the flex time schedule! There are business/organizations that have "private permits" in some towns too -- basically same cost as Metra. I see such a sign from the Clarendon Hills Lions near West Hinsdale.
Don't think I have ever personally gone to any Metra lots and had to alter my plans, nor do I recall ever getting "the last" spot, but that might happen. I have been doing the downtown thing on the BNSF and the UP for over a decade and trains are running fuller than ever.

I know that the Glenview North station has 400 spaces at $2/day, which is among the most daily fee spaces on the [SIZE=4] Milwaukee District North Line.
That is probably more than all the daily slots on the [/SIZE][SIZE=5]Union Pacific North Line[/SIZE]

[remus]

thank you and you are really helpful!