La Grange or Park Ridge (or Wilmette)? (Chicago, Naperville: for sale, crime rate)

[jerryil]

My wife and I are looking for a 3 BR home with a yard. 2 small kids so school system is important, though we may send them to parochial school anyway. Our budget is $700,000 but the closer we can get to $500,000 the better.

What we want: good schools, live within one mile of a metra line to commute downtown, a walkable neighborhood (so no Glenview unfortunately) and downtown. Access to O'Hare is not important.

We would love to be in east Wilmette because we really like that downtown and the access to the lake, but I just don't think we have the budget to make it work. In fact I don't see a single home for sale right now in that area that is in our price range.

La Grange and Park Ridge are where we are focused on because they both see to have the qualities above.

We looked at Elmhurst as well, but similar to east Wilmette, we don't see much there within our price range. Evanston looks very nice in the parts of it that are east of Ridge, but we don't see much there either that is affordable. Oak Park is beautiful but I am seeing property taxes north of 3% per year, and I'm not thrilled that some Austin crime seeps over into it.

We are open to other areas as well in Chicago (Old Irving Park, Edison Park?) or the suburbs as well as long as it meets the criteria above.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Justabystander]

Originally Posted by jerryil

My wife and I are looking for a 3 BR home with a yard. 2 small kids so school system is important, though we may send them to parochial school anyway. Our budget is $700,000 but the closer we can get to $500,000 the better.

What we want: good schools, live within one mile of a metra line to commute downtown, a walkable neighborhood (so no Glenview unfortunately) and downtown. Access to O'Hare is not important.

We would love to be in east Wilmette because we really like that downtown and the access to the lake, but I just don't think we have the budget to make it work. In fact I don't see a single home for sale right now in that area that is in our price range.

La Grange and Park Ridge are where we are focused on because they both see to have the qualities above.

We looked at Elmhurst as well, but similar to east Wilmette, we don't see much there within our price range. Evanston looks very nice in the parts of it that are east of Ridge, but we don't see much there either that is affordable. Oak Park is beautiful but I am seeing property taxes north of 3% per year, and I'm not thrilled that some Austin crime seeps over into it.

We are open to other areas as well in Chicago (Old Irving Park, Edison Park?) or the suburbs as well as long as it meets the criteria above.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Jerry,

I like both La Grange and Park Ridge. I am a little biased towards La Grange, since I live in Hinsdale and moved there from Western Springs. I think the downtown area is great ( so is PR ) but more so, and the schools ( Lyons Township for HS ) good as well. There is a strong parochial system there as well, since both La Grange and Western Springs are very Catholic. I would extend my search to Western Springs, since I see it as a nice town and a good investment down the road. I would also look at Clarendon Hills, which feeds into Hinsdale Central, one of the top HS in the state. All have great access to Chicago by train.

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by jerryil

My wife and I are looking for a 3 BR home with a yard. 2 small kids so school system is important, though we may send them to parochial school anyway. Our budget is $700,000 but the closer we can get to $500,000 the better.

What we want: good schools, live within one mile of a metra line to commute downtown, a walkable neighborhood (so no Glenview unfortunately) and downtown. Access to O'Hare is not important.

We would love to be in east Wilmette because we really like that downtown and the access to the lake, but I just don't think we have the budget to make it work. In fact I don't see a single home for sale right now in that area that is in our price range.

La Grange and Park Ridge are where we are focused on because they both see to have the qualities above.

We looked at Elmhurst as well, but similar to east Wilmette, we don't see much there within our price range. Evanston looks very nice in the parts of it that are east of Ridge, but we don't see much there either that is affordable. Oak Park is beautiful but I am seeing property taxes north of 3% per year, and I'm not thrilled that some Austin crime seeps over into it.

We are open to other areas as well in Chicago (Old Irving Park, Edison Park?) or the suburbs as well as long as it meets the criteria above.

Thanks for any suggestions.

You can definitely find a 3 bedroom home in Wilmette for between $500 and $700k. East Wilmette is tougher, but definitely not impossible if inventory picks up again. Pricing and housing stock in Evanston are going to be similar.

You will find slightly lower prices per square foot in Park Ridge, but the last time I checked, property taxes there were a touch higher than Evanston's. Wilmette's taxes are low enough that it offsets the slightly higher price per square foot vis-a-vis Evanston.

Your instincts around Ridge Avenue forming a sort of boundary between desirable and undesirable is a bit off because northwest Evanston is one of the more affluent parts of the North Shore and it is entirely west of Ridge.

I am not familiar with La Grange, but I have been there a handful of times and it appears to be a lovely area. There is at least one active poster here that lives in that community.

[Hiruko]

I also have to speak up for Oak Park, and also River Forest. Oak Park might have a higher crime rate than some of Chicago's other suburbs (though still below the national average). However, in my opinion, the area is generally quite safe. I know that it is subjective, but I don't have any additional concerns about crime when I am out in Oak Park versus Wilmette, for example. There have been carjackings in nearly every community in this area, and property crime is too common. However, I have never actually been the victim of any kind of crime in the 20+ years that I have lived in the Chicagoland area.

[GWoodle]

La Grange gives you access to busy BNSF line. 23rd busy station to CUS. La Grange also gives you access to 2 trains/day to Galesburg & Quincy. Nearby Naperville gives you access to California Zephyr & SW Chief

A lot depends what else you need to be close to. Both make good choice.

[jerryil]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

I also have to speak up for Oak Park, and also River Forest. Oak Park might have a higher crime rate than some of Chicago's other suburbs (though still below the national average). However, in my opinion, the area is generally quite safe. I know that it is subjective, but I don't have any additional concerns about crime when I am out in Oak Park versus Wilmette, for example. There have been carjackings in nearly every community in this area, and property crime is too common. However, I have never actually been the victim of any kind of crime in the 20+ years that I have lived in the Chicagoland area.

I like Oak Park but the property taxes are awful. I am willing to pay for city services and good schools, but plenty of places around the country manage to do it without a 3% or more tax on your home.

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by jerryil

I like Oak Park but the property taxes are awful. I am willing to pay for city services and good schools, but plenty of places around the country manage to do it without a 3% or more tax on your home.

I 100% feel you, but the pricing in Oak Park and River Forest is lower than similar communities because of those higher taxes. Going by purchase price alone, Oak Park and River Forest are better values than Evanston and Wilmette. When property taxes are factored in, they look like more similar value propositions. Many of the people that I know that live in Oak Park and River Forest enjoy the closer proximity to the Loop compared to similar suburbs and the human-scaled attractive and upscale downtown in Oak Park.

[jerryil]

Is there significant flooding in La Grange outside of the area between the country club and the quarry?

I am aware that la grange can have a tremendous amount of flooding but the articles I read focus on that area. Apparently it was so bad the past couple years people had feet of water in their basements. That's crazy and I want to avoid that for sure.

But is it still bad north of the train tracks? North of Ogden?

[jerryil]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

I 100% feel you, but the pricing in Oak Park and River Forest is lower than similar communities because of those higher taxes. Going by purchase price alone, Oak Park and River Forest are better values than Evanston and Wilmette. When property taxes are factored in, they look like more similar value propositions. Many of the people that I know that live in Oak Park and River Forest enjoy the closer proximity to the Loop compared to similar suburbs and the human-scaled attractive and upscale downtown in Oak Park.

Good points.

[JJski]

We live north of the tracks (between tracks and Ogden) yes we still get floods. But it’s not as bad ~ also in 8y our house and most of our neighbors houses have not had basement floods. One neighbor did have issues because of foundation drainage tile incorrectly done.