Looking for townhouse in suburbs w. decent commute to Loop

[snowgirl]

Cats and dogs are OK, it takes an hour from the townhome I told you about, to get to Milwaukee or Chicago. Trully, this is right in the middle, between the 2 big cities. And if you like a lot of lakes, this location should do.
From here to the Wisconsin border is only 10 min and about an hour from Schumburg.

[bklyngrl]

Hmm? Not familiar with Fox Lake area at all actually. Just found out my husband's company is moving into the Aon Center which means he will probably have to take a shuttle from the Metra, adding more time to the commute. We do feel a bit torn between going North towards family or looking out towards Naperville and getting more space and possibly a shorter commute for my husband. Got some good information about the Naperville area from a board member here so we're seriously considering it. I guess it's mostly up to my husband since he's the one with the commute, I work from home.

[snowgirl]

In the Naperville are you are not going to get more space for sure ! Not for a home under $ 200,000 and I truly doubt you will be able to buy a home for that price, maybe a condo. In that area the homes are pretty expensive, there is no comparison with the north suburbs. That's for sure. I spent many years in Lake County (north suburbs) and I know. The homes are much cheaper here. In Naperville you pay for the name and other things like that. Is like when you shop at Bloomington or JC Penny.
I guess you have to decide if you want to be close to your husband's work or half way between his work and your family

[j33]

Something to consider if you want to stay in Andersonville and are mainly just dreading the nightmare that will be commuting from the northside during the next few years. At Lawrence and Ravenswood (a bit southwest of the neighborhood), you can catch the Metra to downtown very quickly. If you get there early enough, they even have a few parking spots in the lot (it fills up quickly though). I used to live at Lawrence and Ravenswood and discovered how much I enjoyed taking the Metra into the city (it showed up at the same time every day, who knew that could happen).

I've been riding the CTA every since I moved out of the neighborhood over 5 years ago (and everywhere I had lived prior), and still sometimes think about moving back to the area, just so I can take the Metra to work instead of the CTA.

[bklyngrl]

My neighbor just pointed out the fact that the Metra is there. We are a city couple and just got a Civic, so we only have one car and I'd have to drop my husband off at the train or let him take the car. That would happen if we move to the suburbs as well. I'm sure it will become a more popular option after April (the Metra at Ravenswood).

We do have alot to consider since we don't have alot to spend on a place. We are checking out the Naperville/Aurora area this weekend so we'll see if it's something that might work for us. Of course it was a bit of a culture shock moving to Chicago from Brooklyn and we definitely miss the diversity we had there. We do need a yard though and some space to have our first child and have a home office and it doesn't look like we'll be able to stay in the city for that as much as we'd like it. Thanks for all the input so far, I'll let you know how our weekend outing goes!