Job in North Park area but want to live in suburbs... but where? (Chicago: real estate, affordable apartments)

[theadamsfamily]

Hello everyone,

We're moving to Chicago (from NM) as we have jobs in the North Park area. But, we have two kids, one of which is starting Kindergarten this fall. Chicago is so big that it seems like an overwhelming task to try to find a home and look for good school districts within the city. It seems that Skokie and Evanston have good school districts overall so they should be a safe bet. But, you guys may have other suggestions.

This is what we're looking for: safe neighborhood, good school district, parks, access to downtown Chicago. Walking to good restaurants is a plus. Being close to the lake would be nice as well, but we probably cannot afford that. We would like to buy a 3 BR home with a garage for under 350k.

I have been doing my research online and in this forum so I know that I need to avoid southern Evanston due to the crime stats.

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. We'll be traveling to the area soon to look at homes so we'll get to see the neighborhoods firsthand then. I'd just like a place to start. Thanks in advance!

[GreXican]

Why not give Lincolnwood a look? It's south of Skokie, and the first suburb north of North Park I believe. It has great schools. I went to the junior high, Lincoln Hall, and it offered a great educational system.
However, I would suggest checking out central or east Lincolnwood, because anything west of Cicero is the "Towers", which may be out of your price range.

Lincolnwood has great police protection, good schools, Proesel Park on Lincoln Ave. (as well as a bunch of other smaller parks), and has access to the Edens which will take you downtown. As for being close to the lake? That's the only drawback - it's about a 10 minute car ride away, which is not so bad.

[Nysee53]

Lincolnwood tends to be more expensive than Skokie, if that is okay. If you look in Evanston try to be in the Dewey, Lincoln, Orrington, Kingsley,or Willard Elementary School districts. You will notice that if you look in Skokie, the portion of Skokie in the Evanston/Skokie School District will be older more expensive homes. You might also look at Glenview or West Wilmette, for similar housing to Skokie and Lincolnwood. In part of Glenview and West Wilmette you will get Wilmette or Avoca K-8 schools and top-rated New Trier High School. Lincolnwood is you easiest commute, because you won't have to use the expressway. Evanston is going to be 20 to 30 minutes, because you can only use city streets. West Wilmette and Glenview depends on the Edens traffic.

[skompton]

Skokie or Morton Grove are probably your best bets. With the housing market the way it is, it shouldn't be difficult to find what your looking for in your price range. Morton Grove is generally a little more expensive (not by much, though), but it has an extremely low crime rate and great schools. Skokie has a very low crime rate, too, but some parts are better than others. I suggest you look in the northwestern part of town, along and W of Gross Pointe Rd. and N of Main/Lincoln. Generally the western part of town has the best schools and fewest incidents of crime (by the way, I don't want you to think that there's any bad parts of town, just some that are a little better than others), but there are particularly good neighborhoods downtown and in areas bordering Evanston and Wilmette, too. Glenview and Wilmette are very nice towns, but they are much less affordable than Niles township (Skokie, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles).

[theadamsfamily]

Thanks for all your responses. This really helps a lot. I'll DEFINITELY look closer at Skokie and central/east Lincolnwood.

Nysee53, you suggest specific school districts in Evanston, thanks! That definitely helps me narrow down my search there. And thanks for pointing out the commute.... I guess I had not been thinking about that yet.

There is one house I am interested in which is in Evanston's Kingsley school district, I believe. But, I am not sure about the area.... Maybe you guys are familiar with it.... It is in the triangle made by McCormick (North Shore Channel), Green Bay, and Sampson (north of Emerson). There is a park along NS Channel. How safe is that area in general? Is that park fairly safe? In the crime maps there seem to be a lot of activity on Emerson... and bullets fired two blocks from that house in April.

Thanks again, this really helps!

[GreXican]

That area is not the best part of Evanston by any means, but it borders the "good part" which is west of McCormick. McCormick, north of Golf Road (Which is Emerson Road in Evanston), in general tends to divide Evanston from the "richer" part on the west, and the "poorer" part to the East. The part you said I believe is in the East, assuming Sampson = Simpson. In that case, then the area you chose is not exactly crime ridden or dangerous, but it could be better west of McCormick.

The park along the North Shore Channel runs alongside McCormick, yes? I've seen nothing wrong with that park. It's beautiful and there's a flower garden nearby (On McCormick and Simpson I believe, but Simpson = Bridge St. at that point.) It is technically closer to Northwest Evanston, which is considered one of the better parts of Evanston.

[GreXican]

Here, through my years of venturing in and out of Evanston, I made a rather general map of Evanston and what areas are considered good/ok/bad etc.. The general consensus on this forum was that of agreement with the map (except for a disagreement in the south west part which we are not concerned with), so your area is right on the border between "NO", meaning an area that's rather poor or crime ridden, and "NICE" which is very affluent and beautiful. It's funny how McCormick makes that big of a difference, but that's the wonder of the Chicagoland area. A street makes a difference

map:

[GreXican]

It's your choice whether you'd like to live on the border or not. To the south and southwest of your home is a semi-dangerous neighborhood which has many gangs. I had friends almost jumped on Emerson and Dodge.
To the northwest/north/northeast/east is a beautiful part of Evanston which many people dream to live in. North of where you'd live would be a mini-downtown area on Central Ave, which contains a library, coffee shop, book store, and other nice little shops. It has a very small town feel. This is really your choice.

[GreXican]

Skokie in general is a place I would not want to live in anymore. I have seen Skokie degenerate over the years. When I first moved to Lincolnwood, Skokie was seen as a peaceful and safe suburb. As the years progressed I noticed a lot more gang activity in certain areas near Oakton and Skokie Blvd., along Skokie Bldvd, and Gross Point Road and Church. It's not as nice as it used to be. It's still a place most people would want to buy a home in, but with the influx of poorer residents occupying affordable apartments I would choose against it because who knows what a few bad apples may do to an area? But maybe I'm not being fair? Skokie still has beautiful sections, in particular the part Skompton mentioned, west of Gross and north of Main. I have a friend who lives there and it's probably one of the most beautiful areas of Skokie. The police station is right there and it's a very safe and quiet area. Also, the section south of Oakton, west of Crawford, North of Mulford(?), and East of Kenton is a very peaceful section most people would love to live in. Don't get me wrong, Skokie is still an amazing and beautiful suburb, but I'm just worried what may happen as the years go on in the questionable areas I mentioned above.

Morton Grove is a beautiful suburb, this may be the suburb I choose to move to as I get older. My girlfriend and 4 of my best friends live in this suburb, and I must admit it offers it all. The Metra train station takes you downtown, the malls of Skokie, Niles, and Lincolnwood are all within a 10 minute drive, Parkview School is a great school, the Edens Expressway is about 2 minutes away, and it's a very clean and WELL PROTECTED suburb. I spend half my day in Morton Grove, and Austin Park is probably one of my favorite parks.
Downside of Morton Grove? It may be a little pricey.

Where I live, Lincolnwood, is a beautiful suburb as well. Downside? It may become very pricey as the years go on.
It's a good place to buy real estate, because they are constantly knocking down smaller homes and building large mansion-types around here - especially in east Lincolnwood where I am from. A good thing is that there are not any apartments here. The only apartments are for the elderly, which are not really dangerous neighbors. The value hopefully can only go up. Plus, they are building new stores to revitalize the suburb. An Oberweis on Lincoln is opening up, and in 2009 they will begin construction of a new downtown area with luxury shops. Things only look up for Lincolnwood as well. It also is the first suburb north of Chicago from where you are working. The schools are also very good, as I said before. I went to the junior high and they offer a great education for all types of students, from the gifted to the strugglers.

Sorry for prattling on so much but I basically memorized the whole Lincolnwood-MG-Skokie-Evanston area.

[Nysee53]

One of your OK places on the Evanston map outlines the area where you'll find Evanston's most exclusive and lavish home enclaves. You need to redo your map. I don't think places where $5 million homes are just OK.