Naperville #3 best city in America/Money magazine (Wheaton, Glen Ellyn: condo, how much)

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

Irregardless, I still have your back on the real estate forum when dealing with renters who think they are experts on investment real estate.

There are way too many self-proclaimed real estate experts these days... It's driving me nuts.

[tfaw]

These forums are great reading. We are still planning to relocate from SoCal to a Chicago location in early summer 2009. I will start looking at houses in late February (I don't know the typical close process, but it is ok for me to get the house well in advance of late June).

For right or wrong, I think our choices are getting narrowed down to Naperville and Hinsdale. We (wife plus a 7th, 5th and 2nd grader) won't spend a lifetime in the area, but will be here for about 7 years before we return to California.

I understand that Naperville might no longer be considered hip or cool and not "real enough", as a person with a family what matters most to me is lots of choices for school, medical care and shopping. I currently live in San Marino, CA, and we have everything pretty close, as we are adjacent to Pasadena and Arcadia. Plus it will be important to have a place where there are lots of kids too.

Anyhow, I also take the Money magazine ratings with a grain of salt, as I have been relying more upon the contributions of many on this forum and the people I know who live in Chicago.

Can't wait to begin the actual search - I'm sure that since Naperville is rather large, there are various sections of the city that will suit our family better than others. Who know, maybe after I see Naperville and Hinsdale, I will find out that I should really be looking elseswhere such as Winnetka, which right now is my back-up plan.

[fairmarketvalue]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

FMV,

Naperville is better than Wheaton in my opinion and that of most posters.

I actually prefer Glen Ellyn over both.

You may prefer Wheaton over Glen Ellyn.

Irregardless, I still have your back on the real estate forum when dealing with renters who think they are experts on investment real estate.

Hey thanks, Humboldt, and even though I don't agree on the "Naperville" thing, I do agree about Glen Ellyn. We almost moved there, 2 moves ago, but as you know, it's a bit more expensive and not quite as much house for the $. We specifically wanted Glenbard West HS, which services downtown GE and the best HS in the dist. With 4 kids, we needed the space in a home that Wheaton and WheatonNorth HS gave us, so we stayed here. But Glen Ellyn is a beautiful community. We have friends who live there and our favorite italian rest. is in DT Glen Ellyn so we go alot.

Keep the faith on the real estate game. We sold our other home, and the inventory seems to be moving. I never mentioned it on the other threads, and I'm sure you can understand why, but we bought a condo in Schamburg in 2001, rented it out to a family from Japan, here on a year assgn. with Motorola, and when they were going to move out (a year later-2002), we put it on the rental and seller market, to see which would happen first. We sold, in 1 week, for 65,000 more than we paid a year previously. I realize this was in the middle of the "boom" and why we did so well, but yet another example of how real estate CAN work! Since prices are so good right now, we are looking for another condo to buy and rent out. I'll let you know how it goes. Good luck to you as well and don't let this negetive feedback about the rental market and real estate discourage you. It sounds like you have solid, income making investments and I'm sure when it comes time to find more, you will.

Lastly, it sounds like the OP has made up his mind. Good luck to you and your family as well. Welcome to Illinois (in 2009) and enjoy your visits to the area. I'm sure you will not be disappointed, where ever you choose to settle, especially if it is only going to be for 7 years. You'll find the right choice on you own. If you can, keep us posted as to your findings when you do come as we would all like to know what your impressions are, coming from CA. Thanks and Take care.

[fairmarketvalue]

Originally Posted by tfaw

These forums are great reading. We are still planning to relocate from SoCal to a Chicago location in early summer 2009. I will start looking at houses in late February (I don't know the typical close process, but it is ok for me to get the house well in advance of late June).

For right or wrong, I think our choices are getting narrowed down to Naperville and Hinsdale. We (wife plus a 7th, 5th and 2nd grader) won't spend a lifetime in the area, but will be here for about 7 years before we return to California.

I understand that Naperville might no longer be considered hip or cool and not "real enough", as a person with a family what matters most to me is lots of choices for school, medical care and shopping. I currently live in San Marino, CA, and we have everything pretty close, as we are adjacent to Pasadena and Arcadia. Plus it will be important to have a place where there are lots of kids too.

Anyhow, I also take the Money magazine ratings with a grain of salt, as I have been relying more upon the contributions of many on this forum and the people I know who live in Chicago.

Can't wait to begin the actual search - I'm sure that since Naperville is rather large, there are various sections of the city that will suit our family better than others. Who know, maybe after I see Naperville and Hinsdale, I will find out that I should really be looking elseswhere such as Winnetka, which right now is my back-up plan.

Medical care- look up Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, IL. BEAUTIFUL!

[InformedConsent]

Originally Posted by tfaw

These forums are great reading. We are still planning to relocate from SoCal to a Chicago location in early summer 2009. I will start looking at houses in late February (I don't know the typical close process, but it is ok for me to get the house well in advance of late June).

For right or wrong, I think our choices are getting narrowed down to Naperville and Hinsdale. We (wife plus a 7th, 5th and 2nd grader) won't spend a lifetime in the area, but will be here for about 7 years before we return to California.

I understand that Naperville might no longer be considered hip or cool and not "real enough", as a person with a family what matters most to me is lots of choices for school, medical care and shopping.

Naperville and Hinsdale are good choices when schools are a factor in the decision. Good luck in your search for your new home!

I would caution everyone else to please be very careful in researching Chicago area schools - the academic quality varies widely from district to district and even from school to school within a district. I've seen far too many opinions of schools/districts in the C-D Chicago Suburbs forum that are based on very little more than community pride and/or unsubstantiated impressions. Caveat emptor.

[Naperville77]

I can see FMV from unincorporated Wheaton still has a serious case of Naperville Envy. This is mostly due to the fact that while Wheaton muddled along from the early 80's until today they were one of the primary nearby spectators who got to watch Naperville evolve from a little country town to the beautiful sprawling city that it is today.

We were Wheaton 25 years ago...then we decided to build the infrastructure from the ground up. Just because Wheaton sat around and did nothing while Naperville built up the infrastructure, improved roads, built roads and homes, added restaurants, cleaned up downtown, saw the opportunties when Rte 5 became I-88 (I could go on and on for about 4 more hours) and so much more really does give the Wheatonites a serious case of "Naper Envy."

Face it FMV no one is going to buy your overrated Napervile rants because none of it is based on fact. Naperville is what it is because Naperville planned for the long term and did something about it. Don't fault Naperville for being the most forward thinking western suburb in DuPage County...fault Wheaton for doing NOTHING while Naperville grew.

[Humboldt1]

Wheaton is a nice town too.

Some prefer Naperville. Some prefer Wheaton. Both are great town and great places to raise a family. No need to bash either.

I know of plenty of suburbs, many on the south and west sides that are much worse.

[Justabystander]

Originally Posted by socialiteprincess

Naperville is a W0NDERFUL place......................if you can afford it that is!
you know people are naming Naperville "Little California" now because they resemble each other so much!?

Hmm, You mean that Naperville is full of graffiti, traffic, illegal immigrants, and forclosures?

[SloopyJ]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I'm a professional in my thirties with a family, and know MANY other professionals in their thirties with children. But for some reason, none of them live in Naperville or have any plans to move there. The people I know who are moving to the suburbs aren't even considering Naperville, and it's not an issue of affordability. I know several people who grew up in Naperville, but I don't know anyone who is going back. Why is this? What's up with the Naperville backlash among Generation X and Y?

Great observation, LK, and interesting question. Like you, I'm a mid-30s professional with a family. We recently moved to Evanston from the City, and a lot of our friends in the City talked about whether the 'burbs would be easier for raising a family. As you noted, I can't think of one who even mentioned Naperville as a possibility.

I think our reasons for choosing Evanston are the same reasons people are not looking to Naperville. For those used to City life, Naperville is way too far; it's way too white; it radiates a blandness of upper-middle class living (not unlike Orange County - I'm guessing that's the CA reference) that worked for our parents but no longer works for this generation. It's also important to realize that the allure of the City has been much greater for the Xers and Yers than it was for our parents...Naperville seems a lot better if you spent your formative years in Oak Lawn as opposed to Wicker Park.

I also think that even for people our age raising kids, there is more skepticism of the "good schools" rankings. It has become painfully obvious that much - if not most - of a school's "quality" is based on the underlying demographics. So there's a "duh" reaction when people say Naperville has good schools. Well, if all the kids are upper-middle-class whites, what do you expect? Who's to say my (upper-middle-class white) kids won't get the same education at OPRF or ETHS? Most likely, they will.

Naperville is a nice place, but it certainly lacks the identity of character that define some of the older, nearer suburbs (Evanston, Oak Park, even La Grange - easily the "top 3" among my City friends). For lots of us, the question is, if I can live in a place with more character that's a lot closer to the City, why the heck would I move all the way out to Naperville?

[InformedConsent]

Originally Posted by SloopyJ

For those used to City life, Naperville is way too far; it's way too white; it radiates a blandness of upper-middle class living (not unlike Orange County - I'm guessing that's the CA reference) that worked for our parents but no longer works for this generation. It's also important to realize that the allure of the City has been much greater for the Xers and Yers than it was for our parents...Naperville seems a lot better if you spent your formative years in Oak Lawn as opposed to Wicker Park.

I also think that even for people our age raising kids, there is more skepticism of the "good schools" rankings. It has become painfully obvious that much - if not most - of a school's "quality" is based on the underlying demographics. So there's a "duh" reaction when people say Naperville has good schools. Well, if all the kids are upper-middle-class whites, what do you expect?

Please pardon the political incorrectness of what I'm about to say...

If you look at the demographics, suburban school "quality" (as you put it) appears to correlate more to the percentage of Asian students than to whether all the kids are upper-middle-class whites.