Anyone commute from Sugar Grove area? (Chicago, Downers Grove: real estate, buying a home, buying)

[brh129]

Hi, I've been considering buying a home in Sugar Grove, as it seems it has a lot to offer. Yet, I work in the city. Hoping to get some feedback on the commute. Is Metra even an option? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[BJT83]

Lucky for you, there is a poster sure to chime in soon who LOVES sugar grove.

[irish setter girl]

In my personal opinion SG to Chicago is a LONG way. If you have work to do on the train and have fairly decent hours in the city it may be ok. My husband did the SG to Downers Grove commute and there were times when that was just too much. Lots of our neighbors out there went to Oakbrook but I didn't know anyone who went downtown. From SG I'd take the Elburn or Lilly Lake train and see if there is an express route, or one that makes only a few stops.

[TennisDD]

Yes as ISG said above, Sugar Grove is a long commute to Chicago. I would not count on a Metra coming anytime soon. The town wants to stay small and if you visited out there, you will see. I know many people who moved out there and are now moving back closer to the city because there is so little to do and development has been very slow.
The pros to the area are larger homes for your house value and zero traffic.

[sgresident]

my husband commutes to naperville each day via I88. the commute is a breeze. we have lived here for 22 years. I cannot speak to the metra ride, but the station is in elburn, which is a 15 minute drive north of sugar grove.Sugar Grove has asked to get on metra's radar, but they won't give any time frames. We are currently trying to get a parkandride situation established. and as far as TennisDD goes, the town does not want to stay small. People just want to grow the town at a reasonable pace. They took a lot of flack in sugar grove for growing too fast! population is just under 10,000

[dherkes]

I worked downtown and drove from Sugar Grove for many years. The commute is terrible, and the last five years I did it it got worse! The train is a good option if you work during the day and can get to a bus or don't mind walking. I usually left home at 0500 to be at work at 0700.

Sugar Grove is a very nice town. The schools are great. It's also very far from the center, and I doubt that Metra will devote much time to setting up a commuter rail service out here. Growth, as another poster mentioned, has been restrained. I'd like to see how things shake out of the current recession before ever espousing growth for growths sake. The impact on the schools, and other public services is an enormous expense, that new construction cannot hope to pay for, and existing homeowners are unwilling to finance.

Let's have a bit of deep breathing and reflect on where the town is going to go. As I have said before, the prices of real estate have not stopped going down for quite a while now, and the supply of existing houses is really very affordable.