Moving From the UK to Chicago (Naperville, Wheaton: real estate market, rental, mortgage)

[sbd78]

Originally Posted by At1WithNature

You obviously haven't seen Mokena lately. It is bustling with businesses including hot clubs that B96 goes to called "The Coliseum" and "Capone's." Not to mention Triple Threat Sports that has commercials during White Sox games. 191st and LaGrange is Mokena and that area is bustling! It is directly south of Orland Park, how could it not be??? Also, the area of Mokena at Rt. 30 and Wolf Rd. is bustling as well with tons of big box retailers moving in. This area of Mokena borders New Lenox and Frankfort.

The fact that Chicago radio stations and official White Sox sponsors have direct ties to Mokena, IL proves that it is more than a "cow town." It's Orland Park's neighbor, and Tinley Park's too...that's all you need to know. It has a Metra station for Goodness sake!

LOL, I know that area well. (The shopping center at 191st/LaGrange with the Colosseum/Capones.) I used to live in the townhomes behind there, next to the Hickory Creek train station. And seriously, if Tinley Park is so dangerous with the "bad element" moving in, then I guess Mokena is dangerous too? Tinley Park is literally right across the street from that part of Mokena, in fact the shopping center where the Lane Bryant murders took place is only 5 minutes down 191st from there, at 191st and Harlem.

[skyeINIL]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

As a rule, suburban crime lags new-home construction by a couple of decades. Many upper and middle-class Americans refuse to live in anything that isn't new construction, so, like parasites, they infest a new cornfield, build ugly ticky-tacky houses, and move on to another cornfield before it's time to replace the carpet. Younger people and lower-wage earners then move in, and the once pristine suburb gets swallowed by the sprawl blob. Now the once distant and pristine suburb is part of the larger suburban milieu, and traffic increases, along with outsiders from all surrounding towns. The new big box stores also draw people in from all around. Cheaper housing (relative to new homes) and urbanization help the crime rates increase, but if the schools are decent they level off somwhere in the 200-300 index range.

Oh brother, you've just reminded me of why I can't wait to move back to the city. 18 months and counting...

[At1WithNature]

Originally Posted by sbd78

LOL, I know that area well. (The shopping center at 191st/LaGrange with the Colosseum/Capones.) I used to live in the townhomes behind there, next to the Hickory Creek train station. And seriously, if Tinley Park is so dangerous with the "bad element" moving in, then I guess Mokena is dangerous too? Tinley Park is literally right across the street from that part of Mokena, in fact the shopping center where the Lane Bryant murders took place is only 5 minutes down 191st from there, at 191st and Harlem.

But mokena doesn't border country club hills. You guessed it, Tinley does!

besides, tinley and orland are not the culprits. They are massive towns with populations reaching close to 80,000 a piece (wait for the 2010 census). bottomline is mokena is surrounded by nice (based off of crime rates and education levels) suburbs while tinley park borders poor suburbs to the east...DIRECTLY.

The area of the Lane Bryant Murders is actually closer to unincorporated Frankfort Square than "Downtown Tinley" since Tinley just purchased the land recently in the past decade or so...

[sbd78]

Originally Posted by At1WithNature

But mokena doesn't border country club hills. You guessed, Tinley does.

besides, tinley and orland are not the culprits. They are massive towns with populations reaching close to 80,000 a piece (wait for the 2010 census). bottomline is mokena is surrounded by nice suburbs while tinley park borders poor suburbs to the east...DIRECTLY.

The area of the Lane Bryant Murders is actually closer to unincorporated Frankfort Square than "Downtown Tinley" since Tinley just purchased the land recently in the past decade or so...

O.K., so your reason for Tinley Park going downhill is that it borders Country Club Hills? But the ONLY crime you have mentioned in Tinley, the Lane Bryant murders, didn't even happen in the part of Tinley that borders Country Club Hills. It happened in the new part of Tinley that borders Mokena/Frankfort, which you are claiming are safe South Suburbs. (And for the record, Tinley/Mokena/Frankfort are all perfectly safe.)

[At1WithNature]

The whole point of this is to tell the gentleman from the UK that the safest suburbs in the Chicagoland area are not in the South. Of course, the South has nice suburbs. That is precisely why i listed some crime rates as examples. Tinley Park, Illinois borders cities that have higher crime rates than any of Mokena's neighbors. Over the past 10 years towns like Matteson and Park Forest have gotten much worse. Richton Park as well. The urban influence (crime rate/lack of value in education) is much more prominent to Tinley Park's east than it is to any area around Mokena. However, Frankfort borders Matteson and Richton Park which is interesting since Prestwick has seen a massive spike in home burglaries and you guessed it! Prestwick borders Richton Park and Matteson directly. Pick up the Star and you can read all about it.

[Lookout Kid]

If a suburb adjacent to a "bad suburb" is now considered a "somewhat bad suburb that will be a bad suburb in a matter of time" by rule of adjacency, then the entire region is doomed. Fortunately there are many nice suburbs in Chicago that are directly adjacent to not-so-nice suburbs, and most of them are doing fine.

Doesn't the "bad side of the tracks" mean anything anymore? Rich people and poor people used to live in much closer proximity to one another, but now we can't even have them in the next town? That's just crazy hysterical nonsense.

[At1WithNature]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

If a suburb adjacent to a "bad suburb" is now considered a "somewhat bad suburb that will be a bad suburb in a matter of time" by rule of adjacency, then the entire region is doomed. Fortunately there are many nice suburbs in Chicago that are directly adjacent to not-so-nice suburbs, and most of them are doing fine.

Doesn't the "bad side of the tracks" mean anything anymore? Rich people and poor people used to live in much closer proximity to one another, but now we can't even have them in the next town? That's just crazy hysterical nonsense.

Not when crime rates back and direct personal experience back it up. You can't deny the spread of urban influence that is occuring in the southern suburbs. Look at Chicago Heights and Harvey 40 years ago and look at them today. That's just two examples. Park Forest is another. You can believe what you want to believe but the bottomline remains that I am correct when I say that the southern suburbs are not the ideal place to live. Especially when you consider that Orland Park, Mokena, etc. are southWEST suburbs and not south suburbs like Dolton and Ford Heights are.

[skyeINIL]

Originally Posted by At1WithNature

The whole point of this is to tell the gentleman from the UK that the safest suburbs in the Chicagoland area are not in the South. Of course, the South has nice suburbs. That is precisely why i listed some crime rates as examples. Tinley Park, Illinois borders cities that have higher crime rates than any of Mokena's neighbors. Over the past 10 years towns like Matteson and Park Forest have gotten much worse. Richton Park as well. The urban influence (crime rate/lack of value in education) is much more prominent to Tinley Park's east than it is to any area around Mokena. However, Frankfort borders Matteson and Richton Park which is interesting since Prestwick has seen a massive spike in home burglaries and you guessed it! Prestwick borders Richton Park and Matteson directly. Pick up the Star and you can read all about it.

Earlier you said that Prestwick bordered Park Forest. Which is it? Which bad suburb is at fault for Tinley's horrible "crime spike"?

I'm looking at the Star online and can't find anything about burglaries in Prestwick. Maybe you can direct me to the stories that report on the incidents you are speaking of?

[At1WithNature]

Originally Posted by skyeINIL

Earlier you said that Prestwick bordered Park Forest. Which is it? Which bad suburb is at fault for Tinley's horrible "crime spike"?

I'm looking at the Star online and can't find anything about burglaries in Prestwick. Maybe you can direct me to the stories that report on the incidents you are speaking of?

I said Prestwick borders Old Plank Trail (it's a bike trail that used to be train tracks) which leads to Park Forest...never would say it directly borders Park Forest...besides, who cares as this thread has run its' course?!

I'm sure this gentleman from the UK already has his mind made up on Naperville, we are just making a mess of this thread now...

[blitzen001]

I'm sure this gentleman from the UK already has his mind made up on Naperville, we are just making a mess of this thread now...

I am still swinging towards that yep
Even though there have been many other suggestions and arguments for other areas, i haven't heard anyone say anything to put me off Naperville.
I am going to keep an open mind for now though while i still have time to change my mind.

Im just a bloke in my mid 30's with a wife and a couple of little kids. I dont want, nor expect to live in luxury. What i do expect though, is to live somewhere where we all fell safe and if i am out of town with work, it has to be somewhere my family would fell safe on their own for a few days/nights.

There is no doubt, we are sheltered here in the UK and most of us dont live in the real world. We also only realy get an impression of what the USA is like from either what we see on TV shows or from holidays to Disneyland Florida (even though i havent been ).
(I have rated as many posts as system allowed)