Which suburbs of Chicago have the most home for the money?

[Chinolala]

Elmwood Park. Close to Oak Park, 3 blocks from the city limits, a Metra station with free parking, 35 minutes to the Loop on Metra and only 3 zones away making the commute very reasonable, 25 minutes to Oak Brook Mall, close to both I90 and I290, 20 minutes from O'Hare, 30 minutes to Midway, an insular school district that only children from Elmwood Park attend, some of the best Itlalian food outside of the city, a 24 hour Walgreen's, close to Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Carson Pirie Scott, 2 Starbucks. A really nice community pool that is really clean and well supervised with slides and food court for kids, a newer public library, 2 police stations and 2 fire stations for a community of 25,000 people, safe, forest preserves on the towns west borders where people can picnic, run their dogs, etc., an emergency vetenarian clinic open 24 hours a day, various houses of worship to choose from, 3 hospitals within 4 miles, a stretch of North Avenue that has outdoor cafes with good dining options, many brick homes, and a community that is really a community. Very overlooked small suburb that is close to the city and much more affordable than Oak Park. On a bicycle, you can get to Oak Park easily (it's 2.5 miles away) and take advantage of their vibrant downtown without having to acutally pay to live there.

[Nafster]

This will surprise you, but the most affordable luxury homes can probably be found in Northwest Indiana in the Merriville/St. John/ Crown Point area.

It is a 30-40 minute drive to downtown, but it's a developing and relotively affordable area with nice shopping malls and restaurants. It doesn't have the culture of the Northshore suburbs, but it's a nice place to live none the less.

[kasipple]

You might consider Northwest Indiana. Most homes in the area I work in are within a 60-90 mile commute of Chicago. We have the South Shore train system if you don't want to drive. Our taxes are lower than Illinois' for the most part. You can buy a lot of home for $300-500k here, even with some acreage if you would like. Valparaiso & Chesterton are two very nice areas you may want to consider.

[trailerguy]

Consider the Waukegan/Gurnee area in Lake county. We have very good deals on large houses, with pretty much everything in or below your price range. Some parts of Waukegan are not too wonderful, but most of the town is quite nice and very safe. I would avoid North Chicago. The North Shore Metra line runs frequently to downtown Chicago, $5.85.

[IbeDavid]

Originally Posted by topgun129

Hi,

I'm going to be moving to the Chicago Suburbs from Nashville, Tenn. I mostly plan to work from home and I'm not particular about all the details of the suburbs (schools, social diversity etc.). The only thing I care is a large sq. foot home for a cheap price. Do any areas like this exist in the suburbs where home prices are way below the avg. with large sized homes? Maybe the only thing is that the crime should be a little low, but other than that I don't care where I'm located on the map!

I've considered Texas for the cheap housing, but the heat I know will drive me insane!

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks!

REPLY: The further you move from the City of Chicago, the more you get for your money. If you want real good bargains, consider Lake County especially around Wauconda, Antioch, or Richmond . These are out of the way towns that have a country atmosphere especially Richmond. I know an excellent Realtor who specialized in the antioch and Richmond areas and in fact all of Lake County. If you want her name and phone number, pm me ; she is a top producer with Remax.