Wish list for a new hometown... need help (Chicago, Aurora: sales, low crime)

[theKs]

Hello all,

This is my first post here and I've been lurking for several weeks trying to find a new hometown. We live in Western Michigan. My husband is in the civil / environmental engineering field but there is no work here for him. I will be transferring to the Chicago area for more opportunities. We have a teenager and two toddlers. We are liberal Christians (funny I know) so don't care whether a community is conservative or not and we are very down to earth.

I've looked at Lombard, Wheaton and La Grange. In two weeks we are going to be staying in Lombard a few days and plan on driving around to a few communities and I'm making a short list. I'd like to find perhaps a couple more but can't decide beyond those.

This is our wish list:

Downtown with character / charm
West or Northwest (easier to get back home for family visits)
Family friendly with lots of events (parades, goofy celebrations, farmers markets)
Metra station close by with no longer than a 45 minute train ride to downtown
Fairly close to O'Hare (within 30 minutes in optimal traffic)
Good/great schools
$400K to $600K price range
House with character, older or looks older (no cookie cutter in the middle of a field type house)
Great library
Close shopping
And this is silly, but coming fresh out of the Michigan forests... some established trees would be nice
oh and Starbucks (LOL)

Thank you to all the posters, I've learned more about the area here than anywhere else!

theKs

[chet everett]

Arlington Heights?

Park Ridge?

[sgresident]

I can't give you the things on your list, because Sugar Grove doesn't have them all, but we really do love it here. we have been here for over 20 years. access to I88 is mere minutes. you can be to Naperville/Lisle in less than 30 minutes. metra is about a 20 minute drive, but I really don't know how the ride to the city on the train is. no starbucks either, but our brand new library will be opening in august of 2009 and a brand new middle school will open this fall as well. We have subdivisions with trees and newer ones with toothpicks! you can definitely find a home in your price range.

[theKs]

I just looked at Arlington Heights, WOW, amazing library! But the taxes must be insane for that kind of infrastructure. I'm adding that one to our list to check out though! Thank you Chet!

No Starbucks??? Say it ain't so!!!! Thank you SG!

[nanannie]

Look into Elmhurst as well. Fits your criteria to a "T". Good luck with the move.

[oakparkdude]

May be a little more "urban" than you're thinking, but Oak Park fulfills all your criteria. 15-20 minutes to the Loop by Metra. We even have two Starbucks within the town and two more literally on the town line (but in adjacent towns.)

[ccjarider]

Moved to Arlington Heights this year from Wisconsin.
We really like the town amenities/people. Downtown area is very nice. I am sure you can find photos of town on line. The Metra line in this town meets your requirements. I am told the schools are supposedly really good. Kids are gone, so no longer need that amenity. House pricing is within your range.

I have been told that because we are in Cook Cty, our taxes are lower than comparable towns in other area counties. I am sure others can elaborate more on taxes.

Property taxes are about same for comparably priced property in SE Wisconsin where we came from. Income tax in IL is 1/2 WI rate. That is good.

We make no large purchases in "Crook County" due to outrageous sales 10.5 % tax enacted by corrupt local govts. I hear however that now many companies are writing receipts with different pricing in order to keep the business. It is a shame how the corrupt Chicago democrat machine forces otherwise honest people to become lawbreakers in order to survive.

[JustJulia]

We moved to Naperville last August and love it so far. I'm not very familiar with a lot of the area, so it's hard for me to say which towns might suit you best, but I think Naperville has everything you listed. We absolutely love it here.

Downtown with character / charm - Check. Downtown Naperville is so pretty, a mixture of upscale stores, lots of little places to eat, and some charming older shops. It's bordered by the Riverwalk, a gorgeous stretch of walking paths, parks and playgrounds along the river. I fell in love with the Riverwalk as soon as I saw it.

West or Northwest (easier to get back home for family visits) - Naperville is one of the western Chicago suburbs. It's south of I-88.

Family friendly with lots of events (parades, goofy celebrations, farmers markets) - There's Ribfest, Last Fling, farmers markets in the warm weather, lots of weekend events at the Naper Settlement ... Naperville has been rated one of the best places to raise a family. Very low crime for a city of its size (about 130,000 people). I've heard great things about the Children's Museum here, too.

Metra station close by with no longer than a 45 minute train ride to downtown - Yep, there's a Naperville station here. If you time it right, you can catch one of the express trains to Chicago. It's about 45 minutes on a regular train.

Fairly close to O'Hare (within 30 minutes in optimal traffic) - I think that's about right.

Good/great schools - Naperville 203 and 204 are among the very best school districts in the country.

$400K to $600K price range - Not a problem, unless you want one of the gargantuan McMansions in a neighborhood with no trees, but it doesn't sound like you do. You can find quite a lot of comfortable, attractive houses in the $300Ks and $400Ks.

House with character, older or looks older (no cookie cutter in the middle of a field type house) - Naperville has an older area and a newer area. We live in the older area. Our neighborhood is filled with mature maple trees that create a lovely, shady arbor over all the streets in the spring and summer. Of course, it's not fun to have to rake up all those leaves! But the area is truly lovely.

Naperville does have what some people might call cookie-cutter houses. A lot of neighborhoods are Cape Cod style houses, and they all have similar siding, so they do look similar. However, these are not like the stucco tract homes of California, where we're from.

Dupage County has a lot of land preservation initiatives, so there are lots of parks and preserved open spaces. Danada Park is north of here, there's a huge prairie preserve a couple of miles down the road, there's the Arboretum ... it's very scenic.

Great library - The Naperville Library has been rated the best in the nation for its size for something like 8 years.

Close shopping - There's the Fox Valley Mall in Aurora (about five miles from me), Yorktown Shopping Center in Downers Grove (near where I work), and lots of shopping centers. Some new shopping place just opened up in Blongbrook, south of me. I'm used to being able to find almost any store back in Southern California, and it's the same here.

And this is silly, but coming fresh out of the Michigan forests... some established trees would be nice - Got plenty of those! Some people think Illinois is all prairie, but there are hundreds of thousands of trees here.

oh and Starbucks (LOL) - Yep, we have a couple of those. I know there's one on 75th, and I think there's one downtown. Plus you can find one in any Target nowadays, and there are four Targets near me (Aurora/Fox Valley, Bolingbrook, Woordridge, Yorktown).

Thank you to all the posters, I've learned more about the area here than anywhere else!

You should also check out Steve-O's thread with all the pictures. You'll get a really good idea about the charming areas.

Welcome!!

[theKs]

OK so after some looking at available houses in Arlington Heights, they are really expensive! $650K for an 80s looking house with a one stall garage compared to Lombard, $480 for a really nice looking house. I realize that depending on where you are, you can get more house for your money but then you might be far away from everything or in an area with little to offer. I hope to find a balance somewhere.

Thank you Julia for all the great info on Naperville. I do worry though at how big it is. Growing up in Dallas, I like a little more small town feel in the community.

BTW, still laughing about Crook County... every time I visit downtown, I am shocked anew at the 10% sales tax!

So La Grange and Lombard are still up there, am interested in AH and think I'll check out Oak Park. Does anyone know anything about Oak Lawn? Lots of affordable very nice homes but I saw quite a few debate threads on the ability of the town to recover from some bad history?

Thanks again!

[ToriaT]

Try Wheaton or Glen Ellyn. They have most or all of the qualities you are looking for. Each has a town area, an older core of homes with newer homes as well. Lots of shopping everywhere. Good schools, train lines and good roads to get into Chicago or elsewhere if need be. Beautiful parks and trees.