Moving to Chicago from NJ (Aurora, Naperville: hardwood floor, fit in, for sale by owner)

[Pete MUFC]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

Pete,
The area you picked is nice. However, you may want to look a little farther "in" at Arlington Heights. It is a little denser, but you are closer to the city and closer to other employment centers as well. Always good to think ahead and make sure that if you change jobs and work in Schaumburg or Oakbrook that you don't set yourself up for a kicker commute. The library, schools, park district, theater and shopping are also excellent. Home may cost a smidge more, but property tax is generally lower than Lake or McHenry county. You can find 2500SF home starting in the 350K range. Lots will be 1/5 acre to 1/3 acre depending on neighborhood. Your commute from Arlington Heights to Deerfield is also a LOT closer than from Barrington or Cary.

Thanks Cubssoxfan. I will definitley look at Arlington Heights. I already read some comments, some of them saying that Arlington Heights is a lot more pricier than Cary and lot more populated.
I will be moving very soon so I am running out of time and now that you said that taxes are lower in AH than Lake or Mchenry has confused me a bit.
Isn't AH in Cook county?
All info that I have is that Cook County has the highest property tax in the area. Am I missing something here?
Any help/guidance is highly appreciated.

Also, we were thinking of the employment opportunities in the area too.
My wife will work Temp in Deerfield (until summer) but we will need to think what after. Are there a lot of opportunities in the area you just mentioned (Schaumburg and Oakbrook)?
Thanks.

[chitown85]

Cook County has much lower property taxes than Lake or McHenry in general terms. There are areas of Cook that have equivalent such as the North Shore suburbs (not where you are looking). Cook has a higher sales tax, which may drop slightly.

Deerfield is in SE Lake County and very expensive to buy. It has great schools. It is very easy to get into the city from Deerfield, about 40 minutes on the train to the Loop (downtown).

Barrington Area is made up of something like 8 villages over 90 square miles, located in 4 different counties. Barrington and South Barrington are in NW Cook County. It is also easy to get into the city from Barrington, however the traffic to get into Barrington where the train station is can be daunting. Barrington is also very expensive.

Cary is a newer suburb. It is quiet, but located in McHenry County. The schools seem alright. It will take you over an hour to get into the city by train.

Arlington Heights is a very quiet suburb of about 75K people in NW Cook, not far from O'Hare. It is located close to Deerfield (20-30 minutes by car) and very easy to get into the city from one of the 3 train stations there.

Oakbrook is located in DuPage County (due west of the city). It is very expensive, very good schools, and easy to get into the city by train (45 min.). It is at least a 90 minute to 2 hour drive from Deerfield in traffic.

[Pete MUFC]

Since Arlington Heights was mentioned as a nice place to live, short commute to the LOOP etc. I also did a research to nearby area including:
Palatine, Mount Prospect and Des Plaines.
As they are all in Cook County I realized that according to what was already said in the previous comments, that the Property Tax should be Ok, but what about home price in this cities? Are they good places to live in?
I am looking for a Single Family or Townhome 2 or 3 BD / 2 BT up to 250k.
I will be checking the internet over the weekend, but in the meantime can someone tell me how's my chances to find something decent in this price range?
I would like the house to be closer to train (up to 3 miles).

Appreciate all your help.

[chitown85]

They are all Cook County. Home prices in Palatine vary significantly. Palatine, Mount Prospect, and Des Plaines are all very diverse communities demographically. The school systems in Palatine and AH are much better than Mount Prospect and Des Plaines. It will be much easier to find a home in your price range in MP and DP. In addition, they are slightly closer to the city, with some parts of Des Plaines bordering O'Hare (technically Chicago).

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by chitown85

They are all Cook County. Home prices in Palatine vary significantly. Palatine, Mount Prospect, and Des Plaines are all very diverse communities demographically. The school systems in Palatine and AH are much better than Mount Prospect and Des Plaines. It will be much easier to find a home in your price range in MP and DP. In addition, they are slightly closer to the city, with some parts of Des Plaines bordering O'Hare (technically Chicago).

Chi-town, I disagree. I would rank school districts as follows:
1) Arlington Heights District 25
2) Tie between Prospect Heights 23 & Mt. Prospect 57
3) Palatine District 15
4) Arlington Heights 59
5) River Trails 23
6) Des Plaines
High Schools:
Prospect HS, Fremd HS, Hersey, Wheeling & Buffalo Grove (tie), Rolling Meadows, then a gap and Elk Grove and another gap and Maine West HS.
Some of this is personal observation, comments from parents with kids in districts, having sold to these districts as a vendor and test scores.
I really don't think the schools in DesPlaines are at same level as Arlington Hts, Mt. Prospect, Prospect Heights or Palatine.
The perception of the quality of the school district also effects the value of the home. So you will pay more for Arlington Heights that goes to district 25 compared to Des Plaines.

[chitown85]

I would put BGHS and Wheeling HS up there with Fremd at the top, but it's just an opinion based on everyone's preference.
The Maine School District high school's have significant gang presence. Wheeling and Rolling Meadows to a much lesser extent, but it's mitigated by the majority quality students that attend.

[Lookout Kid]

I would add Park Ridge to your list. It will offer the easiest commute of any of the suburbs listed. Maine South High School is better than Maine West, and doesn't really have a gang presence. It's one of the better suburban High Schools out that direction. And there is a real variety of housing choices there. Many homes are older, but fully rehabbed. And there are some newer condos and townhomes near the Metra station.

Arlington Heights would be my second choice based on your criteria and situation.

[cubssoxfan]

Lookout.
I agree. Park Ridge is very nice. Maine South is a better school than Maine West and Park Ridge Elem schools are very good. Just do due diligence regarding airplane noise (which can also effect parts of Arlington Heights)

[Pete MUFC]

Thanks for all the replies.
I will be in the area next weekend and I am going to check a few condos in Park Ridge.
All your help is greately appreciated. After reading all your replies and doing a little research on my own I found out that Park Ridge or Arlington Heights would be ideal for what I am looking for.
For now I'll start with Park Ridge as it is closer to the LOOP and the condos near the train station are bit cheaper than the ones in the same area of Arlington Heights.
The question I have now is: How is the Park Ridge area around the train station?
As I said I will be checking on a couple of condos, one is in the downtown and the other one is closer to the "Dee Road" station (info per my real estate agent).
Are these areas good and safe?
How's the schools there?
Any places for shopping and dining?
Both building I am going to check are built in the 70's, but they look nice inside-out.
Real estate agent said that older Park Ridge building are very well maintained. I am not getting to excited before I can see them, but what are your opinion regarding this?
Also, my real estate agent mentioned that if I am interested in Des Plaines, she can show me some cheaper but good condos in the complex called "Ballard Point Condominiums" which is close to Park Ridge and only a couple miles off Park Ridge and Des Plaines train stations.
Anyone familiar with this area? Schools, shopping, how safe it is?

Thanks

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by Pete MUFC

Thanks for all the replies.
I will be in the area next weekend and I am going to check a few condos in Park Ridge.
All your help is greately appreciated. After reading all your replies and doing a little research on my own I found out that Park Ridge or Arlington Heights would be ideal for what I am looking for.
For now I'll start with Park Ridge as it is closer to the LOOP and the condos near the train station are bit cheaper than the ones in the same area of Arlington Heights.
The question I have now is: How is the Park Ridge area around the train station?
As I said I will be checking on a couple of condos, one is in the downtown and the other one is closer to the "Dee Road" station (info per my real estate agent).
Are these areas good and safe?
How's the schools there?
Any places for shopping and dining?
Both building I am going to check are built in the 70's, but they look nice inside-out.
Real estate agent said that older Park Ridge building are very well maintained. I am not getting to excited before I can see them, but what are your opinion regarding this?
Also, my real estate agent mentioned that if I am interested in Des Plaines, she can show me some cheaper but good condos in the complex called "Ballard Point Condominiums" which is close to Park Ridge and only a couple miles off Park Ridge and Des Plaines train stations.
Anyone familiar with this area? Schools, shopping, how safe it is?

Thanks

The Dee Rd. area is fine. Not much to do within walking distance. I'm not fond of the Ballard Rd. area between Milwaukee & Potter (Not sure if this is still Park Ridge or if it's Niles)-stay away from there, too many low rent apartments mixed in with nicer condo's. Downtown Park Ridge has shopping and dining you can walk to. I think the library is also in walking distance. If you are living downtown near the train station, take time to investigate Palatine. Nothing wrong with downtown area of Des Plaines-it's just the schools are a notch below Park Ridge, Arlington Heights and even Palatine. Some of the older buildings are nice-I would focus on noise insulation between units. I'm not a Condo fan, I would go townhouse or small single family-but that's just me. Some of the condos are well built with good noise insulation.