Westchester/Villa Park (Chicago, Cicero, Highland Park: low income, for sale, crime)

[Tammy4772]

I have recently started looking for houses, I am limited to the areas of where I can move to due to $ and travel distance. 2 of the areas are Westchester and Villa Park. Are there areas in either of those 2 places that I should stay away from? Any areas in those 2 places better? It seems by what I looked at that most over all they are not too bad of places to live, while no area is a gaurantee I just don't want to be some place for a few years and have to up and move due to crime/gangs etc...
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[chitown85]

There are a lot of teardowns occurring in Villa Park. Lots of McMansions. The schools are pretty good and likely to improve. It has great access to the city and to Oak Brook Mall.

[Tammy4772]

Thank you. What about area of Westchester by Broadview? I see there are quite a few homes for sale in that area just west of 25th Ave and close to 290 that are in my price range. Looking at homes for around $225,000. I know there are a lot of areas where there are many houses up for sale at the same time but I am more concerned if the area is changing and possible crime that may be a reason why also. I am going to drive of there this weekend but any additional info would be great. Not concerned about schools. We have no kids and don't plan on it.

[chet everett]

The potential for Westchester to rapidly change in economic composition is greater than that of Villa Park...

[Lookout Kid]

Do a search for Westchester on this forum. There are several threads describing the fact that the high school (Proviso West) is a major problem for Westchester. This is the primary reason that people worry about the future of Westchester, and is the reason for the relatively affordable homes there. So far crime really isn't a major issue, but the population of Westchester is aging.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Do a search for Westchester on this forum. There are several threads describing the fact that the high school (Proviso West) is a major problem for Westchester. This is the primary reason that people worry about the future of Westchester, and is the reason for the relatively affordable homes there. So far crime really isn't a major issue, but the population of Westchester is aging.

Crime will probably go up when you rapidly convert from a very old population to a very young one, particularly if the latter is moderate to low income. It is also hard on the schools, who are suddenly inundated with a wave of students. And because of property tax caps, dense and built up suburbs can't build new schools or sufficiently raise taxes to accommodate the extra load.

[Lookout Kid]

My point was that an aging population guarantees that a lot of housing turnover is imminent. And since the high school can't be counted on, this could be very bad for Westchester. But for the time being, it's still a nice, safe community. I just wouldn't move my family there.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

My point was that an aging population guarantees that a lot of housing turnover is imminent. And since the high school can't be counted on, this could be very bad for Westchester. But for the time being, it's still a nice, safe community. I just wouldn't move my family there.

I knew what you meant. You are totally correct.

[ChangedEssence]

No Kids coming?...Westchester. You'll love it not too many kids but enough. Great location to getting where couples like to go and very very relaxing. Overall Great neighborhood. Villa is okay but Village hall needs a lot of work overall. Need permits for almost anything. But still manages to look VERY run down in some places.

[chet everett]

There are no caps on the taxes in Cook Co, of which all of Westchester lies entirely inside. Further the problem would not be a need for new schools, but significant deterioration in the ratio of "tax payers to tax consumers". That is the reason that one must look at both the raw numbers of spending per pupil, broken out as both instructional and operational costs, AS WELL AS the trend of district finances expressed as "Equalized Assessed Valuation" pre pupil to understand why a town like Cicero is about half as "rich" as even Chicago, while a town like Highland Park is more than twice as well off:
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