Where should I live in Lake County? HELP...! (Chicago, Waukegan: apartments, sex offenders)

[homeagn]

I almost went blind reading other posts for info, so I thought I'd finally just put my own situation out there.

We are a couple in our late 20's looking to move to Lake County. We are current homeowners in WI and want to buy another single family house, but our absolute max budget is $300K. We have no kids yet, but we don't intend to move again, so school district is VERY important all the way through high school. We're college-grad professionals and would like to live around other folks like us.

I work in Beach Park, and my husband's new job is in Deerfield. Did I mention that my husband's throw-down max commute is 30 minutes? The commute doesn't bother me as much, I could go as far as 45 minutes.

We are also juggling different preferences--rural-feeling for my husband, more city-like for myself. To give you a feel of what we're after, our favorite burb is Arlington Heights, and we'd move there if it weren't so darn far and the housing were cheaper and if it were a little more rural. We love the community feeling of downtown Arlington Heights, with the shops and restaurants and theater.

To complicate things further, we need good access to either 94 or 90 for the assorted family members to get to us and vice versa.

For those reasons and others, we have ruled out Gurnee, Mundelein, Waukegan/North Chicago, Round Lake/Beach, and anything north of Gurnee. We have pretty much concluded that we can't afford to live in Lake Forest, Highland Park, Libertyville, or Deerfield. Everyone says "get into the Stevenson district!" but I don't think we could afford it.

It seems we are left with Lake Zurich, which sounds nice from what I've read, but is the commute to Deerfield going to kill my husband?

Or Vernon Hills, which seems busy and crowded, particularly traffic?

Or Grayslake, which seems too rural? And I've heard iffy things about the schools there.

AND, we are a mixed race couple, white/Asian....where do all the Asians live in Lake Co.?

Any insight would be appreciated. THANKS!!!

[rgb123]

Lake Zurich to Deerfield should not be too bad.

I thought of Grayslake right away, before I saw you were considering it....no, in my opinion it is not too rural but that is for you to decide.

It has a cute downtown, and is close to everything -- though traffic on 120 and 45 can be terrible. Grayslake is the center of the county (and where we have the lake county fair!) and also home to the community college. There is a nice lake (okay not awesome, but a nice little beach for the kids) I used to lifeguard there.

I dont know much about the schools, but grayslake has grown very much in my lifetime...I just cant see it going downhill.

Vernon Hills is also nice...yes a bit more traffic...and not much or....any really....downtown. But your close to libertvyille's cute downtown.

I have lived in lake county most of my life....you start to think of all of the suburbs and the assorted downtowns as your hometown. I mean, everything is really pretty close together. Your not limited to the town you chose to live in......so maybe make your choice based mostly on the schools and commute, and affordability....you can travel quite easily to get to entertainment and nice downtowns from any location you have mentioned.

[homeagn]

thank you rgb that is good advice. Definitely affordability is our #1 limiting factor, unfortunately. I am worried about the commute, for both of us, but especially my husband, he is from a small town and has a short fuse when it comes to traffic. I heard that Rte 22 is bad...?

[Lisa_from_Debary]

Please check the sex offenders in your area before you buy a house...

I wouldn't live in Lake County but everyone is different. There was another person on here that posted some things they had found out about Lake and it was sobering.
I don't believe Lake county is representative of the rest of Florida.

[rgb123]

?? Lake County, FL? Lake County, IL is a great place to live and we are certainly not know for sex offenders

Route 22 can be pretty bad, I dont usually travel the route between lake zurich and deerfield....but I have -- it not great (fine during off hours), but I would not say its much worse than 60, 45, or 120. But its been a few years since I worked in deerfield.....there are some shortcuts and he would probably get to know the back roads well. It should take less then 30 minutes but it could take more too....I just don't know anymore.

the hard part...is there is not a lot of places where the commute to deerfield is good, as that is just a conjested area in itself.

Is he interested in Metra at all? The metra line that goes through Grayslake also goes through Deerfield. A lot of people do take the train to Deerfield and then take a shuttle or, ride a bicycle the rest of the way to work.

[nanannie]

Lisa,you made a wrong turn.This is Lake county in ILLINOIS,,

[homeagn]

Oops I probably should have specified Lake Co, IL in my original post.

Anyway...I didn't know that Metra had shuttles...that is convenient. However, I think if we lived in Grayslake he would probably just take 94. It's the west-east commute that I'm worried about. I think it's a shame that the Chicago burbs--anywhere, not just Lake Co--doesn't have more major highways that run east-west.

Anyone have thoughts on Buffalo Grove? It might be out of our price range but it's more east (ie closer to 94).

[ahava]

I had to laugh when you asked where the Asians live, because they live in the Stevenson High School district, which is where everyone told you to move Unfortunately, you're correct that it's out of your price range. You would be able to afford a house in the portion of Vernon Hills that is in the Stevenson district, but those are older, smaller homes, which may not be what you're looking for. Also, Rt 22 is a nightmare. I travel on it everyday as part of my commute and I hate it. Traffic there was horrible before the construction, it's worse now, but I can only hope it will be better once construction is complete. They are widening the road, which is something they've needed to do for about ten years now. However, don't rule out Lake Zurich. Your husband can avoid Rt 22 by taking Rt 12 to Lake Cook Rd, which goes right through Deerfield. Lake Cook can be awful too but I'd choose it any day over Rt 22 right now. Also, Metra is a great suggestion if your husband really has no tolerance for traffic. Grayslake is a good place to live. Lake Zurich has better schools though. I know you already vetoed Mundelein, and I think I understand why (I wouldn't want to live there either), but you should look at the portion of Mundelein in the Hawthorn and Vernon Hills school districts. Those schools are better than the ones in Mundelein. I have a friend who lives in the Cambridge West subdivision; it's really nice there and it's basically living in Vernon Hills but with a Mundelein address.

As for Buffalo Grove, the areas not in the Stevenson district are in your price range, but again, these are older, smaller homes. If you're willing to go higher than $300k, Buffalo Grove is a great town, especially for families. Good homes there (in the Stevenson district!) start around $375k.

[homeagn]

thanks kirstenleigh for the insider info on Rt 22.

I took a quick look online at homes in Buffalo Grove, and you're right, the ones in our price range are in the Buffalo Grove school district. Ditto for Wheeling. Anyone have any input on either of those school districts? Looks like they are in Cook Co. also, which makes the taxes more affordable...

[ahava]

Originally Posted by homeagn

I took a quick look online at homes in Buffalo Grove, and you're right, the ones in our price range are in the Buffalo Grove school district. Ditto for Wheeling. Anyone have any input on either of those school districts? Looks like they are in Cook Co. also, which makes the taxes more affordable...

Buffalo Grove is a very good high school. Wheeling is okay. School district 21 (K-8) is good if your kids go to Riley or Longfellow Elementary. We used to live in that district; my daughter went to Poe, and I wasn't impressed. But we lived in Arlington Heights when we lived in that district, and since you mentioned before that you especially like Arlington Heights, I think if you're willing to live in the southern portion of Buffalo Grove, you might as well go for Arlington Heights because it's right there. We lived in Arlington Heights between Lake Cook Rd and Dundee Rd, and it was a great neighborhood. I loved living there, except for the school, but we were near a huge park which was perfect for the kids. In that neighborhood the apartments and townhomes go to Poe and the houses go to Longfellow, so you'll have the good schools if you live there. I know this area very well, as you can probably tell , so if you have any specific questions about schools or neighborhoods don't hesitate to ask!