Best suburb for owner-occupied income property - Duplex, etc. (Chicago: rentals, townhomes)

[mattgsilver]

Really like these boards... it's an amazing amount of good info...

We're married, jewish, have a 2yo daughter and an energetic dog.
We value having quiet and good living space indoors and out. Not like NYC/Brooklyn and Los Angeles.
We've spent more than 5 years in each; St. Paul, New York, Denver, and currently Los Angeles.
We are interested in a suburb environment with a mix of single family, duplex, and maybe fourplex properties.
We're looking for an area that is good for a family, still has restaurants and some nightlife, offers easy commuting to downtown and most importantly, has a good rental market.
Our budget is around 400k. (Depending on what would need to be done to the property.)
So far I've seen areas like Lombard, Buffalo, Evanston, Wilmette, Vernon Hills and Highland Park listed as having temples...
I've seen Naperville, Geneva, Glen Ellyn, and Hinsdale listed as having good towns...
At this point, I have a list of about 26 towns and I need to narrow it down a bit.

Anyone have some suggestions?

Thanks
-matt

[homewifeev]

Evanston duplexes and townhomes are probably out of your range they are usually from $650,000 to $2,100,000. Duplexes and Townhomes are cheaper and in more demand in the North and Northwest neighborhoods of Chicago. You could also try Skokie. Evanston just does not have a large demand for rentals. Naperville is a nice city its just large (112,000 people).