Life in suburbs and commute to Hyde Park (Chicago, Oak Park: apartments, rentals) - Chicago Suburbs - Illinois (IL) - City-Data Forum

rimforsa · 03-17-2010, 01:02 PM

We are a family with two children, 4 and 5 years old, thinking about moving to a suburb. What is nice, safe and relatively easy to go to Hyde Park from? We are especially looking for possibility to rent. We live in Lincoln Park now.

ajolotl · 03-17-2010, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rimforsa

We are a family with two children, 4 and 5 years old, thinking about moving to a suburb. What is nice, safe and relatively easy to go to Hyde Park from? We are especially looking for possibility to rent. We live in Lincoln Park now.

The most common choices are Homewood/Flossmoor, Oak Park, and Beverly (part of Chicago but with a suburban feel in parts). These are the best combination of close and nice, where "close" means different things in each case. For H-F e.g. it is the incredible convenience of the metra.

chet everett · 03-17-2010, 01:28 PM

There are a number of folks that work at UofC (both medical and scientific) that live in the western Cook Co / eastern DuPage Co area of Riverside, Western Springs, LaGrange, Indian Head Park, Burr Ridge, Hinsdale/Clarendon Hills. The Stevenson has fewer exits / less traffic than other expressway routes and the Lake Shore Drive is very lightly traveled south of McCormick place. The quality of schools and housing is big draw and while rental apartments are not particularly common there are some advantages to renting a single family house. The proximity to the Argonne Lab where a sizeable portion of the staff has ties to UofC (which operates the lab under a contract for the the DOE) and the "back office" operations of the UofC medical center in Darien are further evidence of the desirability.

rimforsa · 03-17-2010, 01:36 PM

We would like to use the metra so I guess Homewood/Flossmoore would be a good option than. Is it a safe area? Are there possibilities to rent small houses?

ajolotl · 03-17-2010, 01:42 PM

Everyone has their own level of tolerance. I have to take the kids to school in Hyde Park every day, tried pretty much everything when I wanted to buy a house outside of Hyde park. I really liked Oak Park but the commute was a bit too much for me (40-45 minutes in traffic, 30 without). I found the Stevenson to be pretty hellish coming in -- could easily be over an hour from places like Burr Ridge. H-F was a very relaxing train ride but the drive wasn't so great. Beverly was always 17-30 minutes. I chose Beverly. Obviously, if you have to go to Argonne National Lab the western burbs are extremely convenient. If not, it's a bit of a stretch. I'd try the commute first before looking in that area.

ajolotl · 03-17-2010, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rimforsa

We would like to use the metra so I guess Homewood/Flossmoore would be a good option than. Is it a safe area? Are there possibilities to rent small houses?

I think it's a very good option -- and yes, every size of house exists. There are some who fear that those areas are deteriorating, but I know a lot of U of C people in that area and they still really enjoy it. Metra drops off in the heart of Hyde park, so it is very convenient. I would get opinions from others on how they perceive the area.

chet everett · 03-17-2010, 02:32 PM

While it is true that there are a nice range of homes in Flossmoor and Homewood, not sure how popular it is to rent 'em out. The length of time on the market might motivate some sellers to consider renting, but I recall that Flossmoor has relatively few rentals available -- it is not attractive to investors as it is pretty high priced and is known to be pretty restrictive in enforcing ordinances. Good thing for residents, harder for less than ethical investors to make a quick buck...