Moving to Lake County-Thoughts on Wauconda? Fox Lake? Volo? (Chicago: low income, real estate)

[Kaybee]

Hi Have been looking at houses/townhouses in lake county...in wauconda, fox lake, volo areas. But, I am not from the area. Anyone have any thoughts on living in these towns?

Affordability and a nice neighborhood is key as well as a relatively short commute (max 45 minutes) to Barrington.

I also would consider Round Lake but I keep hearing that the area is "not very nice." Also looked at Buffalo Grove, Lake Zurich and Vernon Hills...but they seem very expensive for the $$$ .

Thanks for any information!!!

[rrah]

My parents lived in Lake County for nearly 20 years. Just left a couple of years ago because of the ever increasing real estate taxes and congestion. Lived in a town called Lake Villa.

Schools in Round Lake are pretty poor. Not a nice place to live.

Fox Lake is in an area known as the Chain of Lakes. Summer weekends create some congestion on roads since lots of people come out to enjoy the "Chain" as it's know. Probably not where I would choose to live.

It's been a few years since I drove through Volo or Wauconda, but were a bit more rural, a bit less expensive, but like all of Lake County, growing fairly rapidly in the last 5 years.

You might also want to consider McHenry County. Still growing, but probably can get to Barrington in 45 minutes. Bartlett in Kane County, where I previously lived, is fairly close also.

[DH777]

[quote=rrah]My parents lived in Lake County for nearly 20 years. Just left a couple of years ago because of the ever increasing real estate taxes and congestion. Lived in a town called Lake Villa.

Schools in Round Lake are pretty poor. Not a nice place to live.

Fox Lake is in an area known as the Chain of Lakes. Summer weekends create some congestion on roads since lots of people come out to enjoy the "Chain" as it's know. Probably not where I would choose to live.

It's been a few years since I drove through Volo or Wauconda, but were a bit more rural, a bit less expensive, but like all of Lake County, growing fairly rapidly in the last 5 years.

You might also want to consider McHenry County. Still growing, but probably can get to Barrington in 45 minutes. Bartlett in Kane County, where I previously lived, is fairly close also.


LAke County has become an area with either low income housing (rentals) or homes that eventual people will not be able to live in because of the taxes and terrible schools. McHenry is good Kane is better I live in Algonquin and we are moving to Crystal Lake I grew up here the schools are decent enough we have great teachers who care far better then U46 or Lake County. Just check out the schools if that is a concern.
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[homesbysteve]

Yes it is true that Lake County is growing quite rapidly. I moved here from Chicago 12 years ago and love it up here. There are drawbacks as there are with any place one chooses to live.

Round Lake IS A NICE PLACE TO LIVE - I should know I live there. We have almost tripled in population since 2000 and there are homes priced in a range from 150k up to over $500K. As far as most of the rest of Lake County, the taxes in Round Lake are still very reasonable.

As far as schools, there are several school districts serving the community depending on where you live in the village. The Round Lake (proper) schools took a beating as far as school funding goes, but are on their way up and have greatly improved over the last 2 years. For some reason, Round Lake has gotten a much undeserved rap based on rumor and that has been repeated often enough to the point many take it as fact.

Antioch is also a nice community and as far as Fox Lake goes, the previous poster was way off. This too is a vibrant and growing community with a very valuable asset, that being the Chain O' Lakes recreation Area, which is the largest inland body of water in North America.
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[kev99sl]

Originally Posted by Kaybee

Hi Have been looking at houses/townhouses in lake county...in wauconda, fox lake, volo areas. But, I am not from the area. Anyone have any thoughts on living in these towns?

Affordability and a nice neighborhood is key as well as a relatively short commute (max 45 minutes) to Barrington.

I also would consider Round Lake but I keep hearing that the area is "not very nice." Also looked at Buffalo Grove, Lake Zurich and Vernon Hills...but they seem very expensive for the $$$ .

Thanks for any information!!!

My wife and I *just* moved from Wauconda. I lived there for 8 years. It is a wonderful town, and a great place to raise kids. Our son is not quite 2 years old, so I don't know a lot about the schools, but I believe they're good. The great thing about Wauconda is the access to surrounding areas. You're not far at all from Barrington, Hawthorn Woods, Libertyville, Vernon Hills, etc.

We would have stayed, but I found a job in Tinley Park that I just couldn't say no to. We'll be moving in to our house in Manhattan this weekend, otherwise we would have been content to stay and raise our family there.

I prefer Wauconda to Volo and Fox Lake, or Island Lake or Round Lake, simply because I think it's a little more well-developed. In another 5 years or so, all those communities will probably be where Wauconda is now. Although, honestly, I don't know that we'd be able to afford a house in Wauconda if we were moving in today, so get in now if you can.

Hope this helps. I'm really going to miss it up there: Lake County has a lot going for it, if you can stand the traffic! (But traffic is getting ridiculous everywhere, right?)

EDIT: By the way, check out the condos in Crestview Estates. They butt up right against the big forest preserve, and are probably the chepest thing going in town.

[ContagisBlondnes]

Ah, Fox Lake. Home of my sister, of a lot of my friends that I've had for years. I've been going around the area since High School.

As for the area, I can tell that you're going for affordability. My sister just moved into a new house in Fox Lake. (New, as in NEW.) Which put her out about 122,000. Very cheap. In Buffalo Grove, where my parents live, the same house would go for about 300,000. (Although still cheap for Buffalo Grove, you can tell the difference.)

If you want a short commute to Barrington, but can't afford much, and want good schools, then you want to steer clear of the area that you're looking at. The population isn't too nice (my sister's neighbors are dreadful, when she lived in Wauconda they were worse) and petty crime is higher than most people like to admit.

Check out these towns:

Lake Zurich
Palatine
Wauconda (I know you're checking it out, give it a second look! It's starting to become a boom-town)
Cary
Algonquin
Johnsburg - GREAT place to live!

Round Lake is nice in some areas, not nice in others. Depends on your income bracket.

[fixital]

move to lakemoor taxes are not as high and a smaller town

[AthmaGirl]

Originally Posted by Kaybee

Hi Have been looking at houses/townhouses in lake county...in wauconda, fox lake, volo areas. But, I am not from the area. Anyone have any thoughts on living in these towns?

Affordability and a nice neighborhood is key as well as a relatively short commute (max 45 minutes) to Barrington.

I also would consider Round Lake but I keep hearing that the area is "not very nice." Also looked at Buffalo Grove, Lake Zurich and Vernon Hills...but they seem very expensive for the $$$ .

Thanks for any information!!!

I live in Fox Lake. It is a nice area. So is Volo, and Wauconda is fine. MUCH cheaper then many other areas of Lake County which are skyrocketing in house prices.

Round Lake has good and bad. There is Round Lake Beach (kind of "gangish" in certain areas south of Rollins Road) There is Round Lake Heights, and also Round Lake Park. Many new nice neighborhoods are going up in all these Round Lake areas and the houses are cheaper. But, there are some bad areas here and there but not all of the Round Lake towns are icky. Just stay away from areas where there are apartment complexes, especially Round Lake Beach. Those have gone downhill. But the newer neighborhoods popping up are nice. I live just ten minutes from those areas.

Lakemoor is nice too, but kind of quiet and smaller. Grayslake is a pretty good area.

[squirrel]

http://www.city-data.com/city/Lindenhurst-Illinois.html

I just moved here and find it to be close to everything a person could ever want + the commute (into Niles)is not too bad either (a little under an hour) :-)

There is some new construction going up that will be listing for 400,000. These homes are nestled between existing big homes that are selling from 225,000 - 300, 000.

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[NortherILMike]

For those listed i see you want to be more out towards the west. But a little north there is no hotter market than lindenhurst right now and a good value is still within reach. Along with homes now entering area in excess of 650K. You can also find nice homes in the 200-300's. Brand new Lakes high school serving only Lake Villa and Lindenhurst either is a sound choice. Stay away from Round Lake for the most part the area is heading downhill.