Edgebrook (Chicago, Naperville, Arlington Heights: sales, townhome, employment)

[chicagoRE]

Hi, looking for info on Edgebrook. Are the public schools decent? Also, is there more than one high school? How diverse? Coming from Lakeview and not 100% sold on the suburbs so looking for a few NW side alternatives. Budget will be arond $600k.

Many thanks-

[tomcho]

Originally Posted by chicagoRE

Hi, looking for info on Edgebrook. Are the public schools decent? Also, is there more than one high school? How diverse? Coming from Lakeview and not 100% sold on the suburbs so looking for a few NW side alternatives. Budget will be arond $600k.

Many thanks-

If you want to stay relatively close to the the Lakeview area Edgebrook is a good choice for the suburb in the city feel. You won't have bars and restaurants to walk to, but you will have a garage and maybe a side drive. The Metra is a 25 minute ride into the loop, which is nice if you work downtown.

Edgebrook elementary school is one of the best in the entire CPS system, it was ranked #9 by Chicago Mag.(This ranking includes magnet schools) It tested at the 97 percentile.

Best Elementary Schools: Chicago (Schools Ranked 1-250) - Chicago magazine - October 2010 - Chicago

The high school is Taft which isn't great, but it's of the better ones by CPS standards, but assuming you don't have kids yet grade 9 is a ways off.

I'd also consider Edison Park if you like Edgebrook, similar elementary schools, similar Metra times, but there are actually bars and restaurants. Anywhere from Devon to Howard and Harlem to Canfield is Edison Park.

[sayanything]

If you can afford a $600k house, I am sure you can afford a private high school for the kids when they get old enough. Who knows though, by then Taft might actually be pretty decent again. If you are looking for racial diversity you are not going to find much at all in Edgebrook.

[chet everett]

... I am curious as to why you want to spend it in Edgebrook? As tomcho sagely points out, Taft is not a desirable high school by any normal measure, Edgebrook lacks any dining or nightlife, lots are small, the visual appeal of postage stamp front lawns interrupted by side drives is nil.

Sayanything accurately points out the Edgebrook is not diverse by any standard.

If you work in Lakeview and cannot rely on Metra for commuting I suppose Edgebrook might hold some appeal but short of that I can see very few pluses to the area.

With the large number of distressed properties in very desirable areas you may be pleasantly surprised by how far you budget will go in areas served by highly desirable schools, that have walkable downtowns filled with shops, eating / drinking spots, beautiful libraries, well programed Park Disrticts, speedy Metra service and lacking only a 606xx zip code...


Btw, I would caution that the mere inclusion on the list of the highest performing schools is not an endorsement of the quality of instruction, the relative bread of curricular offerings or much else besides mastery of the relatively week state tests. That said I do think that, as a starting point, the numerical rankings should help eliminate schools that are awful. Illinois Interactive Report Card most parents do not do enough to determine whether the reason the schools do well is because they are " teaching to the test" are blessed with exceptionally well prepared students, or a truly effective places of learning. I did know some pat editors of Chicago Magazine and they got a lot of flack for leaving off / including some schools, don't know how that plays out now...

Originally Posted by sayanything

If you can afford a $600k house, I am sure you can afford a private high school for the kids when they get old enough. Who knows though, by then Taft might actually be pretty decent again. If you are looking for racial diversity you are not going to find much at all in Edgebrook.

[chicagoRE]

Chet, you seem to know a lot about schools & various suburbs. If your budget was $600k where would you purchase? Looking for a close north side suburb with good public schools. A nice lot size is a bonus. Would consider west side but not first choice.

Just really curious where you would live if given the choice. Thanks-

[chet everett]

Beyond my personal prefences in "style" and such the things I like to focus on are high quality schools, proximity to transportation, access to employment centers, buffers from poor zoning, a nice base of retail (due to Illinois sales tax structure) and a pleasant mix of social offerings.

There are places in Chicago that offer some of these things and many more in suburbs.

North / NW Park Ridge ranks very high in all those categories. Due north of Chicago, Evanston does well in most categories with the biggest concerns coming from an abundance of questionable multi-family and poor access via expressways to job centers in NW Cook / southern Lake Co. and a modest amount of retail for its size. The traditional Northshore towns have similar faults, though the dearth of multi-family housing makes for a more stable population. If you find something in your price range in Wilmette, Winnetka, Kenilworth or Glencoe it would be hard to beat.

The next group of northern burbs that meet the criteria I look for include Glenview, Deerfield, Northbrook, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods, and Mettawa. I might be overlooking some, and I personally do not warm up to towns that lack a traditional downtown around their train stations (or those that lack retail), but mostly stable prices and plenty of high quality employers to be found with kind of "shared" entertainment options along the throughfares offset some of the negatives (while ceding the problems that sometimes come with resturants / nightspots along with tax revenues to less desirable towns). Going north into Lake Co Highland Park and Lake Forest have a lot to offer, but as your distance from Chicago increases you really need to weigh commute options. Libertyville falls into this category as well.

Switching back to NW burbs, Arlington Heights and Barrington are very desirable.

The toughest thing is really narrowing down what is "must" and what is a "nice to have". When folks start to focus on family issues, including needs of two career couples, having the shortest commute one can manage tends to be a huge plus. In that regard the western suburbs offer unbeatable pluses. The towns along the BNSF are blessed with superior express train service. From Brookfield through Naperville there are no towns that should be ruled out. UP West line service is not quite as good, but for those who also want some of the more urban features of Oak Park that can be a good choice (though personally the issues I have with Evanston are even more amplified in Oak Park). Further west, the amenities of Elmhurst are impressive, with an unrivaled combo of well developed downtown, Elmhurst College, museums, libraries and schools all clustered together. In Glen Ellyn and Wheaton similar evidence of well planned towns with rail-centric downtowns make for smaller, though no less attractive, cores. Stretching out to Geneva can make for longish commutes, but if the desire for more space at a more attractive price is your goal that direction should be explored...

I honestly believe each of the towns /regions mentioned above are more vibrant and represnt better immeadiate and long term value for home ownership than the title neighborhood of this thread. Sorry if I offend the Chicago centric posters in this sub-forum, but I just do not see the appeal of staying inside the "walled kingdom" created by City of Chicago governmental employment...

[tomcho]

Chet,

I've definitely taken some issues with your posts, but in this case the OP asked for suburban alternatives and you provided a well thought out response to living within the city proper.

There is little doubt you can get more for your money in many suburbs and that becomes more true the further from State and Madison you venture. You can pick and chose property tax examples all you want, but on the whole property taxes outside the city on similar properties will be more expensive. The one issue which you seem to always gloss over is why $600,000 buys you more in Oswego than Edgebrook, and it's exactly the distance away from State and Madison.

Express Metra trains are great during the week if you work in the loop and you hit your specific train. If you happen to miss the express on either end of the commute your travel time increases greatly. Most collar neighborhoods have Metra trains every 30 minutes and an express train is irrelevant as they are only 30 minutes from the loop regardless which train you hit. More importantly, if one spends a majority of their leisure time in Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Michigan ave, attending sporting events,on the lakefront, etc the distance from State and Madison becomes a bigger issue. Express trains on the weekend are rare or don't exist. I'm a Bears and Blackhawk season ticket holder, I can guarantee you I would attend substantially less games if I lived in Barrington. We spend most weekends down at the Lakefront in the summer. If I was tied to the Metra schedule with an hour long ride the weekends at the lake would no longer happen.

Your suburban theory is great if someone only works in the loop and spends their leisure time in their suburban "town", if however a majority of their leisure time is closer to downtown, living closer to that area adds a value you can't put a price tag on.

Location, location, location...

[sayanything]

The fact of the matter is even if Edgebrook was not in the city limits and was a suburb or part of one, people would still want to live in it due to its isolation from the areas surrounding it. Taking into account the mostly upper middle class and upper class residents and you will find Edgebrook, it is up there in the top wealthiest areas in Chicagoland. If I had the cash I would have no problem living there. There are no bars in Edgebrook (but there are bars nearby in Niles and on Elston and Milwaukee in the Jefferson Park community area whether it be the old "South Edgebrook" neighborhood or the Gladstone Park neighborhood.)

[chicagoRE]

Thanks Chet and tomcho (and everyone else). I really do appreciate the well thought out answers and detail. I have been in Chicago for 12 years and do not know anything about the suburbs. I never thought we would leave the city but after looking into CPS we see no alternative. Where our current townhome is located the elementary school is def not an option. I would home school first. Someone made the comment that if we can afford $600k on a home then private school should not be an issue. Actually it is an issue and not in our budget. We are in our ealy 40's, had kids late, and cannot afford private schools if we want to be able to retirement and pay for college. Even if I could afford it I am not sold on the average yearly tuition of $20k, that is a lot of money. We have been homeowners for quite awhile, climbed the property ladder and have enough equity in order to afford something at this price point. Yes, we have equity even in this market:-)

My husband and I need good access to downtown/downtown neighborhoods. We both work from home and are constantly going to/from appointments all over downtown (north/side/west also) at all hours of the day. Taking the metra is not an option for us because of our crazy schedules. My husband's family is in Northbrook so that may be too close for comfort:-) But it is nice, seems a little sleepy though. Glenview kind of creeps me out with the Glen, a little to Pleasantville for me. What I like about Wilmette, Evanston, etc are the different styles of houses, mature trees. I am not looking to buy a cookie cutter spec house. Of course, nothing wrong with this type of house, it is just not my style. I thought Edgebrook would kind of give us a little bit of both worlds....city/suburb.

Again, you guys are amazing and a wealth of info. I really appreciate it!!

[chicagoRE]

Yes, let me emphasize.....the only reason we are moving is because of the schools. Everything we do is in the city, work, friends, family so close proximity is key.