relocating (Chicago, Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates: real estate, townhomes, neighborhoods)

[dolinwvu]

I am searching for townhomes/single family homes in chicago. we are relocating within the month. i have never been there and know nothing about the area. we are middle income family with two small children. my husband will be working in or near hoffman estates and i am a teacher. i want safety and good schools. i have some great sites for real estate, however some homes are under 200 and look great but are located in an area called grisham/marquette park/cottage heights? please clue me in on these places!

[Drover]

If nothing else, it would be a murderous commute to Hoffman from Auburn-Gresham or Marquette Park -- easily 90 minutes. There are worse neighborhoods than these two in Chicago, but there are also certainly better. There's a reason why you can get a home for under 200K in those neighborhoods in a city where the average price of a home is somewhere around double that. Can't say I've ever heard of Cottage Heights.

[BRU67]

The median household income of Auburn Gresham is $33k and it is 98% African American. That's a pretty low household income (you generally want it to be at least $50k unless the neighborhood's clearly on the upswing) and if you're not African American, I doubt you'll feel very comfortable there. It's not like the South Shore, Oakland, Kenwood, etc. where it's gentrifying and becoming a destination. Nice housing stock but I don't see the appeal.

Don't know what Cottage Heights is but there's a Cottage Grove Heights that's part of Pullman. Assuming that's what you mean, it's not much better by the numbers. 81% African American and $31k household income for Pullman on the whole. But it stands a good chance for gentrification due to the housing stock and strong historical society. But, I suspect the gentrification engine will be idling for some time due to the crappy housing market. So can you live there comfortably in the interim? I guess it would depend on the block.

Marquette Park is part of the Chicago Lawn neighborhood and has a household income of $47k, which is positively affluent compared to Auburn Gresham and Pullman. Starbucks here you come, heh. It's also, dare we say, diverse -- 52.5% black, 35.1% Hispanic, 10.1% white, and 0.64% Asian.

Of course, there's a catch. It's very popular to say all of "Daley's Trash" is moving to the suburbs but a lesser known fact is that a very good chunk of it is just moving to less sexy Chicago neighborhoods. Unfortunately, Marquette Park could be one of these neighborhoods. My cousin just moved out of there after some punk unloaded a full 9mm into some other punk's chest on a porch down her block. She said she felt it was declining for some time but that pushed her over the edge. Not sure I blame her. I'd be cautious and definitely do some homework before moving to this 'hood.

[Steve-o]

Have you looked into Schaumburg or Hoffman Estates itself?