Is there a bad part of Freeport, Il? (Chicago, Rockford: housing, rental)

[Oceanside]

hey list,

I am moving to Il from Oceanside, CA in the next few weeks. I am thinking of Downers Grove, Darien, Galena, and Freeport, with Freeport being our favorite place so far...

I see home prices from 16K to over a million in Freeport. Is there a good part and a bad part of Freeport?

Aloha,

venom aka oceanside

[Drover]

The bad part of Freeport is: Freeport.

Well, it's not that bad, but it is a run-down little city that's certainly seen better days and, while not exactly a crime-ridden hellhole, has more crime and quality-of-life issues than a midwestern town of its size ought to. If you want to live on the outskirts of the city (which is probably where the million-dollar-plus homes are, with the value being in the acres of land and not the house itself), then it doesn't matter if the town itself is a little cruddy. I can tell you unequivocally that if I had to live in a town in the middle of the cornfields and had a choice between living in Galena or Freeport, I'd pick Galena without half a second's pause. Galena is a much, much nicer place. Plus Freeport is close to Rockford while Galena is close to Dubuque. Dubuque is a nicer place than Rockford.

It is kind of odd though that you picked one small city and one rather small town out in the fields and two suburbs in the thick of a 10-million-person metropolis. Why such disparate choices?

[Oceanside]

Hi Drover,

Thanks for the reply. In response to your question...

I have family all over Chicagoland, from South Holland to Oak Brook, some in parts of Indiana. I have a cousin, who is more of a sister to me, who lives in Downers Grove and more family in Hinsdale. I have one aunt who lives on Chestnut St, across the corner from the Hancock Building....so my choices were based on where my family happened to take me when I visited last month.

I initially wanted to move to Minooka and Chanahon. I also wanted to see Galena after lurking on this list for a while (I've read so many nice things about the area). Spending time in South Chicago and Country Club Hills, Crete and South Holland, well I didn't want to move there. I enjoyed the Downers Grove area and am still considering moving there.

Freeport just seemed to be so inexpensive, for the price of a down payment in Downers I could buy a house cash in Freeport. That was the motivation for my question. I saw a beautiful Victorian home for around 19K, and wanted to buy it tomorrow; literally. Unfortunately it is currently under contract. So I may just buy another home in the area, store my things there and live there until I can find the right home. Rental for a storage unit in Downers Grove is more expensive than a mortgage payment in Freeport....

Well I'm babbling now, but I guess my best bet is to fly back without telling my family and do some exploring on my own. I have rented my home here in Oceanside and need to be out by Nov. 1.

Thanks again for your response, and if you have any more advice I would be glad to hear it.

Aloha

venom

[Drover]

I'm not sure of the advisability of buying a house just to store stuff in it, particularly in a somewhat troubled town like Freeport. You're asking to have all your stuff burglarized. The mortgage payment may be cheaper than storage in the Chicagoland area, but the benefit you'd get with storage is a much more secure environment for your belongings.

As for any more advice about where to live around here... there are just way, way too many nice towns in the Chicago area and I wouldn't begin to know where to start. I'd say your best bet is to get a realtor and sort it out with him/her. I can make a solid recommendation on a realtor if you'd like.

[artemis]

A Victorian home for $ 19K? What street was that on? You need to be careful about the neighborhood you're buying into.

[2beamissourian]

I never thought Freeport had anything wrong with it .. a friend of mine from Highschools parents had a weekend home there ......we practically lived there on the weekends horseback ridding and going to the beach in Carlyle.

Wow News to me ...

I am wondering what type of job you do ... do u work out of the home so that you can live anywhere?

[Oceanside]

hello list-

here is the listing on pat brown realtors...

415 W. Pleasant, Freeport


Price: $19,900 (Price Reduced $2,000)
Bedrooms: 4-5 Click here for more pictures
Full Bathrooms: 2 Half Baths: 0

3 STORY HOME – 3,128 SQ. FT. – 4-5 BEDROOMS, 2 BATHS. Lots of remodeling started but still more to be done.

I don't know anything about this part of the city; can anyone provide any insight?

As far as what I do, I work in IT; but have been taking care of my father for the past 7 years so I would do gigs here and there. He passed, RIP, so now its time for me to leave California and maybe be closer to my family. He left a house to me, but he did a refi @ when the house was worth over 500K, but now I am upside down 55K with a 2.5K payment...too much for me.

So I can only get a small mortgage if I am lucky enough to find a no-doc loan or I have to buy a home cash. So I guess I will be out in the boonies for awhile...

What do you all think of Savanna?

Aloha

venom aka oceanside

[Doug Bergren]

Hi Oceanside-Northwest Illinois is an absolutely beautiful place to live, but each town has its own quirks. I grew up in Freeport, and seeing a 4-5 bedroom Victorian for $19,000, you should be wary. Alot of low-cost housing is flipped from one slum-lord to another, and I'm sure that this is one of them, especially on Pleasant. Galena is a beautiful historic town, but in my opinion, it's become a tourist trap, and now the property values have become inflated. Savanna is a cool little town, but it doesn't have alot of character, although the people are very friendly. I moved to a small town 10 miles east of Savanna called Mt. Carroll 13 years ago, and have fallen in love with the place. I'm currently an alderman here, and we're working our butts off to make this an even better place to live. Mt. Carroll has the same historical feel that Galena has, but not nearly as expensive. It still has many of the original brick streets in place, and we're working on repairing/rebuilding them. The Western Suburbanites have discovered Mt. Carroll, and are buying homes to which they retire to, or will eventually retire to. If you do work in IT, Mt. Carroll was the first in Carroll County to get DSL (not bad for a town of 1900), and we're trying to figure out how to get highspeed here. The problem here is that it's so hilly, (hence the name MOUNT Carroll), that wireless would be difficult. Moving is such an important thing, that it's challenging to not only find the "right" town, but one with a diverse population. People here welcome newcomers, because most of the movers and shakers in town are newcomers and we are trying to improve its ambience, to attract others to our little gem. Regardless, whatever you decide, you may want to take the time and expense to investigate before you jump in with both feet. Good luck in you quest. Doug Bergren

[artemis]

415 W Pleasant is not in a very good neighborhood.

If it sounds too good to be true ..... it probably is.

[GoHogsGo]

Pleasant St. in Freeport is the EXACT OPPOSITE.

About the only good neighborhoods I can remember in Freeport are the neighborhoods off of Downtown, off the parks, and surrounding the Hospital. Everything Else is in varying degrees of disrepair. 19K? You better be a do-it-yourselfer