Jacksonville, FL to Springfield, IL (Chicago, Lincoln: best cities, buying a home, buying)

[dmalabed23]

My husband got a job offer in Springfield, IL and we currently live in Jacksonville, FL. We have 3 kids, 1 elementary school age. We are looking to buy a house, as we currently own in Jacksonville but are unsure of the good areas. Schools are important to us but resale and safety are as well. I am aware of the different weather but what else can we expect from the area? This will be a difficult move for us as we are leaving family and friends behind. We want to be comfortable and this will most likely mean buying a home but do not want to get stuck in a bad area or somewhere we will never be able to sell our home in the future. Most of the homes we have found in our price range ($350's) are very large but seem to be outdated, at least from what we are used to.

[Maintainschaos]

If you are looking for newer homes, you'll want to target the west side of Springfield or other small suburbs like Chatham, Sherman, or Rochester. The nicest homes in the area, in my opinion, are in/around Washington Park or Lincoln Park or Lake Springfield. From a safety standpoint, the area you want to avoid is mostly on the east side of the city around 13th street to Dirksen Pkwy, from North Grand to South Grant avenues, but your budget will probably dictate that you aren't in this area anyway. Not to say you can't find nice homes in that part, but it's generally the worst part of Springfield.

Hard to say about the schools, but there are decent public schools and excellent parochial schools.

You'll find Springfield is sleepy, even compared to Jacksonville, but you can easily get to Chicago, which is one of the best cities in the U.S.

[GeoKart]

Springfield is actually growing. There are good food options and the beer scene is getting good! The west side of Springfield is generally the "best"- nicer and newer homes, safer, cleaner, etc. The public schools there are pretty good. There are also many good private schools to choose from. Chatham is a small suburb and has good schools as well. They also have a lot of nice and new homes. The Washington Park area is also nice, but the homes are older. The houses are going to be expensive because of the central location and because they are nice houses.

[itmorr]

Chatham is growing like crazy and a great area to be in. I third recommend that area. They're talking about connecting another road through from Chatham to Springfield in the near future.