Is Rockford A good place to buy a home? (Chicago: landscaping, jobs)

[concerned1]

Good Afternoon All,

I am considering buying a new home in the Kelly Meadows area of Rockford Illinois. These new home subdivisions are located off of bypass 20 and Montague Rd. I was told the kids will attend Winnabego schools and this side of town is nice. The prices for new construction are exceptionally low compared to Plainfield, Bolingbrook and Joliet. I am open to all opinions.

[cavewoman]

I think of all the areas in Rockford., winnebago is a cute town. You are fine.

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by concerned1

Good Afternoon All,

I am considering buying a new home in the Kelly Meadows area of Rockford Illinois. These new home subdivisions are located off of bypass 20 and Montague Rd. I was told the kids will attend Winnabego schools and this side of town is nice. The prices for new construction are exceptionally low compared to Plainfield, Bolingbrook and Joliet. I am open to all opinions.

How important is access to the Chicago area? Plainfield, Bolingbrook and Joliet have much more reasonable access to the jobs in the western suburbs and the city while Rockford is really outside of Chicagoland (it might be possible to commute to the Schaumburg/Woodfield area from there, but that's still a long way). That's why the housing prices are going to be higher in those southwestern suburbs that you mentioned.

[fulflej]

I grew up not too far from the area you are looking to buy in and you will be fine as long as you don't mind driving a bit to get places. Most everything in Rockford is on the east side and you are moving to the far west side. Winnebago is nice but does not have a whole lot to do, it is good to be outside of school district 205 because it is just awful (I went to Auburn which is actually very close to your house and while it's reputation is much worse than it actually is, the quality of the education is subpar compared to it's competition).

Overall though I would try to move somewhere else if I were you. The economy in Rockford is pretty horrid, my parent's house actually lost value last year after years of slow and steady gain. There are not a lot of jobs and access to Chicago is not as good as people think. If you plan on working in the far suburbs like Elgin you could, in theory, be okay, especially if you are right off of rt. 20. Otherwise as soon as you hit Elgin the traffic is pretty bad all the way into the city. My father commutes to Elgin from the west side of Rockford and it takes him about 1.5 hours on an average day.

I don't mean to speak poorly of the area, I gained a lot of insight growing up there and it was great to have access to all of the parks and such, but it has gotten increasingly worse over the years.

[cavewoman]

Originally Posted by fulflej

I grew up not too far from the area you are looking to buy in and you will be fine as long as you don't mind driving a bit to get places. Most everything in Rockford is on the east side and you are moving to the far west side. Winnebago is nice but does not have a whole lot to do, it is good to be outside of school district 205 because it is just awful (I went to Auburn which is actually very close to your house and while it's reputation is much worse than it actually is, the quality of the education is subpar compared to it's competition).

Overall though I would try to move somewhere else if I were you. The economy in Rockford is pretty horrid, my parent's house actually lost value last year after years of slow and steady gain. There are not a lot of jobs and access to Chicago is not as good as people think. If you plan on working in the far suburbs like Elgin you could, in theory, be okay, especially if you are right off of rt. 20. Otherwise as soon as you hit Elgin the traffic is pretty bad all the way into the city. My father commutes to Elgin from the west side of Rockford and it takes him about 1.5 hours on an average day.

I don't mean to speak poorly of the area, I gained a lot of insight growing up there and it was great to have access to all of the parks and such, but it has gotten increasingly worse over the years.

These comments are sadly true.
The areas surrounding Rockford are awesome...but Rockford is a bog hole inside a donut.
Depressing people who move slow and restrict their "openess".
As long as you have land and enjoy being home, they have alot of nice lots throughout the area and most areas outside of Rockford have been increasing 15% each year.
Thats my 7 yrs worth.

[heredia07]

All i know about rockford is the shopping! They have a nice mall!

[M TYPE X]

Originally Posted by heredia07

All i know about rockford is the shopping! They have a nice mall!

Bloomington and Peoria have "nice" malls too ...... typical middle class mall with chain stores galore!

My favorite cookie cutter mall is in ... oh, I like them all!

[dcg123]

I grew up in Rockford on the west side of town. The population was less than 200g at the time. We could leave our doors unlocked at night. It was great then but I understand things have changed quite a bit.

[LillyPad]

Originally Posted by concerned1

Good Afternoon All,

I am considering buying a new home in the Kelly Meadows area of Rockford Illinois. These new home subdivisions are located off of bypass 20 and Montague Rd. I was told the kids will attend Winnabego schools and this side of town is nice. The prices for new construction are exceptionally low compared to Plainfield, Bolingbrook and Joliet. I am open to all opinions.

Hi there,
I just joined the forum. We also want to move to that very same sub-division from the Rodgers Park area!!!My husbands cousin moved to that very same sub-division and loves it out there! They lived in Chicago for over 10yrs, they bought their home in August 2006, they are so pleased with the location, the elementary school, the people(so far), etc. They convinced us to buy. My husband plans to move his landscaping business out there. We think that you as the parents make what you want of it. It all starts with you as the parents setting the examples. Yes, there is going to be crime and troubled schools everywhere. You as a community, property owner, business owner, citizen, parent make all the difference!

[Schmoo]

I go to Rockford to do some of my shopping, it's about 40 minutes away from me. But I grew up in the Naperville/Plainfield/Bolingbrook area. You really cannot compare anything in DuPage County to Rockford. At all.

I would not want to live in Rockford. There is no worthwhile access to Chicago, you must drive, and it will take forever. The best way I can describe Rockford is to envision a town in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to do & no jobs, and then throw a 3 mile stretch of shopping malls onto it. Seriously.