Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago Suburbs
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-17-2010, 09:17 PM
 
1 posts, read 2,416 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

Looking for some help.

We are moving to the area and I will be splitting time working near O'Hare and in Wheeling.

We are looking for houses northwest of the city and I am looking for advice. We want a nice safe neighborhood with good schools and affordable homes (looking for a 4 bedroom for 250K). Where should we look?

We've found a couple places near Carpentersville. Anyone have any opinions?

Also wondering what traffic is like during rush hour coming Eastbound on I90 into the city. Google tells me its about 32 min from Carpentersville to OHare, but I assume that doesnt factor in traffic.

I'd appreciate any input - its really tough to find out some of this stuff until its too late
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-17-2010, 09:47 PM
 
Location: Triad, NC
990 posts, read 3,186,841 times
Reputation: 319
No, I would not do Carpentersville, the schools are sub-par at best. Many low-income children attend the schools and to be blunt... its just not a place you would want to raise a family. If I were you I would look for some turn-key townhomes in Schaumburg, the community as a whole is a better place to raise a family. Plus as a bonus O'Hare is closer and you don't even have to take the tollway there if you don't want too, a quick shoot down Higgins rd. will get you to the airport in 10-20 minutes and Wheeling is just a hop up IL-53 which once you pass Woodfield Mall is usually pretty clear.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-18-2010, 08:34 AM
 
60 posts, read 174,512 times
Reputation: 86
Default Traffic on I 90

Traffic s/b a consideration when moving to the NW burbs if you need to get anywhere east in a reasonable period of time.

With construction season here right now, it is impossible (!) to get anywhere in the prescribed amount of time....(we are in North Barrington and head east and/or south most of our lives )

Best advice I can give you, is to actually TRY the commute in the morning and in the evening from where you eventually want to land. Traffic patterns are at best unpredictable. Some days when you think you can breeze through, it takes you double the amount of time, and vice-versa....

IMO..the closer you can get to your work location, the better off you will be.

Good Luck.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-18-2010, 08:44 AM
 
28,453 posts, read 85,379,084 times
Reputation: 18729
Your budget is too small. If that is truly all you can afford I would STRONGLY encourage your to RENT as there are many nice places available in towns that have much better schools than Carpentersville.

Towns close to Wheeling include Buffalo Grove, Arlingtn Heights, Mt. Prospect, Lincolnshire-- all have very good schools, no safety issues, tolerable commute to O'Hare.

good Luck!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-24-2010, 12:54 PM
 
38 posts, read 104,502 times
Reputation: 24
With your budget, you will have to be further out, like Huntley or Algonquin. Both will have long commutes. I'm in Palatine and love it but you won't find a 4BR in the Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Palatine areas with the good schools. Perhaps look at Mt. Prospect or Rolling Meadows? Not sure on their schools though.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-24-2010, 02:36 PM
 
1,464 posts, read 5,510,206 times
Reputation: 410
Quote:
Originally Posted by hendu87 View Post
Looking for some help.

We are moving to the area and I will be splitting time working near O'Hare and in Wheeling.

We are looking for houses northwest of the city and I am looking for advice. We want a nice safe neighborhood with good schools and affordable homes (looking for a 4 bedroom for 250K). Where should we look?

We've found a couple places near Carpentersville. Anyone have any opinions?

Also wondering what traffic is like during rush hour coming Eastbound on I90 into the city. Google tells me its about 32 min from Carpentersville to OHare, but I assume that doesnt factor in traffic.

I'd appreciate any input - its really tough to find out some of this stuff until its too late
Yaaaaa Carpentersville is (where's the icon with the thumbs down?) Grim. Other suggestions if you can find something in or close to your range is Morton Grove, Niles, and the area around there. Both are really nice older towns and offer decent schools.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-24-2010, 05:33 PM
 
158 posts, read 379,313 times
Reputation: 58
Quote:
Originally Posted by cdapel View Post
With your budget, you will have to be further out, like Huntley or Algonquin. Both will have long commutes. I'm in Palatine and love it but you won't find a 4BR in the Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Palatine areas with the good schools. Perhaps look at Mt. Prospect or Rolling Meadows? Not sure on their schools though.
I doubt you will find a 4br in Mt.Prospect or RM for that price point. However Mt.Prospect is a very nice town.

Recently a friend got a great deal on what is I believe technically a 4br (it's a raised ranch and the 4th BR is on the first floor/ground floor) in Schaumburg - I want to say they paid under 250-- have your agent do some searches and see if they can find something similar
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-26-2010, 12:32 AM
 
457 posts, read 978,647 times
Reputation: 142
That was some what in my price range too. I only found the $250,000 single family homes (built in 90s) to be in Crystal Lake, Algonquin, Lake In The Hills and Huntley area. Kinda gave up on Arlington Heights, La Grange, Wheaton, Downers Grove and St. Charles for our price range.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-26-2010, 10:28 AM
 
28,453 posts, read 85,379,084 times
Reputation: 18729
Why bother buying in an Undesirable area? Renting makes much more sense on your budget. If you buy in a crummy area that has crummy schools, long commute, not much going for itdoo yearly expect your "investment" to grow?

Rent a decent house in an area with good schools, nice commute, lots going for it and you will be able to live a nice life with the landlord taking more risk.

Even though interest rates are low I cannot recommend that someone new to the region buy a crummy house...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-27-2010, 08:10 PM
 
Location: Chicagoland
41,325 posts, read 44,944,793 times
Reputation: 7118
Quote:
Originally Posted by hendu87 View Post
Looking for some help.

We are moving to the area and I will be splitting time working near O'Hare and in Wheeling.

We are looking for houses northwest of the city and I am looking for advice. We want a nice safe neighborhood with good schools and affordable homes (looking for a 4 bedroom for 250K). Where should we look?

We've found a couple places near Carpentersville. Anyone have any opinions?

Also wondering what traffic is like during rush hour coming Eastbound on I90 into the city. Google tells me its about 32 min from Carpentersville to OHare, but I assume that doesnt factor in traffic.

I'd appreciate any input - its really tough to find out some of this stuff until its too late
Carpentersville school district is not good. Schaumberg, Hoffman Estates parallels the 90.

What time will you be going to Ohare?

There are some nice areas of Elgin, WEST of Randall, in the D301 School District.

Stay away from U-46 too.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago Suburbs

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:09 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top