Best southwest or southern suburb for a young family (Chicago: bank owned, best town)

[ablum]

My wife and I along with our newborn are currently house hunting for a home in the 170k-200k price range. We both work in the joliet area and were leaning towards buying in and around the joliet area. We have looked at several neighborhoods in the southwest suburbs including, joliet, minooka, shorewood, romeoville, and plainfield. We were suprised to find so many newer built larger homes in our price range, many of which were bank owned foreclosures in good shape. But they were all in cookie cutter subdivisions. We also took a look at homewood which is more south because my wife is from flossmoor and wants to live close to her family and good friends. She totally sold me on the area and we are both now leaning towards homewood. I kind of prefer a more established area anyway. The nice downtown in homewood with the bars, restaurants, and good shopping options are all a big plus for me. We are interested in hearing others opinions on how homewood stacks up for a young family to southwest suburbs like joliet, minooka, shorewood, romeoville, and plainfield.

[chet everett]

... Is basically due to oit of control building and overly optimistic lending, which, as many have noted, was unsustainable.

I too prefer a more established area, as the sudden shifts that one sees is the "boom towns" tend to destroy one's equity in ways that are basically unrecoverable.

The problems that are facing many south suburns so no signs of reversing -- job loss, detoriating infrastructure, awful trends for incomes, racial distribution, long term governmental mismanagement.

While your money probably will probably buy more house in a fringe area I would strongly suggest shopping the widest area and quite literally finding the best section of the best town even if that means have the smallest house. Believe me, if you have neighbors with a lot more to lose they will not allow the neighborhood to deteriorate.

It sounds like don't need to worry too much about Metra service to get to work, as you work Joilet, but I would give at least some consideration to the potential benefits of living in an area that is well served by commuter rail. The employment trends in the Loop and nearby areas are stronger than pretty much any other part of the region and commuter lines will remain a valuable link. The difficulty that'd you'd face with a commute form Homewood to Joilet is that you would be on the roads for quite a while. I suppose if you were west / southwest you might be able to shorten your commute, but without knowing howmstwblw your employment in Joilet will be I would caution against locking into just that commute...

There are an awful lot of suburbs between Homewood and Joilet, and some of them have some pretty attractive pluses. The older sections of some towns may not be as well known as the boom areas, but if you do a little searching you can come up with some gems. One of the yard sticks I like to use in the south suburbs is deliberately looking for the well occupied medical buildings and hospitals. Since healthcare is always going to be a hands-on kind of sector of the economy I feel pretty comfortable that the better sites near those kinds of facilities tend to remain more stable...

[allen2323]

If you are looking for an established area with good retail then you can't really go wrong with homewood. Homewood has the established downtown and all of the nice places to eat and bars. There are plenty of nice houses in homewood at all price points. I can't think of one bad thing to say about homewood. I live in close by olympia fields.

[urza216]

I'd rather be in Homewood than any of the towns around Joliet. I can understand this reasoning. Homewood is really close to I-80 so your commute shouldn't be so bad.

That said, Joliet is a cool town. If I had to live out that way, I'd want to be smack dab in the middle of downtown Joliet not in another town outside of Joliet. I've had to drive out that way numerous times for both work and legal related reasons.. In all honesty, I don't see what the fascination with Homewood's downtown is if you're comparing it to Joliet's downtown. Homewood has the original Aurelios's (which is overrated, IMO), a lot more memories (for me) and is arguably more walkable. But Joliet's downtown is so much bigger with so much more stuff. Joliet's downtown can be pretty walkable but it's just bigger. Downtown Joliet is full of life and hustle and bustle. But you see, that's kind of the problem with Joliet. Why not just move to Chicago? lol. Joliet has got the hustle and bustle but why not just move to Chicago? I've heard some nasty things about Joliet neighborhoods but they must do a good job of hiding it from outsiders because I've never seen anything shady. You said you wanted to live in a town outside of Joliet anyway. I'm not too familiar with the towns outside of Joliet but they're not completely foreign to me. I've never seen anything appealing about them that would possibly make me want to live there over Homewood. And I'd want to be close to my friends and my immediate family by living in Homewood too.

You seem to be on the right track. Seems like a good choice to me. Good luck!!

[SoxCub Fan]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The problems that are facing many south suburns so no signs of reversing -- job loss, detoriating infrastructure, awful trends for incomes, racial distribution, long term governmental mismanagement.

This says it all!!! And with that being said your best bet is either Tinley Park or Orland Park....you can thank me later.

I personally cannot stand the south or southwest suburbs but if I was left with absolutely no choice...I would choose Orland Park/Tinley Park based off of the superior school system, the shopping district, and the type of residents. Its the best of best worlds for you and your wife, its a good midpoint between Homewood and Joliet. Homewood/Flossmoor area is extremely overrated and their downtown is a joke. There is about 10 times more to do in Orland Park/Tinley Park in terms of restaurants, shopping, etc.

[Chuckity]

Originally Posted by ablum

My wife and I along with our newborn are currently house hunting for a home in the 170k-200k price range. We both work in the joliet area and were leaning towards buying in and around the joliet area. We have looked at several neighborhoods in the southwest suburbs including, joliet, minooka, shorewood, romeoville, and plainfield. We were suprised to find so many newer built larger homes in our price range, many of which were bank owned foreclosures in good shape. But they were all in cookie cutter subdivisions. We also took a look at homewood which is more south because my wife is from flossmoor and wants to live close to her family and good friends. She totally sold me on the area and we are both now leaning towards homewood. I kind of prefer a more established area anyway. The nice downtown in homewood with the bars, restaurants, and good shopping options are all a big plus for me. We are interested in hearing others opinions on how homewood stacks up for a young family to southwest suburbs like joliet, minooka, shorewood, romeoville, and plainfield.

Where do you live now?

HF schools have been declining for years - and I would asssume schools are high on your list if you have a growing family. This alone would be enough to drop Homewood off the list - but add the drawbacks that chet has described, and your money would best be spent elsewhere.

I'd take a look at Homer Glen, Mokena & Frankfort.

[tonythetuna]

I say Orland Park, but I do not know the odds of you finding something for 200k.

[Lud Kissel]

A little too much holiday "cheer" Chet?

[ablum]

We are renting a townhouse in joliet at the moment. Thanks for your opinions. I think we are pretty much sold on the more established feel of homewood. Plus my wife really wants to live around her friends and family as we are always driving out there to hang out. I have a few friends in the area who are mutual friends of my wife and I also. I like how the area is nice and suburban but not completely dead. There are places to have a drink and hang out. I like the flossmoor brewery and the downtown homewood bars. We have already found a few homes to our liking that fall within our price range.

[allen2323]

Originally Posted by tonythetuna

I say Orland Park, but I do not know the odds of you finding something for 200k.

Orland and tinley park don't really have a mature look at all. A totally different feel than homewood, flossmoor, or olympia fields. That's just a fact.