If you had to choose.....Wheaton or Geneva? (Chicago, St. Charles: new home, employment)

[chicagoRE]

St Charles/Geneva area or Wheaton/Glen Ellyn area? All things considered will we really get a lot more space in the Geneva area? The houses in our price range seem to be a little mcmansion-y with not a lot trees, etc. We have yet to venture out there but are this week. I notice the taxes are much higher out west.

But overall it seems Wheaton/GE has more established neighborhoods, etc. Am I correct? And it is closer to downtown.

Things that are important to us: schools and the ability to possibly walk to them, parks, proximity to shopping. While I realize most subdivisions are tract housing I am just getting a different vibe from Wheaton. Any input?

I should add our budget is up to $550k. So if you had to choose what would you choose and why? Chet?

[westburbsil]

Well living here in the Fox Valley, to be it is a no brainer, I would chose Geneva. Chet will chose Wheaton / Glen Ellyn do to it being closer to Chicago and yes there are more tree lined streets.
That being said, there are tons of tree lined streets and you would get a heck of a lot more space for your money.
Geneva, St. Charles schools are really good, plus both downtowns(Geneva, St. Charles) are superior to Glenn Ellyn, Wheaton in regards to shopping, dinning.
Reason why Wheaton and esp Glenn Ellyn are more expensive is do to a closer proximity to Chicago and housing there, especially in Glenn Ellyn is beautiful. You will never hear me knock either of those towns or really any town because each town in the burbs has it's good and bad.

Again, I am upfront biased about Geneva, St. Charles, but think the area especially in your price range can give you a great in town location, you can walk to the train, shopping, dinning in either town(Geneva has train, STC does not). Plenty of parks, trails, beautiful scenery.

Best of luck, you cannot lose with any of the towns listed.

[TempesT68]

It's really a personal call, but you will get more house for the money and land in geneva/st. charles than you will in wheaton or glen ellyn. All are well established cities with tons of history and excellent schools. The other important factor is where work is. If it's downtown the commute will be significatly better in wheaton/glen ellyn then geneva.

[chet everett]

If you have no constraints on location other than town with train and walkable downtown and your budget is $550k I think I might make an initial list of every town with Metra service and well regarded schools.

If you do not mind older / smaller houses you might find something in a very high end town where a few years ago you would have been competing with duilders who would have torn down and tripled the costs of a huge new home on a close-in lot.

Shopping out in the streets is still a real challenge, with the mounds of snow making it difficult to see much, but online there are some nice homes in most every price category.

I have nothing against Geneva, and have friends that love their homes in the Fox Valley, but in addition to the added distance, and parts of town that did "boom" there are legitimate trade-offs that each buyer has to weigh -- school rankings, being closer to "upper brackets" in prices / taxes instead of middle of the pack or even low end in some towns, predominate housing / neighborhood style, access to other employment should job downtown relocate / new opportunity opens up, longer term trends of population size / age / composition, participation in community, etc...

I am guessing I could take 100 families with similar income / work location / family size and age and with identical housing budget I would get probably three dozen different answers to the question "which one town with a particular house would suit you best". None of the folks would really "make the wrong choice" but I do have evidence that some homes in some towns will see more / faster appreciation, or at the vey least more stable prices. In general terms the towns that are smallest in population, have highest median housing prices / incomes and nearest to most employment centers do better than those that are larger, less pricey and more isolated...

[RedZin]

I love Geneva. Beautiful downtown area. I'd move there if I was living up that way again.

[johnod]

Geneva Hands Down for families with kids - the high school is well run with phenomenal ACT scors

[seeriously]

I love Geneva, it's walkable, shop-able and friendly with great restaurants and lovely older homes on treed streets as well as newer subdivisions.