Buffalo Grove or Evanston? (Chicago, Naperville: renting, low crime, how much)
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Hello All! My wife and I currently live in Buffalo Grove IL and we really enjoy it here. We have lived in BG for the past 5 years and I work downtown Chicago and my wife works in Evanston. It's a rough commute to say the least. We moved to IL roughly 5 years ago and are not that familiar with the other suburban areas and/or cities. We have done tons of research and exploring of other areas to live in but having not lived in IL that long we are affraid we might make the wrong choice of where to buy a house and start a family. We keep looking at Evanston for a permanent home as this would be a great commute for my wife and a doable commute for me. We love the hometown, quiet, friendly environment of BG and all it has to offer familes but we are also looking to cut down on our commutes and get closer to our jobs. Of course school systems play a huge roll since we plan on starting a family very soon so that is a major factor as well.
The question I throw out to anyone willing to help us is: Is it worth it to stay in BG and make it our permanent home and just settle down and except the commute or should we take the risk and go to Evanston and try to better our lives?
If you like the suburban life, there are many burbs closer to Evanston and along the North Shore that are far more interesting (as well as safe, friendly, quiet, with good schools and family activities)then BG. IMHO. I dont blame you for wanting to cut down on that commute.
You dont mention a price range, which is also a major factor. What is it you like about BG that makes yo want to stay? Is Evanston too Urban,big/busy for you?
This may help you get a little more help on your quest.
--if you currently work downtown do you use Metra rail? If not, why?
--why did you originally choose BG? Do you have school age kids?
--what sort of work schedule does spouse have in Evnaston?
--what is budget? If current home going to be such that you take a financial hit due to price erosion over the past five years?
--what size home and yard do you currently have? Want to maintain / increase / reduce that?
Frankly I do not think BG and Evanston compare very favorably. The general age, size and config of the towns is quite different. Many towns that might be more similar to BG are only a little closer to Evanston and not much closer to downtown Chicago, though some have much better train service...
If you could have a top list of things that you want / need what would be on the list?
Thank you very much for both of your replies and help with this extremely frustrating issue. We've been out of town and just returned so I apologize it took me a while to get back to both of you.
My wife and I have some more info to help with our decision and would greatly appreciate feedback if you have a moment.
First, she works in Evanston and we both really like it there but have heard terrible things about crime, theft, robberies, etc. We would certainly live in the Willard School District if we moved there but have heard good and bad about that as well. I guess the biggest issue we are struggling with is that we want to make our lives easier by cutting down our commute but do not want to sacrifice safety and educational opportunities for our future children. We love Evanston and all it has to offer and would very much like to buy a home there. However, my job requires that I'm on-call quite often down in Chicago and I would be nervous to leave my wife and children home at night in Evanston not knowing the area that well. Also, I worry about my kids not receiving the best education that we can give them as we currently live in a really great school district and I don’t know how well the Willard and Evanston Township High School District compare. Again, I’ve heard really good and really bad about it. We will also more than likely be utilizing local child care options until they hit kindergarten and that weighs heavy on our minds too. I'm sure you can both see we genuinely want to make Evanston work but have no one to turn to for sincere, unbiased advice on this issue.
Second, we settled in Buffalo Grove roughly 5 years ago when moving here from WI so I think ultimately we got comfortable here and are finding it difficult to uproot, move and take the risk of finding a new home that may be better or worse. We are very comfortable with the low crime, friendly community, nice housing options, great child care options and a pretty darn good school system. Also, we do enjoy the suburban/urban lifestyle over the city. I think we are just afraid to lose what we have by leaving our home in BG and moving to Evanston. We REALLY want to make Evanston work and would love to move there this spring and get our lives going but by not knowing what we may be in for it's quite the scary undertaking.
Chet here is some more info that may help as will.
Budget: Would like to keep the house/town home at $600,000 or under. We are not home that
often and really don't want a big home to maintain. Not looking for a large yard either,
prefer parks and such over a large yard. Also, I am also well aware of how much
taxes are throughout the North Shore area so I do take that into consideration.
Transportation: I would like to get my wife as close to Evanston Hospital as possible and she prefers
to drive. She works primarily 1st shift and I work all kinds of crazy hours on the
south side of Chicago at U of C so I really cannot use public transportation either.
We're both ok with driving.
Overall, I guess I'm really looking for someone to tell me to either go to Evanston or not go to Evanston or please by all means suggest something better like Glenview or wherever. We really have our hopes up that Evanston is all that we are looking for and more but it could just be a facade as we know no one who lives there or anyone who can give us an honest, unbiased opinion. I know a few of the docs that my wife works with live in Evanston and they really don't have a strong opinion about whether it's a nice city to live in or not. They're rather indifferent about the topic actually. However, we have no problem moving to Evanston and renting for a year or two but it's just not the same as owning a home and we don't want to commit to it without really researching it.
So, what do you City-Data pros honestly think? Would it be a mistake for two working professionals in their early 30's who would like to buy a house, start a family, utilize the public school system (Willard, ETHS), want good child care options, want low crime, tolerable commutes, have plenty of things to do, be somewhat close to the train for Chicago events, etc.
Seriously, would it be a huge mistake to move to Evanston? OR, are we better off in BG or perhaps some other burb that's closer? That's the million dollar question.
I thank you in advance for taking the time to read my reply and for any info/wisdom that you have to offer.
If you are surgeons, physicians, nurse anesthetists, or really any kind of health professionals I know there can be some "career paths" that make it difficult to move around but with both of you working so far from home and each other that is going to be a problem.
If your long term goal is to live in Evanston there are certainly worse towns. The fact that you do not yet have kids ought to make it relatively good time to move. If you don't particularly like suburban living in BG (bigger houses, lots, more car centric lifestyle) it is worth checking out Evanston.
I would not worry an immense amount about "crime" as Evanston is really pretty well policed. What is somewhat more troubling to me is the school situation -- there is a legitimate concern over the disparity in performance of the best prepared students in both the elementary schools and ETHS. The recent direct of the BOE at ETHS is troubling. Rather than making a stand that they will support the highest achieving students and do whatever it takes to ensure adequate assistance to get more students to that level, the decision to prune spending on the classes aimed at honors students is troubling. My best guess is there will be LOTS of people that will want to revist this before any one not yet born is in high school BUT the direction may be a signal that things will decline in the interim...
The question of housing values in Evanston is linked to the decision of the BOE. Yes, the "my taxes are too high" crowd did have a hand in the decision to reduce expenditures on honors classes and should those whiners be the loudest voices in the comming years there will be declines in values in Evanston. My guess is that values will be most seriously impacted in the price range ChicagoMurse is shopping. Prices above that include the mansions and lakefront properties in Evanston that have a unique appeal beyond that for those using the public schools, and values of lower priced homes in Evanston are likely to still be supported by the differences between Chicago and other less desirable towns inland...
If you like Evanston and want to protect your investment I would strongly recommend getting involved in the community ASAP. If folks that move there for the good schools speak out against cuts in the schools that will preserve the desirabilty of the town. If you spend the same amount on a house in a town where tax payers have already voiced their displeasure with the prospect of cutting back on schools you may be better off, but even in towns where voters approved tax increases the threat of cutbacks with our flat broke State of Illinois clawing around for any sources of revenue will require dilligence...
Given your brutal commute, and that of your wife I would give some serious thought to exploring other hospitals. Lots of towns do have some walkable cores and such -- if that is all you are after there are dozens of towns with good hospitals near them. Good Sam in Downers Grove is close to much more affordable housing options. Naperville's Edward Hospital is walkable from their very well developed downtown. Park Ridge is close to Lutheran General and other hospitals. Libertyville is very walkable and Condell is well respected. Hinsdale Hosptal is doing a major expansion and is adjacent to Western Springs. Lagrange Hospital is a good option. Berwyn has MacNeil right in its business district(high school is not desirable...). Oak Park is close enough to several hospitals to make that work (though the achievvement gap is worse there than Evanston...)
Evanston is overall a nice city. Being an older, closer in city makes it more urban than BG. There are some really pretty sections and it is more walkable than BG is. As Chet mentioned, although schools are above average, they are not on par with BG schools that feed into Stevenson HS. You are talking about one of, if not the best, school districts in the state. Couple areas to investigate re. Evanston. Property taxes and "on-the -ground" performance of the schools.
Although it may be more difficult to find housing around $600K, I would also investigate Wilmette and Glenview. BG is a great area for raising kids, but I do not envy trying to commute to U.C. on a regular basis from BG.
I don't understand the fears of Evanston; maybe it's due to being raised there and in nearby Skokie and not being intimidated by diverse and more urban neighborhoods. This is over-generalized, but if you stay east of Chicago Av./Green Bay Rd. and north of the Channel, you are in a safe area. Far north and NW Evanston look like Wilmette.
Have you explored Evanston?? Spend some free time investigating, nothing replaces seeing it with your own eyes and chatting up local residents and store owners.
This is what I would do. Go explore Evanston and other potential towns. You are so close, this is easy. If you get a good feeling about an area(s) then sell your house.
I too do not understand the fear of crime in Evanston. There is crime, but it tends to be in isolated pockets. When I lived in North Evanston near the lake, we had very little crime (I think we had a bike stolen that were left out in the yard once and we lived there for over 30 years), but we had people who lived further north who would not come to our neighbors homes for Church meetings because they were scared of crime. Weird really.
The Willard school area is very safe. That area of town is fine and low crime. You should visit the school if you are concerned. I can understand some trepidation about the high school given the recent changes to the honors program, but my kids went through ETHS and came out with a fantastic education. There are a lot of top-notch programs there because there are top-notch students.
The concern about education in Evanston in these comments, and especially about the honors program at ETHS, seems to be based on media reports instead of fact. Go look at http://www.eths.k12.il.us/a_message_from_the_superintendent/, which explains that honors are not being eliminated at ETHS. They are simply permitting every Freshman who reads at grade level into the AP level Humanities course. It's the same curriculum previously taught only to kids who scored above the 95% in 8th grade. Kids who are not at grade level will not be taking the honors curriculum. It takes a real leap of logic to conclude this spells the demise of quality education at ETHS. The intent is NOT to "dumb down" the content. It is worth watching how successfully they are at pulling this off, but rather than "dumbing down" happening, I would expect that the average kids would sit intimidated, while the articulate stars dominate the class discussion. And Chet Everett, I have read nothing about honors being phased out due to budget concerns. Do you have a source for this?
No town is perfect, but if Evanston really appeals to you then go with your instincts. If you like the town's amenities and location but not the school district, move to Wilmette or Glenview, you are still closer to Evanston than Buffalo Grove. If you really don't want any urban issues don't move to Evanston. Don't raise children in a community you don't feel comfortable in, but you can't figure that out unless you take the leap. My friends are raising kids in Evanston and have the white picket fence kind of life you are searching for without being victims of crime.
It's good to figure it out before you have kids. It's not unusual to feel torn between the different feels and the benefits of living in x town vs. y town in Chicago.
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BUT the direction may be a signal that things will decline in the interim...
