Considering Moving to Homer Glen--Opinions on area? (Oak Lawn, Orland Park: homes, school district)

[LMG1]

We are considering moving to Homer Glen--but wanted to get feedback on the area. I grew up in Orland Park, so I'm familiar with the area. I know the schools are good, and we like the accessibility to 355. Housing prices seem to be fair, get a nice brick home for 300K or less, depending on subdivision.

Taxes are concerning, because they are on the high end and I know there's talk of adding a Homer Glen HS to help the over crowding happening a Lockport HS. And I have heard water bills are high? Thoughts?

[wiz561]

We just built in Lockport last year and I'm happy here. I grew up around Oak Lawn and have lived there all my life. My wife is from Homer and she's use to it out here.

I don't know about taxes yet, as we just built. I'm going to estimate that we'll be paying around 8 grand for a 300-some thousand house. It sounds like a lot, but it's not TOO bad, considering other options that we would have had in our old house. For example, the public schools aren't good out there so we'd have to send them to cathlic school. Catholic HS runs about 9 grand per child.

So yeah, taxes are high, but it's not too bad. I find the water bill not too bad either. We have lockport water and homer has city water. I want to say Homer water is more because of this. Lockport water is absolutely horrible because it's so hard. So if you get city water, you probably don't need a softener. For Lockport water, we needed a softener, and that was about 600 or 700 some bucks.

Next is 355. I absolutely love the fact that it's 2 minutes from my house. I work right off the expressway and 355 is a dream. I am hoping that in a few years, the area will start growing with more because of 159th expanding the road and the tollway. We'll have to wait and see.

Now the bad things. The food here sucks. There's not a whole lot as far as carry out goes. I think things are slowly migrating out here, but for now, there's nothing. The other thing is that there are still a lot of people that have been here for a really, really long time. They still want it to be farmland and prairies and they treat new people like crap. I can't say that EVERYBODY is like this, I just find that some of the older people are.

So that's about all I really can say about the area.

[pvande55]

Those things are common in any newly developing area. What is unusual is they built the highway ahead of the homes and businesses.

[AltoidPepsi]

[FONT=Verdana]Taxes in Homer Glen are outrageous and traffic is about as bad as I have seen. Unless you work in Homer Glen or very close the commutes are a nightmare. I don’t think the entire town has a four lane road, there is no Metra station, and no interstate access. [/FONT]

[GolfLover2]

Sounds like you're aware of the issues that remain in doubt about the Lockport/Homer area. The high school issue has not been worked-out, as of yet. The water and tax issue is all relative, depending on what you're used to. As you can tell by the comments, for some it's no problem. For others, yes. Only you will be able to make that final determination. You rightly point out the advantages of being near the I-355 extension. That will also increase, as they expand further to the east and south in the future. The new Silver Cross Hospital location is a plus for the area too. New facility. Expanded services. Plus the old campus will be a VA medical facility. Turned-out as a win-win for the area in many ways. Homer seems to have its' fair share of internal village arguments, but the overall housing is improving, especially as the newer Homer government expands its services and some restrictions. We've lived in the Lockport/Homer area now for 9 years, having come from the LWHS district. As with any area, there are trade-offs and compromises. The area roads are in bad condition and the infrastructure of Lockport is old and in need of updating and repairs, but overall we've been happy with our move. Best of luck to you no matter your decision.

[Northwest Indiana]

I remember a family friend from Orland saying that one issue (not explicitly known) was that Homer Glen residents would want a high school ONLY if it was a completely new district apart from the Lockport High School district...Apparantly, if a new high school was built in Homer Glen and was in the same district as Lockport, the value would not be as good? I am not sure as I am not toooo familiar with Lockport schools but this is just what I have heard.