possible relo from Texas to Chicago area, company located in Mundelein. (Waukegan: for sale, real estate)

[aaronccrow]

Have a job opportunity at a company based in Mundelein. My wife and I live in a suburb of Dallas, TX and have a 3 year old and our second child is due in weeks. She is a stay at home mom. We want a town that has good schools and low crime rates, but we want to stay in the $250k range in housing. I lived in Bloomington, IL for a while a couple years back, but know nothing about the norther suburbs. I have seen a ton of posts on similar questions but many have much higher budgeted for housing that we are looking. I don't want to live in a poor area, but I also know that housing is more expensive in Chicago than it is in Dallas.

would like to have a commute under 1 hour

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

[chet everett]

Not only is housingf much more expensive generally in Chicago north / NW burbs that around Dallas, it is also much less uniform, especially in Lake Co. where you have some really run down areas just up the street from some very high end areas.

In general the boundaries between things like school disricts are much sharper dividing lines and the area inside the most desirable disticts tends to be much more in demand than the area that experience rapid boom/bust in the recent economic turmoil...

I have friends in / around Dallas and while I know that things change pretty dramatically between Love's Field and White Rock Lake, that is nothing like the change you'd see taking something like Sheridan Rd from Lake Forest up through Waukegan...

$250K is a tricky thing. If you are with an older home in a bit of an out of the way part of a very good schools district that is a nice commute to the employment centers of Mundelien you could get a fair deal like this: Real Estate & homes for sale | Single family homes,Condos,Townhomes,Co-ops - REALTOR.com®

If you are OK living in an area with much less desirable schools and having a address associated with much lower priced homes you could probably get a signficantly newer more feature laden home: Real Estate & homes for sale | Single family homes,Condos,Townhomes,Co-ops - REALTOR.com®

Lots to consider...

[aaronccrow]

I am not much with keeping up with the Joneses, but I also don't want to live in an area that my son will get shanked at the playground.

Other than that, as long as it is safe, descent schools, and not a long commute, I am good with the location.

We expect to either move back to Texas after a couple of years, or upgrade in house after we pay off debt.

This job is a great opportunity, and pay is good...6 figure+ and depending on how much we like the area will determine whether we find another house around the area or move back to Texas. My job will allow me to live anywhere close to major airport after 2 years. We do have a dog, so that makes renting more difficult.

[aaronccrow]

I have found a lot of houses that look great from the photos, and are around our price range, but I know nothing about commute to Mundelein or the details of those cities.

WAUCONDA
CRYSTAL LAKE
CARY
HUNTLEY
ALGONQUIN
FOX RIVER GROVE
VOLO
ISLAND LAKE
LAKE IN THE HILLS

[chet everett]

While some of those towns do have some great looking homes I would caution that approaching Mundelien from the west and/or needing to get to O'Hare from as far as some of those towns would make for a nightmarishly long commute.

The schools in those areas are generally a notch down even from those in the nice parts of Gurnee and signficantly less desirable than those that serve Lake Bluff. Safety in some of the areas of the towns you listed might be a bit questionable in the poorest parts but belive me even in Park City no one "shanks" anyone on the playground...

I would focus on the more affordable homes closer to where your office is unless you absolutely feel compelled to live in an area with newer homes...

[aaronccrow]

closer like within 10 miles of Mundelein?

[gramirez2012]

Originally Posted by aaronccrow

I have found a lot of houses that look great from the photos, and are around our price range, but I know nothing about commute to Mundelein or the details of those cities.

WAUCONDA
CRYSTAL LAKE
CARY
HUNTLEY
ALGONQUIN
FOX RIVER GROVE
VOLO
ISLAND LAKE
LAKE IN THE HILLS

Just about all of those places would be a horrendous commute, except maybe for Wauconda, Volo, and Island Lake.

[aaronccrow]

So you would recommend south or east to go against traffic then?

Right now in Texas, I drive 35+ miles each way to work, leaving before 6 with about an hour commute.

[chet everett]

If you are used to driving into Dallas from someplace like McKinney or even Anna then you have a nice uninterrupted shot down wide interstates. The arterials that connect to the freeways (and tollways) in Texas are also wide and fairly well spaced out with frontage roads mostly keeping the shoppers separated from commuters.

Lake Co is not much like that in Illinois -- we have a whole bunch of little towns with nutty land owners that fight road expansion at every chance. This results in over crowded tolllways with NO frontage roads and surface streets from an era when horses were the mode of personal transportation. Newer roads that are wide tend to serve both the regional malls AND the tangle of strip malls that surround then AS WELL AS the nearby office parks AND feeders to the residential areas. Makes for really horrible travel times and very frazzeled nerves...

The closer you can be to work / O'Hare the less likely you are to just pack it all in.

Originally Posted by aaronccrow

So you would recommend south or east to go against traffic then?

Right now in Texas, I drive 35+ miles each way to work, leaving before 6 with about an hour commute.

[aaronccrow]

That makes sense...I appreciate the responses...it is still early, and I plan to visit the areas and meet with a Realtor to discuss things but you guys are great!