which western suburbs? (Chicago, Aurora, Naperville: homes, school districts, subdivision)

[homewifeev]

New Trier does not have bad drug issues and Stevenson is even better. An Evanston poll found that 77% of Evanston students would not even smoke a cigarette and 96% said they would not do illegal drugs. Let's not take away from the question that this user is asking.

[nanannie]

Baloney-Bologna!! Your flippant info does a great injustice to some fine schools in fine communities.. Of COURSE they said they would not use them.. "An Evanston poll found that 96 % said they would not use illegal drugs" High schools have drug issues,"New Trier does not have bad drug issues" no,neither does Barrington or HP,,but they have drug issues as do ALL high schools

[homewifeev]

Here cmow,

Chicago's North Shore CVB - Welcome

Look here, it will tell you about some of our area. Go see the Bahai Temple in Wilmette it is stunning.

[OakBrookMom]

I'm a realtor, mom of 3 and investor that lives in the Western Suburbs. If your husband works downtown you do have plenty of options but he must be prepared to take the train, not drive. Some stations have multiple year wait lists for parking but many have alternative parking. Many have PACE bus or their own commuter bus routes. My husband now commutes to his new job in Evanston because we cannot afford the same type of home on the North Shore so I know what you just went through. For 12 years I commuted downtown and so did he. I can tell you that for 400-500K you will be a bit further out but the great thing about the western burbs is the multitude of express trains. As a former commuter I don't think there are better train schedules than those to the western burbs, especially the line to Aurora that stops in Downers and Naperville among other towns- Look at the Metra website and compare for yourself. You don't want to be on top of your neighbors so rule out most of the in-town homes and many of the newer track housing subdivision.
Under 500K will rule out Hinsdale, LaGrange, Elmhurst, Western Springs, Oak Brook and Clarendon Hills. Are there homes under 500K - yes - will they be 4BR and fixed up - no. You will probably be in Downers, Glen Elynn, Wheaton, Lisle, or Naperville. You do get more land when you look at the older subdivisions. In Wheaton's Stonehedge you can get a remodeled 4BR, 2.1BA home, you have to look harder for a remodeled one in Arrowhead where the lots are bigger but they do exist. There are pockets of Winfield and Warrenville with Wheaton Schools. In Glen Elynn the Lincoln Hill Subdivision may be a possibility. In Lisle's Green Trails neighborhood you can find remodeled and if it backs to trails or common area you get a bigger yard, you also get Naperville 203 schools. In the Lisle school district Arboretum Woods would be a good find in a down market or Pine Hill. In Downers you can easily find a home in South Downers in nice subdivisions like Dunham Place but you could get lucky with a North Downers home in this buyers market like in Orchard Brook. Woodridge also feeds into Downers, Lemont and Naperville high schools but its lack of a downtown and abundance of rental properties hurt its resale value. In Darien, which also lacks a downtown but would put you the closest to the city out of any of your choices, you can have in almost any home in the Hinsbrook area with Hinsdale South High School along with many areas with Downers South High School. Naperville would give more choices than all the above combined - more than 100 homes in many different types of subdivision and areas. The schools are top notch, there really isn't any other downtown quite like Naperville's, there are plenty of parks, shopping and a wonderful Children's Museum. It is not hard to see why this area is ranked by Money Magazine as one of the best places to live and raise children. Depending on where you live in Naperville you have your choice of its downtown train station, the Route 59 station or even the Lisle train station. There are some great deals out there right now, especially in Naperville where relocations often turn the homes over to corporate owners who just want the properties sold. Let me know if I can help you any further or if you want me to email you listings in the areas I just mentioned.

[serby]

generally, people who live on the north side aren't too sure about people on the south side and people on the south side just roll their eyes at people on the north side. lol. there is definitely a difference in demeanor. the west is somewhere in between.
of the south suburbs, orland park, frankfort, mokena, flossmoor, tinley park are very nice areas, all within an hour of chicago and trains are available. flossmoor in particular is quite quaint and has an excellent public school system.
of the west suburbs, naperville is great but it is large. I believe the 3rd largest city in IL. Daily commutes (grocery, post office, etc) may take more time in the car than in the store.
many have already adequately commented on the north side so i will ignore it.
for your price range, you will be able to find a nice house on any "side" of chicago in a nice community. you really need to identify what qualities you prefer about the town and the residents, e.g., how often do you want to see your neighbors, established & mature community v. lots of new construction, subdivisions v. neighborhoods. hope this helps.

[jessiegirl_98]

Originally Posted by Evanstonian1974

New Trier does not have bad drug issues and Stevenson is even better. An Evanston poll found that 77% of Evanston students would not even smoke a cigarette and 96% said they would not do illegal drugs. Let's not take away from the question that this user is asking.

As someone who works with adolescence, this makes me laugh. You also can't consider those polls to be accurate!

[DaliMama]

[quote=serby;1491642]
of the west suburbs, naperville is great but it is large. I believe the 3rd largest city in IL. Daily commutes (grocery, post office, etc) may take more time in the car than in the store.QUOTE]

My family just moved to Ashbury in Naperville in August, and I cannot believe how short our daily travel times are! My kids can walk to school, the dentist is 5 minutes away, the post office is 3 minutes away, the doctor's office is 7 minutes away, and the grocery store is 7 minutes away. (I know this because of my GPS ). I moved from a town in Southern Illinois with a population of 11,000--we had to drive a good 25-30 minutes to run all of the errands listed above, with the exception of the grocery store. Naperville is large, but I like that I could realistically never leave Naperville and the surrounding areas (Plainfield, Bolingbrook, and Aurora, for example) and be able to go and do everything I want to without having to go into Chicago. (That being said, I do love Chicago). My husband commutes to the Loop every day via Metra--it is about a 75 minute commute door-to-door for him--so it can be a long commute, but he doesn't mind because of the quality of life we are able to enjoy in Naperville. Anyway, my point is I wouldn't let Naperville's size deter you from exploring it. I also agree with earlier posts about Western suburbs--you will often get a lot more house for your money out here; I spent most of the summer figuring that out! Good luck!

[nanannie]

Glad you like your new community,sounds like you picked just the right place for your family

[deegers]

nannie, what's the Wheaton's Stonehedge? A name for a neighborhood or slang?

[nanannie]

Sounds like a sub-division to me.Any Wheaton locals know for sure ??