Palos Heights, Orland park, Oak Lawn area (Chicago, Naperville: townhome, neighbourhoods)

[livonian]

I am getting a job in Joliet and my wife in Chicago so we are looking for family friendly neighbourhoods halfway between Joliet and Chicago.

Bus or train service convenience to Chicago will be an improtant element in home selection. We have a budget of 400K for a single family or townhome but area of at least 2500 sq ft

From forum threads, I find Tinley park as a good one but I also find Orland park, Oaklawn and Palos Heights.

I am interested in Palos heights area but not able to find much information.

Please advise preferred areas from above information.

[chet everett]

Depending on where exactly in Chicago and Joliet the jobs are it may be foolish to try and live halfway between.

If you can take Metra from a town on the BNSF the speed commute might make the trip to Chicago almost silly fast. If the job in Joliet is near the northeast portion of town it would easy to commute from towns like Downers Grove or Lisle...

[ajolotl]

It's hard to reply to this post because each of the towns themselves are pretty large and have a range of options. All could be perfectly fine or totally inadequate depending on what you want. Oak Lawn is mixed but leans more toward blue collar, is a bit dated, and a bit depressed commercially, but the residential streets are still very spiffy, there are good catholic schools, and it's closer to the city than the other suburbs. Palos has some spectacular homes but little commerce and is almost more rustic than suburban in spots. Orland is sort of a typical middle to upper-middle class newer strip-mall suburb with a big shopping mall and endless strip malls and box stores. It's pretty nice, though, if that's what your looking for. Tinley seems mixed -- pretty nice but more dated, has a broad range of people, is rustic in spots -- not the modern strip mall world of Orland. I actually like Tinley -- it is reasonably priced, quiet, and a little original in some ways. All have metra service. You need to be more specific if you want more specific feedback.

[livonian]

Thanks for both responses.
Let me try to be little more specific.

1) I will be working in Rockdale and will be driving to work. I am OK to drive within preferred 30 mile radius.

2) My wife will be taking public transport to downtown chicago. Applying same logic, a distance of 30 miles from downtown is OK.

3) Our house budget is 400K and area of about 2500 sq ft. School district does not matter however prefer OK from future resale point of view.

It appears that Orland park may be a good candidate midway to both but Naperville be also be not highly inconvenient

[chet everett]

Driving 30 miles through the highly congested rush hour traffic that is common in the region can easily take more than and an hour in "normal" conditions and several times more than that during storms or road construction.

Radius to Joliet and availability of Metra service would be primary drivers if I was in your situation.

Given that you do not need to worry about schools that does open up some possibilities.

Service on BNSF is far superior compared with other options close to Joliet.

I would give serious consideration to places like Lisle, which has excellent Metra service and terrific access to both 355 and surface streets for driving to Joliet. $400k is a nice chunk of dough for shopping in Lisle.

[cubssoxfan]

What about Lemont?

[livonian]

I considered Lemont initially but since found only few trains to get to Chicago.
Is there any other efficient means of public transport to Chicago?

[stefanodimera72]

I commuted downtown for 5yrs when i lived in Lemont. The trick was driving 10min up to Downers Grove and hopping on the express train...25min to downtown. Non-express was like 35min if memory serves me, and fairly convenient b/c if you missed the express train the non-express came by just a few minutes later - same was true when returning home.

If you want to park free you'll have to add another 5-7min walk to the commute. You can park just south of 55th street on any block. As far as commutes go, was actually pretty pleasant other than the $100 monthly train pass. That was over 5yrs ago, probably more now.

[livonian]

Thanks for your reply on suggesting car drive from Lemont to DG and then take train from there to Chicago downtown.

Looking at the map from Lemont to DG, I noticed that Darien may also an option. Being outside of Chicago, never heard of this suburb compared other large ones, how is Darien/

Looking for family safety, good restaurants, affordable housing etc. It is close to highway so that is an advantage.

[deechee]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

It's hard to reply to this post because each of the towns themselves are pretty large and have a range of options. All could be perfectly fine or totally inadequate depending on what you want. Oak Lawn is mixed but leans more toward blue collar, is a bit dated, and a bit depressed commercially, but the residential streets are still very spiffy, there are good catholic schools, and it's closer to the city than the other suburbs. Palos has some spectacular homes but little commerce and is almost more rustic than suburban in spots. Orland is sort of a typical middle to upper-middle class newer strip-mall suburb with a big shopping mall and endless strip malls and box stores. It's pretty nice, though, if that's what your looking for. Tinley seems mixed -- pretty nice but more dated, has a broad range of people, is rustic in spots -- not the modern strip mall world of Orland. I actually like Tinley -- it is reasonably priced, quiet, and a little original in some ways. All have metra service. You need to be more specific if you want more specific feedback.

I couldn't give you reputation, but this was a good post. Certainly describes the towns well. Oak Lawn is still a nice place to live though, it has just been depressed lately since the recession. I still do a lot of shopping there.