Best Communities on North/Northwest Side? (Chicago, Schaumburg: condo, home, construction)

[RJW]

Currently reside in Oak Park and, for the most part, like it very much. I walk to the CTA and have 20 minute train ride to my job in the Loop. Unfortunately, it appears that my job situation may be changing and I'm looking at a possible commute to Lake Cook Rd. corridor near 294 (location to be determined, but I'm guessing somewhere b/w Buffalo Grove and Deerfield). I am dreading the idea of driving in rush hour traffic each day from Oak Park, so I'm starting to think a move might eventually be in order. I don't know much about the communities that are closer to where I would be working -- Park Ridge looks interesting, but I worry about the O'Hare noise issue. Any recommendations out there? My wife and I are not big fans of cookie cutter suburbs with sprawl and non-descript strip malls. We like Oak Park for that reason (though there are certainly other annoyances that go along with living there) and Park Ridge seems like it might have a similar feel ...and it would at least cut the potential commute in half. We like being relatively close to the city and also to public transit. Thanks in advance for any thoughts. Oh, and we have 20 month old daughter and a second baby on the way, so kid friendly is important (dog park would be nice as well).

[karabiner]

Generally, anything in that area is very nice. The home prices are insane though, so be prepared. Personally, I don't care for Wheeling or Palatine though (slightly south of the area you discribed), but BG is ok( but many strip malls). As to dog parks, Lake County has at least 4, one very near there in Lake Forest. As to public transport, other than the metra stops, there isn't much in Lake County.

[tyronen]

We live in Edison Park (Northwest at Devon). A very nice 2-bdrm condo for which we paid $210K a year ago.

We've found the airport noise can only be heard if the windows are open. A far bigger pain is the Metra, a stone's throw away.

There are four parks within walking distance of our home, one of which (Norwood) is quite big.

Right now traffic on the 90 around O'Hare is godawful due to the construction of the open-road toll, but it should get better once that is finished. We drive to the Schaumburg mall on weekend every so often; traffic is usually very good.

Park Ridge does have a cute (although small) downtown; and its buildings have a quaint, traditional feel to them I haven't seen elsewhere in Chicagoland. We decided against living there ourselves because the Metra is just too infrequent to be useful as a commute to the Loop. My bus+Blue Line is about an hour to the Loop - get a place as close to the Blue Line as you can, it pays off.

We ended up doing much of our shopping in Niles, so you might take a look at that if you're no longer working downtown. Further north (Glenview, Lincolnshire etc) strikes me as boring, with ghastly empty spaces and McMansions.