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I am curious what the commute from St. Charles to downtown is really like? My employer is about 3 minutes walking distance from Ogilvie, and I will be driven to the train station (be it Geneva or West Chicago).
From what I can tell, the average train time is 1 hour, with under 10 minutes for driving (then the 3 minutes walking). Is this correct?
The main reason we are looking at St. Charles is that we want to be able to keep chickens. While a number of towns allow them, few are closer - the ones that come to mind that are closer than St. Charles would be, say, Hinsdale, Countryside, Palos Park, Westmont, Warrenville, and a few others - but they are either out of our price range, or don't have any suitable houses currently available.
Alternatively, if anyone could give suggestions as to where we could look for a house in the $200-$300K range which would have a yard large enough for chickens (which doesn't have to be large, but it has to not be a tiny bedroom-sized yard), this is the list of towns that would be closer:
Hinsdale, Countryside, Downers Grove, Palos Park, Westmont, Warrenville, Riverwoods, West Dundee, Evanston, Melrose Park, La Grange, Tinley Park, Palos Hills.
I know there was a short flurry of activity for towns approving requests from folks that thought is was cool to have chickens as some kind of "back to nature" movement or something, but my one friend that actually does have a little hen house tells me that unless you work from home and really like the whole "farmers hours" thing it is MUCH harder than most of the folks promoting this will admit. She lives way out in Hampshire where she also a stable for her horses; she got priced out of Barrington...
Even very "urbanized" suburbs still have raccoons, coyotes, mice and worse that will prey on the chickens / eggs / feed. That means you will need to provide not just time for tossing some feed at your fowl and collecting eggs in a Martha Stewart basket with grossgrain ribbon, but putting on feces covered boots for cleaning up the often very messy area, and defending against predators and vermin...
If your budget maxes out at $300K you won't find anything in Hinsdale. You can pretty much cross Downer Grove off your list too. Ditto for LaGrange, Evanston and Riverwoods. If you do find something in Countryside or Westmont be prepared for both some location negatives (like right on very busy road) and some real hard core "fixer uppers" needing almost reconstruction.
The oddest town on the list is Melrose Park -- it is not at all rural. Very small lots are common and I imagine the neighbors next door would not appreciate a rooster waking them up, especially if they work in many of the nearby warehouses that include overnight shifts getting deliveries from air ports and trucking firms...
Towns like West Dundee and really even the south western suburbs like Palos Park, and Tinley Park won't really have a better commute than St. Charles when you factor the car centric nature of those towns and the frequency with which their trains get delayed by crossing frieghts. Warrenville is not on a train line and getting into Wheaton for the UP-W line is not a piece of cake...
I really would NOT recommend living in St. Charles for most folks whose job is in the Loop, the hassles of driving into Geneva, finding parking, taking a train all the way out and back get really tiring really quickly. Toss in the fact that your hens might be laying at 4AM in the darkness and you might night get home until 7PM when it is also dark so you'll have to put a headlamp on before you put on the boots and the whole venture seems ill conceived. I would really recommend talking to somebody that has been doing this for a while and has a job similar to what you do...
We won't have any issues with chickens or ducks. I know a number of people who keep them (who are engineers like me, though their commutes are only about 40 minutes), and there are many ways to protect them from predators. My wife is stay-at-home and will be able to take care of day-to-day tasks including chicken rearing.
Also, most towns prohibit roosters (nor do I want any cockerels - very loud). If you think Melrose Park is interesting... Chicago allows chickens. Without any limits. No size limits, you can have roosters, chickens, ducks...
As said, I won't be parking - my wife will be driving me to the train station, dropping me off, and going home. On the other side, I have a 3 minute walk to my office. I currently commute from Glendale Heights via Wheaton UP-W, which is about 40-50 minutes of train ride and 15-20 minutes of car ride one way.
Do you want the truth? Commuting from St. Charles to the loop SUCKS! It ends up taking about 2 hours each way when you factor in driving, parking, walking to the platform, waiting for the train and walking after you get off the train downtown. You have to consider you'll be getting to the station at least 5 minutes before the train arrives most days, and often more than that if you have an important meeting and it is imperative you are at work by a certain time.
I lived in St. Charles in high school and then for about 9 months after graduating college. I worked downtown in those 9 months and my office was close to Ogilvie. I could not wait to move somewhere closer. I lived in St. Charles again about 3 years ago when we were between houses. The commute sucked then as well. For reference, my parents' house was on the east side of St. Charles. So, I tried the commute from both Geneva and West Chicago. We were leaving the house before the sun was up (6:15 to 6:30) and arriving back 12 hours later without putting in any overtime.
St. Charles is a great town, but it's not an ideal place to live if your job is in the loop and your career is likely to have you in the loop long term (I've never worked anywhere else, despite having 6 different jobs they have all been in the loop).
If you already know the schedule I am not sure what else you can hope to gather. I assumed you were coming from an apartment in Chicago or outside the area.
The best source for current housing price trends remains sites like redfin and trulia that aggrate both MLS and FSBO listings.
While Chicago might technically allow chickens the relative hassle in many neighborhoods would be extremely burdensome: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...zRnoXVhtI/edit As I said, my one friend that does this is very much an "outdoorsy" person that works from home and has a property that includes a stable for her horses. She worries that anyone that is not so deligent in their attention to the needs to animals will give such practices a bad reputation.
I don't know that the commute from West Dundee would be any better. I used to live in Elgin and getting to the train would be kind of a hassle except for maybe Big Timber if you lived WEST in West Dundee. Even though the town allows chickens, some subdivisions may not. It is a cute town, and I haven't found a better spot for breakfast on the north side of Chicago than Benedict's in West Dundee near the river.
Also, that line of the train goes to Union, not Olgilvie.
You're getting dropped off and picked up by your partner, so no driving and parking hassles. Plus you can sit in a warm car until the train is on the horizon.
The metra schedule shows several trains in the morning that are under an hour. Depending on when your workday begins, it looks like you may have a train option of 50 minutes or so. Metra stays on schedule, so unless there's something seriously wrong, you can believe in their printed schedules.
With your drop off and very short walk from Ogilvie, you're looking at about an hour and 10 minutes door to door. I don't think that's the worst thing in the world, given that you can sit and snooze, do work, read, or Internet. If you really find your dream house in St Charles, that's not the worst sacrifice. Heck, some people in Chicago or close in suburbs like oak park have commutes above 30 minutes each way, because of el trains with a million stops, and offices in locations that require walks of several blocks.
BTW, I have no intention of telling you not to raise chickens. It sounds to me like you know what you're doing. Not sure why everyone else thinks you don't.
You're getting dropped off and picked up by your partner, so no driving and parking hassles. Plus you can sit in a warm car until the train is on the horizon.
That's true, but it also means that two people are wasting their time waiting around... Unless the OP's partner has absolutely nothing better to do with their time, it's still wasted time. I wouldn't ask my husband to pick me up/drop me off unless we only had one car and that was the only option.
I am curious what the commute from St. Charles to downtown is really like? My employer is about 3 minutes walking distance from Ogilvie, and I will be driven to the train station (be it Geneva or West Chicago).
From what I can tell, the average train time is 1 hour, with under 10 minutes for driving (then the 3 minutes walking). Is this correct?
The main reason we are looking at St. Charles is that we want to be able to keep chickens. While a number of towns allow them, few are closer - the ones that come to mind that are closer than St. Charles would be, say, Hinsdale, Countryside, Palos Park, Westmont, Warrenville, and a few others - but they are either out of our price range, or don't have any suitable houses currently available.
Alternatively, if anyone could give suggestions as to where we could look for a house in the $200-$300K range which would have a yard large enough for chickens (which doesn't have to be large, but it has to not be a tiny bedroom-sized yard), this is the list of towns that would be closer:
Hinsdale, Countryside, Downers Grove, Palos Park, Westmont, Warrenville, Riverwoods, West Dundee, Evanston, Melrose Park, La Grange, Tinley Park, Palos Hills.
Are schools important too? Hinsdale you won't get anything for $300k. Riverwoods, Downers Grove, La Grange, Westmont, West Dundee, Palos Park and hills, and Tinley Park don't go to Oglivie. However, Westmont and Downers Grove, you can just drive to Lombard for the train. Riverwoods, you can just drive to Buffalo Grove or Highland Park for the train. La Grange and countryside are not far from the city at all, so you could just drive.
Since you are looking at urban towns like Evanston and La Grange, may I also suggest Oak Park? Oak Park allows chickens and the commute would not be bad at all. About a 20 min train ride to the Clinton station the green line (2 blocks north of Oglivie).
Also, look at Barrington too. Has a rural feel and allows chickens and although further than Oak Park, the fastest express train is only around 40-45 minutes to Oglivie.
Are schools important too? Hinsdale you won't get anything for $300k. Riverwoods, Downers Grove, La Grange, Westmont, West Dundee, Palos Park and hills, and Tinley Park don't go to Oglivie. However, Westmont and Downers Grove, you can just drive to Lombard for the train. Riverwoods, you can just drive to Buffalo Grove or Highland Park for the train. La Grange and countryside are not far from the city at all, so you could just drive.
Since you are looking at urban towns like Evanston and La Grange, may I also suggest Oak Park? Oak Park allows chickens and the commute would not be bad at all. About a 20 min train ride to the Clinton station the green line (2 blocks north of Oglivie).
Also, look at Barrington too. Has a rural feel and allows chickens and although further than Oak Park, the fastest express train is only around 40-45 minutes to Oglivie.
We presently don't care about schools. We might in the future, and it's a consideration as per resale value.
Barrington actually does not allow chickens or any fowl. I've recently gone through the luxury of going through almost every towns' municipal codes and zoning codes, and that one surprised me. North Barrington does (Lake Barrington and Barrington Hills were unclear, though those areas are very expensive).
I don't mind Union Station (7 minute walk vs 3 minute, -ish).
Oak Park allows chickens, but only 2 (which is not going to be particularly productive). Could do ducks, though (which would be more productive).
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