c'mon guys--Great Lakes Naval Station input...? (Chicago, Waukegan: crime, new home, schools)

[trailerguy]

Consider Park City. You can get a brand new double-wide mobile home, 3 or 4 bedrooms, 2 baths for about $60,000. Good used ones are much less. Space rent is about $550-600 per month. A great buy if finances are tight.
Park City is a home-rule community with ordinances to protect the mobile home parks. We have our own police department which is excellent. The town is very safe and quiet. West of Teske Boulevard is in the Warren Township School District which is very good. We also have two entrances onto US-41 and are right on Belvidere Road, so it's quick to anyplace you want to go. I love this place. It's the best.

[sfw1979]

Originally Posted by team_evans

Hello folks,

I asked this a couple weeks ago and no one was even faintly interested in replying....so thought I'd give it another whirl. Anyone got anything for me on decent places to live with my husband working at Great Lakes Naval Station?

We're Washingtonians (that's Washington State) transplanted to Guam for the last five years, contemplating a job at GLNS, and we have no experience whatsoever with anything east of Spokane, Washington ; )

My research thus far seems to indicate that there's kind of a ring around the base--Waukegan, North Chicago--that's not a good place to raise a family, and that our best bet might be to go a little farther west, maybe out to (help me here) Antioch, Lake Villa, Lindenhurst?

Played around with Realtor.com a little, but you can only tell so much from that. The bare facts are these:

I don't work outside the home (raising our 3, maybe 4 next year, small kids) and my husband makes about $85K a year. We can afford (taking into account those unbelievable taxes you all pay out there) between $225K and $300, although it would be a stretch at the top end there. Our priorities are reasonably good schools, trees, and a quiet neighborhood where our kids can play in the yard and ride their bikes. We'd definitely prefer older neighborhoods with roomy, solid houses (probably in need of updating), mature trees and sidewalks to newer subdivisions with that plastic-y paved-over feel.

As far as commuting goes, we'd really like to limit his commute to and from the base to 30 minutes if at all possible.

I also will be returning to school to finish my bachelor's degree when our kids are older, with plans to continue on to graduate school, so I'll need to be within an hour or so of a decent university.

Any input on an area that might be a good fit for our situation?

Thanks!

team evans,

Here are some sights that may help you..

CinCHouse - Home

ZipRealty Real Estate -- Homes for sale and local real estate agents

ziprealty.com is the BEST real esate website I have ever come accross...

Is your husband military or gs?

Good look on your search and move.

[team_evans]

I should have posted this long ago--but thank you all so much for the wonderful information!

Sounds like Gurnee is probably the winner, but we'll have to get the company to pay for a househunting trip to get a real feet-on-the-ground sense of the place

Thanks again!

[Agapegirl]

My husband and I are going to Great Lakes as well from Guam. Housing there is new and there is a lot to do. Goggle Fort Sheridan Housing at Great Lakes Naval Station and you will get an abundance of info that is up to date. The only area I would recommend is the one I mentioned and also Glennveiw although I have some not so great things about that area. Stay away from North Chicago.

[Agapegirl]

Okay, hubby came home today from ship and said that the previous info was somewhat misguided. Is there anyone that can recommend a nice place to live. We have a 18yr.old planning to start school and a 15yr.old for highschool. We need all the help we can get as we have now found out we leave in October as opposed to Dec.. HELPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[isjeepin]

Stay away from Waukegan, Park City or North Chicago. Gurnee, Lake Bluff are good. Pretty much stay away from the round lake areas, unless you are on the fringes, where there is new development. North of Waukegan is good too.

[cubssoxfan]

Not sure if the home prices fit, add Libertyville & Vernon Hills to your list.

[MrsJLH]

Hi! I think I'm answering a few different posters here, so bear with me.

My hubby is military and we are actually Lake County natives so we know the area fairly well. We grew up in Mundelein, and that area is a very decent commute to Great Lakes (15-20 min). I think the high schools in Mundelein, Vernon Hills, and Libertyville are very good. Since we grew up in Mundelein, I can say that the area has that old, homey neighborhood feel and you can find a lot of areas with mature trees and it's quiet. I would have to say that the demographics have definitely changed since I first moved here, when it was predominantly Caucasian. It has really diversified Mundelein, but then you also have a lot of Hispanic immigrant families. Our experience so far with those that we've met is they are very kind, hard-working families. Then again, you also have the teenagers that are disrespectful and basically trouble. This goes for the Round Lake area also. The Hispanic demographics in Lake County is definitely changing the makeup of the suburbs in that area, and a teacher friend of mine said that the school districts recently had to change things in order to fairly distribute the "lower income families" in the neighborhood (i'm speaking of Mundelein).

If you can live in part of the Vernon Hills, Libertyville, Lincolnshire district, Stevenson High School is one of the top high schools in the country, but very big. I agree with another poster, and I would be wary of the high schools in North Chicago, Round Lake and Grayslake, just from what I have heard and my experience. I also do not recommend Park City, Beach Park, Zion, or Waukegan. The Gurnee area is good and Warren High School is a good high school For elementary schools, we are putting our daughter in Woodlands Elementary in Gurnee, which I've heard only good things about.

If you have a certain amount of people in your family, there are some very nice single family homes at Forrestal Village. They're newer. We opted not to do base housing because the schools in that area by the base are not very good. We are living in Gurnee and it is about a 15-20 min commute, and the elementary school for our daughter is very good. We are opting to rent because we will probably only be here for another 3 years or so. Pretty much everyone we've asked for advice from says it's much better to rent at this time instead of buying.

The University Center is only about a 15 minute drive from the base. There, they work with several universities to offer programs and classes to get a bachelors in many areas. The only colleges nearby are College of Lake County, Lake Forest College, and Trinity International University. I am getting my graduate degree from UIC which is downtown. If you can tolerate the commute, which many people in the area do for work, then you can get by going to school in the city.

[Jedi5]

Originally Posted by team_evans

I should have posted this long ago--but thank you all so much for the wonderful information!

Sounds like Gurnee is probably the winner, but we'll have to get the company to pay for a househunting trip to get a real feet-on-the-ground sense of the place

Thanks again!

Don't rule out Waukegan. I know many here will tell you not to consider this town, but give it a chance. There are some nice areas in Waukegan.
Some nice areas that border Gurnee as well. You'll have Waukegan taxes with Gurnee schools.

[starlarr]

We were looking for housing about 6 months ago too. And we found a wonderful house in Waukegan, the neighborhood is very quiet and there is a three park's within walking distance! It is in the historical district so there are alot of old beautiful mansions, but there are two houses for sale on my block, and i have seen alot more for sale in the area. We live on Stewart Ave. in waukegan off of sheridian road. Also, waukegan is only 10 minutes or less from base!