LaGrange Park (Hinsdale, La Grange, La Grange Park: buying a house, buying, schools)

[Smellypete]

We have been searching for homes in the Hinsdale / Western Springs / LaGrange area and just came across LaGrange Park. Does anyone have a sense of how the west part of LaGrange Park stacks up against the likes of the other three suburbs? What are the pro's and con's of living there? What generally are the people like and are there many young famalies?

[chet everett]

There are lots of families that enjoy the excellent schools, great mix of housing and proximity to nice nature areas that are all terrific pluses of western LaGrange Park. Eastern part is a little better access to BNSF in Broofield / LaGrange but housing stock is a little less charming.

[Smellypete]

Thanks Chris. We are looking in the West, seems like a nice little area, but maybe lacking some of the charm of parts of LaGrange or Western Springs. The nature areas seem like a huge plus though! I really had never heard of the area till about a week ago, and seems to be a pretty good little area.

Thank you for the feedback.

[Lookout Kid]

You get great schools in that section of LGP (called "Harding Woods"), and the houses are expensive, but perhaps at a discount over the historic district of La Grange to the South. We actually wrote offers on a couple of houses in that part of LGP last year, but it was VERY competitive. The nicer houses go fast, and the area is in high demand.

The areas east of La Grange Road are less charming, and have more severe stormwater runoff issues. Actually, all of La Grange Park has stormwater runoff issues during severe rain events (not uncommon in most older suburbs), and you will want to make sure your basement has an overhead sewer and other preventative flood control measures before you re-model or store anything of value near the floor. You could actually get grant money from the village to help with these improvements, but it's a small amount.

[Smellypete]

Lookout Kid... that is extremely helpful information! Thank you for the feedback on the flooding issue. I will make sure we inquire about that on the house.

Thank you, also appreciate the info on how competitive it is.

It's our first time buying a house so trying to find the balance of moving quickly and making sure we are educated is difficult.