NYers moving to Chicago. Help us find our new town. (Naperville: real estate, new home)

[kleaps]

Hello, there.

My husband, daughter and I are relocating to the Chicago area but we've only been out there once, so we're overwhelmed with where to even begin looking for our new home.

My husband and I will be commuting to the Loop and will want to live someplace with good public schools. We'd like to spend around $650K for a home and not feel like either the richest or poorest in town. We'd like to have a sense of community with a downtown that has some good restaurants and shops.

Any suggestions as to where to begin our search would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[jessiegirl_98]

I would really start looking in Naperville. Great schools, a great downtown area, and a metra stop that will take your husband right downtown. Evanston and Oak Park might also be good options. Do a search of threads to find info on each of these burbs

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by kleaps

Hello, there.

My husband, daughter and I are relocating to the Chicago area but we've only been out there once, so we're overwhelmed with where to even begin looking for our new home.

My husband and I will be commuting to the Loop and will want to live someplace with good public schools. We'd like to spend around $650K for a home and not feel like either the richest or poorest in town. We'd like to have a sense of community with a downtown that has some good restaurants and shops.

Any suggestions as to where to begin our search would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Honestly there are too many great areas of the metro area and city itself to even name all of them. Naperville and Oak Park as well as Evanston are the usual three named on here by many posters who give a quick response, but often leave out the other great burbs as well as portions of the city itself. Speaking as an ex Brooklynite, I can tell you that after my return to Chicago many years ago, I have discovered much of what the city has to offer be it good and bad.

Really from my experiences here, it all depends on what you are looking for. If you want farmland nearby with subdivisions dotting the landscape and more "big box stores" then check out burbs such as New Lenox, Frankfort, and Mokena. If you want an area known to be "old money" then maybe look up in Winnetka, Skokie, Banockburn, Deerfield, and those communities on the north shore. If you are looking for more diversity where there will be blacks and whites living among eachother with nice old homes (pre war era) and yes there can be sketchy areas NEARBY, NOT IN THE TOWN ITSELF, but nearby, then maybe look around Oak Park, Berwyn, or Forest Park. If you want young family towns with nice newer homes (post 1970), but those areas may be primarily white, then maybe look around Orland and Tinley Park. If you want more of an urban atmosphere more like NY's bouroughs then perhaps give the city itself a shot and check out neighborhoods such as Lakeview, Uptown, Ravenswood, Albany Park, Lincoln Park, Gold Coast, Old Town, Little Village/University Village, Garfield Ridge, and Clearing. If you want a more "affordable town" with a nice mix of families and older folks, but not really "mixed" racially so to say, maybe give Evergreen Park or Oak Lawn a shot.

Again there are too many areas to even begin to name. Your first big step is to figure out if you want; north, west, south, or even IN to live in. Each area has it's plusses and minuses. Many things vary over the Chicago area from race, to religion, to sexuality, to income levels, to travel times, to even it's climate. Obviously in terms of climate, the further south you go, you typically get less snow in the winter (usually stays rain or freezing rain) and more hot/humid weather during the summer months. Southern burbs are also more "up and coming" currently and not all built out leaving much opprotunity to grow yet whereas northern burbs are mostly all built out now with little open land left to build on and are more like towns such as Amityville, Rockville Centre, Deer Park, Syosset, and those areas unless you go WAY north up around Algonquin. Northern burbs though have their share of great opprotunities too, such as great jobs, and tons of wooded areas. (If you like trees that would be a good thing I guess) Western burbs are known to be growing into their own little city out there often refered to as being "edge" cities even in some cases with their own little skylines (Schaumburg, Oak Brook, Lombard)

[ahava]

$650k puts you in the middle of the housing market in Western Springs and La Grange. Both towns are very family-oriented with great schools and they both have a nice downtown with restaurants and shops. The Metra trip to the Loop is under 40 minutes. You should also look at Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Deerfield, and Northbrook.

[Chinolala]

Look at the northwest side of Chicago; specifically in the 60631 and 60646 zip codes. Neighborhoods are called Norwood Park, Edison Park, Sauganash, Wildwood and Edgebrook. I guarantee that you'll find these areas appealing if you drive through them. For suburbs, I'd recommend Oak Park, La Grange, Lincolnwood and Glenview. The 60631 and 60646 areas are a 20 minutes train ride into downtown or a 45 minute drive. Oak Park is a 24 minute train ride downtown (my husband does it daily) and LaGrange is probably a 30 minute train ride. Evanston, Deerfield and Northbrook are really nice too, as is Buffalo Grove and Arlington Heights.

[emmi605]

How long of a train ride will you tolerate? That will narrow down your search somewhat. You can visit www.metrarail.com to get schedules and maps. Then once you narrow down some choices, check school district and real estate websites. Many people will suggest looking at sites that show you school district test scores. One that I recommend is the Illinois interactive report card. It has many options for seeing the make-up of the school district, test scores, and scatterplots data (much more than just scores). You can compare schools with similar characteristics also. This site is http://iirc.niu.edu/. Your price range will be in the upper/middle range for many suburbs. Realtors can help you with that. You will be able to find a very nice home in metro Chicago in a great area. Some towns within a 30 minute train ride that fit your criteria so far are LaGrange, Elmhurst, and Arlington Heights. If you travel further out, you'll have even more choices. Be sure to look into the parking situation for the train also. Some towns do not have enough parking and there is a fee associated with this also. If lucky, you may find something in walking distance to the train and this won't be a problem. Best of Luck!

[Paige65]

You've given some good criteria, but if you could give even more, people could narrow it down a little further. How long are you willing to commute? What do you expect to get for your $650,000? Do you like old homes or new? Is public transportation nearby important? That will all help.

Based on your criteria now, I'd suggest Glen Ellyn, Naperville, Wheaton, St. Charles, LaGrange, Western Springs, Elmhurst, Glenview, Northbrook, Deerfield, Libertyville. If you don't care about having a big house or yard, but want good schools, nice downtown, and older, established areas, I'd also consider Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Hinsdale. If you are in the west part of Wilmette or Highland Park, you'll generally get a little more for your money.

There are also some great suburbs south of Chicago, but I'm not familiar with their school systems.

[deegers]

Originally Posted by NYrules

Honestly there are too many great areas of the metro area and city itself to even name all of them. Naperville and Oak Park as well as Evanston are the usual three named on here by many posters who give a quick response, but often leave out the other great burbs as well as portions of the city itself. Speaking as an ex Brooklynite, I can tell you that after my return to Chicago many years ago, I have discovered much of what the city has to offer be it good and bad.

Really from my experiences here, it all depends on what you are looking for. If you want farmland nearby with subdivisions dotting the landscape and more "big box stores" then check out burbs such as New Lenox, Frankfort, and Mokena. If you want an area known to be "old money" then maybe look up in Winnetka, Skokie, Banockburn, Deerfield, and those communities on the north shore. If you are looking for more diversity where there will be blacks and whites living among eachother with nice old homes (pre war era) and yes there can be sketchy areas NEARBY, NOT IN THE TOWN ITSELF, but nearby, then maybe look around Oak Park, Berwyn, or Forest Park. If you want young family towns with nice newer homes (post 1970), but those areas may be primarily white, then maybe look around Orland and Tinley Park. If you want more of an urban atmosphere more like NY's bouroughs then perhaps give the city itself a shot and check out neighborhoods such as Lakeview, Uptown, Ravenswood, Albany Park, Lincoln Park, Gold Coast, Old Town, Little Village/University Village, Garfield Ridge, and Clearing. If you want a more "affordable town" with a nice mix of families and older folks, but not really "mixed" racially so to say, maybe give Evergreen Park or Oak Lawn a shot.

Again there are too many areas to even begin to name. Your first big step is to figure out if you want; north, west, south, or even IN to live in. Each area has it's plusses and minuses. Many things vary over the Chicago area from race, to religion, to sexuality, to income levels, to travel times, to even it's climate. Obviously in terms of climate, the further south you go, you typically get less snow in the winter (usually stays rain or freezing rain) and more hot/humid weather during the summer months. Southern burbs are also more "up and coming" currently and not all built out leaving much opprotunity to grow yet whereas northern burbs are mostly all built out now with little open land left to build on and are more like towns such as Amityville, Rockville Centre, Deer Park, Syosset, and those areas unless you go WAY north up around Algonquin. Northern burbs though have their share of great opprotunities too, such as great jobs, and tons of wooded areas. (If you like trees that would be a good thing I guess) Western burbs are known to be growing into their own little city out there often refered to as being "edge" cities even in some cases with their own little skylines (Schaumburg, Oak Brook, Lombard)

There are several NYers (including, well, NYrules!) that are a great resource here let alone the weath of knowledge from the rest of us. Keep track of who's from NY like you and even direct PM them. More than happy to help you! Welcome to the vast culture of Chicago!

NYer is right, tons of options and you will really need to narrow it down. I'm from them myself and I have a hard time narrowing it down! LOL

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by deegers

There are several NYers (including, well, NYrules!) that are a great resource here let alone the weath of knowledge from the rest of us. Keep track of who's from NY like you and even direct PM them. More than happy to help you! Welcome to the vast culture of Chicago!

NYer is right, tons of options and you will really need to narrow it down. I'm from them myself and I have a hard time narrowing it down! LOL

Well thank you I really do appreciate it. Its nice for once to not get into an arguement with the other Pro-Chicagoans on this board who believe Chicago can do no wrong. Hope you find your home though in this area. If I can be of more assistance let me know. I'm not afraid to voice my TRUE opinions of the areas around here be it good or bad and I really do try to be fair and am not on here to score rep. points like some others seem to be.

[kleaps]

Thank you so much, everyone, for all your helpful responses. You've given us a great place to start and some very helpful resources. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions once we narrow things down. Looking forward to our new life in Chicago!