Can anyone highlight the difference between these suburbs? (Chicago, Naperville: real estate, 2015)
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We (my husband, three children, and I) will be moving to the Chicago area by February and have primarily focused our housing search in the near-ish western suburbs: Oak Park, LaGrange, Western Springs, and Elmhurst. All four seem lovely, and meet most of our criteria - older "character" homes, fairly charming, somewhat walkable (like to be able to walk to morning coffee, etc.) and have Catholic grade schools with access to either solid Catholic high schools or good public high schools should choose to switch to public for HS. Would anyone be willing to highlight the differences between them? Budget is up to $800K. My husband will primarily work from home but need access to downtown (preferably by train) up to once a week. I am a nurse and will likely stay at home for awhile after we move, but access to hospitals for job purposes is a plus. Are there other suburbs that meet these preferences that we should consider?
Also, what about Riverside? I never see it mentioned with LaGrange, Western Springs, Oak Park, etc. but I absolutely love the housing stock and it seems very nice. Am I missing something?
One more question, but possibly a long shot - anyone have comments on Fenwick High School, Nazareth Academy, or St. Ignatius? Our oldest is a 7th grader and will be looking at high schools next year and these seem like good options.
Wheaton is the fifth oldest town in Chicagoland, and the housing stock surrounding the vibrant downtown district reflects the town's historic character: Downtown Wheaton Map
There's also museums, live theater, formal gardens, a local zoo, an equestrian center, year-round festivals and parades, a nationally-ranked library, 800-acres of green space, an outstanding park district, and much more.
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Worth putting on the radar. I'd also recommend looking at Glen Ellyn, Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills.
Last edited by holl1ngsworth; 11-03-2015 at 01:55 PM..
We started looking at oak park but it ended up a little too gritty urban for us... downtown Chicago access from Oak Park/River Forest is amazing (make sure to add RF if shopping Oak Park) but we just did not like it. Core specifically was just not pretty enough...
The others you mentioned La Grange, Western Springs, and Elmhurst were on our list and we heavily shopped them. All of them have great schools, family friendly, fun downtowns, Western Springs being the smallest core but still kool. Really solid rail centric choices…
the biggest difference i think now that i know La Grange best - is that La Grange feels the most Urban to me/busiest downtown.
I would not invest 800k in riverside - i think that kind of investment would be safest in the really top choice towns (Hinsdale, La Grange, Western Springs, Clarendon Hills and Elmhurst) Hinsdale being the top tier.
Riverside is a nice enough town, very attractive core and lovely twisty streets designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, famed landscape architect of NYC's Central Park and other spots. The Frederick Law Olmsted Society of Riverside Illinois The downside is mostly "perceived value" -- taxes are quite high and one can get access to the same schools and nearly identical street lay-out in adjacent Hollywood portion of Brookfield. You also give up pure walkability / convenience factor as it does take longer for even a stroll to train or core of town on twisty streets vs normal grid. Of course, for folks that are close to Salt Creek / Des Plaines River you also have to factor in the storm resistance of your site / home.
Towns listed all have nice things going for them.
LaGrange is probably most well known / hottest right now. Terrific core of town with really great mix of restaurants is huge draw. Schools are desirable. Wide range of housing options includes lots of charmers in your price range.
Western Springs shares high schools with LaGrange and the arrangement of Lyons Township High is split between a Frosh-Soph campus in Western Springs and Jr-Sr campus is in LaGrange so there is excellent cross articulation in the feeder schools despite being separate districts. WS is smaller, and range of housing tends to be a bit narrower, so your budget likely will not go as far. Some folks raise concerns over the more homogenous mix of residents in WS, but in my experience a more affluent base of residents is rarely something that has any true negatives when parents are smart about taking maximum advantage of the many excellent cultural offerings of the whole region.
Elmhurst is kind of jewel of suburban cultural offerings. Home to a well regarded liberal arts schools with ties to NY's Cornell and long history of adapting to the needs of local residents to take advantage of tech and business offerings Elmhurst College anchors a fantastic core that includes multiple museums, botanical gardens / conservatory, superior public library and a great mix of homes / restaurants / shops. There are also strong ties between Elmhurst Hospital and the whole community that make for a somewhat special likelihood of having neighbor that is also a respected health professional. The Elmhurst schools are organized as a Community Unit District, with a single superintendent / BOE headed up everything from Pre-K through high school. York High was once a peer of Hinsdale Central and New Trier, recruiting top tier teachers nationally, but foolish budget cutting allowed the school to decline. More recent efforts have restored the physical dominance of the historic (and enormous) buildings, but the salary schedule, weighed down by lower paid early childhood positions, is a step behind comparisons with top tier districts and that makes recruiting a bit tougher. There are a couple of other factors at work in Elmhurst that influence housing too. The northern part of town has suffered from proximity to O'Hare and shifts in strategy toward some employment. Once home to the regionally important Keebler company, merger shifted jobs to parent Kellogg HQ and a much smaller regional presence in corporate heavy Oak Brook. Similar shifts have seen firms like nationally prominent Chamberlain Garage Door choose Oak Brook to replace its Elmhurst HQ. Home quality really is unusually broad -- many historic mansions near core of town will be out of reach, so too will some of the teardowns in nice neighborhoods in south part of town, but nearly every part of town has some homes that should be within reach, including an interesting mix of rather traditional brick Cape Cods and ranches that are still valued for their solid construction. There are also lots of 60s era split levels and such, some of which have been very well cared for and represent terrific living space at a very good price.
Oak Park is in someways similar to the others, but in other ways quite different. Being adjacent to Chicago it benefits from access to CTA Blue and Green lines as well as having UP-W line Metra service. In someways the pull of adjacent of River Forest, more to two universities, Dominican & Concordia, is similar to the presence of Elmhurst College -- a really loving setting that adds in many ways to the town. Oak Park shares a high school district with River Forest, though there is long running controversy about the enormous cash reserves the district has built up and there recent decision to expend only some of this and still hike taxes is not a valid response -- OPRF commits $37.5 million to build new pool - Oak Leaves The different parts of Oak Park have obvious pluses and minuses. The striking look of the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio, as well as surrounding master works are unique pluses, but also mean global tourism. The core of town was once a model of suburbs that had a vibrant shopping and entertainment district prior to rise of regional indoor shopping malls. The foolhardy effort to banish vehicular traffic as a response in the 1970s nearly killed all that, and the more recent response to embrace unattractive strip mall / power center developments has not completely fixed those problems. There are other parts of town that have ebbed and flowed in vibrancy too, from the Chicago Ave district that still has a semblance of old time charm with Petersens's Ice Cream under revivialist owners, to the portions south of the Eisnhower that are a bit removed from the larger and more stately homes, to the curious north and east borders of town near North Ave or Austin Ave that invite more comparisions to neighboring Chicago or Elmwood Park than the heart of town, it can be a challenge to find something with the level of charm that will retain is desirability.
With a budget of $800K it almost certainly makes sense to include towns on the same train lines. The UP-W also serves Wheaton and Glen Ellyn, while the BNSF serves Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Downers Grove and the heart of Naperville, each of which might have qualities that would make for excellent options for occasional visits to Loop office via train AND afford you great access to hospitals like Good Samaritan, Central DuPage and Edwards.
I am in love with Riverside and LaGrange. Riverside is a unique gem and I would love to live there...La Grange is another favorite. I am not sure why I am not that fond of Elmhurst but I am not. Its pretty but I find all the one way streets in the downtown maddening and I usually get lost. I much prefer Wheaton and Glen Ellyn.
I have a lot of love for Riverside and La Grange as well, and in many ways Western Springs is kind of like an extension of La Grange with slightly more expensive housing and more homogeneous elementary schools. All of these have been quite popular with my friends and colleagues moving out to the suburbs from the City of Chicago. Elmhurst is larger than all three of these BNSF towns combined and has every amenity under the sun, but the residential streets are often not as charming when taken as a whole. That's not to say that there aren't incredibly charming portions of Elmhurst, though. And Elmhurst is certainly a lot more charming than the gritty suburbs that surround it like Villa Park and Berkely.
Oak Park stands in contrast a bit to the others. It's location on the edge of the tough West Side of Chicago gives it a unique, somewhat urban feel. It is also on the large side like Elmhurst (>50,000 residents), and has many lots that are "city sized" like what you would find on the NW side of Chicago. It has more apartments, great densities, and access to two CTA "L" lines. And of course, it is famous for racial diversity and liberal politics. I would compare to a "college town" feel, even though it lacks a large university (saying this as a guy who partially grew up in a college town).
Thank you all for the incredibly detailed, thoughtful answers! I really appreciate it.
Would the North Shore are be a consideration as well? I am getting the sense that our money would go further in the Western suburbs for an equal amount of desirability, but I am open to that area if our budget would allow.
Thank you all for the incredibly detailed, thoughtful answers! I really appreciate it.
Would the North Shore are be a consideration as well? I am getting the sense that our money would go further in the Western suburbs for an equal amount of desirability, but I am open to that area if our budget would allow.
The people on this board seem to love the Western suburbs for its proximity and ease of travel to downtown Chicago, and the charm it evokes. There are also good buys to be had in the Northshore and greater Northshore areas as well, if that's an option to you. Prices seem decent right now due to the holidays coming up. It's a good time to look.
Would the North Shore are be a consideration as well? I am getting the sense that our money would go further in the Western suburbs for an equal amount of desirability, but I am open to that area if our budget would allow.
Sure, the North Shore has a lot to offer, with Lake Michigan being the most obvious distinguishing feature. I can safely say that the North Shore suburbs are basically the "most desirable" from a real estate demand standpoint, and Lake County is a large center of jobs. Charming older houses, Metra rail service, and little downtown areas dot the lake front from Evanston through Lake Forest (along with huge mansions and other displays of wealth). But yes, your money will go further to the west. Some people pick one or the other based on their commuting patterns.
Just don't get roped into believing "north suburbs" are synonymous with "north shore suburbs"
North Shore burbs > West burbs > North burbs > Northwest burbs...... >Southwest burbs...... >South burbs
Generally speaking, among the "sought after" towns in each region, and IMO
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