Northern Chicago Suburbs Suggestions for House (Evanston, Mount Prospect: rental, houses, neighborhoods)

[rocky12345]

Be careful when you get under 400k in Glenview, Northbrook and other similar towns. A lot of times these houses are very outdated, real small, undesirable lots, zoned to worst school districts, unincorporated etc. For example a chunk of west Northbrook feeds into Wheeling schools which dramatically lowers property values. There are few to no miracle houses out there in my experience.

[4122]

Originally Posted by amd555

Hi folks,

So I've lived in West Rogers Park in Chicago for 20 years (I'm 30) and my wife is expecting our first child in July.

We are Ok to live here for another 3-4 years but the goal is to go to the northern burbs by then. I need to be close to West Rogers Park as my mom is getting older is alone.

I need to be near the Metra as I work downtown Chicago. My wife works at Abbott, by Libertyville.

I'm looking at places like Glenview, Northbrook, Deerfield, Highland Park due to it being somewhere in the middle in terms of commute to downtown.

Further places like Buffalo Grove, Libertyville, etc but I do not want to spend 1hr+ each way on the train. My wife's drive now is 45 min and it seems to be about the same or a bit better .

What do you guys think? Any other places I can add to the mix? Ideally, we want a 3br house, with backyard and a 2 car garage for under 400k.

I understand why you are looking where you are looking. It makes sense with where you and your wife work. Some other options you should consider are: Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights. Not a bad commute down town (express trains are 30-35 minutes), schools are excellent and rank arouns the other towns you are looking at, and it's a little less expensive. Try to stay in the Prospect or Hersey boundaries because they're the best high schools in the district. Buffalo Grove HS also serves this area too and doesn't rank as high but not bad and will be the most convenient to Libertyville. If you were in Southern Arlington Heights, then that's when the commute wouldn't be tolerable. I also think you should consider Skokie too as the commute is not too bad to Libertyville and a quick to downtown.

[amd555]

Originally Posted by 4122

I understand why you are looking where you are looking. It makes sense with where you and your wife work. Some other options you should consider are: Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights. Not a bad commute down town (express trains are 30-35 minutes), schools are excellent and rank arouns the other towns you are looking at, and it's a little less expensive. Try to stay in the Prospect or Hersey boundaries because they're the best high schools in the district. Buffalo Grove HS also serves this area too and doesn't rank as high but not bad and will be the most convenient to Libertyville. If you were in Southern Arlington Heights, then that's when the commute wouldn't be tolerable. I also think you should consider Skokie too as the commute is not too bad to Libertyville and a quick to downtown.

I might consider a few of those. The problem is with my mom. She doesn't drive much and is almost 60 and lives alone. She might help with the kid on weekends and I might have to drive her on her errands at times or take her along. So the problem with some of those suburbs is the hour drive back each way to the city, its manageable but its the time vs money thinking.

I would love to buy in Skokie, but I don't have a good enough confidence in the duality of live/education in that area. Parts of Skokie are really getting bad with gangs and drugs, esp . Evanston. Im looking to buy in the next 2-3 years so I will keep an eye on it. You can see in the crime data on this site even.

[bazzagazzer]

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Have a two year old daughter and we rent in Edgewater right now. I am feeling the pull of the suburbs, but my wife is bent on staying in the city.

I don't have much to offer as you identified the exact few suburbs that I would like to target as well.

I know we're supposed to respond with helpfulness but I was curious as to your decision to wait 4 years. My wife says the same thing, but I feel like we should move now-ish so we can be in the place where she can start making friends that will be around for her whoel childhood. I feel like if we move when she's 4 she'll have friends that will make it harder for her to leave. I'm probably overthinking, but was just curious about your thought process.

[amd555]

Originally Posted by bazzagazzer

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Have a two year old daughter and we rent in Edgewater right now. I am feeling the pull of the suburbs, but my wife is bent on staying in the city.

I don't have much to offer as you identified the exact few suburbs that I would like to target as well.

I know we're supposed to respond with helpfulness but I was curious as to your decision to wait 4 years. My wife says the same thing, but I feel like we should move now-ish so we can be in the place where she can start making friends that will be around for her whoel childhood. I feel like if we move when she's 4 she'll have friends that will make it harder for her to leave. I'm probably overthinking, but was just curious about your thought process.

My thinking is partially financial partially schools. I don't want to send me son or daughter to CPS schools in neighborhood. Let's face it, that's when they'll really start making friends.

Another aspect is prices, I think market is high right now and I do think that at worst, the prices will be the same in 3 years. This give our family time to build a much larger down payment; we've reduced 401k contributions and all of our savings are going into a Schwab Intelligent Portfolio managed account.

Another aspect for us is that we own our condo free and clear, so we don't have a huge monthly obligation, thus are saving more.

If I were you, you could consider Evanston and Gelnview for their vibrant downtown.

[amd555]

Originally Posted by chet everett

If $400k is a hard ceiling you will likely need to include some more affordable towns -- I am thinking Niles ' Morton Grove / DesPlaines / Mount Prospect are going to have quite a bit more options in your price range, of course if you are specifically shopping for more "fixer-upper" type properties and have the ability to do something like a 203K to get the place up to current standards you can probably find some options in the more costly areas...

Ok...I've done some more research and Prospect Heights and Mount Prospect might just work. Any suggestions or real difference between the two? Any schools to absolutely avoid?

I'm more inclined to ask about elementary and middle school, since some are not showing up on Illinois Report Card or Great Schools.

[chet everett]

Mount Prospect is more desirable. The core of MP has an actual "downtown" whereas Prospect Heights is really more or less one of those towns that "incorporated so they would not be annexed by neighboring areas". Most parts of PH lack any sort of "developed feel" and while I suppose there is some appeal to rural-style road edges in horse-centric town PH is not filling the bill...

PH recently had a school strike too -- Teachers go on strike, classes out Thursday in Prospect Heights District 23 - Chicago Tribune

[amd555]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Mount Prospect is more desirable. The core of MP has an actual "downtown" whereas Prospect Heights is really more or less one of those towns that "incorporated so they would not be annexed by neighboring areas". Most parts of PH lack any sort of "developed feel" and while I suppose there is some appeal to rural-style road edges in horse-centric town PH is not filling the bill...

PH recently had a school strike too -- Teachers go on strike, classes out Thursday in Prospect Heights District 23 - Chicago Tribune

Thank you for your insight. This will help with searching. Please share any other tips or suggestions.

[RJA29]

Originally Posted by amd555

Another aspect is prices, I think market is high right now and I do think that at worst, the prices will be the same in 3 years.

[...]

Another aspect for us is that we own our condo free and clear, so we don't have a huge monthly obligation, thus are saving more.

If you own your condo, and prices are high, can you not 'sell high' with your condo? Market swings might affect the condo market more than the SFH home market.

And, at least from what I've seen in desirable, commute-friendly suburbs with good schools, there is a paucity of houses available, especially at the lower end (sub 500K) of things. It's hard to believe that there is suddenly going to be good housing that comes onto the market that has not already -- and what does is often in terrible shape or only worthy of being full-reno flipped or torn down.

If you can wait, perhaps it's best just to keep an eye out, and be ready to move when the right thing comes along?

[damba]

Originally Posted by RJA29

If you own your condo, and prices are high, can you not 'sell high' with your condo? Market swings might affect the condo market more than the SFH home market.

And, at least from what I've seen in desirable, commute-friendly suburbs with good schools, there is a paucity of houses available, especially at the lower end (sub 500K) of things. It's hard to believe that there is suddenly going to be good housing that comes onto the market that has not already -- and what does is often in terrible shape or only worthy of being full-reno flipped or torn down.

If you can wait, perhaps it's best just to keep an eye out, and be ready to move when the right thing comes along?

I agree with this logic, but reading between the lines,
it sounds like the OP is saving more to increase the down
payment/lower mortgage expense once the ducks
are all lined up

cheers