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Old 04-24-2006, 08:32 AM
 
4 posts, read 25,843 times
Reputation: 15

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Hi, I am looking for a house to move in and currently living in an apartment in Schamburg. I found living in Schamburg is convenient, since there are malls, shops around and high-way nearby. But the houses there are too expensive for me. So I turned to cities around, such as Hoffman Estates and other north-western suburban of Chicago.

I recent found 2 houses I like. One in Hoffman Estates and one in Buffalo Grove. Many of my friends recommended Buffalo Grove for its great schools and neighberhood. However, for around the same price, I found a much bigger and nicer house in Hoffman Estates.
The house in Buffalo Grove is smaller, but should be enough for a couple without kids like us and has the cozy home feeling.
The house in Hoffman Estates is newer, 1.5 times bigger, brighter and next to the golf course. But the house is also next to some apartment properties, which may have a not as desirable neighberhood.
Which one should I choose?

Last edited by freeforfrank; 04-24-2006 at 08:34 AM..
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Old 04-25-2006, 04:21 PM
 
Location: Kenosha
4 posts, read 28,454 times
Reputation: 24
I don't know if it helps at all but I was born and raised in Buffalo Grove and have now lived in far SE WI for almost 2 years. As for the house in BG, if the house is in Cook County -- then I'd go with the house in Hoffman becuase I'd say that the schools are pretty equal and are both good schools. HOWEVER if the Buffalo Grove house is in Lake County, and its only a bit smaller and you plan on starting a family, go with the Buffalo Grove house. The education in District 96 and District 102 (the elementry/middle/and jr high's) are good and they feed into Stevenson High School which is an excellent school with so much oppurtunity. I graduated from Stevenson and I had friends at Buffalo Grove High School and they are both good schools but they are COMPLETLEY different in many ways. I'd be glad to answer any more questions for you and while I'm only 22, my Dad obviously just sold a house in Buffalo Grove and my family has been in 3 different homes in BG in the past 25 years so any questions I can't answer, I can get them. At one point when I was in elementary school we almost moved into Cook County....Depending on where you work might influence your decision as well becuase Lake Cook Road through Buffalo Grove during Rush Hour can be a complete nightmare. Feel free to Email me if you have any specific questions and hopefully I can help you out--- Good Luck.

Samantha.216@gmail.com
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Old 02-05-2021, 09:27 AM
 
Location: Chicago
223 posts, read 170,533 times
Reputation: 98
This is the oldest Chicago suburbs thread.
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Old 02-07-2021, 12:23 AM
 
5,681 posts, read 5,158,037 times
Reputation: 5154
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicagoisthebest View Post
This is the oldest Chicago suburbs thread.
And you felt the need to resurrect it...why?
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Old 02-07-2021, 08:46 AM
 
Location: Chicago
223 posts, read 170,533 times
Reputation: 98
Calm down it was the second oldest. Why do you not comment when other people do it?
Then why did you post on it?
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Old 02-10-2021, 08:01 PM
 
Location: Crook County, Hellinois
5,820 posts, read 3,875,021 times
Reputation: 8123
It depends on a number of factors.

Traffic and flow thereof.
Buffalo Grove: Daily bumper-to-bumper gridlock on all east-west roads and most north-south roads
Hoffman Estates: Occasional backups on Higgins Rd. and Gold Rd., but traffic throughput is generally fine
Edge: Hoffman Estates (strong)

Predominant religion:
Buffalo Grove: Reform Judaism
Hoffman Estates: Mainline Protestantism
Edge: depends if your day of rest/worship is Saturday or Sunday

Income level
Buffalo Grove: middle class to upper-middle class, with smatterings of working class
Hoffman Estates: middle class to upper-middle class
Edge: it's a wash

Schools
Buffalo Grove: Buffalo Grove H.S., Stevenson H.S.
Hoffman Estates: Hoffman Estates H.S.
Edge: Buffalo Grove (slight)

Public Transit
Buffalo Grove: decent Pace service at rush hours, limited service on Metra North Central, nonexistent otherwise
Hoffman Estates: infrequent, limited service on Pace buses
Edge: Buffalo Grove (moderate)

Fun for young adults
Buffalo Grove: downtown Long Grove (a faltering area) and nearby movie theaters
Hoffman Estates: easy access to Schaumburg with its diverse dining and nightlife
Edge: Hoffman Estates (overwhelming)

Fun for parents and seniors
Buffalo Grove: large parks with sports facilities, ethnic restaurants, Bowlero on McHenry Rd.
Hoffman Estates: indoor gym chains, family-friendly restaurants, volunteering at FMSC
Edge: Buffalo Grove (moderate)

City greenery
Buffalo Grove: lots of older narrow streets with mature trees, and rural-looking portions
Hoffman Estates: modern super-wide arterial roads, and subdivisions with young trees
Edge: Buffalo Grove (strong)

Taxes
Buffalo Grove: evenly split between Cook County (high tax) and Lake County (moderate-high tax)
Hoffman Estates: mostly Cook County (high tax) and a little bit of Kane County (moderate tax)
Edge: Buffalo Grove (slight)

-------------------------------------

Score counting for "edge".
0: wash or depends
1: slight
2: moderate
3: strong
4: overwhelming

Suburb results.
Buffalo Grove: 9
Hoffman Estates: 7

Last edited by MillennialUrbanist; 02-10-2021 at 08:23 PM..
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Old 02-10-2021, 08:13 PM
 
Location: Chicago
223 posts, read 170,533 times
Reputation: 98
Millennialurbanist, Good comparing.
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Old 02-11-2021, 09:44 AM
wjj
 
950 posts, read 1,363,563 times
Reputation: 1309
A few observations regarding BG from someone who has lived there for over 30 years.



Quote:
Originally Posted by MillennialUrbanist View Post
It depends on a number of factors.

Traffic and flow thereof.
Buffalo Grove: Daily bumper-to-bumper gridlock on all east-west roads and most north-south roads
Hoffman Estates: Occasional backups on Higgins Rd. and Gold Rd., but traffic throughput is generally fine
Edge: Hoffman Estates (strong)


This is not true for all of BG. For Lake Cook Road, yes. But Deerfield, Half Day, and especially Aptikisic are not bad at all. Deerfield used to be awful, but with the intersection improvements on Deerfield and Milwaukee when Woodman's opened, traffic is much better. North/south roads right now are awful because McHenry Road, BG Road, and Weiland are all under construction at the same time. Once that is finished though, those roads will have been widened and traffic will flow normally and better than before. The only north/south road not under construction is Arlington Heights Road, and that moves pretty well (though slower than normal because it is picking up traffic from all the roads under construction).


Predominant religion:
Buffalo Grove: Reform Judaism
Hoffman Estates: Mainline Protestantism
Edge: depends if your day of rest/worship is Saturday or Sunday


For BG that used to be the case, but no longer. I don't think there is a prominent religion any longer with the very large influx of Asian residents over the past five to ten years who have replaced many of the Jewish families. St. Mary's parish still supports a significant Catholic community in BG.



Income level
Buffalo Grove: middle class to upper-middle class, with smatterings of working class
Hoffman Estates: middle class to upper-middle class
Edge: it's a wash


Not so sure about that. There has always been a high percentage of professionals in BG (lawyers, CPAs, engineers, doctors) that I don't think you have percentage-wise, in Hoffman Estates. The influx of highly educated and accomplished Asian families over the past ten years has greatly swelled those upper middle class ranks in BG.


Schools
Buffalo Grove: Buffalo Grove H.S., Stevenson H.S.
Hoffman Estates: Hoffman Estates H.S.
Edge: Buffalo Grove (slight)


Stevenson HS is considered to be one of the top five high schools in the state and one of the top in the country for non-selective public schools, so if you live on the Lake County side of BG, there is no comparison between Stevenson and HEHS. BG by a very wide margin. On the Cook County side, the margin is not as wide, but BGHS out performs HEHS pretty much across the board.


Public Transit
Buffalo Grove: decent Pace service at rush hours, limited service on Metra North Central, nonexistent otherwise
Hoffman Estates: infrequent, limited service on Pace buses
Edge: Buffalo Grove (moderate)

Fun for young adults
Buffalo Grove: downtown Long Grove (a faltering area) and nearby movie theaters
Hoffman Estates: easy access to Schaumburg with its diverse dining and nightlife
Edge: Hoffman Estates (overwhelming)


Can't disagree about what you say about BG itself (except I am not sure what movie theaters you are referring to), but HE itself is pretty much the same. If you are going to consider easy access to neighboring towns as well, BG borders on Vernon Hills and is close to Libertyville which can easily stand up to Scaumburg if you are going to allow neighboring communities to count. I would call this a draw since neither BG or HE has much to offer young adults for fun. You have to go to neighboring towns in both cases.


Fun for parents and seniors
Buffalo Grove: large parks with sports facilities, ethnic restaurants, Bowlero on McHenry Rd.
Hoffman Estates: indoor gym chains, family-friendly restaurants, volunteering at FMSC
Edge: Buffalo Grove (moderate)

City greenery
Buffalo Grove: lots of older narrow streets with mature trees, and rural-looking portions
Hoffman Estates: modern super-wide arterial roads, and subdivisions with young trees
Edge: Buffalo Grove (strong)

Taxes
Buffalo Grove: evenly split between Cook County (high tax) and Lake County (moderate-high tax)
Hoffman Estates: mostly Cook County (high tax) and a little bit of Kane County (moderate tax)
Edge: Buffalo Grove (slight)


The Lake County side of BG is very high tax. Much higher than the Cook County side. I suspect that HE taxes are comparable to the Cook County side of BG but lower than the Lake County side of BG. So I would think the edge would go to HE in this case.


-------------------------------------

Score counting for "edge".
0: wash or depends
1: slight
2: moderate
3: strong
4: overwhelming

Suburb results.
Buffalo Grove: 9
Hoffman Estates: 7
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Old 02-11-2021, 10:01 AM
 
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
4,641 posts, read 3,252,251 times
Reputation: 3907
Chicagoisthebest,

So it was GOOD that you resurrected the second oldest post, then, HUH????

Looks like a couple of city-data.commers submitted lengthy and informative responses!

Who was the OP on it? Hopefully they saw these recent replies.
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Old 02-15-2021, 09:13 AM
 
5,681 posts, read 5,158,037 times
Reputation: 5154
Quote:
Originally Posted by Master Jay View Post
Hopefully they saw these recent replies.
What good will it have done them, 15 years later?
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