New Lenox or Tinley Park???? (Chicago, Palatine: house, purchase, schools)

[birdsis]

Hey everybody! My husband and I are trying to decide if we should purchase a home in Tinley Park or New Lenox, I am a big fan of Tinley (where we currently rent) He is into the booming of New Lenox (Bigger home for about the same money, just higher property taxes). What do all of you think about quality of life and the future of these 2 towns??

[vester72]

I'm in Frankfort - while I like both Tinley and New Lenox, I'd say look in New Lenox along Laraway Road - some great deals, beautiful homes and great area - if you can stomach the property taxes.

[sbd78]

Both are nice towns and it sounds like you are aware of the pros and cons of each. New Lenox-newer, larger home for the $$, higher property taxes, high growth area so good potential for property value increases. Tinley-more established, more shopping and restaurant options, less home for the money, lower property taxes, shorter train ride to the city (if either of you work in the city). All my in-laws live in Tinley and love it, New Lenox is nice too. It just depends on what is important to your family.

[NYrules]

To be honest New Lenox is nothing more than Tinley Park 20 years ago; booming, having a bright future, lots of young families, but lacking in roads, shopping, and more and more people moving in fueling more and more taxes to build new schools, roads, fire depts, police stations, libraries, etc.

All depending on what you like to do will really alter your decision... If you like the hustle and bustle then I would suggest Tinley/Orland as both towns are pretty much identical and boast tons of shopping, restaurants, and yes TONS of traffic! If you like more wide open spaces and the opprotunity to watch your town grow right before your eyes like some Sim City game then I would suggest New Lenox.

As for housing being more costly in Tinley Park... There is a reason for it... Tinley sits in Cook Cty which has much stricter building regs, for instance; no home in Tinley Park is to be constructed of any other material than brick for the lower floor meaning the only sided homes you will see being built in the town are.... well there aren't any, just the old ones that were grandfathered in meaning what? Higher home costs because brick is more $$$. Conduit is another requirement in Cook Cty. Electricians cant get by by just running loose wires through the studs of the walls... In Cook Cty, builders are required to run wiring through steel pipe again meaning MORE $$$. Builders in Tinley and Orland both must also use plywood vs particle board for flooring and roofing which is HUGE in raising cost! Particle board runs about 50% the cost right now of plywood sheething. There is too much more to name, but all these little things add up meaning yes you are paying more for a house, but your house will be built much more sturdy. This is not to say Will Cty homes are shoddily made, but if you were to throw in all the higher end building materials into any on of the Will Cty homes, your home price would be pretty much about the same as in Cook, and you would have higher taxes to boot! YEAH!

All things to consider, but in either case, you can get a great home in either town and both have great schools, just one is still developing and the other is there so what you see is what you get basically.

[At1WithNature]

i just think tinley park and orland park should just mesh into one gigantic driver's nightmare that they already currently are on their own. tinley is infested with too many cars. if you combined the populations of both tinley and orland, i would bet that their populations will combine to reach over 150,000 residents by the 2010 census.

New Lenox is just about 5-10 years behind tinley and orland. so is frankfort. the mokena/frankfort/new lenox area will be just like orland park in 5-10 years. so the traffic problems shouldn't be that much of a concern living in frankfort or new lenox if you're already used to tinley or orland. but to the average person, right now tinley's traffic is pure nuts. and it probably has to do with all of their metra train stations, malls, ect.

i would choose new lenox because tinley will see the spreading urban influence quicker than new lenox will. tinley already is with the robberies and murders. that element slowly spreads like a disease. first taking towns like harvey and south holland, then spreading to chicago heights and to park forest. it has made its' way to matteson, richton park and country club hills. it has started to enter tinley park. frankfort and new lenox are "on deck" so to speak. those areas will eventually see the spreading negative influence within the next 10-20 years. that should give you enough time to raise a family. so in the end, i would choose new lenox.

[355express]

I agree with the "spreading urban influence" but do any of you think that Tinley Park is going down hill, and if so how long will it take till it"s not an attractive town to live in? Just curious as to what all of you think.

[chet everett]

My advice would differs quite a bit depending on price and time frame. My gut is that if you have a solid downpayment of 20% or more and won't be borrowing more than about $210K I would lean toward TP.

If you are going to borrow more OR have lower downpayment I'd lean toward NL, but be carefull that the taxes don't eat you alive today or if they rise 10-15%, which could EASILY happen in just few years.

In neither town would I feel good about going DEEP into the $400K++ range.

I'd also be pretty darned sure that anyplace I bought in this economic climate is going to serve my needs for 5-7 years.

If it too small for kids or my job is less than iron clad I would worry what sort of loss I might take...

I have nearly no concern about safety in 90% of either town.

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by 355express

I agree with the "spreading urban influence" but do any of you think that Tinley Park is going down hill, and if so how long will it take till it"s not an attractive town to live in? Just curious as to what all of you think.

I'm sure what we are all talking about here is the ever famous Lane Bryant massacre that occured in Feb, but you know what folks, these rampages happen all over the country in the places you would least expect.

I mean lets look at some other famous shootings where a lot of people died and tell me if those are in bad areas? De Kalb's NIU shooting, the Omaha Mall shooting in Omaha, NE, Columbine H/S shootings in Littleton, CO, Browns Chicken massacre in Palatine, IL, and there are simply too many more to name, so that being said, those shootings that occured in those areas... Does that make those towns now bad places to live as well? I got news for you everyone... There are nutcases and slimeballs EVERYWHERE, and Tinley Park... New Lenox, Chicago, New York, Little Rock, New Orleans, or where ever are no different. You unfortunantly have to learn to live with it... Its part of the sick society we live in today.

All that said, the fact that recently there was a shooting in Tinley Park should NOT alter your decision to move into the town, because that shooting could have just as easily occured in New Lenox, but it didnt... At least not yet. So is Tinley Park safe??? Yes it is just fine and to be honest, not knocking New Lenox's police force, but after seeing Tinley's police in action after the shooting and seeing their unbelievable pressence in the town vs in New Lenox, along with the throngs of people that both Orland and Tinley draw in on a daily basis, I would feel safer in Tinley now at this point.

I think your chances of getting killed off in a car accident are much higher in the Orland/Tinley area vs being a victim of any sort of crime. So, is Tinley going downhill? No, it is however growing RAPIDLY.

[sbd78]

Originally Posted by NYrules

I'm sure what we are all talking about here is the ever famous Lane Bryant massacre that occured in Feb, but you know what folks, these rampages happen all over the country in the places you would least expect.

I mean lets look at some other famous shootings where a lot of people died and tell me if those are in bad areas? De Kalb's NIU shooting, the Omaha Mall shooting in Omaha, NE, Columbine H/S shootings in Littleton, CO, Browns Chicken massacre in Palatine, IL, and there are simply too many more to name, so that being said, those shootings that occured in those areas... Does that make those towns now bad places to live as well? I got news for you everyone... There are nutcases and slimeballs EVERYWHERE, and Tinley Park... New Lenox, Chicago, New York, Little Rock, New Orleans, or where ever are no different. You unfortunantly have to learn to live with it... Its part of the sick society we live in today.

All that said, the fact that recently there was a shooting in Tinley Park should NOT alter your decision to move into the town, because that shooting could have just as easily occured in New Lenox, but it didnt... At least not yet. So is Tinley Park safe??? Yes it is just fine and to be honest, not knocking New Lenox's police force, but after seeing Tinley's police in action after the shooting and seeing their unbelievable pressence in the town vs in New Lenox, along with the throngs of people that both Orland and Tinley draw in on a daily basis, I would feel safer in Tinley now at this point.

I think your chances of getting killed off in a car accident are much higher in the Orland/Tinley area vs being a victim of any sort of crime. So, is Tinley going downhill? No, it is however growing RAPIDLY.

Agreed, I hardly think Tinley is a bad place to live because of one horrible, isolated incident. Horrible things can happen anywhere, how about the Laurie Dann shooting in affluent Winnetka?

[355express]

I was not talking about the Lane Bryant shootings only but the "urban influence." Just take a look at any Chicago metro map and look at the suburbs to the east of Tinley( C.C.Hills, Matteson, Markham, Harvey, Hazel Crest) and I think you will see a definate urban influance. Oak forest is not even that nice any more. I have a hard time beliving that Tinley is growing "rapidly" seems just about built out to me.