Deciding between north shore villages for our "forever ish" home
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When I read his post, Lake County seemed like the perfect fit. Although, the whole North Shore fits well. It’s such a beautiful area. It feels like you’re in a different world, with so much greenery, nature, beautiful homes, and the shore, yet you’re still in close proximity to Chicago. There also nice local downtowns, especially in the north shore suburbs in cook county.
I’d pick your desired school first and go from there. There’s a lot of good private schools in the area so you won’t be as geographically limited if going there route. I went to an ethnically but not economically diverse private middle / high school in the City after going to lower school in Deerfield. We wanted our child to go to a good public school.
We wanted New Trier. Typically Stevenson HS >= New Trier > Glenbrook North >= Glenbrook South and Lake Forest High School > Highland Park HS >= Deerfield HS. HP’s schools have taken a dip in recent years but all of these are good schools and all are outclassed by the elite private and/or boarding schools.
Once you have a school district in mind, you might then want to choose based on middle / lower schools.
I like the people in Lake Forest and Deerfield the most out of all these suburbs and it sounds like you’d vibe with them.
You might want to look into Deerfield as the old money feeling in the North Shore suburbs isn’t nearly as strong. Lake Forest is much more conservative politically and much less Jewish than the rest of the North Shore but has the highest percentage of “old money”. Deerfield is very Jewish and full of champagne liberals. But there’s much less old money.
We chose a house in Avoca district 37 as this feeds into New Trier and we liked the lower and elementary schools. It’s a weird district that has pieces of West Winnetka (super rich) West Wilmette (working middle to upper middle class), Northfield (more conservative and working middle class) and East Glenview (working middle to upper middle class) so there’d be a little racial and economic diversity. It’s not super diverse. There are a decent amount of Asians, some Latinos, and few blacks but way more than the 1 black kid that was in my elementary school.
Our subdivision has a few teachers, a few Doctors, a radio show host, a few contractors, and a few retired folks. Housing stock, at least pre COVID, ranged from maybe $500k-$2 million. If I won the lottery tomorrow I’d stay here and buy the lot next door. Or maybe buy in Lake Forest as Cook County’s COVID rules were grossly unethical (but still better than Australia’s)
To the OP - that's a pretty solid recap. It looks like you know the area well, and are on the path to making an informed decision. I wouldn't look to this forum for advice or guidance on which one of those cities is best. Go with what feels 'best' for you - you got this far, right?
My answer: if you're looking within a mile or so of the lake, the spreads between towns won't be significant enough for you to worry about, especially if you're in the price points you say you are.
Side rant: I've spent a lot of time on the North Shore and I'm not 100% sold on the 'premium' of prestige and livability that many North Shore proponents/residents seem to endorse.
I don't think they are miles ahead of some of the premier Western suburbs: Hinsdale, Naperville, Wheaton, Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, etc. Don't get me wrong: North Shore is very nice, and the downtowns are solid; but IMO, some of the Western 'burbs have downtown cores that rival or beat some of those on the North Shore. Wilmette is going to drop a character-destroying bomb on their downtown with that Optima development, yikes. The Western 'burbs lack the lake of course, but for me, I actually prefer that: warmer inland temps in the summer, colder in the winter with less lake effect snow.
On another side-note: I have noticed that working-wealthy professionals who are not from Chicagoland tend to skew and gather on the North Shore. Whereas Chicagoland-natives who come into money tend to be more prevalent in the West/Southwest corridors, broadly DuPage County (Oak Brook-Hinsdale-Naperville-Downers Grove-ish). I've always wondered why, I have some theories, but would be curious to see if anyone has noticed this as well and what the hypothesis is, if they agree.
My answer: if you're looking within a mile or so of the lake, the spreads between towns won't be significant enough for you to worry about, especially if you're in the price points you say you are.
This is highly accurate. It's really largely the same price points and same crowd along the lakefront in each community.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NYEddy
Wilmette is going to drop a character-destroying bomb on their downtown with that Optima development, yikes.
Optima has built in almost every single North Shore community including at least three in Wilmette already without destroying the character. Wilmette's downtown has long been lackluster, so any kind of increased density should be welcomed. We are also talking about a community that already boasts several lakefront high rises from the middle of the 20th century, unparalleled on the North Shore.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NYEddy
On another side-note: I have noticed that working-wealthy professionals who are not from Chicagoland tend to skew and gather on the North Shore. Whereas Chicagoland-natives who come into money tend to be more prevalent in the West/Southwest corridors, broadly DuPage County (Oak Brook-Hinsdale-Naperville-Downers Grove-ish). I've always wondered why, I have some theories, but would be curious to see if anyone has noticed this as well and what the hypothesis is, if they agree.
I don't know if that is accurate or not. On my cul-de-sac, people from outside of Illinois are definitely in the minority.
I'm going to come right out front and say I realize this is a 1st world problem and I'm not here to humble brag, despite what people might think. I really would like some input.
If you feel the need to vent about the rich getting richer or something, feel free. But I hope others will take the question more seriously.
With that out of the way...
This is a long post - if you want to jump to the punchline, scroll down and you can see what I'm perceiving (pure perception and largely based on others input to me -- I'm a blank slate here, so don't take offense if you don't agree with it, just tell me where and how I'm uninformed so I can correct). If you want additional background, feel free to read the next several paragraphs!
For the first time ever, I've taken a new job within blocks of my old one (normally I cross country or at least state lines) and not a small part of that was because I really feel like the Chicago area is going to be a place to settle down. Hate the politics and the future that holds, but it's near family and it "feels" right (can't really describe it). My ancestors are from here as well -- 4-5 generations back all of my foreign born ancestors settled in either Chicago or Detroit.
My wife and I are early 40s and have 3 kids under 10. I grew up in a small town in SW Michigan and spent most of my life up until now moving farther and farther away from it. I've moved house about 15 times since college and my wife and I have spent 6 years solid living overseas (mostly Asia). I like to think I'm extremely open minded about who I live with and hang out with. I've lived with and made friends with people of every major religion and nationality. I'm a small town white kid, my wife is an army brat white/Hispanic mix.
We've been renting but have decided it's time to buy and settle down. I'm sure I'll be in Chicago for at least another 3-5 years with my current employer and I deeply hope its even more than that, but stranger things have happened (many times over the past 20 years in fact).
When we first came, we chose to rent in Burr Ridge, based on my reading of some posts on this forum that Hinsdale was similar to Birmingham, MI (where I lived for a while and rather enjoyed). As our lease comes up in May (with the option to extend month to month 1 additional year through May 2023), we started looking.
Hinsdale was the obvious choice, but after many discussions with co-workers and people I hired who have relocated, every. single. one. of them (across 2 major companies) in similar situation (40s, young kids, reasonably successful) chose to live in one of the north shore communities after seeing homes in both western and northern suburbs.
So we went up there with a realtor and LOVED it. Now I'm struggling with figuring out which one to live in. The easy part is we're not interested in anything in Chicago proper nor north of Lake Bluff, nor in an area that does not butt up against Lake Michigan.
In terms of price range, if it's not on the water and/or isn't > 10,000 we can afford it. I'm not concerned about price generally. We could go even higher and get lakefront but that would be a bad choice if I lost my job or the economy tanked... or the political apocalypse in Chicago happened. And I prefer to see my family and not get lost in one of the 15,000 sq ft monstrosities so that makes it easy to write those off as well.
Also, my wife and I are very much from working class upbringings; we don't integrate well with socialites and generational wealth folks (just don't have anything in common) but in general we get along with anyone who goes to a day job and spends time thinking about retirement accounts and paying bills every now and again.
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Area impressions from North to South
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I've talked to lots of people but there is very little concrete they can offer about any given area. Either there just isn't much difference, or, I feel but no one will say, they're holding back because their comments may be considered socially unacceptable... but I have managed to dig a few things out.
Lake Bluff - nice area, a lot for your money, reaaaaally far commute to the city. Not a good choice unless you WFH or spend lots of time on a plane somewhere
Lake Forest - really nice area. Still get a lot for the money. Most right leaning / strong Christian values area in North Shore. From what I've been told, it's the best choice if you want North Shore but don't want Cook County. I keep hearing there is a lot of generational wealth though, which is a turn off.
Highland Park - nice area, but not as nice as the others. From people I've talked to I could tell they always considered this a Tier 2 area compared to the others in north shore. But we're talking Mercedes S class vs Mercedes-Maybach S class. Not like Chevy Spark vs Mercedes S class.
Highwood - retail / commercial area, not so much a north shore residential place to live.
Glencoe - really nice area. But it's farther from the city than other options and I've understood that historically at least it's a bit racist in that people won't sell their homes to people of other religions in some cases. Anecdotally this seems to be people of a certain religion who won't sell to people of certain European descents. We'll leave it at that. Won't affect me but not sure I'd want to live in a community like that.
Winnetka - this one seems to be the one the others are compared to. I've heard this is the gem of the north shore and has none of the downsides of the other areas. Not sure I should believe that or not, but so far nothing in particular has come up.
Kenilworth - basically Winnetka but a smaller town where everyone knows your business (for better or worse) and home exteriors are outdated because building and zoning laws are brutally restrictive. The "richest" area in Chicago but only because the number of people is so small and the real estate is so close to the water. Winnetka and others are just as wealthy but since they also have land mass west of Green Bay road, they average lower, so it's not actually a "thing", if such things actually mattered anyway.
Wilmette - Haven't heard too much, but when I have it's mostly to be called the Tier 2 or perhaps even Tier 3 of the north shore by folks.
Evanston - Great place, if you like college towns. I've done the Ann Arbor thing, I've had my fill at this point. Perhaps if was a single professor vs a family man...
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Final thoughts
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I'm looking for a place which has the best resale and is the most desirable to the most people in case I need to leave (stranger things...) which has beach access, great schools, is going to have other professionals with families, isn't *offended* by diversity because of my wife (whether it is actually diverse or not is irrelevant to us), and is somewhat insulated from the disaster brewing in Chicago.
I think that leaves me with Lake Forest and Winnetka with the tie breaker going to Winnetka since it's closer to downtown (or to Lake Forest if Cook County is really too screwed up for me to stomach).
Really interested in hearing where my information is wrong or I'm missing things so I can have an unbiased overall picture of the puts and takes of the areas.
Thank you!
I won't ask what your politics are but I will just caution you that the Chicago area has gotten pretty progressive, even traditionally conservative areas like DuPage County. A leftist Cook County prosecutor who bases prosecutorial decisions on her own personal concept of social justice has won two elections by a significant margin. Whether that was temporary or whether it will shift back a bit remains to be seen.
Also, if you view Chicago as a brewing disaster, all the suburbs will be impacted by this too. You used to be able to isolate yourself from the festering problems in Chicago's disadvantaged neighborhoods by moving to a rich neighborhood or near suburb. But in today's climate, it's much harder to do that, as the old practices which contained it are under strict scrutiny. Even nice areas which were previously off limits to criminals are now seeing carjackings, robberies, and even shootings. If Chicago does not get a handle on this, I see this impacting the suburbs more and more.
And the suburbs are of course dependent on the Chicago economy. So if you feel Chicago Is going to decline, then that is going to negatively impact your property value even on the North Shore.
I mention all this because you say you're looking for a forever home and you sound a bit apprehensive. So I figured I would play Devil's advocate, if you will. But good luck to you wherever you choose! It would honestly be good to see us get more political diversity. We need it.
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