What's so bad about Bolingbrook IL? (Chicago, Aurora: rental, condo, townhomes)

[Karolina1982]

Hello thinking of purchasing home on Old Stone Rd in bollingbrook. Hard to figure out the area. Are you familiar with that area?

[pvande55]

There is a video showing a Bolingbrook officer playing video games while on patrol. Added to Drew Peterson, it doesn't enhance the towns reputation. Video Shows Bolingbrook Cop Allegedly Playing Poker While Driving Squad Car « CBS Chicago

[mattywo85]

Originally Posted by pvande55

There is a video showing a Bolingbrook officer playing video games while on patrol. Added to Drew Peterson, it doesn't enhance the towns reputation. Video Shows Bolingbrook Cop Allegedly Playing Poker While Driving Squad Car « CBS Chicago

Lol who cares....you know how many lawyers I come across daily playing candycrush on their cell phones while in court. My god....get over it.

[chet everett]

I care less about the cops amusing themselves and more about the real problems that plague Bolingbrook -- schools performance is a major concern. Even safety at the high school is a concern. I believe there is a Bolingbrook cop that has already commented on that...

In a general sense Bolingbrook has lots of lower priced homes. Unfortunately too many are lower priced because they are also lower quality -- those built by tract builders in the 70s are rarely upgraded and do not have the appeal of homes built in the same era in nicer towns...

Sadly the effects of the collapse of the housing bubble have hit Bolingbrook HARD -- even the few nicer areas that have higher quality homes have largely not recovered to their pre-collapse prices. This makes it a crapshoot as to what happens if a neighbor that is still underwater gets evicted.

Unless you are confident you are super close to work, are getting a true value and can weather any long term price erosion I would be very cautious about homes in the area...

[doodlemagic]

Originally Posted by pvande55

There is a video showing a Bolingbrook officer playing video games while on patrol. Added to Drew Peterson, it doesn't enhance the towns reputation. Video Shows Bolingbrook Cop Allegedly Playing Poker While Driving Squad Car « CBS Chicago

dont knock a town for one bad officer. its not as bad as the officers who get caught looking at porn pleasuring themselves while setup at a "speed trap" or even better the guys caught searching child porn on cruiser laptops. many police think because they are the law they are aboev the law. there's bad cops in naperville, wilmette, lake forest depts as wel im sure

[doodlemagic]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I care less about the cops amusing themselves and more about the real problems that plague Bolingbrook -- schools performance is a major concern. Even safety at the high school is a concern. I believe there is a Bolingbrook cop that has already commented on that...

In a general sense Bolingbrook has lots of lower priced homes. Unfortunately too many are lower priced because they are also lower quality -- those built by tract builders in the 70s are rarely upgraded and do not have the appeal of homes built in the same era in nicer towns...

Sadly the effects of the collapse of the housing bubble have hit Bolingbrook HARD -- even the few nicer areas that have higher quality homes have largely not recovered to their pre-collapse prices. This makes it a crapshoot as to what happens if a neighbor that is still underwater gets evicted.

Unless you are confident you are super close to work, are getting a true value and can weather any long term price erosion I would be very cautious about homes in the area...

you think bolingbrook home prices will continue to drop? you think bolingbrook will continue to get more ghetto? i can't really see them getting much lower, just its proximity to naperville means it cant get too bad i would think. also seems they are trying to make it better. i think bbrook has a pretty impressive park district and trying to make it a bit nicer with teh promenade.

[ofcjim40]

Agreed about the park district and the Promenade. The problem Bolingbrook mostly has is bad renters scattered throughout otherwise good neighborhoods. It just takes one house on the block blasting music, having junk cars in the driveway or just generally being bad neighbors to taint a whole block, etc. For the most part the serious crime is kept fairly localized to certain areas. It's really not that bad of an area overall. It's just too many people don't have house pride and keep up on maintaining their homes that makes some areas appear rougher than they are.

[Wicket]

Originally Posted by doodlemagic

you think bolingbrook home prices will continue to drop? you think bolingbrook will continue to get more ghetto? i can't really see them getting much lower, just its proximity to naperville means it cant get too bad i would think. also seems they are trying to make it better. i think bbrook has a pretty impressive park district and trying to make it a bit nicer with teh promenade.

It could get more ghetto if it's already got ghetto signs, yea. Why not? It happened in the south suburbs and they had similar demographics.

[djohnson7577]

Been in Bolingbrook a month, everywhere we go, people do not speak, walk past you, bump you without saying excuse me. It is a lovely area, we like living here, but the demeanor, has left much to be desired so far.

[KerrTown]

It's so bad because you might get mowed down by a random bowling ball in the middle of the street. Strike!?! Spare!?! Oh, it's a gutter ball! Can you not throw? Heard there were lots of bowling enthusiasts in Bolingbrook, probably the most bowlers in America or the world!

More entertaining to watch on TV than a L.A. police chase!