advice plainfield verses north suburb (Chicago, Arlington Heights: crime, new house, to buy)

[dlmaung]

Hi !

We have been looking to for new home north suburb and south suburb. My husband works in highland park and I work in downtown as part time. We like north and nortwest suburn ( buffalo grove, arlington heights, hoffman estate, elk grove, palatine, plainfield, skokie, morton grove and schaumburg). If we want to buy new house in plainfield, it will take my husband 2 hour to drive to highland Pk. And that means he will have to look for another job. As for myself , i'm working part time and working on getting full time. My question is: Should we buy brand new house in plainfield or buy old 20 yrs old near central of chicago and easy commute to metra?. We have no kids and looking for safe, good house vaule for resale.

[DonkeyTeeth]

What attracted you to Plainfield after looking at all those other NW suburbs? There are definitely new houses to be had for lower prices in Plainfield (and neighboring Bolingbrook), but does it really make sense if your lives revolve around northern areas?

If you're considering something that distance from the city, why not expand north and add towns like Vernon Hills, Mundelein, and Gurnee. You'll find some newer homes at less crazy prices, although probably still not as affordable as Plainfield. But at least the commute to Highland Park will be much more direct.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by dlmaung

Hi !

We have been looking to for new home north suburb and south suburb. My husband works in highland park and I work in downtown as part time. We like north and nortwest suburn ( buffalo grove, arlington heights, hoffman estate, elk grove, palatine, plainfield, skokie, morton grove and schaumburg). If we want to buy new house in plainfield, it will take my husband 2 hour to drive to highland Pk. And that means he will have to look for another job. As for myself , i'm working part time and working on getting full time. My question is: Should we buy brand new house in plainfield or buy old 20 yrs old near central of chicago and easy commute to metra?. We have no kids and looking for safe, good house vaule for resale.

There are plenty of options which are just as affordable as Plainfield but 100x more convenient for your purposes. "Inner ring" suburbs like Berwyn, Forest Park, and Elmwood Park are right outside the City, very nice, safe, and still affordable. If you live in Berwyn, you're downtown in less than 20 minutes. Plainfield? About 2 hours. The northern 'burbs mentioned by Donkey are also good choices, though they will push you pretty far from downtown Chicago.

I don't want to diss PF but there's so much new building going on in that community, I have to wonder about appreciation potential. Traffic is also notoriously horrible in Plainfield, and isn't getting better due to explosive growth.

Your house may end up being older if you move close to the city but I think in light of your circumstances, it's the best option.

[chuckel526]

Hey there,
My husband and I have lived in Plainfield for nearly three years now, and there are some definite up sides as well as down sides.

Positives: You do get a lot of house for your money. Most of the housing is newer, so you don't have to worry about some of the repair issues that you do with older houses. Appreciation actually is going pretty strong out here still -- we bought in July of 04 and our house has appreciated far beyond expectation -- particularly since the market turned since we bought. The people here are really great. The downtown is cute, and there have been several new restaurants that have opened since we moved. And I know you mentioned that you have no kids, but the school district is really trying to stay ahead of growth, they just finished building a third high school, and have begun construction on a fourth. Also, we've never personally had a problem with any crime of any sort. I remember reading a police blotter before we moved and the biggest event was that someone was stealing garden gnomes. They are also allegedly planning to put a Metra station in town, but I think that is still some years out.

Negatives: Traffic can be rough -- especially if you live on the south side of Plainfield. My husband commutes to the north side of the Chicago every day and it can get a little rough -- most days he gets there in about an hour, but he has to leave at about 6-6:30. On the afternoon commute, it HAS taken upwards of two hours (though that is less common than one might think). That positive new school stuff I mentioned? It's reflected in taxes, which are high. It's not an exciting town, and outside of the little downtown, it's like most any other suburb with Targets, Chili's and various strip malls lining the streets.

All in all, it's a nice little 'burb, especially if you're trying to make your dollar stretch. We're happy with what our expected return is going to be on the house...and I think that we'll probably miss the town itself, but definitely not the traffic and the commute!

[bobsmith319]

Well, it seems like you and your husband work far way from each other, which makes this hard. If I were you, try looking for homes in subarbs that are not too far north, and not too close to Chicago. Plainfield is way too far 2 commute every for a job. Try looking at subarbs like Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows, Paletine, and Park Ridge, you commutes will be much shorter this way!