Chicago Suburb (Naperville, Arlington Heights, Evanston: how much, houses, buying)

[MomtoMal]

I was wondering if anyone living in a Chicago Suburb is from a Milwaukee Suburb originally, and if so can you recommend an area down here that may be similar or offer similar qualities. Originally from Brookfield, WI and husband from Hartland, WI. Deciding between Northern or Western Suburbs where we can get a nice house around 600K to 700K.

[ccjarider]

We moved here last year after 15 years in Sussex. I worked in Brookfield and wife worked in Hartland. We ended up buying in Arlington Heights mostly because it was close to my work in Mt. Prospect.


We enjoy the area quite a bit. Folks for most part have similiar midwestern values and lifestyle although I think this area is more on the liberal side than Waukesha County. (that is taking some getting used to. I am a life long uber-conservative. )

By similiar do you mean people or yards/houses?

[MomtoMal]

Thanks for the reply. We are both conservative too (maybe from our parents), but nonetheless, being in a liberal community isn't a deal-breaker for us. We moved to Gurnee two years ago from Chicago (have been down here for 5.5 years altogether). We did it so we were closer to our family now that we have a daughter, but we are finding it is just too far from the city. My husband works in the Loop. Anyway, Libertyville seemed similar to Hartland, but we just can't afford a nice house there without getting in over our heads. We really have looked everywhere from Glen Ellyn, Barrington, Wilmette, Evanston, Grayslake, etc. I will look into Arlington Heights. A Northwest Suburb might be a nice balance between WI and the Loop if we can afford a nice house that doesn't need too much work. Thanks again!

[ccjarider]

Well I guess everything is relative, but at your price level I think there is some very nice inventory available in the NW suburbs. Prices have continued to fall since we moved one year ago.

Generally yards are smaller than Milwaukee area. That was fine with us as we were downsizing anyway.

Of course my idea of nice may be different than yours. To me, $400K is alot of money for a house but that's just me.

A lot of people here take the metra into the loop for work. Perhaps that is something your husband would entertain.

We can be in Paddock Lake in just under one hour and if we leave after rush hour, we can make it to Menomonee Falls in 1 1/2 hrs. It is really not a bad trip at all to go back to Milwaukee to visit.

[cubssoxfan]

From my house in Arlington Heights, I can make it to the west side of Milwaukee in 1.5 hours (except evenings when rush hour adds another 20-30 minutes). I can be downtown Chicago in 50 minutes non-rush hour and about 1:15 in rush hour. Metra has 2 Arlington Heights stations and can get you downtown in under an hour, stress free. District 25 and 23 are ranked among the best elementary districts in the state and HS district 214 is well regarded also.
I would not say AH is liberal, it's mixed. I see placards for both parties on the lawns before election day. If you respect other opinions and debate politely you will have no issues. I'm a Republican but my neighbors are Democrat-we get along fine.
There are some good deals on home prices, you will be able to find many options in, or under, your price point. Here is a link to Lake Arlington, I love being in walking distance AHPD - Lake Arlington (http://www.ahpd.org/Parks&Facilities/LakeArl/LakeArlington.html - broken link)
The Park District and Library are also outstanding.

[ccjarider]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

I would not say AH is liberal, it's mixed. I see placards for both parties on the lawns before election day. If you respect other opinions and debate politely you will have no issues. I'm a Republican but my neighbors are Democrat-we get along fine.
.

Yea I agree with on the liberal/conservative thing. AH is pretty mixed. Overall though, after having spent more than a decade in Waukesha county, there can be no debate that Cook is definetly on a different political spectrum.

Also, as a hunter, I get a few "looks" from neighbors when they visit the house and see the gun collection. I don't recall that ever being any sort of issue in WI.
There is an antigun vibe here.

I have come to the conclusion that it stems from the fact that a lot of people here in Metro Chicago never had any family exposure to shooting/firearms. It is not that they are firmly against these things, they just really have no knowledge of the topic.

[MomtoMal]

I will look into Arlington Heights for sure. It is funny about the gun thing. Everytime we get "up north" to my parent's cabin in Northern WI, my husband goes to the shooting range with my dad. He just bought a Harley too. Even if we're in Illinois, we still enjoy passions we had in WI.

[MomtoMal]

I forgot to answer these questions:

Yes, my husband takes the Metra to the Loop for work.

And Yes, we like the bigger yards and general more open space of WI, but we realize it isn't really an option here unless we have major money or want to live far away from the city.

Thanks again!

[middle-aged mom]

Arlington Heights is tops for commuting. Express trains are less than 30 minutes. It has a terrific park district, too. The thing about Arlington Height is that it feeds into 5 different high schools, Hersey, Buffalo Grove, Wheeling, Prospect and Rolling Meadows. People prefer different schools, for different reasons.

You might want to consider comparing/contrasting how much more house and land you can get for your money, in the greater Barrington area. Express commute time runs about 45 minutes. The overwhelming number of homes feed into Barrington High School which makes for a tight community.

[almost3am]

Originally Posted by MomtoMal

I was wondering if anyone living in a Chicago Suburb is from a Milwaukee Suburb originally, and if so can you recommend an area down here that may be similar or offer similar qualities. Originally from Brookfield, WI and husband from Hartland, WI. Deciding between Northern or Western Suburbs where we can get a nice house around 600K to 700K.

I will be moving from Waukesha County to the burbs of Chicago, probably this summer, and we have looked at a bunch of different places, such as AH, Glenview, Northbrook, Evanston, Glen Ellyn, Elmhurst, Wheaton, Naperville, Lisle, and a few others. I can only give an opinion from our searching, not actually living in the communities.

Anyway, my wife likes Naperville & Lisle a lot, so I bet we end up west and I'm okay with it as it has a bunch of express trains to Union Station. In the beginning she really liked Glenview, but for homes we liked the prices were pretty high for us. We also liked AH, especially near the downtown. My issues with the west is that it adds extra time to the drive back to MKE and we are far from Lake Michigan, but in the end those are probably minor issues for us.