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I'd like to give my 2 cents. I grew up in Schaumburg from '78 to '95 and then on and off through college and after through '01. It's about as vanilla and safe a suburb that exists. Born and bread in the nw suburbs, the farthest south I ever went was bloomingdale through 2001. I bounced around the north side of the city through college (rogers park, humbolt park, lakeview, wrigleyview, uptown, 13th and western. The first time I ever went to homewood was a in 2006. We bought our first house in 2006, in homewood. We chose homewood after considering every surburban option when house hunting. We bought in homewood for the value.
Which village is better?
Flossmoor does have nicer neighborhoods, but the villages are so intertwined (considering I come from schaumburg that's 20sq miles and intertwined w/ hoffman estates and the surrounding suburbs - homewood is only 5sq miles) homewood or flossmoor isn't a factor for me. Your quality of life will be dependent on the home and taxes, not whether homewood or flossmore because there's little difference one mile to the next mile. Floosmoor has better name recognition w/ nicer neighborhoods, but also higher property taxes and barely a down town. But so what, if I lived 2 blocks south in Floosmoor, I'd still go to homewood's downtown. It's all the same to me and probably to most people that didn't grow up here for 20 years as such people might notice subtle nuances that I'll never notice.
Which village offers the most diversity, what are the ethnic makeups?
There probably is a difference, but you'd never know what those differences are when traveling through or being in one village vs the other. It goes back to my explanation above. The villages are small and fairly intertwined.
What are the different neighborhoods for these villages, what’s the difference in them (distinctive characteristics), in addition are there any we should avoid (sections/boundaries/cross streets), which ones should we be looking at?
If you're considering floosmoor as an option, your price point is high enough that you're not going to be shown anything or consider anything shown to you that would warrant concern for a bad area. I don't believe there are any areas you need to worry about. There might be a street or two that you don't find attractive or appealing or that don't have homes that offer the yard space or square footage you're desiring, but there aren't areas that you would avoid due to safety concerns.
Which areas in each of these villages are more prone to flooding?
Some people can give you specifics, but by and large (and compared to schaumburg and every other suburb I'm familiar with) I don't consider homewood/flossmoor to be prone to flooding. Every neighborhood has lower spots that a home buyer might consider a potential issue with heavy rain, but I wouldn't worry more than this. Old town homewood has foundation issues because the homes are old, but this is home specific and can be remedied if not already.
What types of activities are offered (dance, gymnastics, or other), and how diverse are they?
Everyone's probably already gone on and on about the rec facilities and park district so I won't expand much. One thing I do like are all the scheduled activities that you can sign up for. This is something Schaumburg and hoffman estates offered. I wasn't sure if homewood would when we first moved here since the population was much smaller than schaumburg.
Which village has the overall better reputation and value for the money?
House value is homewood. It's still cook county taxes, but flossmoor taxes boggle my mind.
Have there been any major/minor crimes within the last 6 months, and if so what were they?
None that I have heard about. I feel as safe in homewood as I did in schaumburg. Yes, the surrounding suburbs aren't great (particulary harvey and chicago heights, but both are relatively distant. Neither seem to creep into our area. And I don't consider chicago heights that bad. Yes, there's an element in areas, but those areas are 15 miles away and I don't work there or do my shopping there.
(I'm sure overall crime is less than Chicago), but all places have crime, what type of crimes happen in these two villages?
I don't know. I never hear about crime nor do I ever see police activity that indicates crime issues. We shouldn't, but we keep our cars unlocked. We don't always close the garage. We don't have any problems. It doesn't mean a teenager won't swipe something one day, but we live in a neighborhood with families who all work and take care of their homes and enjoy their lives in homewood.
Lastly, does anyone have any negatives or bad experinces--again I'm looking for recent incidents like last 6 months to a year. Thanks.
I don't have any bad experiences.
Take my answers for whatever they're worth. I wanted to post my thoughts because I think my perspective might be different from most.
Since coming from Schaumburg, a Naperville-esque suburb, if I read the negative posts on this thread I would stear far clear of H-F because it doesn't sound like anything I am accustomed to in my safe, vanilla existence. I've been living in Homewood just north of downtown flossmore for 3 years and nothing could be more from the truth. I really like Homewood. I would probably like living in Flossmoor more because that means I'd have a really nice house, but my quality of life (separate from housing affordability limitations) is identical whether I lived in H or F. I feel extremely safe here. I really like the neighborhoods and the community. H-F as much of a small town feel as any suburb of chicago can have (i think).
I watch the village board meetings regularly. Separating the topics, the village is run by people that care. The village is clean and cared for. I would raise a family in homewood in a heartbeat. I think it's a great place to grow up and would have preferred having my childhood here rather than in schaumburg - and I had a great childhood in schaumburg.
A lot of people say homewood is much more ethnically diverse than it once was. I've had people I work with who are familiar w/ the south side tell me this. Okay, I guess that's a change. I don't know what it was like 10 or 20 years ago, but I can tell you my experience. Whether black or white, everyone that I interact with within homewood has been as nice as everyone that I interacted with in 20+ years in schaumburg. In fact, I've commented many times that people here are nicer than that I am used to in Schaumburg. People will be friendly and make small talk here (whether it's a gas station stop or grocery store or blockbuster, etc).
I don't know about the schools here. I went to Hoffman Estates High School. In my 4 years there the school received a significant influx of section 8. Yes, it changed the demographics of the school, affected attendance levels on a school wide basis and dropped school wide test scores, but it didn't affect my safety, education, or experience. It didn't affect the quality of educators the school employed. It didn't make schaumburg or hoffman estates a bad school. I left high school 13 years ago. I don't believe the hoffman estates has gone down the drain in the last 13 years.
I considered the surrounding suburbs (areas) before moving here. This is what I determined for myself. Chicago Heights is what it is. It's far enough away and isn't ever going to encroach onto h-f. I'm not worried about anything east to Indiana. Harvey is a concern, but I feel there's a strong enough of a middle working class footprint expanidng through h-f,olympia fields, hazel crest, and west to tinley and orland and frankfort that I don't worry. I believe the expressway does act as a physical barrier. I believe the village evidences municipal management that demonstrates the future maintenance of our current standard of living and municipal governence and services.
I don't care about ethnic diversity. I have found it to be a positive experience for me in homewood.
Sorry for the rambling. Good luck.
It's 11pm, I'm going to take my dog for a walk to downtown floosmoor and back. We'll be up at 6am to do it again at the forest reserve and later in the day at the community dog park. Love going to the dog park.
Schaumburg...sorry but I don't think you can compare ANY southern cook county burbs to the northern ones. Southern Cook County Burbs are mainly black where the northern ones, like Schaumberg are mostly white and hispanic. They even have more asians than black people in most northern suburbs. Seriously...think about that. Most of those northern burbs have more people from China than black people! I just had to laugh. I mean there really is no comparison whatsoever to the southern cook county burbs which are majority african american. Look at some of those northern and some of those western burbs...they're like 2% or 3% black...LOL. All southern cook county burbs are basically a minimum of 39 or so percent black. You can't compare the northern and southern burbs at all...and most (matteson, richton park, country club hills, chicago heights, harvey, and the list goes on are at the very minimum 60-80% african american with no diversity whatsoever. So, you can not even begin to compare Homewood to a town that has twice as many asians than blacks such as Hoffman Estates.
And what are you talking about Chicago Heights never encroaching into H-F???!!! You do realize that about 25% of HF high school students are from Chicago Heights, right? That town generates a lot of professional athletes like New Orleans Hornet Julian Wright.
Last edited by At1WithNature; 05-19-2009 at 03:24 PM..
Take my answers for whatever they're worth. I wanted to post my thoughts because I think my perspective might be different from most.
Since coming from Schaumburg, a Naperville-esque suburb, if I read the negative posts on this thread I would stear far clear of H-F because it doesn't sound like anything I am accustomed to in my safe, vanilla existence. I've been living in Homewood just north of downtown flossmore for 3 years and nothing could be more from the truth. I really like Homewood. I would probably like living in Flossmoor more because that means I'd have a really nice house, but my quality of life (separate from housing affordability limitations) is identical whether I lived in H or F. I feel extremely safe here. I really like the neighborhoods and the community. H-F as much of a small town feel as any suburb of chicago can have (i think).
I watch the village board meetings regularly. Separating the topics, the village is run by people that care. The village is clean and cared for. I would raise a family in homewood in a heartbeat. I think it's a great place to grow up and would have preferred having my childhood here rather than in schaumburg - and I had a great childhood in schaumburg.
A lot of people say homewood is much more ethnically diverse than it once was. I've had people I work with who are familiar w/ the south side tell me this. Okay, I guess that's a change. I don't know what it was like 10 or 20 years ago, but I can tell you my experience. Whether black or white, everyone that I interact with within homewood has been as nice as everyone that I interacted with in 20+ years in schaumburg. In fact, I've commented many times that people here are nicer than that I am used to in Schaumburg. People will be friendly and make small talk here (whether it's a gas station stop or grocery store or blockbuster, etc).
I don't know about the schools here. I went to Hoffman Estates High School. In my 4 years there the school received a significant influx of section 8. Yes, it changed the demographics of the school, affected attendance levels on a school wide basis and dropped school wide test scores, but it didn't affect my safety, education, or experience. It didn't affect the quality of educators the school employed. It didn't make schaumburg or hoffman estates a bad school. I left high school 13 years ago. I don't believe the hoffman estates has gone down the drain in the last 13 years.
I considered the surrounding suburbs (areas) before moving here. This is what I determined for myself. Chicago Heights is what it is. It's far enough away and isn't ever going to encroach onto h-f. I'm not worried about anything east to Indiana. Harvey is a concern, but I feel there's a strong enough of a middle working class footprint expanidng through h-f,olympia fields, hazel crest, and west to tinley and orland and frankfort that I don't worry. I believe the expressway does act as a physical barrier. I believe the village evidences municipal management that demonstrates the future maintenance of our current standard of living and municipal governence and services.
I don't care about ethnic diversity. I have found it to be a positive experience for me in homewood.
Sorry for the rambling. Good luck.
It's 11pm, I'm going to take my dog for a walk to downtown floosmoor and back. We'll be up at 6am to do it again at the forest reserve and later in the day at the community dog park. Love going to the dog park.
Thanks for the low down, to be honest many of your comments are why we choose H/F. However, I've found that most people REALLY don't know anything about the south suburbs, other than the warped view they get from the news. But as Scotty pointed out, "most are very surprised when they come to H/F," so thank you for your honesty. I must admit however, it is rather depressing having to get off at I-57 and driving down Dixie Hwy to H/F--such an eye sore (wouldn't want to be coming from Chicago after a late nite out, and going that way at 3am), but I suspect it would depend on where you live in H/F that would dictate your route in. On another note, since we are getting ready to close, I've noticed there are a lot of fees, albeit cheap, for like everything, but hey if it keeps the streets clean, and local gov't funded by all means. I was a little taken back however, at the thought of paying for a bike and garage sale permit .
New question for the forum, if it turns out not to be terribly expensive, do you think I would **** off neighbors too much if I fenced in my yard? I've noticed there aren't many fences in H/F, but have been told that price is a factor because of larger lot sizes. Aslo I'm still looking for a reputible (flooring, fence, door/window) contractor, anyone have one they can recommend who is insured and has refrences?
Schaumburg...sorry but I don't think you can compare ANY southern cook county burbs to the northern ones. Southern Cook County Burbs are mainly black where the northern ones, like Schaumberg are mostly white and hispanic. They even have more asians than black people in most northern suburbs. Seriously...think about that. Most of those northern burbs have more people from China than black people! I just had to laugh. I mean there really is no comparison whatsoever to the southern cook county burbs which are majority african american. Look at some of those northern and some of those western burbs...they're like 2% or 3% black...LOL. All southern cook county burbs are basically a minimum of 39 or so percent black. You can't compare the northern and southern burbs at all...and most (matteson, richton park, country club hills, chicago heights, harvey, and the list goes on are at the very minimum 60-80% african american with no diversity whatsoever. So, you can not even begin to compare Homewood to a town that has twice as many asians than blacks such as Hoffman Estates.
And what are you talking about Chicago Heights never encroaching into H-F???!!! You do realize that about 25% of HF high school students are from Chicago Heights, right? That town generates a lot of professional athletes like New Orleans Hornet Julian Wright.
Hmmmm I'm starting to wonder about you--you've always got something "intresting to say" But in chimming in, you are right there is no "true" comparsion here, more like apples to oranges. However, he was only using Schaumburg as a refrence point because he knows it well, and grew up there. Trust me, I don't think anyone would EVER confuse Schaumburg with H/F!!! Let's see it doesn't exactly emit the warm and fuzzies, isn't as culturally diverse (in terms of acivities) as it could be, lots of cutty cutter homes, SOME people aren't terribly nice, and in many cases down right rude (don't stare me down in the parking lot or checkout line, without saying anything or worse yet giving me a fake Smile), use your words and say hello. On another note, I'd have to disagree with your statment here:
"And what are you talking about Chicago Heights never encroaching into H-F???!!! You do realize that about 25% of HF high school students are from Chicago Heights, right? That town generates a lot of professional athletes like New Orleans Hornet Julian Wright."
As long as H/F continues to have residents and a police deparment that cares about what's going on and who's doing what, there will be very little undesirable activity creeeping in. Oh and yes I know that the Police can't be everywhere, but it starts with the residents, that's the problem with SOME not ALL prodomintly Black neighborhoods today, too little people care anymore and don't speak up. This is often why crime goes unchecked and eventually get out of hand. I don't see this as being a problem in H/F as there are too many working class residents who won't stand for such things. Now unless they all of a sudden move, and are replaced by the ignorant sort I doubt the "marauding band of evildoers will prevail."
Also not sure why you keep painting "these doomed as doomed can be scenarios," (the Whites are leaving, the Blacks are coming, and the Asians, Hispanics, and others are not far behind). The world we live in, though not free of racist idealogies, is and forever will be what we make of it. Residents Black, White or whatever, are the ones that shape these neighborhoods. Futhermotre it is unfair to single out a group of people because of a few knuckeheads. I've read several of your post and you often seem very critical when it comes to the topic of race in regards to neighborhood demographics and other--what are you really trying to say?
It is true that MANY Southern Cook County Burbs are mainly Black, but not ALL, and to SOME extent have taken a turn for the worse. Again it's the residents that have allowed the knuckeheads to overrun the streets--people stopped caring, and the ones that haven't lost hope. Try to be a little more objective in your post, we all know you are a little uptight and similar to "Carlos and Carmen Vidal" subjects of the Machine's song There But For The Grace Of God I Go, and would prefer to "find a place...somewhere far away with no Blacks, no Jews and no Gays," or for that matter any ethinic minotrity. Try to relax--I'm sorry the world as you see it, and the one that currently exist is causing you stress, but it is what it is--we have to live together, and besides there are bigger issues at stake than who's moving where and why
Chicago_60611...I hope you end up in either Homewood or Flossmoor... you'll be happy with either one! They are both great towns now that the white-flighters have left, lol. At1withnature is probably one of them and has been bad-mouthing them ever since! I have daughters (4) who have gone through the Flossmoor School system and have thrived. My youngest is about to graduate from the dreaded Parker Jr. High and I have only positive things to say about her experience there... great teachers who care and plenty of extracurricular activities. She has managed all A's in spite of the trauma of going to school with black kids(gasp! lol). All of my daughters have scored in the top 3% of the nation on standardized test scores including the ACT/SAT's. My three oldest attend(ed) U of I - Urbana/Champaign and said that their classes there were easier than at H-F so saying that H-F has gone down the crapper is total BS! Look at US News & World Reports ranking of high schools in the country and H-F is always in the top 5% of IL schools. Not bad, hmmhhh?? We live in Old Flossmoor and absolutely love it... we can walk to the downtown, train, library, parks, schools. We feel totally safe here... in fact we don't lock our doors until we go to bed at night... totally true. The people who move to Homewood/Flossmoor(black, white, whatever) move here to get a small town neighborhood atmosphere with beautiful homes at reasonable prices and that is exactly what they get. Some people just can't believe that white people still buy in a racially diverse town but that isn't true. We know plenty of families that have/are buying in our town. My oldest daughter is actually in the process of buying a place here and we couldn't be happier for her. Just my two cents on your original question... even though it sounds like you've already decided! Good Luck!
Thank you for your honest insights, and opnions. I wish more people were like you on this forum.
60611, you can wonder about me all day if you want to. The bottomline is every single day of my life I am in the southern cook county burbs. I need to get out of there (I'm in Chicago from 8-5). Bottomline, is those communities are filled with people who neglect their properties, turn a blind eye to crime, don't value education, and generally aren't as well behaved as others. Especially, when you compare them to their northern counterparts. The far western ones as well. I'm tired of being around negative nellies all day long. People moping through the day who clearly don't care about anything because they are fat slops who have developed physical problems, such as joint problems, because they don't know what the word exercise means.
Life is but a state of mind. The day after Obama won, it might of been the most easy going day of my life. All my neighbors and people I am around on a daily basis had a positive frame of mind and were PERFECT! Too bad it only lasted 1 day before they returned to their "woe is me" negative state of mind.
I don't like living around a million fast food resteraunts with a ton of liquor stores with strip clubs like jimmy's sprinkled in here and there. And having dope boys set up shop on corners a mere mile down the road from me. I know this is just fine for many people, but not for me but I am currently stuck in it and will be until I get my funds up. I threw 10 G's into my 2007 lac with tv's, bluetooth, 20 inch rims, lambo doors, LED's, etc. I'm starting to think that was a bad idea because people want to jack me plus I could have spent that fifty thousand on moving to the Deep South.
For every Homewood in the southern cook county burbs, there are 10 Dolton's. Keep that in mind. It's funny that you make assumptions about me. 60611, I don't think you are looking at it from a reality stand point. If you were, you would see the ill wills that plague the communties that I talk about. You try to say I am like some no name song that appeals to you and your posts makes it sound like you think that I don't like gays, hispanics, etc. That's false. There is nothing more in this world that I love than a Latina. That's why I am in Miami all the time (check out the pics in my profile). My current girlfriend, Annie, is from China. I met her downtown. If you want to talk about intelligent...it doesn't get any smarter than Asians. I would love my neighbors to be asians. They really value education.
Plus, I work with some gay people in the Loop. No big deal because they have similar value structures as I do as far as valuing education, respecting yourself and others, as well as not looking for the easy way out. I wish the same could be said for the majority of the residents in Park Forest, Chicago Heights, Glenwood, and Harvey. It's not about where someone is moving, these communties in the Souther burbs have been what they are for decades now so having concern where certain people are moving never really has caused me concern. That is, unless the city of Chicago knocks down some more projects and sends their residents my way again (obviously Chicago's finest who reside in the Projects always go to the Southern Cook County Burbs).
And when you say it is unfair to single out a group because of a few knuckleheads, and then go on to say that those areas that we describe are so bad because the residents of those communities allow it to happen, you contradict yourself and not only fail to make much sense but you actually end up supporting my opinion! It's easier for you to dismiss me as some mindless bigot than it is to actually open your eyes and realize.
Last edited by At1WithNature; 05-22-2009 at 08:17 AM..
Nice little piece about Homewood and Flossmoor businesses on 190 North tonight. Great PR!
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But in chimming in, you are right there is no "true" comparsion here, more like apples to oranges. However, he was only using Schaumburg as a refrence point because he knows it well, and grew up there. Trust me, I don't think anyone would EVER confuse Schaumburg with H/F!!! Let's see it doesn't exactly emit the warm and fuzzies, isn't as culturally diverse (in terms of acivities) as it could be, lots of cutty cutter homes, SOME people aren't terribly nice, and in many cases down right rude (don't stare me down in the parking lot or checkout line, without saying anything or worse yet giving me a fake Smile), use your words and say hello. 
On another note, I'd have to disagree with your statment here: 
