Has anyone heard of Villa Park (the garden village) (Chicago: rentals, violent crime) - Chicago Suburbs - Illinois (IL) - City-Data Forum

KFEG71 · 10-24-2009, 01:12 PM

I'm thinking of moving to Villa Park. It seems to be an affordable little village nestled between Elmhurst and Lombard. Any input would help.

chet everett · 10-24-2009, 04:56 PM

Depending on what is important to you there are some good deals in Villa Park. Some of the solid brick ranches sell for a fraction of what they do in Elmhurst, and there are some charming older homes too.

Schools are not as highly rated as Elmhurst, and maybe a step or two lower than Lombard, but that is something that may not be as important to you. Pretty nice lay out of town, good use of the Prairie Path from most parts of town, decent rail service, not too terrible a mix of rentals. I sold some single family rental properties at good profit, easy for people to like.

Steve-o · 10-24-2009, 05:59 PM

Chet pretty much nailed it. Its a semi-decent town thats not as attractive as its Elmhurst neighbor, but its not the worst place either.

SloopyJ · 10-27-2009, 11:20 AM

My in-laws are long-time residents, and I think the assessment so far is pretty accurate. The area north of St. Charles Avenue is a little less desirable, as housing prices have been stagnant for a long time. This has kept it affordable, but the housing stock is small and dated and the area has definitely seen more nuisance activity and nonviolent crime.

A frequent knock on Villa Park is its lack of a decent downtown core and the unregulated, unattractive mishmash that defines its main arteries (North Avenue and St. Charles Avenue). Still, as you mention, this has kept Villa Park decidedly more affordable than Elmhurst and the location of VP is great in terms of access to downtown, the airport, and the expressways.

babs · 03-01-2010, 07:42 PM

If you want relatively easy access to downtown Chicago via train or expressways in a safe, bedroom community, Villa Park is it. Add deep lots, plenty of varied, attractive, and affordable homes, mature trees, a public golf course, and two bike paths, plus Pace buses, you can't beat it for the price in the Chicago metro area. If you envy the Elmhurst library no problem - your library card is good there and in Lombard as well as at the little Villa Park library. It's only about two miles from the huge new hospital going up near Roosevelt Road, and there are walk-in clinics, and nearby urgent care centers if that's of interest. And if you need to, you can walk nearly anywhere you need to go, including the bus. Really a convenient little place to live.

west336 · 03-01-2010, 10:54 PM

Part of my extended family has lived in Villa Park for two decades and they recently moved to Elgin because they felt Villa Park was slowly "going to the dogs" in terms of crime and community. They are Italian and Polish (a lot of Villa Park is) and many of their friends packed bags and moved away too. There is definitely some prejudice built into their decision to move (unfortunately) but I've spent quite a bit of time in VP and I can say that there are definitely areas that seem to be a little more sketchy as the years went by.

Just an observation that is perpendicular to what has been discussed in the thread thus far, so I thought it may be useful to hear a different perspective.

chet everett · 03-02-2010, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by west336

.. recently moved to Elgin because they felt Villa Park was slowly "going to the dogs" in terms of crime and community...

So that moved to some place that is already GONE ?

I mean, I suppose if you say that they wanted a bigger house that was currently cheaper or something I might see the logic, but I sincerely doubt that anyone who has studied the situation would come to the conclusion that Elgin has lower crime / more tightly knit community than Villa Park...

Folks with a strong desire to have more traditional European ethnic neighbors might find that in some area, but Elgin is not one.

Parts of Villa Park have had some of that, and it might be fading, but for the most part it is not be replaced by those from significantly lower economic achievement.

gardener34 · 03-02-2010, 06:22 AM

Villa park is the way it has always been, doesn't seem to change much. Definitely more affordable.

along north ave. maybe more Latinos. Regarding Brandywine development - is the crime still really bad there? Years ago, friends who lived in there were getting robbed constantly. 3x in one year.

west336 · 03-02-2010, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chet everett

So that moved to some place that is already GONE ?

I mean, I suppose if you say that they wanted a bigger house that was currently cheaper or something I might see the logic, but I sincerely doubt that anyone who has studied the situation would come to the conclusion that Elgin has lower crime / more tightly knit community than Villa Park...

Folks with a strong desire to have more traditional European ethnic neighbors might find that in some area, but Elgin is not one.

Parts of Villa Park have had some of that, and it might be fading, but for the most part it is not be replaced by those from significantly lower economic achievement.

They wanted to move somewhere with a large yard as well, but as I'm sure you know Elgin is HUGE and there are a variety of different areas, some of which have crime and others are completely crime free. They don't live in Old Elgin, and where they lived in Villa Park (between North and St. Charles) things were starting to turn a little and they decided to bolt. Don't ask me why.....they seem to love to be close to their friends and now they are anything but.

chet everett · 03-02-2010, 08:04 AM

I don't doubt that your folks moved, I am just pointing out that in the "big picture" the downsides of moving for the reasons suggested don't hold water. The section of VP between North Ave and St. Charles Rd is certainly not the roughest part of DuPage Co by a long shot, and even the nicest safest part of Elgin is not all that great. I can completely understand the desires of some folks to get a larger chunk of property, and I am fairly sure that the availability of a big lot is still much greater in the Elgin area than in Villa Park, however there are lots of places where you can get a big parcel of land and have much less concerns about eroding prices for about the same costs as Elgin. If schools are not an issue basically there are options throughout the region.

Again, not meaning to pick on any one, just to sort of make clear that Villa Park compares favorably, on the whole, to other towns.