Close to Evanston, gay-friendly, budget -- where would you live?

[linicx]

There is a long held thereory in real estate that the best buy is the worst house in the best neigborhood. If repairs were minor rather than structural, if could be fixed and flipped at profit. While was true 50 years ago, and true before the bottom fell out homes and easy loans, it is not true today in the economy. There is also no guarantee you can sell any house in 5 years anywhere unless it is a luxury home in a very desirable neighborhood. Even that is no guarantee. HOuses are not selling in Malibu or Beverly Hils.

The advantage to renting is two fold. First, you are not paying real estate taxes Two, if you do not like the house, the location, the schools or the landord you can move and worry about paying two mortgages. A side benefit is renting gives you the option of time. By the time you have rented for a year, the housing market will probably be entirely idfferent than it is today.

[Hatchetman]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The better schools in CPS have some test scores that are quite high, frankly leading the state results if that is important to you: http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2009-10/50168344.pdf (broken link)

If your kid is one of the smartest 1%, he/she will have a good chance of getting into one of those schools!

[inthemarket2]

Originally Posted by chisub

We're basically looking for the exact same thing and have made the same observations and have the same questions that you do. While we're a straight couple, a community that is gay-friendly is a big plus and something we want for our son (he turns 1 this weekend!). Congrats on the new addition!

Thanks, Chisub! We're very excited. Good luck on your search too! Hopefully some of the real estate experts around here will share their knowledge with us on some of the big issues.

I definitely agree with you about not wanting to buy somewhere with sub-par schools and feeling forced to move in 5 years when the kiddo starts school. And I would love a yard and some of the greener, fresh-air feeling you can get in the burbs...so the search outside of Chicago proper continues for us...

[inthemarket2]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

You mentioned one of the plus points of Glenview as having Metra access to the city. Just as a useful FYI, Evanston also has excellent Metra access to the city. In fact, Evanston has three different Metra stations. There's a station in NW Evanston @ Evanston Central Street, a station in downtown Evanston @ Evanston Davis Street, and a station in southern Evanston at Evanston Main Street. All three of these stops are along Metra's Union Pacific North Line which basically runs along the lakeshore towns most of the run into the city. The Glenview stop is along the Milwaukee North line which is a bit more inland during its run to the city. Hope this helps!

Thanks, Reppin! We do like Evanston, but think we're limiting our search to the NW based on the schools/safety issues, and unfortunately finding that a lot of the affordable (to our price range) properties are pretty far west of the Central Metra station (many right along Central). But if we find the right place, I think it is a compromise we might be able to make (Central bus => Metra). We drove around there last weekend and it is definitely an appealing area and it remains on the list!

[inthemarket2]

Originally Posted by linicx

There is a long held thereory in real estate that the best buy is the worst house in the best neigborhood.
...
While was true 50 years ago, and true before the bottom fell out homes and easy loans, it is not true today in the economy.
...
By the time you have rented for a year, the housing market will probably be entirely idfferent than it is today.

Thanks for the thoughts, Linicx. And yet, it feels like such a waste, from a first time homebuyer's perspective, to rent for now and skip the bottomed out market and tax credit. How could it possibly be smarter to wait for prices to go back up and then buy at a higher price? Maybe I'm missing something though.

Two more questions specifically re: Glenview, for anyone who might know:

1. What is the extent of the flooding risk? Are there safe/less safe areas, or is the risk particular to specific properties? Is flooding only a concern for houses with basements?

2. I understand that portions of Glenview used to be a naval air station, that was recently redeveloped. Is there any concern about environmental contamination from the previous use? I tried to Google without success, but perhaps those from the area might have heard of whether this is a concern...?

[chet everett]

The Naval Air Station at Glenview was a huge mostly EMPTY chunk of land. The portion that had aircraft storage /maintenance facilities was always "ship shape" and the whole process of demolition / construction was done by closely supervised nationally know building firms. Most of the former Naval Air Station was converted to the shopping areas at the Glen and the surrounding area. The majority of construction nearby was of large tracts of very costly townhomes. There is also a fantastic Children's Musuem and extensive Park District facility with indoor pools. Environmental issues are not a concern.

As regards to flooding there are no major issues regardless of the whether a home as a basement. Decades, if not centuries, of construction techniques in this region has produced a lot of expertise in constructing home with water tight foundations that yield very habitable below grade living space. If one does have sump pumps it is prudent to invest in a well designed back-up that is not reliant on electrical service from the utility companies. Generally high capacity batteries are part of such a solution although many people also opt for back-up generators.

Good Luck!

[chisub]

That's encouraging about the flooding situation Chet. To the OP, you can basically tell once you step foot in a basement if there is a flooding issue. I know from growing up in a house that had such issues.

While we are thinking of staying in the house for 5-7 years, we would like to try to settle in an area. We may not be in the house throughout school, but in an ideal world we could kind of plant our roots a little bit in a community.

I also question why it would be better to rent for a year when the market and interest rates are where they are at now? Otherwise we'd just stay put completely since our mortgage is lower than renting and just suck it up with the longer commute (we live on the Naperville/Aurora border).

[Ophidian14]

Originally Posted by inthemarket2

And yet, it feels like such a waste, from a first time homebuyer's perspective, to rent for now and skip the bottomed out market and tax credit. How could it possibly be smarter to wait for prices to go back up and then buy at a higher price?

How do you know the market has "bottomed out"? It's anything but "bottomed out"...

Unlike the stock market (which is up, what, almost 50% since March), the real estate market isn't going to turn around on a dime. It's going to take *years* to work through all the foreclosures and other inventory before prices start to move again.

I think once the housing market is behaving "normally" again, you'll know (and not too late...)