Downers Grove or Northbrook (Naperville, Arlington Heights: how much, houses, luxury)

[cidu222]

I'm looking for some insights/help into deciding between a move to Downers Grove (the downtown area near the Fairview Metra) or Northbrook. We currently live in the northern suburbs and like the familiarity (doctors, dentists, shopping) of moving to NB. I know Downers isn't that far but it seems intimidating to start over again in a new area. We may or may not be able to get the NB house which is why we kept looking and then found an amazing house in DG.

We need to be close to a Metra stop, in a family friendly area, with good schools and nice neighbors.

I noticed in the threads that not much is said about Downers and people tend to focus more on Naperville and other areas around there like Wheaton or Hinsdale and was curious to find out more about Downers and how it compares to someplace like Northbrook. Is there a reason to choose one over the other if you have found comparable (priced and type) homes in both suburbs?

[chet everett]

I like DG a lot. There is wide range of houses, great Metra access at three stations, a moderately useful downtown (centered west on Main St - Fairview stop is rinky dink, and Belmont is more park and run). That said taxes tend to be a bit steep, schools a notch down from the best that DuPage offers Best High Schools Search - US News and World Report and the variety of houses means there is a bit of a muddled quality to the town -- extreme north edge is older and a big difference from east to central to west where influences shift from edge of Oak Brook to core around Good Sam hospital to western fringe as well a "classic" historic core near downtown to much more tract homes on the south end. Makes it somewhat hard to categorize, but not that different in some respect from Naperville which is probably double in size.

When I think of pluses or at least big difference compared to Northbrook the first things to pop into my mind are the influence of Northbrook Court, which is a pretty unique luxury enclosed mall in the region, and the greater presence of Jewish folks. Sizable difference in household income and median housing prices too: https://www.city-data.com/city/Northbrook-Illinois.html https://www.city-data.com/city/Downer...-Illinois.html

Commute to work an issue? Would not want to move south and work north...

[US-Traveller]

It can feel like a different metro area when moving to the western suburbs. If I were you I would try and stay in Northbrook. Northbrook has better schools, convenience to Lake Michigan, and more in-town that makes it seem like a better choice to me.

[chet everett]

I don't know how anyone could say it feels like a whole different metro area, maybe they just don't get out much. I mean sure there are difference between towns, but honestly to say Northbrook has more in-town than Downers Grove suggests to me that some one is mistaking Downers Grove for another town. It would be hard to say any Downers Grove does not compare favorably to most other suburban downtowns -- Naperville is top of the heap and of course Evanston and Oak Park has greater density, Highland Park has the highest end shopping, and Arlington Heights has the greater mix of dense residential, but working the way down the list things get pretty thin pretty fast. LaGrange has some nice features though LaGrange Rd is very much a thoroughfare, Wilmette is quaint but not very dynamic, scale of other towns like Hinsdale, Western Springs, Winnetka, Glencoe, Lake Forest trails off pretty rapidly as you'd expect in towns with pretty small population...

Convenience to Lake Michigan? Really? Northbrook? Is there some secret tunnel under Glencoe?

When it comes to the over school situation there are some pluses to some towns, but even I have to admit that if the trade off is not extreme between many desirable towns. As much as I loathe the silly numeric rankings of the results of the weak Illinois assesments they do show fairly modest:
Rank 2008-2009 rank change** 2009 percentile Percentile change School District City County % low incom
77 11 77.94 0.6 Pierce Downer Downers Grove GSD 58 Downers Grove DuPage 0.5
26 7 82.12 0.84 Wescott Northbrook/Glenview SD 30 Northbrook Cook 1.6

[cidu222]

Thanks for the thoughts and insights! It feels like a big change to us for some reason so we are still deciding what to do. We love the actual home in DG but would just need to get used to the idea of living in a different area.

[cubssoxfan]

A lot of this decision is going to be personality driven. What I mean is some people are more location sensitive, some more house sensitive and really, it's a sliding scale combining both. How much impact on friends, doctors & your current social support structure will moving have? If the home in Northbrook falls through, why not keep looking? The spring selling season is almost here. I don't understand why the need to move away from your social support structure unless the DG home is a custom built "one of a kind". Then, only you can decide if the location is more important than the home.

[cidu222]

The DG house was nice in that it was just a few years old and we're having a hard time finding something like that in our price range in Glenview or NB. We did find a house we like in Glenview that is a 1980s. In good shape though. We love the NB house but have to keep waiting for it and may or may not be able to get it. We've been looking for about 2 years now...and are anxious to move soon. We could wait until spring and see what else comes on the market, or are debating between a newer house in DG or an older home in good shape in Glenview. I would prefer a newer home which is why we looked in other suburbs but we're leaning towards an older home in the north suburbs right now.

[promis1]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I don't know how anyone could say it feels like a whole different metro area, maybe they just don't get out much. I mean sure there are difference between towns, but honestly to say Northbrook has more in-town than Downers Grove suggests to me that some one is mistaking Downers Grove for another town. It would be hard to say any Downers Grove does not compare favorably to most other suburban downtowns -- Naperville is top of the heap and of course Evanston and Oak Park has greater density, Highland Park has the highest end shopping, and Arlington Heights has the greater mix of dense residential, but working the way down the list things get pretty thin pretty fast. LaGrange has some nice features though LaGrange Rd is very much a thoroughfare, Wilmette is quaint but not very dynamic, scale of other towns like Hinsdale, Western Springs, Winnetka, Glencoe, Lake Forest trails off pretty rapidly as you'd expect in towns with pretty small population...

Convenience to Lake Michigan? Really? Northbrook? Is there some secret tunnel under Glencoe?

When it comes to the over school situation there are some pluses to some towns, but even I have to admit that if the trade off is not extreme between many desirable towns. As much as I loathe the silly numeric rankings of the results of the weak Illinois assesments they do show fairly modest:
Rank 2008-2009 rank change** 2009 percentile Percentile change School District City County % low incom
77 11 77.94 0.6 Pierce Downer Downers Grove GSD 58 Downers Grove DuPage 0.5
26 7 82.12 0.84 Wescott Northbrook/Glenview SD 30 Northbrook Cook 1.6

What about Downtown Elmhurst? Pretty nice.