winnetka?? Please help. (Glencoe, Kenilworth: rentals, low crime, homes)

[canmarsa]

Hi,how are you? I am living in fresno,ca and im looking a good place to live.I´ve read a little bit about winnetka,seems a good place .I am not interested in buy a house,just rent.So my question is.What do you think about it?,is a nice place to raise a family?,it is safe?.

thanks you all.

[chet everett]

If you read up at all about Winnetka you almost certainly would have learned that is a very desirable town on the North Shore with a very high percentage of owner occupied homes that are quite expensive and a very low crime rate. It will be a very difficult place to find more than a handful of rentals and many of those will be astronomically expensive.

[pvande55]

Winnetka is one of the few suburbs to have its own Electric service. This may have been done to discourage industry from locating there. Good schools. Some complain about lack of parking at the Metra stations, but if you get used to walking a mile, you won't have a problem. It is such a great place to live that Joe Walsh, the winner of the 8th district GOP primary, chose to live there even though it's outside the District.

[Paige65]

Great place to live. I'd live there if my roots weren't established elsewhere.

[OakBrookMom]

My boss grew up in Glencoe and still has a group of friends from New Trier high school that all moved back to that north shore area to raise their kids. The teachers in the group only have high praise for the level of education they received. Since there are only a handful of single family rentals under 3000/month you may want to expand your search to Kenilworth or Glencoe which are also smaller towns if you don't find what you want. Of course the more you pay the more options you have but there is rarely a large selection of homes in Winnetka - it is a small community and most homes are owner occupied as another poster mentioned. Just be forewarned - most rentals now are not long term, they are only doing it because if the home doesn't sell there are huge costs, especially taxes and maintenance, associated with carrying a property even if it is owned outright plus if the home is in trust (many are in this area) while the purpose of this asset may be income production given the resale market in the future it may be in the best interest of the beneficiaries to sell. So the risk is getting settled in a community and then having your rental sell in a few years and not finding a suitable alternative. If you think there are limited options now - just wait until the market settles.