Lincoln Park/Lake View family vibe? (Chicago, Naperville: real estate, mortgages, credit card)
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Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I'll look into the other neighborhoods and towns mentioned. Hoping for an urban feel and to put the kids into public school, but hard to balance this with needs of kids (especially kids used to the feel of the suburbs).
I grew up in Roscoe Village, and while to each their own and I won't judge people who move to the suburbs to raise kids, I think being raised in the city in a good to great neighborhood is great for kids. All my friends who grew up in the suburbs have told me how they really prefer (and many times like more) being friends with peers who grew up in the cities than the burbs. Some of those reasons are that the city kids seem to be more cultured, more aware of the real world, have more street smarts, and tougher, not in a fighty way, but more in the way that they feel they are less sensitive.
Of course this applies really just to the good to great neighborhoods of Chicago, because there are as many where it's horrible for kids to grow up in. But seems like you have the luxury of choice of pretty much anywhere in the city that you want.
All my friends who grew up in the suburbs have told me how they really prefer (and many times like more) being friends with peers who grew up in the cities than the burbs. Some of those reasons are that the city kids seem to be more cultured, more aware of the real world, have more street smarts, and tougher, not in a fighty way, but more in the way that they feel they are less sensitive.
This really has less to do with the fact the kids grew up in the city but more about the parenting/home environment. There are plenty of kids living in a protective 'bubble' regardless of whether or not they live in a city.
This really has less to do with the fact the kids grew up in the city but more about the parenting/home environment. There are plenty of kids living in a protective 'bubble' regardless of whether or not they live in a city.
Of course but I also think you are underplaying how much more exposure you get being raised in the city than in the burbs. But let's be honest the suburbs alone are a bubble. You are probably going to find more kids living in a protective bubble in the suburbs than in the city. For starters, a kid can be completely independent in the city because it's much easier to get around. When I was a kid, when I was 11-13 years old, the neighborhood kids and I would ride our bikes to the beach from Roscoe Village and also to downtown. The city was our playground. We also would ALWAYS go eat at Mongolian BBQ on Clark with the allowance we were given. This required us riding our bikes through Lakeview, Boystown to get to Montrose beach. Literally every time we went to the beach we were exposed to the LGBT populace on a regular basis since we had to go through that neighborhood each time. We would take Roscoe to Broadway and then up north. Sometimes we would ride our bikes to Chinatown, sometimes we would ride our bikes to Albany Park where I had friends too. We learned from an early age to be careful too about the dangers of city living. While nothing ever happened to us, we knew all the stuff going around us.
If you are a kid living in Arlington Heights, what is there really to explore there via foot or bike, that exposes you to more and different types of people and cultures?
I currently have younger siblings (twins) who are 15 years old. They are obessed with Pokemon Go and they have explored the city extensively with their friends since they have had the app. They live in Bucktown with their mom, but they will go explore Humboldt Park to catch Pokemon, on the 606, by the lake, in Wicker Park, in Lincoln Park Zoo. They do this all without having to have parents driving them around, using the bus, train or just walking. Again, can kids really have such a diverse and interesting experience that live in Lombard or Wheaton as my siblings have had? You can't compare those two experiences at all! My cousin lived in Lincoln park with her daughters, and her girls after school would hang out with their friends at Starbuck's or just walk up and down Lincoln Ave hanging out, people watching and what not.
I think unless you grew up in the city, it's hard to understand what it's like and what an enriching experience it is.
Last edited by frimpter928; 05-18-2017 at 12:03 PM..
Why skip the city when you have that kind of money?
Here are my thoughts as my cousin raised her two daughters in Lincoln Park and I have friends that grew up in Lakeview.
Lincoln Park is a great elementary school (where my cousin's kids went) and is more family oriented than Lakeview overall. But I also tend to think Lincoln Park can be a little more inclusive, homogenous, and stuck up than Lakeview. If that's your thing go for it.
Lakeview overall is not as good for families as Lincoln Park is with the exception of the western part of Lakeview. East of Southport I would not recommend for families (more for college aged kids and party animals). Between southport and Ashland I would say it's decent for families. West of Ashland I would say it's good.
But in truth? I would consider Roscoe Village. If you really want a neighborhood that is urban, rich with amenities, great schools, great location, walkable, safe, and family oriented, Roscoe Village is your best bet. Roscoe Village is almost like a paradise for families looking to live in the city and it's not cheap. While it's not quite as expensive Lincoln Park, and more on par with Lakeview, an updated single family home (I am assuming that's what you are looking for) in Roscoe Village costs about $800-$1 million. Also you have Bell Elementary one of the best schools in the state in Roscoe Village, and you also have Lane Tech high school (but your kids have to test to get in) which is also one of the best high schools in the state and country.
One thing to also note my cousin who raised her girls in Lincoln Park loved it, but also got tired at how crowded it can get, the traffic in the neighorhood and dealing with her kids.
If I had a 2 million dollar budget for a house I would buy in Roscoe Village. I think it's just a better place if you are looking to raise kids.
Finding an updated SFH in either Bell or Coonley boundaries under $1M would be difficult these days, especially east of Western Ave. I don't know about Audubon or Hamilton. Homes in that price range in Bell/Coonley tend to get snapped up before hitting the open market.
Finding an updated SFH in either Bell or Coonley boundaries under $1M would be difficult these days, especially east of Western Ave. I don't know about Audubon or Hamilton. Homes in that price range in Bell/Coonley tend to get snapped up before hitting the open market.
I could totally see that. I was just suggesting Roscoe Village because the OP was looking for a family oriented neighborhood, and Roscoe Village is probably the most family oriented neighborhood city on a higher caliber in the city. I always people joke around about Roscoe Village being overrun by strollers.
Some of those reasons are that the city kids seem to be more cultured, more aware of the real world, have more street smarts, and tougher, not in a fighty way, but more in the way that they feel they are less sensitive.
Heh, I'd say tougher in a fighty way as well. In my group of friends, two grew up in the city and one grew up in "the slums of Winnetka". Guess who the soft one is?
Heh, I'd say tougher in a fighty way as well. In my group of friends, two grew up in the city and one grew up in "the slums of Winnetka". Guess who the soft one is?
I could see that. I meant it more, if they see a crazy homeless person screaming on the train or something, most folks raised in the city are like "whatever" and don't even get nervous and can stand their ground to the crazies. We were exposed to all sorts of crazies growing up. Actually across the street there was this crazy guy, I believe a maniac, about 1-2 times a week in the mornings would walk back and forth down the block for about 20 minutes just screaming crazy stuff. He was harmless and was around for a good few years. Nobody in the neighborhood feared him or bothered him. People would walk their dogs per usual. So the crazies really don't scare me much or my friends who grew up in the city. Then I have people who are from the burbs who tell me that places like Portage Park Irving Park are ghettos.
This one girl I knew who was raised in Winnetka told me Wicker Park was a ghetto, because of all the tagging, dirtiness, and sketchy characters she saw there. She told me she tries to stay away from it. You see someone raised in the city would never say something that ignorant. More probably coming from someone raised in the burbs.
And I am not saying that all people raised in the suburbs are like that. I am just saying that being raised in the suburbs gives you a probability of acting and being that way much higher than someone raised in the city, just due to the lack of exposure.
Just to make one more point about being raised in the city vs suburbs. I went to Lane Tech and played sports there. The team I was on was mostly white and latino, I would say evenly split and we all got along very very well. I will never forget that we went up north to play New Trier, and the New Trier players began speaking to us in a "ghetto" way asking what gangs we were a part of. They all tried to imitate us on how they THOUGHT we spoke just becuase some of us were latino and from the city. Shows you the ignorance, seeing as Lane Tech is a superior school in academics (ranked #6 in the state and one of the best in the country) to New Trier, maybe not by a lot, but shows the ignorance nonetheless. It was one of the first time that I really felt discriminated against. The white guys on our team? They defended us against the pretty damn homogenous and ignorant New Trier team.
In my school we had kids from all socioeconomic classes, from all over the city, from all different types of races and ethnicities. And pretty much everyone got along and groups mixed. There were friends I had who were from wealthy families and lived in nice houses in Lincoln Park or a high rise like Lake Point Tower, and then friends who lived in some of the worst parts of Humboldt Park. Those classmates from Humboldt Park would go to parties in classmates who lived in the wealthier areas and vice versa.
You will rarely get those types of experiences in the burbs....
Finding an updated SFH in either Bell or Coonley boundaries under $1M would be difficult these days, especially east of Western Ave. I don't know about Audubon or Hamilton. Homes in that price range in Bell/Coonley tend to get snapped up before hitting the open market.
We're considering a move to Lincoln Park/Lake View or similar neighborhood with our 2 kids, one elementary school-aged (and the younger in pre-school).
We are very fortunate to have a large budget (~ $2M) for housing, so I'm not worried about that aspect. But we'd be moving from a *much* more suburban environment in Michigan, and I'm trying to figure out what family life would be like in an urban area. (I have lived in big cities in the past, but not with kids.)
Looking for feedback on general vibe of these neighborhoods and public schools. Are folks happy with the schools, like Lincoln Park Elementary? Are the parents of the students pretty chill, or are people angling for Harvard from grade school?
Are people nice/welcoming to newcomers? Do kids play outside (on the street? in parks?)? What do kids do for recreation in the winter?
Again, just looking to round out the picture of day-to-day life. Thanks very much for any help!
I would probably second what another poster wrote and look at Evanston too, which you probably know is a collar suburb (home to Northwestern university). It's suburban with lots of families, but so close to the city that you get the best of both worlds. If you want something even more traditionally suburban, you could look at Skokie which isn't far from Evanston.
Depending on what you're looking for in terms of homes, your budget is only moderate for Lincoln Park, although for Lakeview your budget would likely go pretty far. If you were interested in Lincoln Park, there are plenty of outdoors activities around the park year-round and there are plenty of down to earth families.
You don't mention anything about whether you are considering moving for a potential job or where you'd be working, but there are an endless number of traditional suburbs in the Chicago area, similar to where you are in Michigan that would fit within your budget. Although the commute can get really bad, so a lot would depend on where your jobs are.
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