A question for all Chicago residents with kids...

[oakparkdude]

Good schools, good location, and low housing costs.

Unfortunately you can only have two of the three.

[ajolotl]

cool urban neigbhorhood, buffer. pick 1.

Really, anyone who wants to move to an urban neighborhood shouldn't be thinking too much about buffers. My problem Oak Park was the cost. It's a great neighborhood. I personally would have moved there in a second but when I looked SFHs from 500-600K (my target range) were fringe, especially for 4 bedrooms. Maybe the market has softened some since but at the time I felt sort of priced out without stretching it a bit. Evanston actually had some slightly better deals when I was looking (and is an even nicer neighborhood because of lake). There is a graveyard to the south for a buffer.