Moving to Illinois...literally anywhere but Chicago or it’s suburbs (Rockford: for sale, condo)

[Jules8116]

Hello there to anyone who can help! My husband, 2 small children ( 4yo and 6 mos), and myself are planning on moving from Scottsdale, AZ to ANYWHERE in Illinois, that isn’t Chicago or it’s suburbs. We love Chicago, my husband is from there, we just can’t afford it. There is only so much online research you can do on these towns, and you never really know how these little towns are without hearing from the people who live there! We are open to all info anyone can share. We seem to be gravitating toward the college towns (but we are 40 and we don’t drink, so bars/nightlife etc, doesn’t really matter to us.) Tell us about your town and why it’s great or what towns you know about that aren’t so great (crime, bad schools, etc)Just a nice, safe town with good schools. My 4 year old is on the spectrum so any info on that would be helpful as well. Thank you to anyone who can respond.

[flamadiddle]

Galena, IL


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQgcSWZPJKI

[Jules8116]

Thanks for the reply! While we would love Galena, it is also too expensive.
We’re looking to buy a house outright and have a strict
Budget of $120,000.

[jasperhobbs]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

Galena, IL


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQgcSWZPJKI

I live about 5 miles from Galena and since the pandemic a lot of the homes that had been for sale have been bought. People that can work from home relocated and love the small town charm that Galena offers. Original poster does not mention if they will be looking for employment or bringing it with them. Dubuque Iowa about 15 miles away has more employment opportunities so some commute.

[personone]

Just curious of what you are looking for in a home, because you can find homes in Chicagoland for $120,000. They will obviously not have all of the amenities that you may desire at that budget, but there are likely a few homes in that price range. If you desire a certain number of rooms, SFH, modern, in a suburb with lots of amenities, then you won't find it at that price range. But doing a search in Cook County (including Chicago) brings up many options and DuPage County brings up a few older condo-type options. Lake County (to my surprise) brought up some decent looking options under $120K, and that is a very nice county with great schools, nature, greenery, etc.

Again, these aren't the most modern homes, and may not be in the nicest neighborhoods, but there are options. It would be helpful to know what specificities you have for a home/neighborhood.

Also, you don't mention anything about jobs or where you and your husband would be working, as traffic can be really bad. Most people move to the general region of where they will be working. Are you just trying to get an idea of options at this point?

[Sunbiz1]

Originally Posted by Jules8116

Thanks for the reply! While we would love Galena, it is also too expensive.
We’re looking to buy a house outright and have a strict
Budget of $120,000.

The budget helps, checkout Oregon or Dixon.
You mentioned college town, not familiar with; but MacComb might work where Western IL is located.
https://cityofmacomb.com/

Best wishes finding your new home.

[Chicagoland60426]

Rockford, Peoria, Champaign/Urbana, Bloomington/Normal, Decatur, Springfield, Metro East(part of big city metro but cheaper than Chicago), Quad Cities, Quincy, and Kankakee will have homes in your price range.

While you have left Chicagoland out of the list, you do have options in your budget in south Cook, Will County, and Lake County north of Lake Bluff.

[OyCrumbler]

Rockford, maybe. Has a downtown with the river there, and a pretty easy trip to Madison, Milwaukee, or Chicago. There are some somewhat sizable forest preserves in the area, so there's some landscape variety in the area. There's also some possibility that a train service to Chicago will be up and running some time this decade.

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

Rockford, maybe. Has a downtown with the river there, and a pretty easy trip to Madison, Milwaukee, or Chicago. There are some somewhat sizable forest preserves in the area, so there's some landscape variety in the area. There's also some possibility that a train service to Chicago will be up and running some time this decade.

A safer option than Rockford might be straight west at Freeport. It's a decent size town far enough from any Chicago influence where the housing should be as affordable as anywhere else in Illinois. It's a relatively short drive to bigger Rockford as well as Wisconsin towns like Platteville and even Iowa towns like Dubuque.

I haven't been there for quite a few years, but have had relatives living there and several of the surrounding small communities. It always seemed like a nice clean town.

Rockford does not have a very good reputation as to crime.

[NVMove]

Hi -

If you are interested in a college town, the obvious choices are Champaign/Urbana, Bloomington/Normal, Carbondale, or McComb.

Of those, Champaign/Urbana has the major research university if that is appealing to you. (and the largest student population)

One thing to keep in mind, especially with your budget for your home, is that property taxes in Illinois are significantly higher than they are in Arizona. If you haven't already looked into that, take a look at a page like: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-wit...ty-taxes/11585

I just took a look at Zillow for Champaign County and there are houses available at your budget, especially in the outlying towns from Champaign/Urbana.

Just a side note that there is AMTRAK that runs to Chicago through Carbondale, Champaign, and Bloomington. Champaign and Bloomington both have airports. I don't know about Carbondale.

It's colder in Illinois than Arizona!