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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Moving to Chicago... HELP!
Hey All,
This east coast girl and her husband are moving to the Chicago area in August, and have NO idea which suburban towns to start looking for homes in! We want the usual: good schools, quiet area, low crime, and younger community, BUT we both still need to be within commuting distance to downtown Chicago (30-40 monutes would be okay...).
Does anyone have any suggestions? I started looking at Rolling Meadows and Addison, but really have nothing to go on. We have a realtor and will be making trips out there, but it would be nice to hear from those of you who know the area!
Thanks in advance!
Lauren
Re: Moving to Chicago... HELP!
Because we're fancy like that.
lucy mae 9.26.11
three square
pinning princess
Without knowing what you're price range is, or if you mean driving or training into the city, I'll just give you some recs and hope this helps!
La Grange, Oak Park, River Forest, Orland Park, Brookfield, Lake Bluff, Schaumburg, Plainfield.
What is your price range? That will largely determine which 'burbs to look at.
I'm partial to the western suburbs, as opposed to the northern ones, since that's where I grew up. Downers Grove, Wheaton, Warrenville, Lisle, Lombard, Naperville, and some parts of Aurora (the more east in Aurora the better. West gets iffy.) All have great schools, great local areas with lots of shopping, nightlife, etc. You can find a very nice 2-3 (maybe 4) bedroom, 2 bathroom house on a little less than a 1/4 acre within a $200-275K price range. All the western suburbs are also within easy driving distance of the city, but you're better off taking the train to get downtown on a daily basis, rather than driving; lots of rush hour traffic that takes forever to drive through.
Also, keep in mind that taxes vary tremendously depending on which county you're in. DuPage and Will counties are west of the city, and have lower taxes (Wheaton and Warrenville in particular have great low property taxes.) Anything in Cook County will be higher in taxes, since that is the county where the City of Chicago resides. Gas taxes, property taxes, sales tax, etc is all more higher in Cook than Will or DuPage.
Thanks for the quick reply everyone!
Price range is between $350k and $400k (we could probably afford a little more, but don't want to get in way over our heads!).
I really don't know much about your public transportation system... can you access it from the outlying suburbs? As for the rush hour issue, I've heard it can get pretty bad, so I guess I'm looking for 30-40 minutes on a "good" day, certainly knowing that it could take an hour.
Also, I heard that DuPage County is nicer than Northwest Cook county...thoughts on that?
For a 350-400K range, you can find some very, very nice places in the suburbs. Warrenville, Wheaton, Naperville, and La Grange are in DuPage County (and parts of Wheaton are also in Will County).
Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, and Elk Grove Village on the north side of the city are also very nice, and you can get a decent-sized home there within your budget as well. All are in Cook County.
All public transportation is easily accessible via suburbs. There are a dozen Metra train lines that run from all points north, west, and south into the city. The train is the easiest and fastest way into the city. There isn't a very large inter-suburb bus network - people mostly drive in the suburbs. Downtown the El and buses are the best way to get around.
I live in Glen Ellyn, I love it. Great schools, Metra station, beautiful tree lined streets. The costs of homes varies greatly- My friend is selling her home for 300 K, however a block down the road the houses are on the market for close to a mil. So you could find a nice place for the amount you want to spend.
I also love Winfield- not sure about the schools but I love the "green" feeling. They also have a Metra station and a "downtown area".
DuPage county has a pretty low crime rate overall.
Schaumburg, Schaumburg, and Schaumburg.........top rated schools (largest district in Il), low taxes, great neighborhoods, best park district, amazing "city/night life", biggest library in Il, close to Chicago, best shopping!....
http://www.ci.schaumburg.il.us/vos.nsf/schaumburg/DKET-585BGS
http://www.parkfun.com/
http://web54.sd54.k12.il.us/
http://www.d211.org/
There is a full display right now, about Schaumburg and it's importance and history, at the Chicago History Musuem
http://www.chicagohistory.org/planavisit/exhibitions
I agree with yellowroses..on everything but Plainfield because that is not only a *** of a commute - the taxes are horrible because of all the new schools built.
If you want to be close - lagrange, western springs, and oak park are great choices. brookfield is actually coming back around nicely - we have friends who live there and their daughters school is good - there are homes in your price range.
I noticed not really any mention of any South Suburbs (minus one mention of Orland Park). Tinley Park is really booming as is sournding areas like Frankfort, Mokena, New Lenox, Orland Park, Oak Forest, Palos Park, Palos Heights. Houses are in your price range. Schools are good. The area is close to many major expressways. Your commute (if by car) with rush hour would be longer than 30 minutes. However there is a great train line that runs into the city. The area is very populated with lots of shopping and dining. Most are in Cook County so as a pp mentioned taxes are higher. Frankfort, parts of Mokena and New Lenox are in Will county.
What type of house/area do you want to live in? Brand new development? Old house with charm? Small community? Bustling populated area? If you decide what type of place you want to live in that can help narrow the towns down for you.
I thought of another area I didn't see mentioned but the houses may be a bot higher than your range - Elmhurst.
Save.
we may need this info, too.
Thanks for all the info.
Thanks for your advice everyone
My husband Aaron and I are going to be coming out to house hunt this Thursday through Sunday. Some of the towns we're going to take a look at this time around (mostly thanks to your suggestions!) are Schaumberg, Rolling Meadows, Glen Ellyn, Downers Grove, and Wheaton.
I don't know if any of you have ever lived on the east coast outside of NYC like we do, but we're in total shock (in a happy way) with what we can get for our money! Out here, a 3 bedroom, 1 bath on 1/8 of an acre would go for around $400K! So needless to say, we're happy with the choices that we have.
Thank you ALL so much for your help...it's really given us a great picture of the communities in the area! Do all of you ever meet up as fellow "nesties"? I could sure use some friends when we get out there...I don't know a soul!
Hey Everyone -
Since you've all been amazing about providing such great information, just thought I'd give you an update!
Aaron and I were out this weekend house hunting, ended up "firing" our realtor (a long and terrible story), and by accident happend on Elmhurst. We fell in love with the town instantly, found a spectaculr realtor who was a relocation specialist, are are moving ahead full speed!
So what I want to know is...anything good or bad I should know about the town??
Hope everyone is well!
Rolling Meadows or Alrlington Heights if ya want the burbs.
Best is Evanston (near Skokie or Lake) or Schaumburg, but can be really really expensive.
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: )?