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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.
Need home commutable to Deerfield
Might be moving to IL and want to live in a great city that is commutable (under 30 minutes) to Deerfield. Would be even better if there was a train to take from home are to Deerfield--is it even possible?
We want to live where we don't feel totally in the suburbs but that it has a great town feel with upscale shopping, great dining and easy access to Chicago. Will start having a family soon and would love to find a community with other moms and lots of kids?
Which city would you recommend to live and why? I know Naperville is rated top but it's way too far to commute to Deerfield every day. All your advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks Chicago Nesties!
Re: Need home commutable to Deerfield
Well, a lot depends on your budget, but I'll give you my take on a few of the surrounding towns for now and if you want to provide more info I would be glad to help. DH and I live in Mundelein, which is about 10 miles from Deerfield and is a town of about 30K. It has some shopping of its own and is right next to Libertyville (quaint downtown with lots of shops) and Vernon Hills (mall and tons of chain restaurants). We have great access to the interstate and side streets that can get you to Deerfield in no time. There are also metra commuter trains that travel between the suburbs and the city (www.metrarail.com) but unless your office in Deerfield is right by the train station, it's easier to drive. If you're wanting to stay under $300K on a house, then Mundelein is a great choice. It is one of the few northern suburbs that you can purchase a single family home for under $300K still and it's a great place! Coincidentally, we have our home listed if you want to take a peek http://www.joeguli.com/address.php?property_ID=448 and we're very flexible on the price. It's a great starter home and the neighborhood is really ideal (walking distance to train, restaurants, bike trails).
Deerfield, Northbrook, and Highland Park are all fairly pricey with updated or new homes going for over $1 million. You can still find some single family homes or townhouses in the $300K - $500K range but usually they are smaller and outdated (I have spent an entire year looking at houses in these areas in our own search, and this is just based on what I have seen). If you go a bit further north to Libertyville, new homes are going for $700K and up (typically). Again, you can find an older home that hasn't been updated much in the $400K range. Once you get north of Libertyville, the prices come down quite a bit, but that kind of puts you out of your 30 minute commute range.
I hope my two cents were helpful! Good luck!
Betsy
Evanston
We are in Libertyville and love it. Tons of new young families are coming to the area. I'd have to disagree a bit with the pp about getting an older, outdated home for $400. I think for 400, your options really open up. I grew up in Vernon Hills, the schools are good, but it's very commercial. Areas of Mundelein are good, but you have to be careful and the schools aren't quite where they should be, imho. If you want to go a little further, Grayslake might be an option for you. They are doing really cute things with their downtown area. But my vote is for Libertyville. You should check on realtor.com just to see what's available right now in each area.
Hi Ladies! Thanks for your input. I have done a little research on Northbrook but never visited and I haven't heard of Libertyville, but will check into it.
We have been to Deerfield once and it was kinda weird...some homes were really old and outdated but right next door or across the street a home had been re-done and worth 2-3x the other houses..it just didn't seem to make sense? Perhaps we looked in an odd area...
It would be great to take the Metra to Deerfield then drive to the office (minutes from Metra). Do the Metra parking lots let you leave your car overnight...say you drive up Monday then take Metra home and thru Fri then Fri evening you drive your car back home for the weekend - is this possible/common?
We live in Los Angeles now so we are used to high prices. A starter home where we live now is $800k+ --- however we are thinking of renting for a year to really get a feel for different areas before we buy.
What are your opinions of Evanston, Skokie, etc. Evanston looks great and I think it's on the Metraline too? We definietly want a place where you can be outside walking the neighborhood with your kids, etc but also want to be close to the city or have a great "downtown" in the city we end up living in. Thanks for all your input!
I think Evanston is adorable. Houses are higher, but seeing from the cost of what you are coming from, it'll be fine. They have a really cute downtown, too.
Skokie is "eh", imo. It's a much older, established neighborhood. A ton of my older relatives live there. I'm sure there are areas with younger families, though.