Chicago Nesties
Dear Community,
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.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
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.
Wayy north suburbs- input please!!!
Hi Chicago girls!! I grew up in NW Indiana so I'm pretty familiar with Chicago itself but not the far north side. My husband will be working at the G.Lakes naval base and we would like to buy a home up there. I know some of the areas aren't so great so I wanted to see what you thought. We really want to stay out of Cook County for the high tax purposes. We'll need atleast a 3br, 2bath home as we have 2 children and also good schools.
I have found some cute older homes with character (arts n' crafts or bungalows) that I'd love to fix up. Areas I've seen reasonable houses such as this are Waukegan, Zion,etc. Are these family friendly (safe, parks, etc.) areas? What areas should I totally avoid? thanks!!!!
Re: Wayy north suburbs- input please!!!
I grew up in Waukegan/Beach Park/Gurnee (the little area where these cities come together).
Waukegan has 2 zipcodes and I prefer 60087 - which is the more northern side of Waukegan. The southern side has some sketchy parts (especially south of Belvidere and some south of Washington). Anything north of Washington and east of Green Bay is good. I prefer the areas north of Glen Flora and east of GreenBay. Another nice, older area is around Waukegan High School (Brookside/Grand Ave). For more stately homes, you'll find then along Sheridan, all the way north from Washington.
Zion/Beach Park has boomed quite a bit with lots of new subdivisions off Green Bay & Wadsworth Rd. You're more likely to find newer homes in the vicinity.
I've also lived in Libertyville/unincorporated Lake Bluff for 2 years. Homes are pricier in these areas compared to Waukegan/Beach Park and are relatively easy to get to Great Lakes... just note that Greenbay road southbound and Rte 41 which leads to GL can get some heavy traffic during the rush hours. From what you are looking for, you can probably find it in these areas too.
As for the North Shore burbs (Lake Forest, Northbrook, Deerfield, etc) I've lived in that area for 3 years and worked there for 7 years. You'll find pricier homes and a different demographic from what you'll find further up north. The average family income increases so the homes will be much bigger and more expensive.
Please let me know if you have any questions about specific areas in the Far North Burbs.... having grown up there, I know it pretty well. And good luck with your search!
libertyville is pretty quaint. the older areas of that burb have nice older homes with character. just not sure if you can get under $250k.
lake zurich is similar.
I'm in Libertyville and love it! We actually have our rental property up for sale right now if you are interested in looking at it. My sister is currently living there, so it's being taken good care of. colsen at marykay dot com
I also think you should check out Grayslake and Gurnee. Take Joelen's advice about which parts of Waukegan to stay away from. There are affordable areas in Lake Bluff. You could also check out Mundelein, but that may bring you more west than you'd like to be.
J born 4/11/2011