Moving to Chicago
02-23-2016, 06:05 AM
#11
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Joined APC: Jul 2008
Posts: 154
And I wave 'HI ROD!' to that a**hole and his cellmate Jeffrey Skilling every time I head to Costco. Bastards.
02-23-2016, 06:29 AM
#12
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Joined APC: Feb 2011
Posts: 137
Plenty of great areas inside the city as well, complete with the "suburban" feel. Ravenswood Manor and Lincoln Square (not to be confused with Lincoln Park) are two fantastic neighborhoods ridiculously family friendly with great schools, and I would move there in a heartbeat if the wife would let me. Ravenswood Manor especially; you'd be walking the neighborhood completely oblivious to the fact that you're inside Chicago city limits. And you know it's good; Federal Prisoner 40892-424, Rod Blagojevich, called that neighborhood home, and rarely spent any time at the Governors Mansion in Springfield while he sold, I mean held, office.
Outside of the city limits, I also liked Oak Park, as well as Elmhurst. Glen Ellyn, Oak Brook (McD's headquarters) Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills offer some exceptional choices.
Outside of the city limits, I also liked Oak Park, as well as Elmhurst. Glen Ellyn, Oak Brook (McD's headquarters) Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills offer some exceptional choices.
I live in Ravenswood, and just bought a house there. It's a great quiet neighborhood with lots of new stores/restaurants/bars moving in. You can walk to everything and has public transport options. Plus you're only a mile from the lake and 30mins via train to downtown. I drive or take the bus to the blue line, and can make it in 40mins door to door
02-23-2016, 07:03 AM
#13
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Joined APC: Nov 2013
Position: A320 Left seat
Posts: 2,591
A decent compromise between city for fun and 'burbs for schools/kids is being close to a Metra line. You might look at Geneva, Batavia or St Charles. All are less than an hour to the parking lot. Schools are almost all good, some are great, try to avoid U-46; it's an amalgam of Elgin, Bartlett, Wayne and a few other towns.
Be aware, annual property taxes will be about 2% of your house's purchase price. All of the collar counties are at or near this rate, Cook is lower.
Enjoy the honest, cheap, effective government !
Be aware, annual property taxes will be about 2% of your house's purchase price. All of the collar counties are at or near this rate, Cook is lower.
Enjoy the honest, cheap, effective government !
02-23-2016, 07:06 AM
#14
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Joined APC: Jun 2005
Position: Under the Frog
Posts: 1,125
I live in Ravenswood, and just bought a house there. It's a great quiet neighborhood with lots of new stores/restaurants/bars moving in. You can walk to everything and has public transport options. Plus you're only a mile from the lake and 30mins via train to downtown. I drive or take the bus to the blue line, and can make it in 40mins door to door
The pizza joint off of the Rockwell CTA stop...
Damn I miss living in the "Two Five".
(Just not so much this time of year.)
You cannot go wrong with Ravenswood, Lincoln Square and Ravenswood Manor. (That's the area south of Lawrence Ave, west of Ashland and East of Kedzie.)
02-23-2016, 07:29 AM
#15
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Joined APC: Mar 2012
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Posts: 2,171
02-23-2016, 08:22 AM
#16
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Nobody mentioned it, so I will. You normally go to work once a week, which allows one to be further out. If kids are in the future that may be a consideration.
There are a fair amount if us up in WI, personally I'd much rather be North of the 'cheddar curtain'.
There are a fair amount if us up in WI, personally I'd much rather be North of the 'cheddar curtain'.
02-23-2016, 09:01 AM
#17
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Joined APC: May 2011
Position: A320 Captain
Posts: 479
Oh yah, you betcha (sorry, had to, FIB by-laws). You're exactly right, there are great communities and schools well within comfortable short call range. Wisconsin is a functioning well-governed state.
02-23-2016, 09:40 AM
#18
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Joined APC: Sep 2013
Posts: 940
We recently moved up to Chicago and are renting while we house hunt. When I got hired here a while back, we decided that me commuting wasn't a good option and of all the base choices Chicago made the most sense (until the Seattle base reopens).
That being said, we have a lot of new hires coming on board and I would like to hear from them as well as some of the old timers as to where we should settle down in Chicagoland.
We are looking for a younger suburb with some diversity, good schools (we plan on having kids), nice downtown, etc. that is reasonably close to downtown. We rent in Naperville now, and although it is nice, it feels a little to isolated.
We have been looking in Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, and Downer's Grove. I'm thinking about expanding the search to Oak Park as well (I hear it has sketchy areas but it's a great location). I don't need to be on the airport blue line.
I know there are older threads that discuss this, but I'm looking for some fresh opinions. Thanks for the input. Go Hawks.
That being said, we have a lot of new hires coming on board and I would like to hear from them as well as some of the old timers as to where we should settle down in Chicagoland.
We are looking for a younger suburb with some diversity, good schools (we plan on having kids), nice downtown, etc. that is reasonably close to downtown. We rent in Naperville now, and although it is nice, it feels a little to isolated.
We have been looking in Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, and Downer's Grove. I'm thinking about expanding the search to Oak Park as well (I hear it has sketchy areas but it's a great location). I don't need to be on the airport blue line.
I know there are older threads that discuss this, but I'm looking for some fresh opinions. Thanks for the input. Go Hawks.
We live ( and have for the last 19 years ) in Libertyville. We chose this area when we were a couple years ahead of where it sounds like you are now, at the time we had a 6 month old.
We chose Northern Suburbs over Southern or Western Suburbs because of some family in Wisc. We have friends and family throughout the area, including an Aunt and Uncle in Naperville, and in all our time here we have never regretted choosing Libertyville. I am definitely biased, but Northern suburbs feel less "isolated" to me than Naperville.
Libertyville has been around for a long time and the downtown organization (Main Street Libertyville) prides itself on keeping the original look and feel, while keeping the economy of the tenants going. They have really done a great job and the economy of the downtown businesses has gotten better and better then entire time we have lived here. Great downtown, Great schools, Great for families, big mall and headquarters of Abbott Labs are in the school district which has a huge benefit on the property tax base, so your property taxes are only mildly obscene (600K house and 11K in property tax). It takes just over a half an hour from garage to parking lot for me. Prob about the same distance from downtown Chicago as Naperville, maybe a bit closer. Train stops right in downtown Libertyville, so similiar option to what you have in Naperville on that.
Take a drive up some time for dinner, there are a bunch of restaurants right in downtown. "First Friday" is a big thing with all the stores as well, so if you come up on March 4th (or any other first Friday) you can see the extra goings ons.
Several other Northern suburbs have nice "downtown" areas as well, but are going to be a little more coin. Highland Park, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff are some good examples.
So, as I said in the beginning, it is a question of priorities. If being close to downtown Chicago is your biggest priority, then get out your checkbook and go for it (especially if kids are a few years off) but be prepared to think about moving further out as you have a family and your kids get to be school age. The Western suburbs you listed are prob a little closer to ORD and Downtown Chicago, I don't really think you could go wrong in those areas.
As is the case anywhere, watch the tax bill of different areas, as it can vary widely based on lines that were drawn a century ago for tax purposes. Many of the suburbs didn't do a good job with planning and now have nothing but bedrooms. In Illinois if you are an affluent suburb (as all of the ones you mentioned are) your local property tax will pay almost 100% of the local schools funding. If you don't have some non-bedroom property tax base it will mean a much higher percentage on you property tax. Some of the towns that have been built up in the last 20-30 years out to the West of us pay the same property tax on a house worth half as much as ours, and still don't have nearly as good of schools.
You aren't going to be able to avoid a high property tax bill in any of the areas you would want to live in, just make sure it is not beyond obscene and that you are getting a good school district for the cash you are spending.
Down off my soapbox now! Have fun house hunting and know that you are adding years to your life by driving to work!
02-23-2016, 09:51 AM
#19
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Joined APC: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,244
The property taxes in IL are rediculous! I live in Shorewood...down by Joliet, and my wife and I are looking for a larger house in this area and a 3400-4000 SF house that we are looking at is $450,000. Not too bad of a price for the house but property taxes are $15K a year. So I have to plan an extra $1300 a month into the payment just for frickin taxes.
02-23-2016, 10:11 AM
#20
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Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: 767/757 CA
Posts: 2,699
We recently moved up to Chicago and are renting while we house hunt. When I got hired here a while back, we decided that me commuting wasn't a good option and of all the base choices Chicago made the most sense (until the Seattle base reopens).
That being said, we have a lot of new hires coming on board and I would like to hear from them as well as some of the old timers as to where we should settle down in Chicagoland.
We are looking for a younger suburb with some diversity, good schools (we plan on having kids), nice downtown, etc. that is reasonably close to downtown. We rent in Naperville now, and although it is nice, it feels a little to isolated.
We have been looking in Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, and Downer's Grove. I'm thinking about expanding the search to Oak Park as well (I hear it has sketchy areas but it's a great location). I don't need to be on the airport blue line.
I know there are older threads that discuss this, but I'm looking for some fresh opinions. Thanks for the input. Go Hawks.
That being said, we have a lot of new hires coming on board and I would like to hear from them as well as some of the old timers as to where we should settle down in Chicagoland.
We are looking for a younger suburb with some diversity, good schools (we plan on having kids), nice downtown, etc. that is reasonably close to downtown. We rent in Naperville now, and although it is nice, it feels a little to isolated.
We have been looking in Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, and Downer's Grove. I'm thinking about expanding the search to Oak Park as well (I hear it has sketchy areas but it's a great location). I don't need to be on the airport blue line.
I know there are older threads that discuss this, but I'm looking for some fresh opinions. Thanks for the input. Go Hawks.
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