Pleasant, quiet, boring North or West suburb (Chicago, Skokie: real estate, houses)

[hawksbill]

Hello all! We are a late-30s couple with two children under 10 and another on the way. Moving to the Chicago area for work at the beginning of next year and very excited about it! Would highly appreciate any insight regarding which suburbs to focus on as we begin looking for a house.

Our budget is $500-$600K.

Here are our main considerations.

Higher priority:

-Above average schools. Not necessarily the absolute top school districts, but reasonably well-funded schools with gifted programs, AP classes, high graduation rates, etc. Rather than an elite pressure cooker environment, we would be perfectly happy with a school where a typical honors student would be accepted into U of I and the top 2-5% of students have a decent shot at Ivy League or similar colleges.

-Safe. A place where we could take an evening walk without any worries. No gang presence, and ideally no trend of catalytic converter thefts or car door-checking in residential areas.

-Maximum commute time of 1:15 to the Sears/Willis Tower area (as I work remotely and my SO will only need to go in 2-3 days per week). Preferably access to some sort of train or public transit to get downtown.

-A house with at least four bedrooms and three baths.

-We have a relative in Skokie and would like to be within an hour's drive for occasional weekend visits (but beyond that, minimizing distance to Skokie is not necessary).

-Reasonable property taxes, not over say $12,000/yr for houses in our price range

Lower priority, but would be nice:

-Mix of political views or at least not an extreme skew in either direction

-House not directly under a flight path and not within 1000 feet of a major highway

-We're not too picky about architectural style, but would prefer not to buy a single-story ranch, and slightly dislike houses that combine siding and brick (or have a brick facade on the front side and siding along the rest of the exterior).

-Low risk of basement flooding

-Trees

Not important at all:

-Charming or walkable downtown (alhough that seems to correlate with good transit options)

-Restaurants/nightlife

-Shopping, except for a grocery store

-Proximity to the lake

-Popularity, cachet, or prestige for its own sake

-Layout of the town (i.e., grid versus more suburban)


Thanks in advance for any input!

[wjj]

The Lake County side of Buffalo Grove checks all the boxes except real estate taxes. For what you are looking for, R/E taxes will be a a few thousand higher.

Some will say that Stevenson HS is a pressure cooker but it only is if you want it to be. There is always a small group of students where getting the highest GPA is the most important thing in life and the race starts in elementary school (you need to position oneself in elementary school to get into accelerated/honors classes in junior high to get into AP as a freshman to rack up GPA points from the get-go). Even though SHS got rid of class rank quite a while ago, those striving to be #1 in a large class will know, or think they know, where they stand. Just stay out of that pressure cooker lane and one can have an amazing HS experience at Stevenson and have the pick of many universities the equivalent of UI.

You have the right approach to high school. For example, just north of Buffalo Grove, Libertyville and Vernon Hills HS (which is less than a mile from SHS as the crow flies) don't have the pressure cooker reputation that SHS has but students get essentially the same education. What is missing is the amazing amenities and facilities on the SHS campus which no HS in the area can touch (hence, the high R/E taxes). But if you look beyond the SHS pressure cooker rep that only applies to probably around 50 or so students in each grade level, and take a less stressful path where one is not thrown into a tizzy because they got a "B" in art thereby taking them out of the #1 race, SHS can be a memorable experience.

[hawksbill]

Originally Posted by wjj

The Lake County side of Buffalo Grove checks all the boxes except real estate taxes. For what you are looking for, R/E taxes will be a a few thousand higher.

Many thanks! I've added Buffalo Grove to my list, and a quick search on MLS shows a few decent options in my price range. Looks like a relatively nice area.

Just wondering, do you recommend the Lake County side primarily based on school district boundaries, or are there other compelling reasons to prefer buying in Lake versus a comparable house/neighborhood on the Cook side?

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by hawksbill

Many thanks! I've added Buffalo Grove to my list, and a quick search on MLS shows a few decent options in my price range. Looks like a relatively nice area.

Just wondering, do you recommend the Lake County side primarily based on school district boundaries, or are there other compelling reasons to prefer buying in Lake versus a comparable house/neighborhood on the Cook side?

Buffalo Grove is in two major school districts. The Cook side attends Buffalo Grove High School and the rest of the community is in the Adlai E. Stevenson High School boundaries. Stevenson has more social cachet, as far as public schools go. However, Lake County property taxes, Lake Forest and Lake Bluff aside, are invariably higher than Cook County property taxes. Buffalo Grove is about as banal as you can get in the area, think suburban office park, but I guess that might be what you are looking for. Based on your criteria, nearly every northern or northwest suburb could work. It's hard to point you in a specific direction.

[Sunbiz1]

Check into Barrington, as it fulfills everything on your list:
https://www.niche.com/k12/d/barringt...ict-no-220-il/
Best wishes on your search.

[wjj]

Originally Posted by hawksbill

Many thanks! I've added Buffalo Grove to my list, and a quick search on MLS shows a few decent options in my price range. Looks like a relatively nice area.

Just wondering, do you recommend the Lake County side primarily based on school district boundaries, or are there other compelling reasons to prefer buying in Lake versus a comparable house/neighborhood on the Cook side?

The school districts all the way from pre-school through 12 are quite a bit stronger on the Lake County side. That does not mean that the Cook County side schools are not good - they are. Just not very top tier like Districts 96, 102, and 125.

The Lake County side is also "newer". The original village was located in Cook County and then the village spread to the north. There is still new construction on the Lake County side and most, if not all, the larger homes you are looking for would be on the Lake County side. There are still some working farms on the Lake County side while the Cook side is pretty densely built up. All the large parks and preserve areas (and there are many connected by walking and bike paths) and both golf courses are on the Lake side. There is more open space on the Lake side by quite a bit.

Except for the Strathmore neighborhood, there are not really any comparable neighborhoods in Cook and Lake. Real estate taxes are lower on the Cook side, but the gap has been closing in recent years. Cook County has other taxes and fees that are higher than Lake County (or don't exist at all in Lake County) and rules and ordinances that are different than Lake that can affect some people.

[Midwest Revival]

Why not the south burbs?

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by Midwest Revival

Why not the south burbs?

OP said they wanted to be within an hour of Skokie. With any kind of moderate traffic, it takes about an hour to get from the northern suburbs to the southern suburbs.

[strollingcentrist]

Congrats on the move and welcome. I think it's easier to search based on high school districts than towns. Fwiw, I grew up in various suburbs and went to U of I and a top 20 grad school.

Three full baths will limit your options. Happy to provide more info, especially if more specific criteria come to mind.

-Libertyville, Vernon Hills: most pleasant drive to downtown and Skokie via Edens/94
-Hersey
-Prospect
-Fremd
-Lake Zurich
-Barrington
-Buffalo Grove/BGHS: agree with Hiruko that it's blandville, disagree with wjj about Stevenson. Great school but definitely not the overall culture I think you're looking for

[wjj]

Originally Posted by strollingcentrist

disagree with wjj about Stevenson. Great school but definitely not the overall culture I think you're looking for

My views on SHS come from having my kids go there, one of whom went back to serve on the SHS staff for a couple years after college and who to this day, has many friends on the faculty there. I was there last year for an event and ran into a former coach and he took us for a tour of the new sections of the school added after the last time we were inside the buildings. Nothing short of amazing. We also run into faculty and staff from time to time and do have a pretty good feel for the environment there. Hasn't changed much. SHS is huge and that alone scares off some people, but with that size comes a a huge variety of opportunities. Your experience at SHS is what you make of it. You have to find your own lane. But navigating to that lane whether it be academics, athletics, arts, professional pursuits - it's all there - is the student's responsibility. Lots of guidance available, but in the end, the student has to take the initiative to pursue what they want. I agree that it is different in District 128 (Libertyville and Vernon Hills HS), but they are much smaller schools with fewer facilities.