Looking at moving from South Fla to the Naperville area (Chicago: house, construction)

[rayflow1368]

My wife and I have decided to make the move to Naperville for a better quality of life and opportunity for our new addition (a beautiful little girl) along with our pre-teen son. It also seems that there are better job opportunites in the Chicago area. All that being said, it's my understanding that Naperville is higher in taxes. What about the surrounding areas ? Is it possible to live in someplace like Aurora and still take advantage of their schools ? Is the areas around Naperville also a good place to live ? Is there an immediate area around Naperville that is not safe ? Sorry for all the questions but we really want to make this work. Thanks.

[chisub]

Typically you can get more house in Aurora, but the taxes are higher than Naperville b/c of the lack of commerce. If you live in certain parts of Aurora you are in the 204 school district which has kids from Naperville as well (and I believe a couple other cities). We currently live on the edge of Naperville/Aurora on the Aurora side and have no complaints except for our proximity to my husband's work, which is why we are leaving the area soon. We have a 14 month-old son and would be very happy sending him to any of the 204/203 (Naperville "proper" district) schools.

[JustJulia]

Some parts of Bolingbrook (to the south) and Aurora (to the west) are not as nice, but you have to go pretty deep into those towns. The edges touching Naperville are fine. Lisle (east) seems nice, as does Wheaton (north). Woodridge (also east) isn't as pretty, but I don't hear about many problems there.

If you will be commuting to Chicago, you will want to live near the train station, I-88, or 355. With the constant construction and occasional snow delays, the further away you live from those places, the longer your commute will be.

[sgresident]

I would not look in the east aurora school district area. most things around naperville are good. the further west you go, the housing prices typically decline. If you are commuting by car, if you head west, you would want to be along the I88 corridor. we live in sugar grove and my husband commutes to naperville each day. it takes approx 25 minutes.

[rayflow1368]

Thanks for the responses. These are very helpful. Any other insights on this ?? The more information, the better.

[billiken]

Make sure you have a job before coming. The economy is probably better than Florida, but that doesn't mean it won't take months to find something here.

[rayflow1368]

Definitely...

[almost3am]

We moved to Naperville in August and had looked in west Lisle & east Aurora. In the end, my wife liked Naperville best...I had given her geographic boundaries we could look in (district 203 or 204, not more than 3 miles from the train station). We looked a lot in the west end of Lisle (Green Trails), as I liked that area a lot, but my wife wanted closer proximity to some shopping and to be part of the Naperville park district. We weren't thrilled with what we saw in Aurora, so we didn't look there a lot, but that is just us. We ended up on the west side of Naperville, which I think was a good choice for us...although I have not stopped with the home renovations and I have a big 2010 list. That is my problem, I guess.

[acdevane]

Just an FYI, although Naperville taxes seem to be high everything is realtive. There are $300K homes in Bolingbrook that have a $10K taxe tab. There are also homes in Aurora, that while taxes are somewhat lower than Naperville's are located in Special Service Areas (SSA's) or high HOA's (homeowner association dues). My point here is you have to look at the whole picture. You must also take into consideration what you get in return for those taxes, and I have to say in Naperville, it's plenty. Fantastic Schools, Awesome Park District programs, Nationally recognized award winning Library, not to mention top notch city services, and great festivals throughout the year. There's more, but you get the idea. You honestly never have to leave Naperville if you don't want to. It's all here.

However to answer your question, yes there are very nice areas surrounding Naperville. Lisle and school dist 202 are excellent choices. Bolingbrook north of Royce and West of Route 59 still attends Naperville 203 schools. A fairly large portion of Eastern Aurora attends Naperville 204 Schools.

[cookpr]

There are basically two "worlds" in Naperville - the older side (which is the east side, downtown and the areas flanking Naperville Blvd and Washington.

And then there is the "newer" further out areas that primarily feed into 204 - pirmarily the areas that are west of Book Rd AND south of 75th (pretty much the areas south of Springbrook/Dragon Lake Forest Preserve).

Both areas are great - however, they are much different feel. We live in the downtown area and its really a different feel that the areas to the far southwest (that really can be a 30 minute drive from downtown Naperville). Much more community feel and its absolutely pricelss to be able to walk downtown, to the beanch, restaurautns and riverwalk (and the I-88 corporate corridor) However, thats also why it costs at miniumum $250,000 for a dump that would be a teardown candidate. Most single family housing runs $400,000 on up to $5 million - maybe you can find some places that need work for $350,000. But you pay for location

Yes, you will get more to the southwest in 204, newer housing out there - but you'll be further away from most of what Naperville offers, which is primarily located around downtown and the north side.

I encourage you to really drive the area to get a fell. Yes, Naperville itself is a suburb, but its really a "suburb" with its own suburbs.

And I dont want to offend anyone, but I would shoot for 203 - the issues facing 204 is that it still feeds into the Aurora area where housing is (was still) going up - so they are still building schools and there has been a lot of shuffling of school boundaries. Many folks not to happy that they are being shifted to the newer high school out on Eola Rd in Aurora.

203 is mature and stable - there are two high schools within 1.5 miles of each other and thats all there ever will be. School boundaries will not change.

If Naperville doesnt work out and you like DuPage County and the western suburbs, Downers Grove is fantastic, as is Wheaton, Glen Ellyn. However, they will be jsut as pricey due to nice downtowns, good schools and not far flung locations.

I say choose Naperville and stick in the downtown areas or older areas. We lived here, moved away, and now built in the downtown area and really dont plan to leave.