Looking to purchase home in the Aurora/West Suburbs?? (Chicago: appointed, fit in)

[kryspykitty]

So my husband has taken a job in Warrenville, and we are looking to relocate from Chicago out "the burbs" to cut down his commute.
So far it is looking like our best bet is the Aurora area, as they seem to have the most listings in our price range (around $125,000, yeah we're on a tight budget here :/) but I was wondering if......
A. anybody can give me useful info about the Aurora community (schools, recreation, etc)??
B. perhaps have any other, maybe even better, suggestions for homes in the Warrenville & surrounding area in our price range??
(if it helps we are looking for a 3 bedroom single unit home, and have a preschooler & 1st grader)
Any help int his matter would be greatly appreciated!

[Caglee]

Hello, I am looking to buy a home as well and I'm in the same price range as you. Other than Aurora, I've found reasonably priced listings in Bolingbrook, Montgomery, and Plainfield. Plainfield might be worth looking in to though it might be a bit of a drive to Warrenville.

You might even consider going farther west such as Sugar Grove. I-88 connects Sugar Grove and Warrenville in a straight shot to 59.

[TempesT68]

You're going to have a rough time on that budget, but could maybe pull it off like you mention in aurora or you could also look into neighboring west chicago.

[kryspykitty]

C....thanks for the suggestions!We were trying to stay as far east as possible (as we still have friends in family in Chicago, and would like to visit often).But I know on our budget that is a incredibly tricky goal.

T....I agree, w/such a limited budget it definately does dwindle down our choices quite a bit.
The good thing is that we aren't being unrealistic in our expectations (ie expecting a HUGE house w/top notch schools and bustling community, etc), and we both agree that an older, smaller home that perhaps needs some superficial work would be our best bet.

I just kind of wanted to inquire here about the lay of the land, so to speak, because I've seen mixed reviews here about the Aurora area (ranging from "cesspool" to "upcoming and quaint")!?!Kwim.

[chet everett]

Really at the price point you have in mind I don't see much advantage to owning...

[rfr69]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Really at the price point you have in mind I don't see much advantage to owning...

You can get plenty of stuff in your price range, single family home may not be in the cards though if you shop right and dont mind doing a fixer upper or foreclosure even that can be had.

You should have no problem finding a duplex or townhome in your price reange. I've even seen some foreclosures and short sales going for about 115k to 125k in warrenville not too far down from I88 which would be nice for going to visit in Chicago.

Some areas that come to mind in your price range would be over near Eola and Frontenac or Frontenac and Hillsboro. Lots of areas just past white eagle down Montgomery near say Normantown Road going all the way up to about ogden there's duplexes, townhomes and possibly even a few SFH you could own in your price range. All this is also in District 204. There's also some townhomes and duplexes near and all around fox valley mall in your price point.

If you don't mind going to bolingbrook you could easily get a SFH for under 125K however the schools arent great, not terrible either though and you'd be near I55.

[chet everett]

For fools that were around back in the 1970s, like I was, we well remember the boom that happened in places like Bolingbrook and some towns in the NW burbs that had lax zoning. Prices in those areas lagged the whole rest of the region for 20 years, especially for older non-single family units.

If you purchase a town house in an area that is "too affordable" you may be very disappointed that your "retun on investment" after taxes, association fees, maintenance and incidental items will be negative.

At the lower price points I think it often makes sense to let the landlord take the risk. I say this as a former landlord who actually did try to encourage my younger more well off tenants to EVENTUALLY save up and buy a nice house with my assistance as a real estate agent.

Once you get to a price point where the options for single family detached homes looks more attractive I think renting loses its appeal, unless the decision is done for short term flexibility.

[kryspykitty]

C....while I appreciate your response we have already made the decision to buy (and likely may 'move up' after I get a career established and hence bring in more income to contribute) so it would be much more helpful to get suggestions on what "desirable" areas we CAN find in our price range.Or more specifically more info about the lifestyle, demographics, etc of the areas we are already searching in.

R....wowza, those sound like some really specific suggestions, so much so that not know the area I'm having a hard time processing them!LOL
(though, fwiw, I will keep your answers squirreled away for future reference)
I see that Montgomery is south of Aurora, did you suggest it because it is a "better value"?
And what areas are Eola and Frontenac and Hillsboro in?
Thanks again for your help.

[chet everett]

If your desire is to eventually use better income from dual careers my advice to initially rent would be even stronger.

The math is pretty simple -- if you buy a low priced place that does not appreciate or perhaps even declines in value and your payments do nothing to improve your equity then in 3 year (or maybe as long as 7) when you try to "move up" you will not be in better shape than if you had rented.

And let me be clear, it is not that I think something magic happens after seven years or so, but I just don't make predictions that far our in the future.

Now if your price point was higher I would have differnent advice, at about $190k I think there are enough distressed single family homes that can be purchased, fixed up and probably profitably soold in five years or so to make it more attractive than renting the same kind of property.

The reasons for my reluctance to advocate ownership at certain price points also reflects the typical demographic trends of various kinds of potential buyers you are competing with -- right now there are very few folks shopping for townhouses or duplexes to own/ live in. Many more investors. It is very hard for an owner to compete with an investor at selling time. Down the road if you decided to upgrade it would be likely that the buyers for your single family detached home would be a familynwith kids that wants to have a longer term place roraise their kids. The various hiring cycles / birthrates and migration patterns all fit in with these things for the broad Chicago region and from my long term analysis a large number of pent up demand will exist for well priced single family detached homes for the foreseeable future. The primary hamper on the drivers for town homes and similar is the subdued suburban job creation picture which I also expect to be present for at least five years...

[kryspykitty]

Chet......I know you are just trying to help, I do, and while I appreciate your concern and your expertise I'm afraid the decision to buy is not up for debate here.

Purchasing a home is not just a "numbers" issue for us, but also a quality of life one.While I don't purport to be a real estate expert we do understand basic concepts like "principle of pro/regression & comformity", etc.
But our current goal isn't to find the house that will make us the most profit, but rather one where we can live comfortably w/in both the structure AND the neighborhood.Hence the reason I am on this forum looking for both personal experiance and/or other suggestions regarding a certain, "affordable" area!?!