we know nothing, please help with our search! (Chicago, Evanston: rentals, how much)

[eight26]

Hello all,

My husband has been offered a transfer, and we need help starting our neighborhood research! We are east coasters (right now, Brooklyn, NY) who know nothing about chicago and the surrounding area. His job will be in downtown chicago (I guess near the Chicago Riverwalk to not give too much work info), and we'd like to havea commute that's not a nightmare. Here's our background and what we're looking for below:

-Young couple with 1 child (32 and 28 with a 3 yo)- Mixed race (I'm hispanic/black and he is white)
-income range from 120-170K (depends if I stay home)
-If any of you are familiar with brooklyn neighborhoods, we are from the South Park slope/Windsor Terrace area--we like it for the most part and would love to find a neighborhood like this in chicago/surounding area)
- We would be looking for rentals (townhouse or home--something with at least a small yard) not even sure what rents are like. can we get something nice in the 2000-2400 range?
-safe
-GOOD SCHOOLS (this is top priority)
-We would love a suburb that is walkable and not too overrun with chain stores and chain restaurants.

Any help to point us in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. We will be visiting at some point this month and I'd love to have some towns to check out while we are here!

[oakparkdude]

Lucky for you, your husband's job is easily accessible via commuter rail from the entire metro area. Multiple train lines radiate from downtown Chicago in all directions (except east). Its really a matter of how long a train ride he will tolerate, and how much you are willing to spend. Obviously the further out suburbs have lower housing costs, less walkability, and longer commutes. Anhother factor is whether or not an ethnically diverse neighborhood is important to you or not.

Your income should give you plenty of opportunities as rents are considerably lower here than in NY. You can probably rent a SFH in all but the most expensive areas. Since you're from NYC you may want to look at Chicago itself, although decent schools may be challenging (at least public schools).

[eight26]

oakparkdude,

It's great to hear about the commuter rail. Right now, his subway commute is about 45 mins (As is mine), we would love to make hat shorter, but we can totally handle something that long again.

Does the Rail run 24 hours? His hours will be very irregular at times. We also do want to be too far out because of that too. I'd like him home by 1am instead of 3am on nights he has to work late.

We are actually looking forward to the "burbs" as we've grown a little tired of the grunginess of the the city and lack of trees and grass right outside our door. I'd love my son to be able to run around in a yard instead of trekking a half mile to the park.

While we would love an ethnically diverse neighborhood, Safety and schools, great neighborhood activities are what matter to us most (and living in NYC, we know you sometimes can't get all of these things together). As long as we aren't in a neighborhood where people would make us feel unwelcome, we'll be fine.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by eight26

oakparkdude,

It's great to hear about the commuter rail. Right now, his subway commute is about 45 mins (As is mine), we would love to make hat shorter, but we can totally handle something that long again.

Does the Rail run 24 hours? His hours will be very irregular at times. We also do want to be too far out because of that too. I'd like him home by 1am instead of 3am on nights he has to work late.

We are actually looking forward to the "burbs" as we've grown a little tired of the grunginess of the the city and lack of trees and grass right outside our door. I'd love my son to be able to run around in a yard instead of trekking a half mile to the park.

While we would love an ethnically diverse neighborhood, Safety and schools, great neighborhood activities are what matter to us most (and living in NYC, we know you sometimes can't get all of these things together). As long as we aren't in a neighborhood where people would make us feel unwelcome, we'll be fine.

On most lines, the last train leaves downtown around 12:30 AM, and the 1st train leaves downtown 5:30 to 6 AM.

There are several hundred different suburbs to choose from, so a few more questions:
1. Do you want to be walking distance to the Metra station.
2. Do you prefer older, established neighborhoods (pre WW2), middle aged (post WW2), or brand new (post 1980). Obviously the 1st will be very walkable, the last probably won't even have sidewalks.
3. Do you want the absolutely top rated schools (ie top 5) or willing to cast a wider net.

[chirack]

Originally Posted by eight26

oakparkdude,

It's great to hear about the commuter rail. Right now, his subway commute is about 45 mins (As is mine), we would love to make hat shorter, but we can totally handle something that long again.

Ok that limits things a bit. Our commuter lines can go 1hour plus out of the city. Metra is our commuter rail.

Does the Rail run 24 hours? His hours will be very irregular at times. We also do want to be too far out because of that too. I'd like him home by 1am instead of 3am on nights he has to work late.

No, he should look at driving if his hours are like this. The only two public tranisit lines that are 24 hour are the CTA Blue Line and the CTA RED Line.

We are actually looking forward to the "burbs" as we've grown a little tired of the grunginess of the the city and lack of trees and grass right outside our door. I'd love my son to be able to run around in a yard instead of trekking a half mile to the park.

The city of Chicago has yards and trees outside your door but they are going to be smaller than suburban yards. Enough for a small garden or some play but not huge. i.e. Push lawn mower sized.

While we would love an ethnically diverse neighborhood, Safety and schools, great neighborhood activities are what matter to us most (and living in NYC, we know you sometimes can't get all of these things together). As long as we aren't in a neighborhood where people would make us feel unwelcome, we'll be fine.

How about the near west burb of Oak Park? It is close to the city(15 min drive non rush from downtown, 30 rush). Close to public transit to the city. Good schools urban but some yard space. River Forest is another. Oak park is near the blue line(in forest park), has CTA green line and Metra access to downtown.

[eight26]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

On most lines, the last train leaves downtown around 12:30 AM, and the 1st train leaves downtown 5:30 to 6 AM.

There are several hundred different suburbs to choose from, so a few more questions:
1. Do you want to be walking distance to the Metra station.
2. Do you prefer older, established neighborhoods (pre WW2), middle aged (post WW2), or brand new (post 1980). Obviously the 1st will be very walkable, the last probably won't even have sidewalks.
3. Do you want the absolutely top rated schools (ie top 5) or willing to cast a wider net.

1. Walking distance would be wonderful, and probably the least stressful, but I think a few minutes car ride (5-10?) won't rule out a neighborhood.
2. we can be flexible here, but I don't want a place that isn't walk-friendly at all (ie-absolutely no sidewalks)
3. We plan to be highly involved in our sons education which I think will help, so we can cast a little wider than the top 5. Also we'd be willing to look into private schools, so long as both housing AND schools aren't astronomical in price.

[eight26]

Originally Posted by chirack

How about the near west burb of Oak Park? It is close to the city(15 min drive non rush from downtown, 30 rush). Close to public transit to the city. Good schools urban but some yard space. River Forest is another. Oak park is near the blue line(in forest park), has CTA green line and Metra access to downtown.

Thanks Chirack, Oak Park is the ONLY suburb of Chicago we had heard of, and planned to check it out. on google maps, Looks like the green, brown, orange, pink and purple line have a stop close to work. Does that open options?

[chirack]

Originally Posted by eight26

3. We plan to be highly involved in our sons education which I think will help, so we can cast a little wider than the top 5. Also we'd be willing to look into private schools, so long as both housing AND schools aren't astronomical in price.

This opens a wider net as the city itself and some near burbs with not the best public schools have private schools.

The near burbs and the city itself are what you should look into.

[chirack]

Originally Posted by eight26

Thanks Chirack, Oak Park is the ONLY suburb of Chicago we had heard of, and planned to check it out. on google maps, Looks like the green, brown, orange, pink and purple line have a stop close to work. Does that open options?

Not really that is the loop almost all chicago el lines run to the loop. The lines on the loop shut down at night. Green line takes you to oak park .

Purple line is an express line to the burb of Evanston that runs to the loop only during rush hour(non rush it just runs between linden(in evanston) and Howard(a north boarder of chicago).

The Blue and Red lines are in subways nearby(state street for red and deerborn for blue).

Metra runs to differnt stations around downtown deepending on the line.

[oakparkdude]

I googled some images of Windsor Terrace. It looks a lot like the densest parts of Chicago, the north lakefront. Even the rest of Chicago is going to seem pretty suburban for you.

Evanston and Oak Park are often referred to as the suburbs for urbanites. They are both historic towns with older housing stock (100 years is old around here), a built-up downtown area with subway and commuter rail access to Chicago, and a fairly liberal, crunchy-granola, gay-friendly, aesthetic. They are where Chicagoans move when they want an urban environment with good public schools. Both around <20 minutes to the Loop via commuter rail. If you've ever been to Summit, NJ the layout reminds me a lot of Oak Park.

Lot of the other towns grew up around commuter rail stops. They tend to have small historic cores surrounded by a significantly larger areas built for the automobile. The ones built pre-WW2 still tend to be walkable with smaller lot sizes. I'm thinking towns like Hinsdale, Wilmette, Park Ridge. You go further out on the train you still have towns with a small historic core but the newer ones tend to be overwhelmingly autocentric in their ethos.