Area to find a home - Looking for advice (Palatine: where to buy, schools)

[Tolc]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forums. I just got a job in Lake Zurich and I'm looking for advice on where to buy a home, but my husband and I know next to nothing about the area. We have a modest budget of around 200-250K and we're looking for something that's got 3+ bedrooms and a decent amount of square footage that's not going to immediately fall apart on us.

I'm also looking at something that's a 20 minute or less commute to work.

My husband and I have started looking at places and there seem to be several areas that would work. Does anyone have any advice about how to refine our search or advice on the areas we've found? The areas we've started looking at are:

Lake Zurich, Barrington, Mundelein, Wauconda, Palatine, Fox River Grove

Any help would be appreciated!

[Foques]

All the towns you've listed are nice. I just moved from Mundelein a little under a year ago, and wish I could've stayed there.. Though, I have to mention that it is becoming more of a Hispanic community (I lived there for 5 years), but I seriously had some of the best neighbors in my experience in those areas.

If you have an opportunity to find a good deal in LZ or Barrington, i'd stick with those towns. Both are sought after, filled with upscale communities, and consistently developing businesses.

[chet everett]

Odds of finding even a very small un- updated home in Barrington under $300k are remote.

Best bet at that price point is probably Fox River Grove, of course it is not as upscale as some the other towns and schools are not as uniformly highly ranked but there are some bright spots.