Moving from Phoenix back to Arizona (schools) (Naperville, Joliet: homes, neighborhoods)

[ws6daveg]

My family and I have decided to move back to Illinois particularly the Plainfield area.
I have found several posts about the Plainfield schools, but from a comparison of this district to that district.

So we are up between buying in Plainfield north or Plainfield south areas. Price being the a factor.
We could live on in North Plainfield, (but living on a tight budget) or live comfortably in South Plainfield.

We have a 4th grader, 3rd grader and a 1 year old. I know that looking at High schools is a big point, but with the kids being 5 years away from HS and boundaries changing all the time should I make that have a large factor in where to buy?
Also, moving from Arizona (which is at the bottom of the list for education) I would think that Plainfield, no matter where (North or South) would be a step up in education.

I have asked relatives out in Plainfield about the schools and they have told me their opinions, but what may look bad to them could be 100 times better then what we have for education in Phoenix today.

[ChacoGirl]

First off, I would change the Subject of your post - most people probably believe you have this posted in the wrong forum since it mentions Arizona twice.

My children are still years from school age, but I wouldn't touch Plainfield South. Although it may be a very nice school it's more Joliet than Plainfield. I mean, the Joliet water tower is right next to it because of all of the weird annexing Joliet has done. The northern section of Plainfield is full of families that would love to live in Naperville but couldn't swing it for whatever reason and the neighborhoods reflect that.

I would certainly spend some time driving through the neighborhoods in that area vs the ones farther north. My husband and I did last week looking for a home for my mother and there isn't a chance I'd let her live in 60%+ of the neighborhoods. All too many (that weren't connected to country clubs) had tons of cars littering the streets and very poorly built housing.

[nikitakolata]

Unless you plan on moving before your kids start high school the high school district matters. Even if you have no kids at all though, the schools matter for resale. So, while they may be better than the schools in Arizona, if they're poorly ranked for the immediate area it will hurt your property values. That is why homes are less expensive in Plainfield South; you get what you pay for.