Young professional family moving from the NYC area (Chicago, Naperville: townhouse, school district)

[Beatam007]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Some people love the nearness of Oak Park to the Loop and other parts of Chicago, the town sort of seamlessly blends with Chicago and has excellent CTA service on buses and two El lines.

Park Ridge technically borders Chicago, but the NW side of Chicago is pretty quiet comparatively speaking and the town of Park Ridge is quite lovely, there are some attractively priced homes that might work for you in the portion of Park Ridge closest to Niles...

Arlington Heights probably has a "top 10" downtown, which even if you are not all that interested in walkability is still smart as it will make it easy for your to get re-aquainted with living in a suburb AND should you want / need to sell the attractiveness of a centrally located suburb with very very highly regarded schools and nice mix of housing makes odds of selling easier...


The drive to Geneva from even the southern reaches of Naperville is NOT PLEASANT. If being close to Geneva is important to you AND you still want a reasonably centrally located town (which I think is a HUGE PLUS not just for husband but for down-the-road ...) I would given Wheaton a good look. Your price range can get some nice places in that town...

It seems that unless we plan on just hanging out in Naperville, any commute from this town is a PIA. Am I wrong in getting this impression?

[chitownperson]

Originally Posted by Beatam007

thanks for all the great suggestions. I should probably mention that we do have family in Geneva, so we will probably be spending more time commuting in that direction as opposed into the heart of Chicago. But I am going to look into Lagrange, not too sure about Park Ridge and Oak Park as my impression is that they are really rather in close proximity to Chicago city-center, but if I am wrong, please let me know.

Yes, Oak Park borders Chicago, so its quick to get to The loop. Some people like this as its more of a mix of suburbia and urban, while some people want more suburbia... Has a good downtown, schools, rich in culture etc... You can find plenty of info on it online or pm me if you wish to know more specific info (in live in Oak Park), but it really depends on what you're looking for.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Beatam007

YIKES! really?!?!?

The majority of Park Ridge is not effected by noise at O'Hare. This is especially true of the parts near Niles to the north / east end of town. The access to tollways is pretty good from there and drive to Abt would be a breeze. Of course the trade off is that not close to Geneva, but frankly unless you need help with childcare from inlaws I would focus more on day-to-day travel...

[sbkim]

Here's a map to help you (from Park Ridge city's site):

https://www.parkridge.us/assets/1/Do...ImpactMaps.pdf

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Beatam007

It seems that unless we plan on just hanging out in Naperville, any commute from this town is a PIA. Am I wrong in getting this impression?

The thing is Naperville is large and attractive -- people from from other towns are drawn to it for shopping, dining, entertainment and just being there. The fact that a larger and larger percentage of people who live in Naperville also work in the town or at nearby employers also effects the ease of getting to / from other places.

If work was in the Loop it would be a easy to say that it makes sense to consider Naperville, especially if you were interested in a place that was convenient to Metra.

As the job that prompted this promotion is NOT in Naperville and will require considerable regional travel there are probably better option to consider...
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[cubssoxfan]

Unless the look & feel of Naperville surpasses the look & feel of Park Ridge or Arlington Heights, my question is why the far western suburbs if your husbands main client is in west side of Glenview?! Lets look at AH: You are 15-25 minute drive to ABT from AH. Schools are comparable, if not a bit better statistically than NV. You are much closer to O'Hare, and a closer drive to Chicago. Metra service downtown is convenient and you also have good parks and library as in NV. From where I am (Near intersection of rte 83 & Palatine Rd) I can go towards Indiana on 294, WI on 94 or 90, IA on 290/355/88, and downstate on I-55 and be going opposite the rush hour traffic flow. The only bottlenecks are an extra 5-7 minutes on Palatine near 294 and on 53 from Palatine Rd to Rte 14 that takes an extra 6-8 minutes. Otherwise traffic moves very well at highway speed. I DO NOT see the same traffic flow coming from the south in the morning.

I understand Naperville has a nice downtown and the river walk, but AH downtown is pretty nice and we have Lake Arlington and Busse Woods for recreational walking/biking/jogging.

[divakat]

I lived in both Arlington Heights and Naperville. I would tend to agree that Naperville has a nicer downtown and I believe the schools are better. The train ride to the loop is about 30 minutes for both (that was my commute). AH is definately closer to O'Hare and it has a cute downtown although not as extensive as Naperville's. You may also want to look at Wheaton or Glen Ellyn.

[Ldoubled]

Geographically, Naperville is HUGE. I live near the northeast corner and it can easily take me 30 minutes to travel to the southwest corner. What I'm getting at is that commuting from "Naperville" to anywhere varies greatly depending on which part of Naperville you live. Being close to 355 allows us to get to Indiana Michigan and Ohio fairly easily while completely skirting traffic. Being close to 88 gets us around the metro area fairly easily, although we don't use it to commute daily.

When focusing on airports, don't forget Midway. If Mr. OP is flying to smaller towns, that might mean Southwest and hence Midway. I don't know what the commute would be like from AH to there, maybe it's the same.

As far as noise at O'hare, there was an article this month in the tribune about changing air traffic patterns: Now city residents too are making noise over O'Hare runways - Chicago Tribune. I would avoid Park Ridge until the patterns change in October to see what the effect is.

Glenview would be a pain from anywhere in Naperville compared to AH but I would think the out of state travel would be easier.

Don't forget that some school districts overflow the city boundaries. Naperville 203 also draws a bit from Woodridge and Lisle. I imagine this is true in other areas as well but I'm not certain. Your realtor should be able to search by schools (or you can use the software at Redfin.com) That might open up some towns that you might have overlooked.

[Beatam007]

ok, so we are paired up with 2 agents...one who is very familiar with parts west and the other for the northern suburbs. Still looking into all the areas everyone has mentioned. Thank you all, we really appreciate your feedback.

I'm still pushing to buy a house, but we have revisited maybe stepping down to a townhome-so we can get what we need (maybe not necessarily everything we WANT, But...) and possibly save a few $$$. Either way, we're buying something! I really don't want to rent anymore and would prefer to leave our place here and settle into our own place.

I'm hoping that after we visit next weekend I will have a better handle on where we want to settle and then focus on that area.

Thanks again, and I will be sure to keep you all posted!

[Beatam007]

Originally Posted by Ldoubled

Geographically, Naperville is HUGE. I live near the northeast corner and it can easily take me 30 minutes to travel to the southwest corner. What I'm getting at is that commuting from "Naperville" to anywhere varies greatly depending on which part of Naperville you live. Being close to 355 allows us to get to Indiana Michigan and Ohio fairly easily while completely skirting traffic. Being close to 88 gets us around the metro area fairly easily, although we don't use it to commute daily.

When focusing on airports, don't forget Midway. If Mr. OP is flying to smaller towns, that might mean Southwest and hence Midway. I don't know what the commute would be like from AH to there, maybe it's the same.

As far as noise at O'hare, there was an article this month in the tribune about changing air traffic patterns: Now city residents too are making noise over O'Hare runways - Chicago Tribune. I would avoid Park Ridge until the patterns change in October to see what the effect is.

Glenview would be a pain from anywhere in Naperville compared to AH but I would think the out of state travel would be easier.

Don't forget that some school districts overflow the city boundaries. Naperville 203 also draws a bit from Woodridge and Lisle. I imagine this is true in other areas as well but I'm not certain. Your realtor should be able to search by schools (or you can use the software at Redfin.com) That might open up some towns that you might have overlooked.

thank you, looking into Lisle, just not that familiar with the school districts so the search is slow.