Looking for help..advice on move to Chicago area. (Naperville: apartment, rental homes)

[MAN173]

Hello I will be working in Itasca and looking for help and advice on some of the surrounding areas. My children are 5 and 6 so school and safety is number one followed by my commute to Itasca like to keep it 30 mins and under. Also will be renting for the first year or so so looking for a nice safe place to live as well. Willing to pay up to 1300.00 a month. Any help would be nice. Thanks.

[tcs1366]

by using the Daily Herald and Chicago Trib's "rental" search
your options are a little more limited ... but there are a few possibilities

Here is a link to the page in the DailyHerald search
http://www.dailyherald.com/classified/results.asp?st=b&c=6150&p=1&sc=&a=&t=&ss=&pp=100 (broken link)


I, personally, would avoid Hanover Park, most parts of Addison, & Glendale Heights

There was a duplex up in Arlington Heights that would be about a 20-25 min ride to Itasca in rush hour ... it seemed on the north end of A.H.

A house in Roselle that would be a 10 min commute ... it is right down the street from St Walters school [private] and i have always heard good things about it. Not a bad area... though down the street from the High School, so traffic may be a concern. Good schools though. that would be Dist 12 for public schools.

A ranch in Downers Grove -- but I really dont know much about DG. but it's near the highway.

The "Rental Homes Plus" had a couple of homes within your parameters, and the Daily Herald had a few more.

Once you get things narrowed down -- post back with more questions you may have.

**edited to add
I had not thought of using craigslist to search for rentals
http://chicago.craigslist.org/search...00&minAsk=1100
there are tabs at the top where you can choose West or Northwest ... there are many more options in there

hope this helps,

[iac74205]

If you're willing to strecth that commute by about 10 mins, or so, check out Geneva, St Charles and Batavia. I have a 1000 sf 2 bdroom apartment with rent of ~$1000/month in Geneva.

[tcs1366]

i can tell you from personal experience... you can't do those drives, at rush hour in 40 min.... maybe 45, but that could be a stretch.... unless, you possibly get every single green light.

my in-laws lived in st chas ... and on a good day, we could do the drive in 40 taking 20 to Randall.

but -- yes... heading farther out, you'd get more for your money.

[MAN173]

Thanks the info is helpful. I am trying to narrow an area down so all this info is helpful. Schools are where I am really putting my research at right now. I am looking at all these areas. Would Buffalo Grove be too painful of a commute?

[tcs1366]

As I do not know much about Buffalo Grove, i'm not familiar with all the streets... but a few days ago, driving up north, we went thru there....

going Thorndale Ave to Lake Cook Rd [the end of the highway].... that is 13 minutes, no traffic... and i think Buffalo Grove is another 5-8 minutes East.

Coming home, we went thru it around 3pm, and while traffic was starting to build .. it was really only heavy around Rte 83 .. other than that, it was a soothe ride.

SO, my guess would be to add around 10-15 more minutes for rush hour traffic.

Hopefully someone with experience with Buffalo Grove will chime in .... though the commute will be a lot less then Naperville. OH -- and that northern part of that highway is not a Toll way... only the 355 and 88 portion of it.

[ahava]

The commute between Itasca and Buffalo Grove shouldn't be too painful. Going north on Rt 53 during evening rush hours is definitely a reverse commute. I've driven it from I-294 to Lake Cook Rd several times between 4-7pm and there's a lot of traffic, but it moves steadily at 50mph or faster if you're in the far left lane. The only place it slows down is where traffic from I-90 merges on. Meanwhile, traffic going south is almost at a standstill. Definitely don't ever go south on Rt 53 between 4-7pm if you have a choice. Before 4pm it's fine though. In the morning, I'm not sure what traffic going south is like because I've only made that drive once, but it was pretty bad that one time, which was at 9am. It might be better earlier in the morning. tcs1366 is correct, Buffalo Grove is about 5-8 mins east on Lake Cook Rd from where Rt 53 ends. Traffic on Lake Cook is bad going east in the morning and west in the evening, so you should be good on that part of the commute too. If you live in the northern part of Buffalo Grove, avoid taking Rt 83 to get there - it's one of the worst roads for traffic. Actually, if you find a place and want to know specific shortcuts for getting there, I can help. I work in Lincolnshire and lived in the northernmost part of Arlington Heights, off of Lake Cook & Arlington Heights Rd, for eight years.

[tcs1366]

The only place it slows down is where traffic from I-90 merges on. Meanwhile, traffic going south is almost at a standstill. Definitely don't ever go south on Rt 53 between 4-7pm if you have a choice. Before 4pm it's fine though.

this would be a non-issue due to the "express" lane. going north or south -- I90 wont effect you as you'd be in the Express.

Though I'm sure there will be "slow downs" where all the other interchanges are [Higgens, NWHighway, Palatine Rds, etc]

But i do know from experience that going from Thorndale north ... it's pretty smooth sailing ... but i normally only do the drive to woodfield or so ... anything North [during rush hour], i can not comment on first hard.

[ahava]

Originally Posted by tcs1366

this would be a non-issue due to the "express" lane. going north or south -- I90 wont effect you as you'd be in the Express.

Though I'm sure there will be "slow downs" where all the other interchanges are [Higgens, NWHighway, Palatine Rds, etc]

No, I meant where the express lanes and local lanes merge, the local lanes being packed with traffic coming off of I-90. And the far left lane only slows down from there to Euclid or Northwest Hwy. Obviously the far right lane is going to slow at every interchange. I've made this drive at least once a week every week for the past two months - I know what I'm talking about.