Townhouses in Western Suburbs? (Naperville, Wheaton: appointed, for sale, real estate)

[Aronwright]

Hello everyone again,

We finally decided to start looking into buying a home for us.

Here is my previous thread:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/chica...er-suburb.html

My wife currently commutes from oswego and its kind of time consuming yes but we are still in Oswego but we plan to get a townhouse for us. The relatively less maintenance and low cost of buying one is why we are considering them over Single Family homes.


Our budget is around 1650 a month with taxes and HOA .
I feel it should be doable for a 3bd townhouse in western suburbs. We are preferring south lombard,Downers grove, Darien,Westmont, Burr Ridge.

We have been pre-approved for 450k but we dont want to spend over 250-260k with downpayment . I plan on paying down the loan within 4-5 years at the most. My daughter will move out in future so we dont need a big home that we can maintain and something small and nice is good enough for us. We also work long hours and landscaping,snow shoveling and stuff wont be our cup of tea!

I hope I am being reasonable here. What do you guys reckon?

[JJski]

check these out... location, location, location... www.40ashland.com

[Aronwright]

Yeah i know about these but I cant wait upto 2016

what do you think about living 300ft from a fire station?

[chadrags]

Have you looked at the Palos Heights area? It is a very safe area with a quaint downtown and easy access to the busier shopping areas of Orland Park. The community of Westgate Valley town homes have many affordable options in your budget. Hinsdale is a short commute, 30 mins, and Holy Cross Hospital even shorter. Come take a look, can't imagine you would be disappointed.
1504 Spyglass Cir, Palos Heights, IL 60463 is For Sale | Zillow

[Aronwright]

Originally Posted by chadrags

Have you looked at the Palos Heights area? It is a very safe area with a quaint downtown and easy access to the busier shopping areas of Orland Park. The community of Westgate Valley town homes have many affordable options in your budget. Hinsdale is a short commute, 30 mins, and Holy Cross Hospital even shorter. Come take a look, can't imagine you would be disappointed.
1504 Spyglass Cir, Palos Heights, IL 60463 is For Sale | Zillow

I like that townhouse but that issue is my wife doesnt work at Holy Cross, she after everything was said and done decided to take up the job at Resurrection Medical Center. I am looking at Carlton Courts in Westmont.

931 Noel Ct , Westmont doesnt have a basement but it kind of looks good. I am not sure about it though because its around 100-120 yards from a fire station and I dont know how much of nuisance it might be to us.

[JJski]

We live a few blocks from the fire/police station in DTLG and it is loud. but really not that bad. our last home (back in a similar MI town) we were about 10 houses away on same street. A side benefit was the street was priority for snow plowing (so road was always clean) guessing that would be the same case in IL - don't want emergency vehicles to get stuck...

I would go new construction in best location if that were a option - just rent an apartment for year while build completes. after your daughter falls in love with LGs walkable core you will have to kick her out...

[ToriaT]

Here are some very nice ones in Wheaton. Several are very beautifully upgraded and decorated and look immaculate. Popular price point as well. These have beasements and are located in a quiet area. Wheaton is a very beautiful suburb with many parks, pools, trails and a great library and shopping. Better place to live than Westmont.

Homes for sale in the Streams Villa subdivision | Wheaton, Illinois Real Estate

[Aronwright]

Originally Posted by ToriaT

Here are some very nice ones in Wheaton. Several are very beautifully upgraded and decorated and look immaculate. Popular price point as well. These have beasements and are located in a quiet area. Wheaton is a very beautiful suburb with many parks, pools, trails and a great library and shopping. Better place to live than Westmont.

Homes for sale in the Streams Villa subdivision | Wheaton, Illinois Real Estate

I do like wheaton a lot but the main reason for me moving from Oswego to Western Suburbs is the commute. I dont want my wife to be driving 45-55min everyday each way. Wheaton doesnt solve that problem. One more thing is my current commute is ~35min, me moving to wheaton makes it 25min.

We LOVE oswego. Its nice,safe,peaceful, great neighbors and my wife's brother and parents live there and we can get a big fancy-ish home in Oswego or even Naperville in our budget but the key here is the commute. Moving to Westmont means I can be within 15min of the hospital. We are supposed to take calls once a week and one weekend every 5 weeks. I right now stay at the hospital on these days as we are supposed to reach the hospital within 25-30min of getting a call , I am a First Surgical Assistant and technically a second surgeon in the OR ( foreign trained surgeon). Same for my wife but she has a 45min grace period . Being nearby the hospital lets both of us come home on emergency days instead of staying back and hence Westmont.


I need to clarify one thing,I dont need walkability or a nice little downtown or nightlife. I am a guy with white hair. My daughter would like all of that but she has friends and she often stays over at their place so even that would not be much of an issue. My only priority is safety and a decent neighborhood.

Originally Posted by JJski

We live a few blocks from the fire/police station in DTLG and it is loud. but really not that bad. our last home (back in a similar MI town) we were about 10 houses away on same street. A side benefit was the street was priority for snow plowing (so road was always clean) guessing that would be the same case in IL - don't want emergency vehicles to get stuck...

I would go new construction in best location if that were a option - just rent an apartment for year while build completes. after your daughter falls in love with LGs walkable core you will have to kick her out...

I dont want to rent anymore , I just cant get myself to throw 25000 a year at nothing ( no equity). This home will be our starter home, something we can sell after a years without taking much of a hit. We will probably move back to naperville,oswego area once my wife gets settled in and I get her into the hospital I work at and daughter moves out when she grows up.

[holl1ngsworth]

Originally Posted by Aronwright

I do like wheaton a lot but the main reason for me moving from Oswego to Western Suburbs is the commute. I dont want my wife to be driving 45-55min everyday each way. Wheaton doesnt solve that problem. One more thing is my current commute is ~35min, me moving to wheaton makes it 25min.

I find it hard to believe you can get from Oswego to Hinsdale in 35 minutes. That's a 30+ mile trip, with lots of surface streets -- but OK. Wheaton to Hinsdale Adventist is quick, less than 15 miles, and typically takes less than 25 minutes.

Last we heard your wife had two job offers:

Originally Posted by Aronwright

Hello everyone,

We moved to chicagoland from UK around a year back and have been living in Oswego since then and the commute for me was around an hour and 15min.
My wife just got offers from two different hospitals : 1)Presence Resurrection Medical Center which is nearby O'Hare and 2) Holycross hospital which is nearby Midway.

I just changed my workplace last week and now i work in hinsdale so the commute is a little bit shorter than it was.

Which job did she accept? If her new job is at Presence the commute from Wheaton would be ~35 minutes (27 miles). Oswego to Presence would take at least an hour and a half with all the surface streets (50 miles). Wheaton to O'Hare is quick, and Wheaton to Hinsdale is even quicker. Unless her new job is at Midway, Wheaton would be a HUGE improvement over Oswego, and not that different than Westmont.

That said, it would still probably make more sense to be somewhere between your jobs.

Best of luck.

[Aronwright]

Originally Posted by holl1ngsworth

I find it hard to believe you can get from Oswego to Hinsdale in 35 minutes. That's a 30+ mile trip, with lots of surface streets -- but OK. Wheaton to Hinsdale Adventist is quick, less than 15 miles, and typically takes less than 25 minutes.

From where i live its 35min or at the most 40 if i get stuck at traffic signals on orchard road.. I live a little north of Oswego and its orchard road --> i88 with 67-70mph cruise control at 5am in the morning.

Originally Posted by holl1ngsworth

Last we heard your wife had two job offers:



Which job did she accept? If her new job is at Presence the commute from Wheaton would be ~35 minutes (27 miles). Oswego to Presence would take at least an hour and a half with all the surface streets (50 miles). Wheaton to O'Hare is quick, and Wheaton to Hinsdale is even quicker. Unless her new job is at Midway, Wheaton would be a HUGE improvement over Oswego, and not that different than Westmont.

That said, it would still probably make more sense to be somewhere between your jobs.

Best of luck.

She took the one at presence after almost going for holycross. It takes around 55min to 1:10min to reach right now. As i said both us work in ORs and our hours begin very early and we usually leave home at around 5am.

From what I have seen from google maps, most of the better townhomes in Wheaton puts me at around 25min away from the hospital i work in and puts my wife about 40-45min from Presence, the distance is much much shorter than from oswego but my commute from oswego is 5mile on orchard road followed by i88 through my desitination. With wheaton the distance is shorter but i have to travel on surface streets as you said.

Same for my wife, 5mile on orchard road followed by tollway through to the destination very very early int the morning and hence the shorter time