Wilmette area or Western Springs area

[chet everett]

I have little doubt that the number of families with school aged children in not just the suburbs well served by transit but even Chicago's densest areas who choose not to have a car is so small as to be an anomaly.

Given the layout of the region, our weather, the challenges of scheduling and pace of life it is not at all practical to really never drive.

That said, I do know a surprising number of folks that can get by with one car and if they choose their home very carefully can limit their driving to just a few trips per week.

The key is to live in a spot where the day-to-day stuff, like grocery and school, are within walking distance. If parks and kids after school activities are also nearby that is a huge plus. Of course the affordability factor is very much working against anyone in not just nice suburbs but also the city and some suburbs that have negatives too. Realistically one must consider the weird mix of lifestyle issues that nearly all locations with good daily walk score have too - do you really want to be in a spot in town where you are locationally tied to a single grocer? Especially one that is based more on convenience than price / selection, that will hurt your budget and limit options. Ditto for pharmacy, restaurant, even kids recreational options.

Given such paltry choices (driven by every thing from low densities to abundance of retirees / singles ....) It would be sorta nuts to really make the car / lack of one a top factor in choosing where to live. Honestly, saying something is technically possible is a long way from saying it is optimal.

Don't get me wrong. I know people who do live everywhere from Lincoln Park to the heart of town in Geneva or Barrington that love walking kids to school, taking a bicycle to grocery, strolling around as many Europeans do, but when something comes up and the weather is bad it sure is nice to have a garage with a car in it...

[JJski]

Listen to Chet - he is right on. When we moved to LG, we came with 2 cars, really only need 1 and do use it. Could go without but it would be pain.

[chicagoliz]

Chet is right. Even when I lived in places with a walkscore of 94 (and I do like the walkscore site), I did still have a car for some things. But I loved that I didn't need to use it every day. Right now I live in a place with a walkscore of zero. I really hate that I have to drive everywhere - there is nothing I can walk to, not even the local schools. We are actually moving somewhere and a major consideration is to move somewhere more walkable.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

Chet is right. Even when I lived in places with a walkscore of 94 (and I do like the walkscore site), I did still have a car for some things. But I loved that I didn't need to use it every day. Right now I live in a place with a walkscore of zero. I really hate that I have to drive everywhere - there is nothing I can walk to, not even the local schools. We are actually moving somewhere and a major consideration is to move somewhere more walkable.

There are certainly many spot in many towns (including large parts of Chicago...) that are are nearly impossible to get anywhere / do anything without hopping into a motor vehicle. Weirdly some people seem totally OK with this and maybe it is because they kind of value the "isolation" that comes from having their own little "car bubble" around them. (I know quite a few minority women that consider their car a huge safety plus...)
But the other end of the spectrum, where you really can get by quite nicely without a car is really less about being immersed in choices as almost being forced to deal with a level of density that makes cars a hassle, and few people with kids really would choose that either.

The very wide "middle ground" actually includes a better range of options, from the parts of Lagrange, Riverside, Elmhurst, or Wheaton that manage to capture most of the convenience of a walkable European town to pricey areas like Lincoln Park or Hinsdale where you can choose to leave the car in garage for a week or more to places that are further out, like Barrington or Geneva that have made deliberate efforts to preserve some "small town" heritage -- the OP and anybody else would be well served by visiting as many such options as possible to really decide what works best for their immediate and longer term needs.

[Lookout Kid]

It is all about options.

I moved out to Glen Ellyn as a guy who worked in the Loop and took the train to work every day. I now work in the suburbs and drive to work every day. But I still like living in a walkable area near the train for many reasons. My kids can walk to school, parks, the pool, the library, downtown Glen Ellyn, and almost anything else they would need. I can walk downtown to various events and restaurants. And I can grab a few beers without worrying about driving home. It's a very short ride to the prairie path. And I have the option open to once again work in the Loop if I decide to change jobs again in the future. I can also get to multiple suburban job centers pretty easily, though northern Lake County is a commuting challenge.

[Mommy1plus2]

Originally Posted by NOLA101

No car in Wilmette? Sounds like a wacky sitcom. I would not do that.

90%+ of affluent households in Chicago have cars. I imagine the percent somewhere like Wilmette is basically 100%.

Both Wilmette and Western Springs have trains going downtown, so commuting won't be a problem, but you will need a car.

We will get a car (we had a car when we lived in Lincoln Park), but my husband doesn't drive (technically can though but doesn't like at all), I do, so we need easy access for him to the city to go to work.

I am well aware of the weather, we lived in the city for 4 years and having no car living in Asia right now with cheap and efficient public transport and taxis, I know we need one in the US, especially in the suburbs. My husband however would like to commute by train to work ... In Lincoln Park I walked a lot but at the time we had 3 under 3 so a car even back then was a must but wasn't used daily. Even here I walk a lot but use lots of cheap public transport. Winter is not the issue, it never gets really cold (but cold enough without heating in your house), however I often use public transport to avoid the heat and humidity, especially walking uphill. I know walking won't get me everywhere ...

We're leaning more towards Wilmette at the moment. The school district currently sees no need for my twins to repeat Grade 4 if they finish Year 5 (Grade 4) next June assuming I can hand over all the reports, testing, etc. They'll just be even younger and they're already among the youngest now but academically very switched on.

[twodoor2]

Western Springs seems to be a very hot area right now, as homes are selling like hot cakes and for ample prices. I took a ride to Western Springs a couple of weeks ago, and it's a very pretty area, with lots of charming homes. I take it the combination of charm, and easy access to downtown Chicago influences those things. Wilmette is probably not as hot a market, but the schools are some of the best not just in the Chicago area, but the nation. Western Springs, to me, is like a "poor man's Hinsdale," although the home prices there are for the upper middle class and beyond.

Good luck on your decision.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by twodoor2

Western Springs seems to be a very hot area right now, as homes are selling like hot cakes and for ample prices. I took a ride to Western Springs a couple of weeks ago, and it's a very pretty area, with lots of charming homes. I take it the combination of charm, and easy access to downtown Chicago influences those things. Wilmette is probably not as hot a market, but the schools are some of the best not just in the Chicago area, but the nation. Western Springs, to me, is like a "poor man's Hinsdale," although the home prices there are for the upper middle class and beyond.

Good luck on your decision.

...the actual pricing for homes of similar size / quality in Western Springs, factoring taxes and other ongoing issues, shows no appreciable discount. Further, comparing the various parts of Western Springs that are most similar to the core of Hinsdale, an argument could be made that on a price / sq ft basis Western Springs commands a bit of a premium. The distortions that occur when looking at prices in Hinsdale south of 55th or north of Ogden or in The Woodlands, where home sizes of new construction increase rather dramatically, to the portions of Western Springs in both the sections south of 47th and then even more dramatically south of 55th, reflect different patterns of development that include some subdivisions where teardowns are less common.

Beyond the house size question, the actual convenience factor of downtown Western Springs suffers, because despite having a really top notch butcher / produce market in the combination of Casey's & The Fruit Store, the core lacks a true full-service grocer like Kramer's or Whole Foods. While the Garden Market Marianno's occupies the space that Dominicks once had, it is not really a full-line Marianno's, like those in Westchester or Elmhurst, and becuase of the layout of the high school, is not really a spot most folks would walk to.

Despite that limitation, or perhasps because of that, there are some folks that find Western Springs a bit more "Villagey" than Hinsdale and, as I know from my real estate days, there are many people that prefer that feel over that of Hinsdale.

Really, except for people that really are under extreme time pressure to make a choice, those that fall in love with Western Springs really are not doing so as a "poor substitute" for Hinsdale.