Information about Aurora, IL (Chicago, Naperville: for sale, houses, neighborhoods)

[dee_taylor_85]

My husband and I are thinking about relocating to the Chicago area. It looks like Aurora is one of cheaper suburbs to live in. Is this because its a bad place to live? What can you guys tell me about this city, ie, schools, neighborhoods, crime, houses. Also if you could recomend some other affordable places that are still close to Chicago. Thank you for the help.

[Keith A]

Like any large city Aurora has good and bad parts. It is currently the last stop on one of the Chicago commuter lines. If you want to go downtown a weekend pass for the system is cheaper then paying for parking in Chicago. A really good deal. The train station in downtown on Broadway east of the Fox River. The area along the river has bike paths and parks going north and south along the river for miles. The island in downtown has the library, community college, a theatre for plays and performances and a gambling casino. The west bank has the YMCA and police station. This was the area of town where I lived for many years. There are many nice neighborhoods on the westside going north. Going south seems to be okay, but east of Broadway up the hill is an area that has some less desirable places. I never felt unsafe walking around there in the daytime though.
There are two school districts, East Aurora and West Aurora. I sustitute taught in West and they have good schools. In general as you go north and west toward Geneva things are newer, nicer and more expensive. There is also considerable development going on south of Rte 30 in Kendall Co. Oswego is one of the fastest growing school districts in the state. They have good schools and are really building quickly, but as with any rapid growth things can be bumpy.
There is good shopping in several areas. Along Rte59 on the east Aurora - Naperville border there are several miles of large stores. This area is also beyond the downtown area of old Aurora and is a nice neighborhood. The area is in the Indian Prairie School District, which has good schools. The area to the northwest has good shopping along western edge of Geneva. Also there are new shopping areas being built along Rte 34 to the south. All of these are about 10 miles from downtown. If you want that area of old style comfortable small shops just head north to North Aurora, Geneva or St Charles. I love to bike up the trails from the YMCA parking lot and look around the shops, have lunch and bike back.
Though Aurora does have some less desirable and cheaper areas, they are nowhere near as bad as some areas of Chicago or Oakland, CA where I used to live. If you want to be near the big city and still find affordable living it's great. And don't completely avoid the older eastern sections, some of the Mexican grocery stores in the area are the best and cheapest places to shop for fresh fruit, vegetables and meat. Hope you find this helpful.

[danarchy]

go for saint charles or geneva, they are going to rename aurora "new cabrini" and elgin is going to be called "robert taylor"

[CBox]

I have Lived all over the Midwest,The Northeast and even the
Rocky Mountain states and I wouldnt recommend Aurora,Illinois
to my worst enemy.Aurora by far was the worst town I have
ever lived in and Im so glad I dont have to look at that dump
any longer.The Drivers there are the most idiotic and rude
that I have ever encountered anywhere and driving anywhere
around town without having your blood pressure skyrocket
is almost impossible.The City is wayyyyyyy too far away from
Chicago and lots of Chicago's radio stations Flutter past the
Kane-Dupage County line.I lived in Aurora for 3 years and it
was a mistake moving there from Naperville.The Entire Chicago
area as a whole is not that great an area to live in...Cold Rude
people,Cold Brutal weather and very ugly scenery with the
exception of the lakefront downtown.All in all,I wouldnt recommend
Aurora to anyone

[j33]

Originally Posted by danarchy

go for saint charles or geneva, they are going to rename aurora "new cabrini" and elgin is going to be called "robert taylor"

Having lived 3 blocks from Cabrini for two years and taking the bus through what is left of it now serveral times a week I find that a bit hard to believe.

[danarchy]

believe it........................

[j33]

It is going to take a bit more than that to make me believe what you are posting there, in fact I found your post slightly offensive. I have a friend who moved to Aurora from my Chicago neighborhood a year ago and loves it.

[donnellprobst]

Okay, seriously, is there a suburb of any major city that doesn't have bad areas? I grew up in the faaaar north suburbs of Chicago that had only "white" people (I hate saying things like that, sorry), but I didn't have a problem living on the west side of Aurora). My father-in-law just retired as fire chief of Aurora last year. My husbands family is like the Cleavers...happy homemaker mom, working dad, three boys...rode bikes, played football with friends until "dark", etc. Here is what you need to do:

If you are looking for a house, search by zip code. Here are the areas to look in:

- 60506
- If searching by city, all of North Aurora and Oswego are also nice, just make sure they aren't in the East Aurora High School district. Farther north: Geneva, St. Charles, Batavia are all nice, but you are getting into more expensive housing.
- Montgomery is nice, but a LOT of it is new housing...no trees, lots of houses, etc.
- Anything west of Fordham St. and south of Galena all the way west is nice (University area, Freeman school area; some homes are larger, some are smaller, and they are all older homes, but the people in that neighborhood are really nice, and many of them have been there for a long time. There is a sense of community in that neighborhood - I used to live there and our street would have a block party in the summer.)
- Golden Oaks neighborhood (north of Indian Trail, east of Randall Rd., west of Highland (these are pre-fab homes, they aren't the best quality, but there are lots of young families...pretty much a starter home neighborhood)
- West of Orchard Rd. is very nice. Good neighborhoods
- Sugar Grove is past Aurora, it is a nice area, but a little farther out

These would be my first choice areas. There are some other pockets of areas I would look in, but these are my first choices. You should be able to find something in these areas.

When I look, there are some general rules I follow when looking at houses: Not in the East Aurora High school boundaries, and within the areas I told you. The east side of Aurora can be really gross in places, but most normal people try NOT to live in the bad part of town, so unless you are trying to live in a nasty area, you just don't live there. The problem with the east side, is that even in areas where there are nice homes, the kids in those areas go to the bad schools. If you don't have kids or they are grown, you can look in some of those nicer areas. Bordering Naperville is nice, but I think it might be pricey. As far as the train goes, there is an express train from Aurora that takes either 40 or 50 mins, which isn't bad for such a big city and being so far out. We like downtown Chicago, so that is what we did when we want something really fun and exciting. Naperville does have good shopping and there is an outlet mall north of I-88 in North Aurora. There are a couple of good private schools, Marmian (sp?) Academy, there is a Math/Science institute for really smart kids (can't think of the name of it), there is a private Catholic school that is really nice.

It all just really depends on what you are looking for... If you have a family, and you don't want "big" city or expensive housing, then west Aurora is a good place. There are lots of community events, usually held on the far outskirts of west Aurora or in the downtown area. They have a Friday night outdoor music concert on Fridays in the summer downtown, etc.

If I had my choice of where to live in the west suburbs, it would probably be:

Naperville
St. Charles
Geneva
Batavia
West Aurora
North Aurora
Oswego

Unfortunately, we couldn't afford the first 4!!

Hopefully this helped. If you are looking at a specific house, feel free to post and I will tell you if it is in a good area!

Good luck!

[donnellprobst]

I forgot to say...take a drive down Downer Place or Garfield and you will fall in love...especially in the winter with the xmas lights...ahhhh.

As for downtown Chicago, it is a beautiful city if you're not a cynic like the guy in this thread. The lakefront is beautiful (don't swim in it!), lots of great museums, the Cubbies of course!, and TONS of great music venues (if you can find Andy's it is a cabaret style jazz club...even if you're not into Jazz - my husband is, I'm not - you'll fall in love...it is so cool, like a time warp or something), and great food. You have to check out Taste of Chicago...yummy! Crowded, but yummy! It is around 4th of July, so you missed it, but maybe next year.

Take a trip up to Madison, WI and some other areas in northern WI are nice - really beautiful. There is Wisconsin Dells, a really commercialized area with lots of water parks/tourist stuff to do - good place to camp. Michigan is just across the lake. Great for weekend trips, really beautiful. About 7 hours to Minneapolis, 5 hours to St. Louis, 7 hours to Cincinnati...some great places for long weekends (I'm sure there are more, but those are the places I've been!).

Just because you live in Aurora, doesn't mean you are a prisoner of the city limits...in the Chicago, it's about the whole city/area, not just where you live!!!

[jmlapearl]

I Lived In Aurora For Two Years. My Husband At The Time And I Were Looking For An Affordable Place To Live And Were Surprised And Happy That We Could Have A 4 Bedroom House Built For The Low $200's. After We The First Year We Watched As Almost Every Other House On The Block Went Up For Sale. Our Taxes Went Through The Roof. I Was Paying Over $5k A Year In Taxes On A $214k House When I Had Friends In Other Counties Living In $300-$500k Houses Only Paying About $3k Per Year.

The Other Problem Was We Were Right Off Eola, Which At First Was Great...drive Past A Couple Corn Fields And There Was Our Subdivion. Within One Year They Put In About 5 More Subdivisions, 3 Strip Malls, 2 Gas Stations, A Hardware Store, Pharmacy, And 2 Banks. The Traffic Was Unbelievable. A Trip To I-88 Use To Be 15 Minutes Tops Now Was Closer To 45 Minutes. That May My Commute To Work Even More Miserable.

Word Is From Friends There Now, There Is More Going In (traffic) And Taxes Are Going Up (they Need New Schools To Accomodate All The New Residence).