Where to live Northern Chicago Suburb (Highland Park, Gurnee: lease, homes, employment)

[srussell252]

My husband and I are looking to relocate. He will be working in Pleasant Prairie WI so we were thinking about looking in the Northern suburbs of Chicago. I will be working from home, so need to worry about my commute. Any suggestions on areas that would be within 45 min of Pleasant Prairie WI? We are looking to spend between $300k-$400K on a single family home (preferably 3 bedrooms). We would prefer something with at lease a small downtown with restaurants and a pub or two. Any siggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have seen some listings that fit our budget in Highland Park but I do not know anything about this area. We are in our early 30s and do not have children. We like to go to local bars, concerts and sporting events in our free time.

We haven't completely ruled out moving to Milwaukee instead, but think we would prefer something closer to Chicago.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Paige65]

Originally Posted by srussell252

My husband and I are looking to relocate. He will be working in Pleasant Prairie WI so we were thinking about looking in the Northern suburbs of Chicago. I will be working from home, so need to worry about my commute. Any suggestions on areas that would be within 45 min of Pleasant Prairie WI? We are looking to spend between $300k-$400K on a single family home (preferably 3 bedrooms). We would prefer something with at lease a small downtown with restaurants and a pub or two. Any siggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have seen some listings that fit our budget in Highland Park but I do not know anything about this area. We are in our early 30s and do not have children. We like to go to local bars, concerts and sporting events in our free time.

We haven't completely ruled out moving to Milwaukee instead, but think we would prefer something closer to Chicago.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Highland Park is a nice town, but it may be a little far - it's about 35 minutes from central HP during non-rush hour. During rush hour it will be much longer. Libertyville might be a good choice?

[chet everett]

I would probably do a full blown analysis on moving into Wisconsin. They generally have more efficient government, better run schools, and far less "corruption tax".
Best High Schools Search - US News and World Report

Housing costs tend to be a little lower from a purchase standpoint, and property taxes are bit lower. This is somewhat offset by a slightly high income tax, but I believe there are more income categories and that may mean looking into the EXACT amount that your home business will generate, which can be hard to predict...

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I would probably do a full blown analysis on moving into Wisconsin. They generally have more efficient government, better run schools, and far less "corruption tax".
Best High Schools Search - US News and World Report

Housing costs tend to be a little lower from a purchase standpoint, and property taxes are bit lower. This is somewhat offset by a slightly high income tax, but I believe there are more income categories and that may mean looking into the EXACT amount that your home business will generate, which can be hard to predict...

Yet US NEws & World Report has many more ranked high schools in IL than WI. I did not notice many WI ranked schools close to IL border, but found several in IL that are 45-60 minute commute to Pleasant Prairie. Not dissing "sconie" here, I love the state, but looking for more empirical data regarding schools since what you provided doesn't "jive".

[lakecountylifer]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I would probably do a full blown analysis on moving into Wisconsin. They generally have more efficient government, better run schools, and far less "corruption tax".
Best High Schools Search - US News and World Report

Housing costs tend to be a little lower from a purchase standpoint, and property taxes are bit lower. This is somewhat offset by a slightly high income tax, but I believe there are more income categories and that may mean looking into the EXACT amount that your home business will generate, which can be hard to predict...

I couldn't seriously recommend someone live in Wisconsin vs. Illinois. Have you been to Pleasant Prairie/Kenosha? The landscape is dominated by a huge, smoke filled power plant----YUCK! Kenosha and Racine county is dominated by Cheese shops/strip joints/bars/Nude magazine stands. You add in the fact that residents are required to where a Packers outfit twice a week---and well thats just a deal breaker!

[lakecountylifer]

Originally Posted by srussell252

My husband and I are looking to relocate. He will be working in Pleasant Prairie WI so we were thinking about looking in the Northern suburbs of Chicago. I will be working from home, so need to worry about my commute. Any suggestions on areas that would be within 45 min of Pleasant Prairie WI? We are looking to spend between $300k-$400K on a single family home (preferably 3 bedrooms). We would prefer something with at lease a small downtown with restaurants and a pub or two. Any siggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have seen some listings that fit our budget in Highland Park but I do not know anything about this area. We are in our early 30s and do not have children. We like to go to local bars, concerts and sporting events in our free time.

We haven't completely ruled out moving to Milwaukee instead, but think we would prefer something closer to Chicago.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Check out Grayslake and Libertyville---both have active downtowns and bars and nice homes in the 300-400k range (especially Grayslake).

[chet everett]

The Kenosha waterfront is pretty nice. The did an "urban renewal" thing about a decade ago and it remains quite nice. The areas near Milwaukee that are analogous to Chicago's "North Shore" are FAR more affordable and every bit as desirable as anything in Illinois.

The biggest factor in why they have far fewer high performing schools is related to the far lower population density -- it is darned hard to run a significant number of kids through hard core AP courses in much smaller schools.

I like Libertyville as much as anyone (I lived there once upon a time...) but I know that the costs are orders of magnitude greater to have a similar home. My aunt passed away about two years ago. She lived in a loved home in a rural part of Grayslake, but I know that a similar home would be a fraction the cost on the cheesey side of the "dairy curtain".

BTW -- the large power plant outside Kenosha is very modern and efficient. The clouds seen over the plant are mostly water vapor, the heat exchangers they use are nearly identical in design to those that nuclear power plants in Illinois use and far better from an environmental standpoint than the older style coal plants that generate power in Illinois...

[srussell252]

Paige 65 - we were thinking that he would be driving in opposite rush hour traffic since his commute is away from downtown. Is this not the case? Any ideas what the commute time would be during rush hour?

Chet Everett - Although I am working from home, it is not a home business, the company I work for is allowing me to "telecommute" from anywhere in the US, so my salary is a known factor. I am CPA, so I have already done a cost analysis related to taxes, housing costs etc, however I think we are willing to forgo any tax savings to be closer to the city, although as I said in my post we aren't completely ruling WI out.

[chet everett]

I think Paige65 will agree that both inbound and outbound traffic is quite heavy on most the commuter routes through Lake Co. -- the growth of jobs in the area means that people really do have bidirectional congestion...

PP to Gurnee also 'suffers' from the effects of Six Flags and the malls as well the norther union of Rt 41 with 94, traffic is an issue that will plague that area for the foreseeable future and lack of any decent transit options means that such traffic will be primarily single passenger cars. On the plus side, I suppose the lack of interchanges makes the congestion predictable (unlike on the older inner expressways where too many interchanges are only blocks apart...) but that also means that going any signficant distance (and PP to HP qualifies as signficiant...) means you have to 'commit' early on to surface streets. Lake Co. has simply resisted upgrading its grid to match the demand that its employment centets and those of southern WI place on the roads.

If you really check out the options in HP for $300-400K and find them acceptable that would surprise me. We have posted some of the links to homes in that range and the defects / damages from flips gone wrong can be extreme.

Let us know what you find!

[srussell252]

Thanks for the input! We may try renting for a little while until we become more familiar with the area/commute times etc.