Help finalizing city search (Chicago, Aurora: for sale, affordable houses, employment)

[chgodon]

Moving back to the Chicago suburbs from The OC. I have no kids, so school districts are not a concern. I'm looking for an area close to a Best Buy, Target, Barnes & Nobles etc. I also enjoy the historic districts for an evening drink or dinner. Looking for houses up to $300,000. Won't be going downtown Chicago much. I just spent 3 days in the suburbs driving north and south of downtown areas. I'm interested in inputs on the following cities. I will end up in one of the following:

Schaumberg - Loved the night life and Woodfield Mall. I found the area to be very crowded, multi cultured and too commercial. Moving to Schaumberg would be like living in The OC. Great place for night life but no escape for a home life.

Barrington - Historic district was small and not too lively. Only affordable area was around Main & highway 14. Police dept. advised me the closest McDonald's and Best Buy area was in Cary/Crystal Lake. Not a lot of eateries or shopping in downtown.

Crystal Lake - Loved the tree lined streets. Houses around historic district were nice. Houses to the west of Main st. were great. Big selection of stores on hightway 14.

Naperville - The best party historic district. Houses around downtown were a little worn down. Nice houses between 75th to 95st. Not many trees line streets south of downtown. Nice area, but expected more from all the recommendations.

Downers Grove - Best tree line streets, houses in every area were nice. The best main street for nostalgia. Best Buy and commercial area not too far from downtown.

Lakewood - Nice area and affordable houses. I need to go back and finish my scouting of the city.

LaGrange - Highly recommended but missed the city on this trip.

These were my observations and wondering if I'm missing something.

[chgodon]

House price may be up to approximately $350,000

[ngrome]

Originally Posted by chgodon

Moving back to the Chicago suburbs from The OC. I have no kids, so school districts are not a concern. I'm looking for an area close to a Best Buy, Target, Barnes & Nobles etc. I also enjoy the historic districts for an evening drink or dinner. Looking for houses up to $300,000. Won't be going downtown Chicago much. I just spent 3 days in the suburbs driving north and south of downtown areas. I'm interested in inputs on the following cities. I will end up in one of the following:

Schaumberg - Loved the night life and Woodfield Mall. I found the area to be very crowded, multi cultured and too commercial. Moving to Schaumberg would be like living in The OC. Great place for night life but no escape for a home life.

Barrington - Historic district was small and not too lively. Only affordable area was around Main & highway 14. Police dept. advised me the closest McDonald's and Best Buy area was in Cary/Crystal Lake. Not a lot of eateries or shopping in downtown.

Crystal Lake - Loved the tree lined streets. Houses around historic district were nice. Houses to the west of Main st. were great. Big selection of stores on hightway 14.

Naperville - The best party historic district. Houses around downtown were a little worn down. Nice houses between 75th to 95st. Not many trees line streets south of downtown. Nice area, but expected more from all the recommendations.

Downers Grove - Best tree line streets, houses in every area were nice. The best main street for nostalgia. Best Buy and commercial area not too far from downtown.

Lakewood - Nice area and affordable houses. I need to go back and finish my scouting of the city.

LaGrange - Highly recommended but missed the city on this trip.

These were my observations and wondering if I'm missing something.

Downers Grove would be perfect for you, then I would recommend Naperville, then Schaumburg after that. But if you notice Downers Grove, and surrounding towns such as Woodridge, Darien, Westmont, Bolingbrook, and even Naperville, they all have their own Best Buys, Target, B&N, Home Depot, and other big box stores. You won't have to worry about that, that's what's so great about those suburbs. One time, my brother-in-law went to four different Best Buys within the hour!

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by ngrome

Downers Grove would be perfect for you, then I would recommend Naperville, then Schaumburg after that. But if you notice Downers Grove, and surrounding towns such as Woodridge, Darien, Westmont, Bolingbrook, and even Naperville, they all have their own Best Buys, Target, B&N, Home Depot, and other big box stores. You won't have to worry about that, that's what's so great about those suburbs. One time, my brother-in-law went to four different Best Buys within the hour!

Yikes!

And all this time I thought that trees and parks and little family run shops and restaurants are what people are looking for...

But seriously there are no shortage of "big box national retailers" in pretty any place in north eastern Illinois. If you judged towns by that criteria you could very easily end up living an actual slum with the way that some towns throw TIF incentives at retail developers.

$350K is not going to go far in any of the towns you have listed as many areas have had teardowns that sold for land value above that.

If you could find a decent home in a some of the towns at that price it might have some challenges / negatives.

You also should really consider that the distance from far suburban / deep fringe Lakewood/Crystal Lake to nearer in La Grange is probably a circle of probably 50 miles or so in radius. Though you say you won't be heading into Chicago much other people WILL and if you have to cut across their path(s) to get to/from other places that you do want to go living further out will involve greater likelihood of tie-ups then living in an area with more compact / regular grid type development...

[chgodon]

Let me clarify my search. I'm looking for a small town refuge from the hustle & bustle of city life without having to drive an hour to the nearest big-box stores. Remember, I'm coming from OC California, where you live on top of each other and it takes 45 min to drive 14 miles on the freeway!!

[Skatemore]

What about Arlington Heights? It has it's own great downtown area with grocery stores, movies, train station to Chicago and other suburbs and many historic homes. It's got a small town feel with everything nearby. My daughter has a lovely two story townhome for sale for about what you want to spend that is walking distance to everything downtown.

[chet everett]

I still am not understand the OP's desires. I have been to OC and I completely understand the traffic aversion, but I also seem to recall that they have lots of malls, so that it is unlikely that you need to drive 14 miles to get to a store.

Large portions of DuPage, Cook, Lake and Kane counties have similar fairly high densities of retail. I would venture to say that there are dozens of towns that still have traditional little "Main Street / Downtown" districts with giant strips of big box retailers about 10 minutes away.

If that is what you are looking for I would recommend most any town that has a Metra station, as the "commuter rail centric" developement is similar. It is NOT always true that these towns will be convenient to EVERY sort of shopping that one might desire, but there is no lack of stores.

If you want quiet, and do not need to worry about access to employment centers, you can probably live further out, though some of the former "country roads" in less densely populated areas do suffer from rather heavy traffic. Most of this traffic is NOT the bumper-to-bumper freeway crawl of SoCal, but neither is it open roads...

[ngrome]

Originally Posted by chgodon

Let me clarify my search. I'm looking for a small town refuge from the hustle & bustle of city life without having to drive an hour to the nearest big-box stores. Remember, I'm coming from OC California, where you live on top of each other and it takes 45 min to drive 14 miles on the freeway!!

Ok, then go west, young man! Meaning, try Plainfield, Oswego, Aurora (nice part only), or Yorkville. Those places have reasonably-priced homes, people call it the semi-boonies, and are still within reasonable driving distance to the big box stores.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by chgodon

Naperville - The best party historic district. Houses around downtown were a little worn down. Nice houses between 75th to 95st. Not many trees line streets south of downtown. Nice area, but expected more from all the recommendations.

Were you really downtown??? What houses did you see that were "worn down"?? Most are perfectly restored or are brand-spankin-new. Sure there are some stragglers here and there, but the housing stock around downtown is usually immaculate.

[chgodon]

Drove just North of Main st near the railroad tracks. I was more impressed with Southern Naperville.
The houses around Main st due appear to be in the process of being restored, but the overall residential area near downtown were not has upkept has Crystal Lake or Downer's Grove. Just my opinion since Naperville is one of the first recomendations people give me. My take on not driving long distances to a big box store was the thought of ending up in a farm area in the outskirts of even the suburbs. I have experience heavy traffic in the Chicago suburbs, but driving down 95th in Oak Lawn was like driving down PCH in Newport Beach. The farm roads of Downers Grove, Lemont etc were more freely moving. Thanks for all the inputs.