Help us pick a place to live! (Chicago, Naperville: apartments, leases)

[ath79]

Hi everyone

My husband and I are currently living in Lincoln Park, and we're beginning the process of deciding where we want to ultimately live. Over the next year, we're going to slowly start exploring areas (neither of us is originally from Chicago), until we figure out the best place.

The problem is that I can do research online and drive around, but its so hard to get a feel for (so many!) towns...its scary thinking of picking the wrong one.

This board has been very helpful, but I thought I'd post our situation and hopefully get some recommendations, so thanks in advance.

Here is what I want:
*Great schools. We have a 1 year old, and would like to move in time for her to start preschool in her new town.
*Down to earth people. Although I think Winnetka is beautiful, we're really not the "keeping up with the Joneses" type and want to make sure there will be likeminded people.
*A good selection of older homes with character.
*Democrats. No, not everyone has to be of course But definitely some diversity of opinion.
*Diversity is a plus. Backgrounds, religion, ethnicity, etc.
*Outdoor activities relatively close. Could be the lake, forest preserves, etc.
*My husband works in the loop, and we'd like to see him occasionally, so a reasonable commute. Either the ability to walk to the metra, or easy to come by parking (so maybe not Naperville?). He hates driving and would never commute that way.
*Somewhere that my kids won't feel bad if they don't get a BMW for their 16th birthday.
*I'd specifically like to hear some opinions on ETHS, and how the crime level compares there to Wilmette, etc.

We can go up to 1M, but would prefer to be in the 750k range. We're not afraid of getting an older house thats a fixer.

Thanks so much!!

Edit to add: Walkable downtown, business areas would be great!

[Avengerfire]

Try Park Ridge.

[cmoscinski]

La Grange is perfect! Always bustling with things to do. A close community, great schools, development, retail, bistros, restaurants and near METRA for quick commute to LOOP. Traditional and newer homes from $500K+.

[Al Hung]

Regarding transit to downtown Chicago, the Metra station in downtown Naperville seems to have a decent sized parking lot, although I personally haven't used it during morning rush-hour often. And there seems to be good bus coverage in the surrounding neighborhoods. I live in the Knoch Knolls community and the bus stops are used pretty often by morning commuters.

My sister attends Nequa Valley HS and notes that the students often drive nicer (much nicer) cars than the faculty. I wouldn't say that is any reflection of the *personality* of the people in Naperville, but I suppose you could consider a good indicator of the money situation of a large amount of the people in this area. Otherwise, I'd say my opinion of the people in Naperville are limited to what I've seen, not sure how much that would help you. For what its worth, I like the people here - they are for the most part "neighborly".

Worst thing that has happened to me so far in Naperville: the evening of July 4th my wife and I were at Jilly's Piano Bar in downtown and we had scored a table right by the open window next to the street while the place was packed. We were enjoying our drinks when some youths in a gray Nissan Maxima stopped at the corner, tossed a lit firecracker out the window and peeled off. It went off and shot a few inches over my head (says the wife) and then hit the ceiling. Police on bikes were there very shortly after the bouncers called it in. I chalk it up to spoiled brats, the worst part of Naperville IMO.

Hope that helps.

[chet everett]

If "great schools" are truly important to you the easiest way to winnow out towns that do not have this is to eliminate any town that does not rank highly on the US News listing.

In DuPage Co there are are exactly SIX schools that rate at least silver: Best High Schools Search - US News and World Report

Fortunately all of these towns are on the train line and most offer good commute optiions, some are less than 20 minutes from downtown via Metra express service.

There are about double that in Cook Co that are not part of CPS -- Best High Schools Search - US News and World Report

Given that you have only a one year old and about $1M to spend you could remain in Chicago and get all the Democrats, nearness to the Lake, diversity and lack of teen drivers that you heart desires. Unfortunately all the top rated schools in CPS are selective admission and you need to know how to work the system.

[linicx]

On the other hand you might like Oak Park. The school system seems to have a good reputation. But the compelling feature is the Frank Lloyd Wright homes and mature trees. Oak Park also has a non-profit housing relocation and short term leases while you buy, close and move. I particularly like this site as it has panoramic views of several typical apartments. Each has a floor plan. Click on a red dot to change the room view. The arrow moves with the panorama.

The homes should certainly fall in your price range. If nothing else you should enjoy the visit when you go. I think it is rather unique place. The Loop is less than 10 miles and it is convenient to the airport, too. Oak Park Regional Housing Center

OP is very much about community. This link is to the community home page. Click on a picture or a link to learn more about Oak Park Oak Park Tourist - Touring, Living and Working in Oak Park, Illinois

Enjoy your virtual tour!






.

[chet everett]

The numbers are not in support of Oak Park as a destination for those seeking "great schools" -- even nearby River Forest is a bit shaky, though District 90's Lincoln Elementary and Roosevelt Middle make the SunTimes "50 Best" lists the other District 90 school, Willard, does not. http://www.suntimes.com/images/cds/pdf/top50mid-2008.pdf (broken link)
http://www.suntimes.com/images/cds/pdf/top50elem-2008.pdf (broken link)

[linicx]

The state seems to think the OP schools are doing just fine, although the OP-RF high school is shaky right now. This Illinois Interactive Report Card is compiled by NIU and ISBE. Lots of information on every school district in Illinois on this website.

http://iirc.niu.edu/Default.aspx

[cubssoxfan]

Arlington Heights fits the OP's criteria. Walkable downtown, train station for Metra, excellent schools AH Elem 25 and Prospect Heights 23 rank very well-Hersey, Prospect, Wheeling and Rolling Meadows rank on US NEws & World report Chet Everett mentions. Excellent library, good park district, convenient to restaurants & shopping in Schaumburg, convenient to O'Hare and a nice litte lake front on Lake Arlington AHPD - Lake Arlington (http://www.ahpd.org/Parks&Facilities/LakeArl/LakeArlington.html - broken link). Many, many nice housing choices between 750K & 1M. Just beware what you pay for property taxes on a home that expensive. You could even find a very nice house for $550-$650K and save the rest to start a very nice college tuition fund for your 1 year old! Have fun with your search and good luck.

[chet everett]

The reason I stick with the high schools is that the evaluation done by the researchers that work with US News is the only one that seems to be based on valid criteria that holds true from school to school -- other evaluations that rely on less broad tests / fewer criteria are not as valuable.

The usefulness of the ISAT test data is mostly to point out the really horrendous schools / districts. The tests are generally not very challenging and the differences between top performing schools is usually due to fractions of the percentage. Similarly, although I do occasionally quote from the SunTimes lists, those are really just compilations / sorts upon the ISBE data -- as such they are just marginally useful to point out the tippy top numerical performers, for correlation to other evaluations and of course to bring light on the poor performers.

I don't really like to single out other than the horrendously bad schools and the tippy top school, as there are simply no measures to help rank some of the middle performing schools / districts.

AH is one of many areas that might be worth exploring more deeply, but numerically the elementary & middle schools are not in the tippy top of the ISBE lists as compiled by the SunTimes.

Another ranking that has some merit is the Blue Ribbon program of the US Dept of Education -- the details on the measure are not clear cut, as improvement is a factor, as well as superior academic achievement. There is also some subjectivity and year-to-year changes in quotas that make this a less than perfect measure. In conjuction with other ranking it may be useful: Illinois/IL Blue Ribbon Schools - Public School Review