Moving to south suburbs of Chicago (Joliet, Lansing: condo, house, schools)

[belowground]

My wife and I are planning to move from Chicago back to the south suburbs. We both grew up in Park Forest, but are interested in Crete, Monee, Lansing, Homewood, Flossmoor, Frankfort and Lemont. Our favorites are downtown Crete and Frankfort. We are looking at homes under $150k so that narrows down what we can choose from.

What are your opinions on these towns?
How are they changing?
How are the schools?

Thanks.

[linicx]

Move to Chicago Suburb Forum

[rubber duck]

Homewood, Flossmoor, and Frankfort are your best bets, and with the current housing bust I think you could get it done for $150k. Lansing, Crete, and Monee aren't terrible, and you would get more house for your money, but the schools aren't as good.

[deechee]

I totally agree with rubber duck,

add on Olympia Fields

[urza216]

I grew up in Park Forest too. And for God sakes, if you are anything like me then don't move to Monee.

Right now, it's 9PM and in these parts, that's like midnight. I wanna go to the park to read a book.. There's a great park right here Monee. It's lit up and seems to be designed for people to go there at night. I'm not gonna bother though because I know that if I stop by there and sit on a park bench and read a book, a squad car is gonna pull up and the cop is gonna ask me a series of questions about what I'm doing (what does it look like I'm doing, genius?) and tell me to leave..

For this to be an option, I have to drive about fifteen minutes to southern Cook County... just to sit in the park and read a book.


That said, I live in a nice house in the woods. It's very quiet, serene and in spite of still living with my mom and stepdad, I got a nice bachelor pad going for me. But the town itself sucks.. I wish I could fly and never had to pass through it again.

[oldhousegirl]

Originally Posted by rubber duck

Homewood, Flossmoor, and Frankfort are your best bets, and with the current housing bust I think you could get it done for $150k. Lansing, Crete, and Monee aren't terrible, and you would get more house for your money, but the schools aren't as good.

You will likely have to spend more than 150K for Flossmoor or Frankfort. Not just the housing costs, but the high taxes. For Flossmoor, you may find a sfh with I'm just guessing; either a. Hidden water in the basement type problems or B. Some other expensive hidden problem or maybe right in the open type problem.

Frankfort, again high taxes, high utilities, and maybe well water depending on where you are. Lansing, definitely yes. Look for water in the basement. Crete, yes, Monee, yes. Homewood, yes for ~150k.

Remember the property taxes vary considerably. I know this first hand regarding Flossmoor, btw which is a very lovely community. Not just a house, but a home. My beloved Flossmoor .

[ImaloneJill]

Originally Posted by oldhousegirl

You will likely have to spend more than 150K for Flossmoor or Frankfort. Not just the housing costs, but the high taxes. For Flossmoor, you may find a sfh with I'm just guessing; either a. Hidden water in the basement type problems or B. Some other expensive hidden problem or maybe right in the open type problem.

Frankfort, again high taxes, high utilities, and maybe well water depending on where you are. Lansing, definitely yes. Look for water in the basement. Crete, yes, Monee, yes. Homewood, yes for ~150k.

Remember the property taxes vary considerably. I know this first hand regarding Flossmoor, btw which is a very lovely community. Not just a house, but a home. My beloved Flossmoor .

True, I don't think she will find a home for 150k in Flossmoor or Frankfort. I don't even think Frankfort Terrace (older area) is that cheap.

[RedFlyer]

My grandmother lived in Homewood and it still seems like a great town. I previously have lived in Mokena and Frankfort, now in Joliet. Frankfort is a nice town - definitely has that small community like feeling to it, but the taxes there are higher. If you want lower taxes, but still live around that area, Mokena and New Lenox are viable towns as well.

In my opinion, Mokena is a prime spot because you are so close to I-80, you have LaGrange Road (Rt. 45) and Route 30 nearby. The one thing is, as Orland expands, more business seem to slowly creep down on 45. This is my guess, but you may see Mokena, Frankfort, and even south of Frankfort down 45 start to get busy in the next few years, especially if the economy picks up.

As I get married in another year, we are looking at Manhattan. Not much there, but I do think some of the commodities of New Lenox and Frankfort will stretch into the small Manhattan town in the next 10 years or so.

[deechee]

I'd say stick with Homewood in the case that you have this strict budget. I would say that you could get a condo for that price in those other towns they mentioned.

[belowground]

I am more interested in Homewood than my wife is. Some of my family is from Homewood so I have a history there. My wife doesn't like that Homewood/Flossmoor is sort of a bubble between some not as desirable towns. I don't see it that way.

Regarding Monee, we probably wouldn't be venturing out to the park after dark anyway so that wouldn't be a problem with us. We would like a nice quiet community where the Police do keep any eye on things.

I work(drive) in Chicago, so I need to keep that in consideration also as far as my commute to work.

Lansing seems to be higher on our list, but the more reviews I read about it, the more I think we should look somewhere else.