top 3 areas to avoid in nw suburbs (Chicago, Naperville: upper-class, real estate)

[ChicagoMeO]

Originally Posted by Master Jay

Pseudonym18123, good morning.

RIGHT?!? Thinking about the areas in places like Vernon Hills (or Libertyville) to avoid?!?

I mean, if people are put off my an apartment complex here and there, they might want to go live in an Amish community!!

Thats ridiculous to think that an apartment complex in Vernon or Liberyville is scum.. if thats what they were implying.. Put any apartment building in those places up next to a typical run down beat down ghetto building in chicago, complete with tenants and you will see a huge difference. I am sorry for the decent people who happen to live in ghetto apartments when they have no where to go, but im speaking of the run down beat down buildings that were so bad they had to tear them down (projects).

I dont think any apartment buildings needed chicken wire on the edge of the outdoor hallways in Libertyville or Vernon!

[Master Jay]

ChicagoMeO, Amen to you, I say!

You know, when I worked in the Milwaukee County Jail, I was surprised when we'd have inmates with holds in Libertyville! There were a few inmates over the years.

And I, at the time, knew Libertyville very well. The hold could be for someone arrested in Libertyville; not necessarily a resident.

Either way, like you say, their worst area would be minor by Chicagoan standards.

[Pseudonym18123]

Let me rephrase myself: when I say there are “bad” apartments, there are a multitude of things that make them undesirable. No, they’re not ghetto or dangerous crime wise. They may have poor reputations for maintenance. Of course they’re so much better than a Chicago ghetto apartment.

[pvande55]

I don't know of any you would avoid for crime, but traffic. Probably Schaumburg. For railroad crossings, DesPlaines. Long freight trains block traffic east of Mt Prospect Rd. The only way over it unimpeded is I 90 the Tollway.

[Sunbiz1]

I'll add Streamwood to the list, it's a trashy town; my Aunt lives there.
No good restaurants, no good bars; and the traffic cams are everywhere.
Hint; If you're making a right turn; come to a full stop even if no traffic is present...or pay $100.

They're desperate for revenue.

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by Sunbiz1

I'll add Streamwood to the list, it's a trashy town; my Aunt lives there.
No good restaurants, no good bars; and the traffic cams are everywhere.
Hint; If you're making a right turn; come to a full stop even if no traffic is present...or pay $100.

They're desperate for revenue.

Steamwood? Above-average household income and low poverty. Doesn't seem trashy to me. Seems like middle-class suburbia. Where do you live?

[Pseudonym18123]

Streamwood is fine nationally, I’d be comfortable living there as a single dude, but definitely not if I have kids; U46 is kind of a deal breaker. The only really “bad” part in terms of crime is the 68-53-12 triangle in Palatine, which has section 8 apartment complexes with quite a bit of gang activity and crime. Still nothing compared to the worst south suburbs or places like Maywood, though.

[Al Hung]

Originally Posted by G in MP

There was a house on Cuba Rd that sold last year, not to far from us. We went to look at it just for fun, old little farm house, sitting on 5 acres but it's mostly floodplain. It sold for like $250k or something. Anyways, young couple bought it, tilled the side yard, going at it as a little hobby farm. Now they got a sign up, selling produce and flowers.

Did it come with any free ghosts? . One night back in June, I was driving down a section of Cuba Road and did not know it. It was in the middle of when we were having all those non-stop days of rain, and it was hot during the day so it was SUPER foggy. I was picking up a couch, and on the way there thinking to myself "Man, this place is creepy. It'd suck if my van broke down here." I did get the chills for a second. On the way back, I noticed the street sign as I turned onto Cuba Road.

[Master Jay]

Al Hung, et al. good morning.

If there's one thing we learned from The Sixth Sense, is to not fear those of the spiritual world; rather, make friends with them.

Now, if ONLY we could do that in OUR world: Instead of fear people around us who look different, MAKE FRIENDS with them!.... The world might be a more friendly and happy and tolerant and peaceful and better world!

And there is your daily thought, from Master Jay.

[Al Hung]

I've been all over the Chicago suburbs at this point. I've spent the most combined time in Naperville, but as far as NW suburbs go I've worked and lived here for ~10 years. Could North Ave/Rt. 64 be the "north" cutoff of NW?

Highs
-Riverfront areas in St. Charles and Geneva: I feel like these areas are very well laid out for both tourists and locals alike, and the economy has remained relatively resilient throughout the pandemic. I just feel good whenever I go out to these areas, it's a very pleasant atmosphere that feels isolated from strip malls and large highways (two things that for me, coincidentally, make for undesirable places to spend a lot of time). The St. Charles/Geneva downtowns are IMO the closest comparisons to downtown Naperville as you can get in the NW suburbs, with the mix of retail, restaurants, proximity to green space and "waterfront" activities. What draws me out there the most are Hahn's Bakery, Penrose Brewing and Mt. St. Mary Park.

-Main Street in Roselle: Small, but it's got a few gems and somewhere I spent a lot of time due to living in Bloomingdale. There are some nice SFH's along Roselle Road leading up to it, and the downtown area has one or two decent apartment buildings close to "the action". But I went up there mostly for my coffee (Maple Leaf Coffee Roasters), beer (Pollyanna Roselare) and eats (1913, Dr. Dogs).

-41.8396418, -88.1640558 at St. James Farm: It's the area around a bridge that crosses Spring Brook. It's a small hike to get there, and once you're there you're basically by yourself. Despite the proximity to Butterfield Road, I don't hear the road noise when I'm here. I like the solitude, and walking around in the water, doing some fishing, and just not being bothered. Been there more than a dozen times now throughout the pandemic and probably my favorite place to be in the burbs.

Otherwise I've found very little to like about living and working in the broad swath of area bordered by 90, 294, 88 and the Fox River. That's me personally, and probably in large part due to my preference for being near very large bodies of water (I grew up on the east coast), my dislike of strip malls/shopping plazas even in the best of economies (to say nothing of the dilapidated state of most currently), and the seeming inability to get away from the constant drone of road and highway. noise.

I'm not saying Naperville/SW suburbs are any better, or where I'm at currently (Highland Park and Lincolnshire mostly) are much better. It's just that we're talking NW suburbs.

Happy Sunday Master Jay. Big horror movie fan here, specifically ghosts, haunted houses and possessions. So making friends with ghosts? Nopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopeno penopenopenopenopenopenope. Ghosts around? I'm getting out of the pool, they can have it.