Edgebrook

[tomcho]

Originally Posted by chicagoRE

Thanks Chet and tomcho (and everyone else). I really do appreciate the well thought out answers and detail. I have been in Chicago for 12 years and do not know anything about the suburbs. I never thought we would leave the city but after looking into CPS we see no alternative. Where our current townhome is located the elementary school is def not an option. I would home school first. Someone made the comment that if we can afford $600k on a home then private school should not be an issue. Actually it is an issue and not in our budget. We are in our ealy 40's, had kids late, and cannot afford private schools if we want to be able to retirement and pay for college. Even if I could afford it I am not sold on the average yearly tuition of $20k, that is a lot of money. We have been homeowners for quite awhile, climbed the property ladder and have enough equity in order to afford something at this price point. Yes, we have equity even in this market:-)

My husband and I need good access to downtown/downtown neighborhoods. We both work from home and are constantly going to/from appointments all over downtown (north/side/west also) at all hours of the day. Taking the metra is not an option for us because of our crazy schedules. My husband's family is in Northbrook so that may be too close for comfort:-) But it is nice, seems a little sleepy though. Glenview kind of creeps me out with the Glen, a little to Pleasantville for me. What I like about Wilmette, Evanston, etc are the different styles of houses, mature trees. I am not looking to buy a cookie cutter spec house. Of course, nothing wrong with this type of house, it is just not my style. I thought Edgebrook would kind of give us a little bit of both worlds....city/suburb.

Again, you guys are amazing and a wealth of info. I really appreciate it!!

You seem to be in a similar boat as myself and my wife. We're in our mid 30s and have a 4 week old daughter. We have over 20 years of home ownership between the 2 of us, so we've built plenty of equity and will target a similar $600,000 price point when we move sometime in the next 6-12 months. Targeting a $600,000 house doesn't mean we can afford or would want to pay for private school.

I currently live in Jefferson Park and we're looking at Edgebrook, Edison Park, Sauganash, or Norwood Park as potential neighborhoods. All 4 of those areas have elementary schools I would be comfortable sending my daughter to. They are K-8 schools so high school won't be an issue for 13 years and at that point we'll see how the local high school is doing or move to a collar suburb.

Take a look at this K-8 map boundary map

http://www.cps.edu/SiteCollectionDoc...Elem_North.pdf

then reference this Illinois school report card of Chicago schools

Illinois Interactive Report Card

Contrary to what some posters would have you believe not all CPS elementary schools are full of gangbangers and uninterested teachers.

[nightgallery]

Originally Posted by chicagoRE

I would home school first. Someone made the comment that if we can afford $600k on a home then private school should not be an issue. Actually it is an issue and not in our budget. We are in our ealy 40's, had kids late, and cannot afford private schools if we want to be able to retirement and pay for college. Even if I could afford it I am not sold on the average yearly tuition of $20k, that is a lot of money.

Notre Dame H.S. for boys in Niles is under $10,000 a year.

[Dncr]

Why don't you look in the Lincolnwood Towers? They start literally across the street from Edgebrook and with the economy the way it is, I'm sure you'll be able to find a house for around 600,000 in there. They have a lot of homes that sell for over a million, but I'm sure there are a few under.

The elementary school district is District 74 and it's an excellent school system. There are 3 schools, all located on a single campus. Your kids will switch between schools after grades 2, 5, and then after Lincoln Hall they'll go to Niles West.

Illinois School Report Card | Lincolnwood SD74 (http://www.sd74.k12.il.us/home/report-card - broken link)

The high school district is 219 which again, is a fairly great school district.

[chicagojlo]

The Chicago Magazine list doesn't include Lake Bluff Elementary because the school as it is today didn't exist in the year they took results from to compile the list. It got me thinking about which other schools could have been left off the list and why.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by chicagoRE

Chet, you seem to know a lot about schools & various suburbs. If your budget was $600k where would you purchase? Looking for a close north side suburb with good public schools. A nice lot size is a bonus. Would consider west side but not first choice.

Just really curious where you would live if given the choice. Thanks-

Look into Park Ridge. It's in the Maine South attendance area, has Blue Line access at its southern edge (Cumberland station), and has two Metra stations.

[SonySegaTendo617]

Originally Posted by sayanything

There are no bars in Edgebrook (but there are bars nearby in Niles and on Elston and Milwaukee in the Jefferson Park community area whether it be the old "South Edgebrook" neighborhood or the Gladstone Park neighborhood.)

There also are some random bars along Northwest Hwy south of Edison Park(and within both the Norwood Park and Gladstone Park neighborhoods), the concentration of bars in Edison Park, and several chain bars/restaurants along Touhy Ave. from Lehigh Ave. east to Laramie Ave, which includes the Village Crossing Shopping Center. BW3, Brick House(on the site of where Bennigan's once was), and Bar Louie have locations within this corridor, and I know I'm likely missing a few others.

If you stretch your radius slightly further away, downtown Skokie is just a mile north of Village Crossing, and also has a few bars, including Village Inn.

[Rewind4]

Originally Posted by SonySegaTendo617

If you stretch your radius slightly further away, downtown Skokie is just a mile north of Village Crossing, and also has a few bars, including Village Inn.

Skokie might be a good choice, if you're ok with commuting on the Yellow Line. There's some very nice post-war housing stock there. Skokie doesn't have much more than the Village Inn and a few little (but tasty) restaurants in its old downtown area, but by Old Orchard Mall there are lot of retail and restaurants. The town has a well-planned layout with retail amenities on most of its main thoroughfares.

It's the same housing stock found in Edgebrook, it's practically 2 miles north of the area, and it's much less $$ (in Edgebrook you're really paying for the name and the fact that you're in an area long-favored by Chicago politicians and city employees).

I'd wanted to suggest Evanston, but to me the good-quality hosing stock is overpriced and the older, wooden-frame houses are barely affordable. It's still a fun and friendly area with its downtown sections and beaches.