Move to Chicago (Naperville, Evanston, Oak Park: violent crime, hotel, house prices)

[NJ908]

My family is considering a move from NJ to Chicago. I will be working on E. Wicker Dr. near Swiss Hotel, and I'm looking for a nice neighborhood where I can raise my kids and also take subway to work. My budget for house is around $500,000. Single family home or townhouse are desirable. Any suggestions?

[Drover]

Oak Park, and take the Green Line L into the city. There's a stop 2 blocks from Swisshotel. Good schools for your kids too. Evanston might be a good place to look too, but the commute will be considerably quicker from Oak Park.

[NJ908]

Thanks for the heads up. If I were to drive from these towns, how long will the commute be? Is parking situation impossible in Chicago?

[jessiegirl_98]

The parking situation is not impossible, but if you have to park all day downtown, you are looking for about $20/day (maybe $10 if you find a good deal). Commuting on 290 is not fun...... I would say driving from Evanston in rush hour about 1.5 hours in rush hour (could be shorter) or from Oak Park at least 40 minutes..... Anyone agree/disagree with those times?

[Drover]

Driving from Evanston won't be anything near 1.5 hours. It's only 10 miles from downtown. However, there's no quick way to get there during rush hour, Lake Shore Drive being the only thing remotely resembling a highway between Evanston and downtown -- and it gets seriously clogged up during rush hour plus it doesn't go all the way up to Evanston so you'd have to fight some street-level traffic just to get to it. So it would still be about 45 minutes. During normal commute times, it will be faster to take the train from both cities, whether it's the Metra from Evanston, or the L from Oak Park (though Metra is an option from there too). It only takes about 25 minutes to ride the Green line L from Oak Park to downtown. And if you want to park downtown, expect to shell out a minimum of $250/mo.

[NJ908]

I've been checking out houses in these two areas, and can't figure out what to expect for the money I'm paying. It seems impossible to find a single family house for $500,000.

[oakparkdude]

I don't know anything about Evanston, but we recently bought a SFH in OP, so I can tell you my experiences.

Almost all SFH in Oak Park are 60+ years old. Houses north of Lake Street tend to be bigger (and more expensive) than those south of Lake Street. Since crime in Oak Park is correlated with proximity to the eastern border of Oak Park (Chicago city limits), prices get more expensive the further west you live. We found plenty of houses between 4-500K (2 years ago). These were generally 60+ year old, 3 bedroom, 1.5-2 bath houses located in the eastern and southern parts of town.

We ended up in northern Oak Park, west of Ridgeland and are very happy with our location (we spent more than 500K, unfortunately). I have friends who live in southern Oak Park, east of Ridgeland, and like their locations as well. If I was buying now, in your price range, I'd look east of Ridgeland between Madison St and the expressway as well as all areas south of the expressway. Luckily its a buyers market, so prices may even have dropped.

Townhouses tend to be less than 5 years old and centered around the downtown area. You can get 3 bedroom, 3 bath, modern TH within walking distance of the Green line El for under 500K. If you can do without a yard, I would recommend the TH, due to proximity to downtown/public transit.


Don't forget, taxes will be very high (probably cheaper than NJ), about 2% of your purchase price, but that's the price you pay for outstanding public education. Oak Park is expensive for the Chicago area. Being an inner suburb, crime is somewhat of an issue (mostly property crime, violent crime is rare). We looked at Naperville, also (my job is in the western suburbs and it would've been a much shorter commute), but we wanted a urban, pedestrian-friendly town.

[Manigault]

Don't count out Park Forest South or Flossmoor or Homewood. The house prices are lower and you can take Metra just about into the buildings around the Swisshotel. That makes a big difference during winter.

[Chinolala]

Oak Park, Elmwood Park, Mont Claire (Chicago neighborhood that borders Oak Park and Elmwood Park), Lombard (near west suburb), Jefferson Park (Chicago NW side)

[cvatasoiu]

Originally Posted by NJ908

I've been checking out houses in these two areas, and can't figure out what to expect for the money I'm paying. It seems impossible to find a single family house for $500,000.

Jefferson Park and Evanston are good choices.
I kinda like Jefferson Park since it's a nice, quiet neighborhood, close to the Blue line and plenty of parking spaces also ( in case you have more cars and only 1 garage space). Also, Old Irving Park is a very good choice

Two months ago, one of my clients bought a house in Jefferson Park for $425,000, 3 Bed / 2 Bath