Family move from Pittsburgh to Chicago - housing recommendations needed (Arlington Heights: daycare, house)

[a_k]

We are considering moving from Pittsburgh to Chicago soon. We have an almost 3-yr old. Our price range is below $600k for a 4 br house with a single-family house (2,000 sq ft +). Other criteria that's important:

* Good school district and for the short term, easy access to high-quality daycare (e.g. Goddard School)
* Safe neighborhood
* Relatively newer house (built within the last 10-15 yrs) would be nice but I understand this is rare in many parts of Chicago
* Access to public transportation and within reasonable commuting distance (~45 mins) of downtown Chicago using public transportation
* Easy access to O'Hare (~30 minutes) since I travel a lot for work

Thank you for your recommendations!

[marothisu]

Question: Do you care at all about how walkable the neighborhood and having at least some restaurants, shops, whatever around or is that of no concern to you?

[Jandur]

Location wise you probably want the NW side right along the blue line. The issue there is that I don't think you are going to have a lot (if any) new housing options. Try Old Irving maybe.

[a_k]

marothisu - It would be nice to be in a walkable neighborhood with restaurants, shops, etc. but its not a must-have. On the other hand, I am not interested in living in a rural area where one has to drive 30 minutes to get to the nearest grocery store.

[hindukid]

Sounds to me like the OP is looking for something in the burbs and this post would have been more appropriate in the suburbs forum. 600K in the city isn't going to get you a SFH in a good neighborhood with good schools with 4BR that is also newish.

OP needs to either give up city location, good neighborhood with good schools, SFH or budget. At least one of those has to go.

[chet everett]

I have not been to Pittsburgh for awhile but I seem recall that between the hills and the rivers the relative " tightness" of things mean that much of the city was quite compact. Many of the parts inside Chicago have a more suburban sort of feel and conversely some of the more desirable suburbs around the Chicago region at well served by efficient commuter rail and similar amenities.

Originally Posted by hindukid

Sounds to me like the OP is looking for something in the burbs and this post would have been more appropriate in the suburbs forum. 600K in the city isn't going to get you a SFH in a good neighborhood with good schools with 4BR that is also newish.

OP needs to either give up city location, good neighborhood with good schools, SFH or budget. At least one of those has to go.

[Drover]

Forget Old Irving, the OP isn't going to find new construction in Old Irving in her price range and of course CPS schools are a bureaucratic mess.

I'd look along the Metra UPNW line: Park Ridge, Niles, Mt. Prospect, Arlington Heights, et cetera. And second posting in the Suburbs forum.

[a_k]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I didn't realize there was a separate forum for Chicago suburbs. That might actually be a better fit.