Help us decide where to buy a house (Chicago, Naperville: appointed, condo)

[neeshera]

We are looking for a 4 bdr/4bth all brick new construction in the 800 to 1000000 range. The house has to situated in a neighborhood which has other similar homes and comprises of highly educated professionals. The public schools have to be outstanding too. We are willing to move to the suburbs from the city (although reluctantly) provided the suburb offers everything that we are looking for and has a commute no more than 20 miles away from the illinois medical district.

We have explored many parts of the city as well as some of the nearby suburbs. However, strangely most of the big houses we have seen are standing in humble neighborhoods. We have not come across even one subdivision-like community with homogenous surroundings.

We are at our wits' end and are losing hope of finding our dream home any time soon. Anyone has any suggestons for us?

[Avengerfire]

Nope. I am at my wits end with some of the questions here. No offense.

[AaronK]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Nope. I am at my wits end with some of the questions here. No offense.

Then don't answer them, or read them. No one cares if you're annoyed.

Neeshara, you will have a tough time finding a home that is close to Chicago where you will find the conditions you like. I'd be willing to travel a little, if I were you. Maybe try looking into Naperville, it is a long commute but there are excellent private schools out here and Naperville has a lot of mansions, I'm sure you'd be able to find one that is within your mark.

[Jeff Hill]

Sounds like to me you should be looking in Lake Forest or Barrington Hills.

[chet everett]

I have tracked your posting in the City and suburbs. If you want a uniformly developed area you really don't have many options at the price point you are suggesting. The fact is that to get a totally new house in Oak Brook or Hinsdale you would be hard pressed to do that at $1M and certainly not at $800K and even there it is very likely that there is not the sort of homogeneity you seek in both home prices and the background of your neighbors. I do not think you will have much luck in any particular town, regardless of whether it is North Shore, like Lake Forest, where many homes sell for far more than the price you are interested in, or Barrington Hills where the shear number of new homes is very much constrained.

I hate to have to remind people that even at the price point you are considering there are ALWAYS compromises. Although the majority of residents of towns like Oak Brook are well educated you may be forced to buy a house next door to some billionaire college drop out like Ty Warner. You may also have to endure the pain of buying a $1M home in Hinsdale that is only a third the price of the home around the corner, and it may actually be a "used" home.


You really need to do some serious prioritizing if you are going to be happy with any house.

Do you want a top rated elementary district? A high school that matches? How important is a brand new house? Will having houses nearby that are older crush you? Is there any way to determine the educational attainment of all your neighbors? What difference does that really make? What is your commute situation? Do you care about access to Metra?

[mendelman]

Well, Oak Park, River Forest or Evanston will certainly get you the high priced homes, great schools, highly educated populous and easy access to downtown Chicago, but I'm not sure you'll get the "homogeneity" you're looking for, whatever that actually means.

There certainly are blocks in Oak Park that have mainly all 800K-1Mil houses, but they will most likely be "old", but probably in great shape.

River Forest will definitely give you "large" areas where there are only houses in your price range and also be "old" but in great shape.

[neeshera]

Thanks to everyone for sparing your time to help us out.

You can tell from all my posts here, how thoroughly lost and confused we are in the house hunting process. We have told ourselves many times we need to prioritize but, inspite of our best efforts, haven't been very successful. Chet Everett, I like your matter-of-fact, no nonsense reply.

By homogeneity, I mean a house that blends in its surroundings, size-wise and price-wise. The level of education of parents in the neighbourhood is important because it does get reflected in how their kids are raised. Too much disparity can invite isolationism. I am not trying to be elitist, only stating the facts of life.

[chet everett]

I appreciate your frustration. I think many home buyers go through a similar bout of angst. It is a major financial decision that can have a lot of emotions attached to it as well.

You want to move someplace that you will be comfortable and feel that the neighbors share similar values, I completely understand this. While there are no guarantees I do think that most places will reward you in equal measure to your efforts. What I mean is that if you move into any town and expect there to be some "welcoming party" that makes it very easy to meet everyone you will likely be disappointed BUT if you move in and make some effort to get to know your neighbors through simply walking around and getting involved in things like the Park District and simple gatherings you probably will not be disappointed.

Similar maxims hold true for the potential success of your children in the local schools -- if you simply assume they'll be fine because the data on the district is positive it is not as good as becoming involved in the PTA, school board, grade level involvement et cetera. Ultimately the influence you have as a parent is far greater than ANYTHING the school does or does not provide.

In my experience similar research into the local politics and active commitment to the town will have a positive effect on the price appreciation / stability of your home. Whether moving into an area with all new homes or one with a majority of older homes you can judge the level of care that the municipal services, individual home owners and even developers have given to building and maintaining properties. If there are teardowns that are out of character the area may have gone a sudden dramatic change, while if there is a progression of homes that show more attention to detail and subsequent increase in price/quality it is a much better sign. Over the long term the smaller older homes in desirable areas will be replaced or improved/renovated, but this could take a long time and should not be a negative.

I can honestly say that I know of few if any areas where there is not quite a large spread in prices. Even in new condo developments, where one might expect prices to be tightly clustered, there are buildings where the range in prices is rather dramatic 3x, 5x, 7x differences are very common.

In nearly every town that I know of there is also a broad economic/ educational mix of people. I was only joking a little about the situation of a billionaire college drop out like Ty Warner of Beanie Baby fame -- he does live in Oak Brook where some of his neighbors are attorneys, physicians, business leaders with advanced degrees, the occasional owner of a contracting firm with blue collar roots, nice retired empty nester or even a regular public employee or "salary man" working at a 9-to-5 job. These people will not always agree on everything, but I assure you that is not the case in any "planned community" either, where despite restrictive covenants there are HUGE range of opinions as to what ought to be 'acceptable' in/around each owners' "castle"...

In nearly every town there are folks that do not make ideal role models for your kids, whether they are drinkers/substance abusers, simply keep their lawn or patio in shambles, park too many cars in the drive/yard, talk too loudly, have too many pets, too many kids, too little supervision etc, you will find less than ideal neighbors from just about every income/education level.

Do not let these realities get in the way of what you really desire: a house you will be happy with in a town you feel comfortable coming home to every night. The amount you are willing to spend gives you much flexibility in finding many options. Do not be afraid to evaluate all the pluses and all the minuses of many houses simultaneously. Ultimately I feel there is a bit of serendipity and every buyer feels a bit of remorse as there is ALWAYS a compromise. You will never totally escape the "grass is greener" feelings, but by doing exactly what you are doing (looking at multiple potential options) you will avoid making a serious misjudgment. The terrific levels of inventory should be in your favor as this is different than in years past where buyers felt they had to scramble to find ANYTHING in some towns. Now there are many towns that have a great variety of homes to offer.

[Drover]

If you can afford to buy a 1 million dollar house, why is the school district even a concern?

[Avengerfire]

If you want the top of the caste system go to Barrington or Northbrook or something...

Upon reading your post again,I feel like you will never be satisfied with what you will find in the Chicago area or anywhere else for that matter.

People search for the perfect area. No such area exists. You will have to compromise on one thing or another. If you cannot compromise you will be forever unhappy.