Chicago (area) parents: advice on neighborhoods?

[analisa]

Can anybody offer advice about Chicago neighborhoods or urban-feeling western suburbs? We're city people hoping to find a pretty, walkable, safe, urban (or maybe semi-urban) neighborhood where we could buy a charming older house or condo/townhome. We'd love to have within walking distance things like libraries, shops, post office, parks, eventually a good school system, etc., and we also hope to find a place that would offer a manageable commute to Naperville.

When we've visited Chicago, we've mostly stayed downtown. We've also liked places like Evanston and Lincoln Park, but they seem a bit far given the Naperville factor. We recently visited downtown Oak Park and liked it. It's just so hard to get a feel for a place in a short visit.

I'd really appreciate any input you locals can offer!

[lmintzer]

(Typing quickly b/c it's almost time for preschool)

I'm a native Naepervillian, and dh and I lived in Oak Park for 3 1/2 years. We LOVED the community there, the neighborhood, the parks, etc. The public schools are fanastic. I was heartbroken to move (job-related).

The only 2 downsides about Oak Park? Price is the biggy. The cost of real estate there is pretty incredible. However, Evanston and Lincoln Park would be even worse. Also, if you are not into remodeling/old homes, it can be rough. We had a home from 1949 (NEW for the area) and had to rip out the whole kitchen and remodel the basement. The bathrooms would have been next if we would have stayed.

Evanston to Naperville would be a horrible commute. Lincoln Park to Naperville would be no picnic either. Actually, I know someone who did Oak Park to Naperville, and it wasn't fantastic due to the congestion on the particular highway that you need to take, but at least your distance isn't quite as bad. It's literally only 20 miles away, but that 20 miles could take you the good part of an hour in rush hour traffic.

I don't mean to steer you away--I think Oak Park is one of the more wonderful places in the Chicago area. Actually, Naperville is pretty happening now too. It's got a beautiful downtown, lots of shopping, a historic district with well-established trees and neat old homes. The schools are some of the top in the area. I felt incredibly well-prepared for college after coming out of Naperville schools. You can take an express train into the city and get there in just over a half and hour. You might want to consider Naperille if one or both of you will be working there. Having no commute is a major plus (well, you are hearing my biases now) with a young family.

Feel feel to pm me for more Oak Park or Naperville info.

[Momof3Labs]

Elmhurst may meet your needs, but definitely has seen a lot of price inflation in recent years.

Would it be an option to take the Metra out to Naperville from certain locations? Not sure if you can get from the train station to your place of work, but some companies offer shuttles and such. It may simplify the commute question for you.

[cvharris]

La Grange is also a nice community (not as urban as Oak Park) but full of charming old homes, tons of shops and a good school system. There are a lot of young families in La Grange, many make the move from the city to there and it is closer to Naperville than Oak Park.

Carolee
Mama to Ben (6/03)
It's a BOY! Baby brother due 12/18/05

[mharling]

Elmhurst is great, but yes, it has gotten extremely pricey. I would love to move there, but we can't afford a house that has what we're looking for. :(

LaGrange would be another possibility. Lots of older homes, tree-lined streets, etc. The Metra line that stops there also goes out to Naperville (and there's a stop right at the DuPage Children's Museum and a stop near Brookfield Zoo if you go the other way). It has a great downtown area with lots of unique shops/boutiques, but practical stuff too. The permanent library (they're in a temporary one while remodeling and I don't know where it is) is on the south end of the downtown area. Oh, and a Trader Joe's!!

There is lots of $$$ housing in LaGrange, but when we were house hunting last year, we (surprisingly) discovered that you can get more for your money in LaGrange vs. Elmhurst (at least in our price range).

Good luck!!

ETA: LaGrange also has some recent rehab condo buildings. Not many townhouses, but some.

[alexsmommy]

Ditto everything Lisa said about Oak Park. I've lived here all of my life (college and one year post grad exceptions). Because of housing prices we did consider moving out further west, but we love the urban feel, easy access to the city and the ability to walk everywhere. Oak Park - Naperville commute can be hard during rush hour though. My brother is currently working in Aurora (a little bit further west than Naperville) and he's not loving the commute. During off hours though, I think nothing of going out to hang with my friends out there - though Naperville sprawls so it also depends where in Naperville you have to get to on a regular basis. Also, as Lisa said, she was in a "new" home by OP standards. The home we are purchasing is 100 years old so you have to be handy, or willing to pay someone to fix the inevitable aging house issues. We love, love, love where we live though - and have decided less house is worth the location for us.

Alaina
Alex 2-4-03

[swampus]

Glen Ellyn has a metra stop, cute downtown with walking distance to restaurants, shops, doctor's office... and the most beautiful homes you can imagine! :) I love driving through all the old neighborhoods on the way to the ped's office.

But-- pricey, pricey. It's similar to Elmhurst in a lot of ways, though.

I was very surprised by downtown Naperville when I moved out to the burbs from the city. There's a mini-city of everything you can imagine... plus, the post office and children's museum nearby. It seems that there is a lot to choose from (larger, expensive homes, smaller fixer-uppers--which I'm sure are still very expensive).

Someone mentioned Naperville having some of the best schools in the area. If I'm not mistaken, I believe it's considered the top school district in the *state*.

[analisa]

Lisa,

I *think* I just PM'd you (haven't done that before here, but it looked like it went through).

Thanks!

[lmintzer]

Yes, it went through. I have to take Jack to preschool, though. I'll try to write back later today.

[lmintzer]

Yes, it went through. I have to take Jack to preschool, though. I'll try to write back later today.

[analisa]

Thanks to some very helpful Chicagolanders -- alexsmommy, lmintzer, Momof3Labs, mharling, cvharris, swampus -- for your input! I've been finding the neighborhood/home search a bit stressful, especially because we're still living far away (in sunny CA--so sad to leave this time of year!) and starting to dread the winterland aspect of our move. And we're finding it harder than expected to identify appealing homes to consider buying.

Hearing from all of you definitely helped to clarify the situation. You confirmed some ideas we had and opened us up to some other options.

Thanks again!

[DebbieJ]

Analisa,

I moved from sunny SoCal to Chicago around this time last year. Not fun! But hey, I'm from here, so I got back into the swing of things pretty quickly.

I love straight south of Naperville and have lived down in the SW burbs all my lift, so I really can't comment on the whole neighbhorhood thing. But I wanted to say WELCOME TO CHICAGO!

We'll have to have a BBB Chicago playdate as soon as you get settled.

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
BFARed for 20 months and 6 days

http://www.bfar.org/members/fora/style_avatars/Ribbons/18months-bfar.jpg

[tiapam]

Analisa-

Any chance you could rent first? I think the market here is still pretty good for renters The downside is you might miss out on a good interest rate.

Other towns you might consider: River Forest, Hinsdale (I might be confusing this with Hillside, but I think this is the right one), Roselle, St. Charles, Bartlett, Lemont, Berwyn. I don't actually know a lot about these places, but I have lived in the area my whole life, and these are ones I would look into further, along with the ones mentioned by PPs.

HTH.

-Pam

Charlotte born October 2004

[alexsmommy]

River Forest is right next to Oak Park, they share the same high school and several town activities. Housing prices are higher than OP in general b/c they have more large/modern homes, but there is a lot of overlap b/w the two housing markets. Metra station goes right into RF and it's easy to get around on foot IF you are close to Lake Street. The "downtown" areas of Oak Park and River Forest merge together to make one fairly nice shopping area that we definately visit with the stroller. I know Lisa probably answered all of you OP questions, but definately email me if you have more. I will say, all of the neigborhoods people have listed are really nice areas.
Alaina
Alex 2-4-03

[analisa]

Deb,

Thank you for the warm welcome! It's in sharp contrast to the chilly stats I see on Yahoo! weather.

I grew up in Wisconsin, so I know what winter is, but I'm feeling a bit worried for DD. I remember those dead-of-winter advisories that told how many minutes it would take to freeze skin, and you were warned not to go outside at all. Yikes--my poor baby!

A BBB Chicago playdate sounds fun! I just did a search about joining the group, and I came across a recent thread by someone (farleygirl) moving to Naperville. It was very helpful. How funny--I was away from the boards and didn't see that thread because we were actually in Naperville house-hunting at the time.

I just PM'd you.

[analisa]

Pam,

Thanks for the suggestions! Yes, we're prepared *not* to find a house/neighborhood we love, and in that case we will consider a short-term rental to buy more time to orient ourselves. Chicagoland is so expansive!

[analisa]

Thanks! We really like Oak Park but only saw a bit of River Forest when we were there a few weeks ago. We're really struggling with the Naperville commute issue, though.

I just PM'd you (but wait, you mentioned e-mail -- will you still get it?)

[wagner36]

Come to Oak Park! It's really nice here. If you like Oak Park, I really don't think that you'll find too many other suburbs with the same feel (maybe Evanston, but obviously a terrible commute to Naperville). There are other suburbs with downtown areas, but IMO they're still not really urban. They may have smaller city lots and be walking distance from things, but I wouldn't say they're urban in terms of factors like diversity (a big factor for us), public transportation, etc. Oak Park is a pretty liberal place, and I think it is hard to find the same feel elsewhere. Plus, then you could be neighbors with Alaina and me.

River Forest is lovely, but WAY more expensive than Oak Park. Forest Park is also nearby, cheaper than both OP and FP, and the downtown area there on Madison Street is INCREDIBLE! There are all kinds of art galleries and little boutiques moving in - and they are building the new YMCA (currently in OP) there and it is going to be gorgeous. The only drawback about Forest Park is that the high school kids go to there is pretty terrible (Proviso East). But, the rumor on the streets is that the school district just bought a big parcel of land for a new high school, which would do wonderful things for property values there. My understandint is that the elementary schools there are great. There are the best restaurants and stuff there, and it is really nice.

The commute would NOT be great, that is for sure. But, if 'urban' is truly what you are looking for, I don't think you'll find it anywhere else but the city or one of the few suburbs still on the el. Naperville does have a downtown area which is quite cute, but the majority of Naperville, which sprawls on and on forever, is just like any other american suburb.

But, as you can probably tell, we're pretty anti-suburb. We moved to Oak Park out of necessity - we could not afford a single family home in an area of the city that was desirable (safe, big house, larger lot, close commute to downtown - my commute from Oak Park is shorter than what it was when we lived in Roscoe Village) for us to live in while Pete continues to be a SAHD. A condo wasn't an option for us - we were running out of space, didn't want a duplex down, didn't want to share a garage, and have a dog. My DH grew up in a Chicago suburb and hated it - and really didn't want to be stuck far away from the city and all of its activities as a SAHD (they take the el a lot and go to the dog beach, etc. almost every day), and commute time was the MOST important factor. I work a lot, and tacking a 1+ hour commute on each way was not an option.

ETA: If you're not an old house person, Oak Park, River Forest, etc., are probably not for you. There is very little new construction (some townhomes and condos) in this area. We're old house kind of people, but it means that I have like 5 contractors in my house this week (redoing bathroom, bedroom window, porch painting and chimney work). If I was in a new subdivision somewhere, I would not have to worry about that. But, we have the original 100 year old woodwork and stained glass, and my block is on the national register of historic places (though my house has siding, lol), so that means more to me. It's just a matter of personal taste, I guess.

[C99]

I sent you a PM!