Hi all,
My husband is pursuing a good job in Chicago. I have visited once and liked it but have many questions as a potential new resident. We grew up in a small town north of Syracuse, NY and moved to L.A. 10 years ago. It's never felt like home for us. Too big, polluted and too many divas in our line of work. So, we're ready to leave L.A. and try the midwest. The job (if he get it) will be downtown. We'd like to live in a quiet area and possibly have a small house with a yard where the commute isn't more than 30-45 minutes by car or train.
Any suggestions on where to look to live?
We like Arlington Heights but were wondering if there's anything closer.

Do you have children? If so, what are their ages?

You'll pay a premium for good school districts, but it is worth it for most parents. If you are child-free, there are dozens of suburbs and city neighborhoods that sound like what you've described. Look at Glenview, Morton Grove, Edgebrook, River Forest.

The time of the train commute will depend on how far your husbands job
is from the train station. I like the older suburbs with character such as Glen Ellyn, Elmhurst, Hindale, Western springs. Naperville is a little farther out, but there are express trains. Naperville has realy good schools. None of these places are cheap though

I would imagine that since you're coming from the LA area, housing prices here won't seem as bad to you.

As celfan said, you might want to take a look at the Elmhurst, Hinsdale, Oak Brook, Lombard area. We're in Villa Park and my husband's train commute downtown is about 45 minutes.

Another possibility might be Oak Park. It's closer to the city but would still allow you to have that house and yard. However, it also has a little bit more of an urban feel than the farther out suburbs.

It would be very helpful if you provided your housing budget. I grew up in both Arlington Heights and Evanston, so I can give you some perspective on what you can expect from either community.

Lucky for you, the housing market is probably a lot more reasonable than the area surrounding LA. If you can give some additional info on the type of community (other than quiet), I can suggest some good suburbs. Do you want to be near restaurants or other cultural outlets? Is there a professional reason why your husband needs to drive downtown, or can he take the train all the tiem?

magicvoice, you have good timing.The bubble has just about burst all the way and the turn is decidedly towards a buyers' market for Chicago and suburban housing.

If money for purchase was not a central issue (if you have large equity in house you are selling etc.)- and you may have the pull to do it (but DO check out the taxes of each and every area you survey)- I would really head you toward Hinsdale or Lagrange areas if you have kids to school. Hinsdale has the best library- just awesome. Brookfield, near the zoo, is super as well. Plus the Western Surburban access is better/best, IMHO.

If you enter Will or Dupage Counties (suburbs) your taxes will be higher than most areas of Cook, regardless of the purchase price.

Ask if the house has Chicago water- regardless of the price. Some parts of Downers and Westmont, areas highly rec'd- don't.

If you would love a beautiful house with neighborhood feel/yard and immense community connection- consider the Southwest Suburbs on a Metra line- that would get you downtown in 45 to 50 minutes without a car and no driving. But you would need to be close to a Metra.

All these areas have quiet spots but also good access. Honestly, the commute from 90% of all Chicago suburbs in every direction is actually a lot more than 30 minutes now. The average is over an hour- even close to some train stations.

If you want a brick house and lots more/ higher level amenitities in it for your money, IMHO, I would check out Orland Park or Tinley Park on the Metra lines.

Just to give you a true picture. There are three or 4 houses per subdivision priced about $50,000 to $100,000 under true value right now because of the new housing market competition just catching up (4 to 5 year old houses with immense upgrades- are the undervalued- new are over valued) and lots of deals to be had. This is especially true of Orland Park, Tinley Park, and Frankfort. School districts are very good/excellent.

Tell us what kind of housing you would like and if you have kids, because that really changes the possible answers to your question.

Because if money or kids' education were not the biggest factors, you then may want to go directly into Chicago. There are lots of single family homes on the North side and also new revitalized areas all over the place.

I grew up in Downers Grove, which is a 23 minute express-train ride to the Loop. There are 3 Metra stops in DG. It's a 20 min drive to O'Hare (even less if you're on the north side of DG), 25 min drive to Midway. Those times of course depend on traffic. Without major traffic, I could drive from the Loop to my house in DG within 25 minutes. It's ideally situated off of I-88 on the north and I-55 on the south. 355 is on the west side. It's considered desirable due to location and it's not outrageously priced. It's an older, established community with excellent schools.

If you live in the western 'burbs (west of, say, 294), be prepared to spend half your life sitting on the Eisenhower to get downtown. I swear, there is no good time of day anymore to make that trek. The Metra will become your best friend.

I'm COMPLETELY biased, but I love the North Shore suburbs b/c of the proximity to the lake, Ravinia, downtown. Evanston is fantastic. Short commute via the El or Metra, great downtown area, diverse housing options.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that we have no kids and no plans to have any. It's just us. We bought our condo in Valencia (LA suburb) in 2000 so we'll have a lot of equity even though prices are coming down here.
We both in our mid '30s and enjoy going to the movies to see foreign and independent films, love walking among the trees and we love rivers and lakes. If this happens, I'm considering just selling one of our cars and having one for a while until I find a job of my own. Thanks, everyone for the help so far.

Oh, and house wise, it doesn't have to be big. 3 bedrooms or 2 with a den and 1 and a half baths would be perfect. Maybe something like 1300 square feet plus a garage and a small yard with a nice tree. Our needs are actually pretty simple because of not having kids. Right now, even with prices coming down in L.A., it's a half a million for a shack in the 'hood. This has fueled our decision to look for work outside of CA.

Foreign and independent films! You sound like Oak Park material!

Oak Park borders Chicago. People they are very liberal and somewhat artsy. Town is very gay friendly

Its not for everyone though. My wife would love it, I'd look elsewhere.

Pros - Close to the city, 15 minutes on Metra.

Cool old houses.

Lots of trees.

Cons - Borders one of Chicago's worst neighborhoods.

You might be run out of town if you are a republican.

Pretty expensive.


Evanston to the North is a possibility too. Heavily influenced by Northwestern University. I'm not familiar with the Metra schedule there.

Actually, if I were you, with your likes and situation, I would strongly suggest getting into City of Chicago itself. There are many nice walk ups and single family homes on the Northside or the Northwest sides of Chicago.

They just did a "What You Can Get" on HG or TLC (tv) for Chicago with different levels of entry, and you are definitely in the ball park.

Lakeview, Rogers Park- it depends on what or how you feel about density outside of your own yard space. You would be able to get a yard in some areas.

You could get a knockout house in suburbia and much more space for the same. If you only want 1300 sq.feet (which is REALLY small for Chicagoland- we have larger average per person here than in CA) you could get into some really better areas than Oak Park.

I grew up in Arl Hts. and loved it.
It is a very desireable area now.
They have totally revised the downtown area (train runs through it).
Lots of good restaurants. Nice older houses surround and the other surronding neighborhoods have followed suit.
http://www.vah.com/

http://www.arlingtonheights.org/

Its funny JJ5 but I was just going to reccommend the city too. Its really much greener than most cities.

As for Oak Park-some people love it, some don't. Not my cup of tea either.

Is Rogers Park safe these days? Maybe
it has gotten better over the past several years? Its easy to think
the northern neighborhoods will continue to improve as you move farher north, but the recent real estate slow down could change things.

You can't go wrong with Evanston or Oak Park if you don't want to live in the city. Evanston has a very diverse downtwon with lots of good ethnic restaurants and cultural opportunities do to Northwestern. The lake front is gorgeous as well. There's even a special beach just for dogs! It's an inner-ring suburb, just like Oak Park, and getting into the city is extremely easy. There are three metra stations in Evanston and the El also stops there.

Its hard trying to pick a place for someone you don't know. I heard independent films and oak park and evanston jumped out at me. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she's an independent film fan who would enjoy living in Schaumburg and eating at Applebees???

Sounds like a city bordering Lake Michigan could fill the nature walk requirement.

I'm in a situation where I meet literally 100s of people from Chicago neighborhoods each month- sometimes I have to tell them how to get to me.

We all tend to rec the same places that WERE, and not the ones that ARE.

Let me tell you, magicvoice, check out the crime stats and where the live theater, best restaurants etc. are. And you will find that they are not always where they were 10 years ago.

I have friends and know many young singles and couples 20's and 30's who have settled into Near South Side, Near North side, Lakeview, Rogers Park, Brighton Park (yes, they are building $400,000 condos on Pershing Rd.) and lots of other places.

I think that some of these areas now have far more good housing and less crime than Oak Park or its environs. I don't think I am wrong.

Look at where the Mayor is living for example.

magicvoice, do you want to know your neighbors pretty well? Do you like to go to classes, work in community? Golf? There are lots of things that make a BIG difference in this scenario.
Do you want QUIET streets, far from the night-time sirens? Like Sports, pubs, clubs? Want to walk to them at night?

One of my dearest friends moved from pastoral beauty of sleepy Greensboro, North Carolina to Chicago in March. He rented out his 5000 sf suburban house and lives in a one bedroom off North Michigan on Ontario downtown and could not be happier.

He let his ex wife use his Mercedes and decided to give it to her. He never wants to leave downtown and says that everything in the world he needs is within a six block radius.

Good luck!

I also grew up in Arlington Hts - last living there in 1987 (where did the years go?)! It is a great place. The downtown area is really fantastic. A bit closer in and on the same train line is Park Ridge, which I think is also a really nice place to live.

I have to agree with other posters that you may not want to rule out Chicago. The near south side is another idea. The area south of 12th, north of 22nd and east of Michigan is really a nice area. For the proximity to Chicago and the lake, it is much more affordable than the north side. You would be looking at townhouses (with small yards) or condos, as there are very few single family homes (and the ones that are there - 1800 block of Prarie are MANSIONS - gorgeous). Some of the townhome complexes have pretty expansive common areas/yards.

This area is just a couple blocks to the lake front, bike trails, etc. I don't know if I would classify the neighborhood as "quiet" - particularly on Sunday afternoon's during football season (did I mention that Soldier Field is a stone's throw away?), but it is not busy like the loop, gold coas, Lincoln Park or Lakeview...

The south loop is a 20 to 40 minute walk (depending on exactly where you live and where you work and how fast you walk). Public transportation options include the bus or train (20 minutes). And of course you can drive...5-7 minutes.

If you do want the suburbs, I think the folks have give you a lot of good advice, but as one poster noted and I agree - it may be hard to find a true 30 minute commute.

Oak Park, River Forest and Evantson are the closest of those mentioned, but all have a "city" feel...and feel less suburban, at least to me. Lots of older homes, too. You'll find more detached garages, for example in Oak Park than Arlington Hts. Evanston is somewhat inconveniently located if you want to be by an expressway and get anywhere besides downtown Chicago or the northshore. There is a lot of culture there and it is right on the lake.

Just my 2 cents...

I also say get a much smaller place and move into a better neighborhood. My wife
recently bought an 1100 foot dwelling. We thought it would be so small that we'd need an addition right away. Not so. We are
quite comfortable and wonder why the heck we needed such a big house before.