My family and I may be relocating to the Chicago area. My husband will be working in Lake Forest. What area would you recommend for a young family to move to? Children will be in elementary school...relatives living in Oak Park. I would prefer a new home community but it seems like you really have to go out of the suburbs to find them. What do you think of the Hoffman Estates/Schaumburg area? Thanks.

As one who has spent many hours of my life commuting -- by train and car -- commute time and effort has become one of my primary considerations.

So without giving this a lot of thought, my first reaction is to be wary of a predominantly east-west commuting pattern. We lived in several north shore suburbs (Deerfield, which is near Lake Forest; and Evanston), and we often found that driving to points west could be very time consuming. I would certainly test out commuting patterns during rush hour before committing to Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates. The 290/294 tollway route can get very congested, and the other option is a combination of surface streets. My husband often drove from Deerfield to Hoffman Estates, and it easily can take an hour or more during rush hour.

A lot will depend on your intended price range. The areas around Lake Forest, for the most part, are established suburbs that are very expensive. I believe there is some new development in the Vernon Hills and Mundelein area, although I don't know how affordable it is. There also has been a lot of newer development to the north of Lake Forest, in and around Gurnee and Grayslake. These are more affordable areas, but they have grown very rapidly. Buffalo Grove also has some newer developments, without the price tags of surrounding communities; some areas of Buffalo Grove are part of the Stevenson school district, which is one of the state's best. That's where we were looking before we decided to move further west.

The Chicago Tribune online 'home' section has a lot of information that might help you re: prices, strength of home values, schools, etc. I'd spend some time there, then talk to a local real estate agent or a relocation specialist.

Good luck.

Hoffman Estates/Schaumberg area is a long commute, unless your husband is working close to highway 294. I would suggest you look in the following high school districts: Deerfield, Stevenson, Libertyville. If you can afford any part of Lake Forest,Barrington or Highland Park, those are also an excellent HS districts. To the north of Lake Forest is Waukegan, which is a big step down in many ways.

Here's a helpful link -
http://www.suntimes.com/schools/

Be sure to check out the high schools' ACT test scores and graduation rates. I know your kids are in elementary school, but the high school years will be here before you know it, and kids really hate to change school districts when that day comes. Also, a good HS district does add quite a bit of value to your house.

Thank you for all of your responses. Good schools are a big factor in choosing where to live. My husband has been spoiled with his current commute (15 minutes during rush hour) so an hour commute is a big difference. Are you suggesting that a north/south commute is better during rush hour? Does the "L" run up to Lake Forest? Any other suggestions are much appreciated. We are clueless where to start. Thanks.

The El ends in Wilmette. To reach Lake Forest, you want the Chicago-Northwestern Metra train line. Use http://tripsweb.rtachicago.com/
to plan a trip on public transportation.

Lake Forest is more than 25 miles north of Chicago. You do have a good map, don't you? You can see that the main expressways only run north-south in that area. Everything else is suburban sprawl. I used to commute from Northbrook to Lake Forest 20 years ago, and it was over 30 minutes then. Anything south of the county line (Lake-Cook Road) is going to be a half hour at least, because traffic is a real problem the closer you get to the city.

I used to live in Lake Forest and it is a beautiful community however,you will find it almost impossible to find a new home there for under 1 million dollars. The suggestions of Vernon Hills, Libertyville, and Mundelein are good as they are a quick drive to Lake Forest and a bit more affordable. The suburbs down the Metra line from Lake Forest to Chicago are all just as expensive as Lake Forest until you get to Evanston which has a greater variety of housing. You might consider living just across the border in Wisconsin. The Kenosha/Pleasant Prairie community has very affordable housing, excellent schools and is only a 25 minute drive or less to Lake Forest.

You might find something starting close to $500,00 in Lake forest or a neighboring town, but even if you do, it's going to be small and old. If you want a new home for around $300,000 or less, you're going to have to look in Lake County. Public transit probably won't be an option. Anything on the Metra line that runs through Lake Forest is going to be very expensive, at least until you get to North Chicago, which you don't want to live in.

Look in the Mundelein area. It's due west of Lake Forest and the commute shouldn't be more than 1/2 an hour on average. Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg are going to be an hour, and Hoffman Estates is pretty pricey as well.

As an 18 year resident of Libertyville, u must at least visit this town! We are New Yorkers who have lived in Houston and L.A before being transferred to northern Illinois. U just can't beat the sense of community in this town and our lovely downtown area can only be beat by Lake Forests'! Both school districts rank very with our high school having nationally ranked music and fine arts departments. We also have two Metra train stations for easy commuting to Chi-town.
With that said, there are no new home developments here other than some really nice townhomes recently built. The traffic can be a nightmare commutiing anywhere to the city or west toward Schaumbrg, etc. My neighbor works in Schaumbrg for Motorola and is never home before 6-6:30pm, leaving by 6:30 am. If your husband will be working in Lake Forest, count your blessings and absolutely stay up north! Mundelein, Vernon hills, Greyslake, Gurnee all have new home developements for every price point. Happy house hunting and good luck! L

I previously lived in Lake Forest. Everyone is correct that you need to look north of Lake Forest, or perhaps south. An east/west commute would be miserable for someone who is accustomed to 15 minutes.

Get a good map of Chicago that includes Lake County and the counties north of it. Check out the house prices in the Chicago Tribune. Select the suburbs that you can afford, and then contact real estate agent(s) to send you additional listings. Plan a trip to Chicago, rent a car, bring the map, stay in Lake Forest, and then tour with the real estate agents and on your own.

The "counties north of it" would be in Wisconsin. Which may not be a bad thing, there's a lot of new and more affordable development in Kenosha County. However, the commute may be bad, on the traffic reports I regularly hear about traffic jams on the tri-state (I-294) in the Waukegan area, which you would have to pass on your way to Lake Forest. North of that and you're looking at Racine and Milwaukee.

Flamingomonkey- you read my mind, or just described the area better than I did. To get affordable new development, OP might want to consider the Wisc. border counties but I agree the commute will much longer than the one OP's husband currently has.

Note that Wisc. has alot higher real estate and state rates than Ill.

While we aren't moving to Lake Forest, my son is looking at the college there. Can you tell me what kind of weather to expect in the winters? Are Chicago airports delayed considerably during the winter?
Just thinking ahead for him. Thanks.

There are lots of communities in and around Lake Forest with good schools that don't cost a million dollars. Not sure where you will be relocating from but be prepared to spend more than average for housing.

As for train commuting, you also have to consider if your husbands office is near the Metra train or offers shuttles to work. If not, he will be stuck driving.

GBelle-
Winters in Chicago haven't been that bad the last few years (in my opinion, but I like the cold), but this last winter saw more snow than the past 5 years. There are no more weather delays than any other airport during inclement weather, just plan ahead. I think we may have had only a couple of weeks with bitterly cold temps but your son should definitely invest in good, cold weather gear & boots.
The weather is beautiful today low 60's & sunny

Tina

Being a former south-suburban girl myself, I can't speak too much to the areas you are looking into. But be aware that traffic up there can get really interesting (not in a good way, I've driven around up there before and it almost feels worse than the city), so consider how much time you'll be spending in the car when you are looking for houses. and as far as winter goes, I'm of the opinion it is overblown, it isn't that bad.

I'd like to add that if you have never lived in a snowy climate, you will be in one in Chicago. We made the mistake of looking at houses during summer months and decided we could be "a little bit further out" to get a better housing value. Yikes. What an awful driving commute during wintry mix weather.

Having lived here for 18 years and growing up near NYC, I can say that the winter weather my family back East has experienced the past 5+ years has grown worse as ours has grown more mild. They seem to get more snow in winter and more rain in spring. But Chicago still can get lower teperatures for a longer period than the East coast in deep winter. My son goes to school in southeastern Minn. and he had less snow and warmer temps this winter than the folks back home. Air travel can be tricky anywhere on the East coast and midwest in the deep winter months. The only way to avoid that is have him go to school in southern CA! L