Anyone want to school me on the Chicago suburbs?

[shell24]

For working in Rosemont, living in Des Plaines (parts are ok), Mt. Prospect and Park Ridge would be excellent. What is your budget for housing? Park Ridge is more expensive than Mt. Prospect. Both have good schools, park districts and downtown areas.

I actually live in one of the suburbs I listed above. It takes me about 15 minutes to get to Rosemont. Let me know any specific questions you have and I'll do my best to answer.

[shell24]

Also, I grew up with a Westie. Best dog ever!

[shell24]

Dec 7, 2014 17:16:41 GMT -5 rvan0905 said:

We are looking for something between $350k and $700k. I know that is quite a difference, but we would really like to save some money if possible.

You'll be hard pressed to find anything under 450k in Park Ridge. But you never know!

[Jalapeñomel]

I have nothing to add, except for the fact that I LOVE Chicago, and I'm jealous (I lived in Lincoln Square and Uptown, when I lived there).

[shell24]

Dec 7, 2014 17:52:26 GMT -5 rvan0905 said:

We are more concerned with not having to take a major reno on, and I"m worried that may not be possible thanks to the location of his office. We just built a new home in VA, so this move is going to be a big change for us!

Homes are definitely older in this area. In park ridge they have torn down homes and then built bigger ones on double lots, but those would be at and above the top of your price range.

But we moved into a remodeled home, and my BIL and SIL recently bought a reno'd home in Park Ridge for only 550k, so it's possible. The lower priced homes in the area will need work, hence the price

[cbwm1]

emsumm
Kit
Jermys
sparkythelawyer

[sashimi]

I live in Schaumburg work in Elk Grove Village. Arlington Heights is a good burbs and good schools as well as Schaumburg. Not too far from Rosemont.

Sent from my SM-G900V using proboards

[sparkythelawyer]

From Rosemont you can live just about anywhere. I live in Wheaton which is only about half an hour away. Are you coming to check out the area any time soon?

[emsumm]

I would recommend looking at the North Shore (highland park, deerfield, northbrook, Glenview) for jewish, good schools, and proximity to rosemont, though it'd be a half hour commute (but the reverse commute so traffic's not bad). Also take a look at park ridge, and Skokie/Evanston, though that's a. Longer commute. Feel free to pm me :-). I live on the north shore, I'm a Jewish sahm to almost 3.

[Gato]

My cousin lived in Glenview for 5 years before relocating, and he really liked it. Great schools. His house was in a nice area, a 3 bedroom ranch, that sold last year for $450K.

[runforrest]

Park Ridge is nice, but not very diverse. Schools are really good, home prices are varied, but closer to the downtown part of Park Ridge, they are more expensive (600k plus). Also, there is O'Hare traffic in Park Ridge, so I'm not sure if plane noise is an issue for you.

We live on the North Shore (in Wilmette), and the cities around here (like emsumm said), such as Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Deerfield, do have a large Jewish population, so you should be able to find a good school/Temple in these areas. Home prices are also varied, but I don't know that you could find much for under 600k in most of these areas. We just bought in Wilmette in May, and the market is pretty hot.

I would not live in Rosemont, Niles, or Skokie, which are all nearby. I'm just not a fan of those areas, personally.

[ralphlauren]

Move to the north shore. I am Jewish and grew up there. Great to raise families there

[sparkythelawyer]

Dec 8, 2014 16:33:14 GMT -5 rvan0905 said:

Dec 7, 2014 19:54:15 GMT -5 sparkythelawyer said:

From Rosemont you can live just about anywhere. I live in Wheaton which is only about half an hour away. Are you coming to check out the area any time soon?

We are coming sometime this spring to try an get to know the area (once I'm ready to travel with the baby), and then a few times this summer to really try and find a house.

I'd be happy to show you around a bit when you come out, let me know!

[runforrest]

FWIW, we love Wilmette and the schools are fabulous.