Where to look for a house?

JenShea · January 2011

In the Chicago suburbs. Need a nice safe area with good schools, new construction neighborhoods, decently priced single family homes. TIA!!

smerka · January 2011

You're going to need to be more specific. Like where your job is (for commuting purposes), how long of a commute are you willing to put up with, is being by the train a requirement, what's your price range, what are you willing to pay for property taxes, etc.

JenShea · January 2011

DH's office is on Adams street in Chicago. I guess a 30-40 minute commute would be ok. No train. I don't work. What are the property tax rates averaging there? We pay $1800/year on a $185k house here. Price Range b/t $185-$275.

orienae · January 2011

Ouch, 185-275k is the range you want? With a half hour commute? Honestly, I don't know if there is such a thing as a half hour commute to the city, once you are physically in Chicago it can take 15 minutes to get to a garage and park. However, depending on what you are willing to pay, although the taxes are pretty high, you should probably look at Oak Park and Forest Park. Those two may get you in the range of the commute you are looking for but you may be looking at a condo or town house instead. Brookfield, Melrose Park and Park Ridge, along with Evanston are the other options I would offer up. You would have a lot more luck if either your husband was willing to go for a longer commute or would consider the train. Is his car necessary for work?

orienae · January 2011

Oh, I forgot, Oak Park will not have new construction, neither will many suburbs that are close to Chicago. The vast majority of the close suburbs are going to have older vintage style homes in mature neighborhoods, this is another instance that you would likely have to go further north or west for new construction. The only other option I could think of would be Northern Indiana, which I have little to no knowledge about but I understand that it is an easy commute, good taxes, and house prices are lower.

CTJourney · January 2011

You might want to check out the Southwest Suburbs (Evergreen Park, Oak Lawn, Palos Hills, Hickory Hills) area. Our house is a 3 BR, 1.5 bath that was under $200K. Our bedrooms and closets are small. And we had to put about $10K into the house to fix it up a bit (paint, floors, window treatments). But the area works for us and it has allowed me to be a SAHM, so I'm willing to compromise closet space and a bigger home in order to not work.

If you're willing to go up to $275K you should be able to find a really nice house in the SW burbs without the hassle of fixing it up.

The commute into the city is about 45 minutes without heavy traffic, but in Chicago there is almost always traffic, so your DH would have to plan on a longer drive. If he's willing to take the train it would cut down on commute times significantly. DH takes the metra and it's about a 35 minute train ride.

Pockety · January 2011

If DH's office is on Adam's Street, you should really consider the west/northwest/north suburbs, and have him take the Metra train into Union Station - it is right there. The Metra from the south side/Indiana would leave him at the opposite side of the Loop.

If he must drive, remember that he'll also be paying probably $250/month for a parking spot in the Loop.

The further out you get from the city, the better the chance that you can have new construction. But Chicago and the surrounding area is huge; I don't think you can get new/newer construction within 30-40 minutes of the city, given that your DH would be commuting during rush hour (which is way way way longer than an hour in Chicago - pretty much 6:30am-9:30am, and 2:30pm-7pm). If he works second/third shift or something like that, you can go a lot further and still be 30-40 minutes from the city.

Property taxes in Cook County are somewhere around 1% of the property value, approximately. I don't think you can get outside of Cook County within your 30-40 minute requirement, but I'm more familiar with the north side than the south side, so maybe to the south. Also, Lake County (just north of Cook County) has higher property taxes than Cook County does. However, Cook County also has about 10.5% sales tax - I think the highest in the nation.

Good luck! I'd advise looking for a good real estate agent, rather than simply asking people on the Bump. Chicago is HUGE, and most people are only familiar with a limited portion of it.

erkarpf · January 2011

We recently moved to Oak Park. It's pretty unrealistic to find a house in a 30-40 min range in that price range. Our property taxes are around 9, but the schools are amazing. We love it here. It takes me 20 min to get to work downtown driving. If I take the el it's an hour. I also travel at off hours.

Sara714 · January 2011

I live in Evanston and while it's not new construction, it's a rather nice area as long as you stay near downtown, just south of Northwestern University. It takes me about 25 min to drive to the loop but during rush hour it can take upwards of an hour (or two). But, you'll never find a house in your price range. We live in a one bedroom condo and it cost us $225k. An actual house on my block is easily double that. There are some cheaper houses in Evanston but they are in the areas that aren't safe.

JenShea · January 2011

Thanks for all the info!! We are waiting for an offer/salary info etc. from my husband's job on the transfer. I wanted to just get an idea of what we were getting into with the housing market up there. I'm not too thrilled about the cold weather but I could get used to it again since I grew up in CO.

To answer a question a lot of you asked - DH would have to drive. The train is not an option since his job requires a lot of job site visits over a large territory. On the google maps street view it looked like the building had a pkg lot right in front of the bldg. Any parking expenses would be covered by his company.

Thanks again!

BBColt78 · January 2011

As PP said, new construction is rough to find near the city. If you want cheaper new construction, you are talking about 35 miles west of the city. That commute should be at least 1.5 hours.

I really don't know anyone with property taxes on a house that are $1800. Mine are $3700 on a cheap house that is far from the city and built in the 80s. The schools are fine, but not the best.

I too suggest a condo.

JenShea:
In the Chicago suburbs. Need a nice safe area with good schools, new construction neighborhoods, decently priced single family homes. TIA!!

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