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Why 'Part 1'? Because finding a house is going to take a while!
We started our search looking through Elmhurst, which to my dismay I found out was voted the #1 suburb to live in Chicago. If I lived there, it would be a great thing. But it makes FINDING a home there next to impossible if you're on a tight budget. The houses there range from ok to WOW. The ok houses, although in our price range, were too shabby and crappy, and not worth the money they were going for.
We saw a lot of houses that made us go 'Ohh!' and 'Ahh!' but found out that they were in the $550,000+ range, which is out of our league. Saw a real nice one for more than a million dollars. Yeah....right!
This brought us to the reality that if we wanted to live in a suburb close to the city, we can't have the ideal home that we want....we have to get a so-so home. Although living farther out in the suburbs, we can get a really good house at a better price, but the commute to work will be hell.
Ack! Decisions! Decisions!
Posted by Yano at June 26, 2004 06:07 PMHang in there. I've been looking for a home for awhile and am having the same issues. If I can afford it, I'm afraid to get out of my car in the neighborhood!
A suitable home for you is out there. Don't give up, & you'll find it.
Posted by: Trisha on June 26, 2004 07:18 PMyeah, often you have to settle for so-so for your first house. but you will find one you like and can afford, in time. and often the shabby and crappy can be fixed, if it's not structural damage and just cosmetic. but homeownership is worth it, to me-- tax deduction !!
Posted by: Sarah on June 26, 2004 07:55 PM Happy house hunting...it's a challenge but also fun too...it's nice to see all the 500,000+ houses! Only in my dreams LOL! and if I won...Mega Millions...it's over 100M I'm keeping my fingers crossed, ya know!? LOL!
Real estate = tradeoffs and compromises. I think everyone faces that decision where you just have to make a decision what matters more - location or space/size.
Posted by: Noelle on June 26, 2004 09:14 PMGirl, you know you can handle a million dollar house note. Come on now, don't lie to us. Sorry, I juat had to break up all of this serious talk. :)
Posted by: Tex on June 27, 2004 08:37 AM..like I said before, we tried looking in Elmhurst also but we quickly realized for the type of house we wanted, we had to look elsewhere.
Are you against taking the train?? Because if not, as long as you move to a town with a train station, the commute isn't an issue. We live in Geneva, and while it's way west, it's still only(?) a 1hr 20min train ride to the city.
look in wood dale. there's actually about 5 houses on sale on my street ranging from about $200,000 to $450,000 (that one is our neighboor. the house is big and only about 3 years old) we're right by elmhurst and it's a great community. also look into itasca although that's just as expensive as elmhurst. anyways, if you want info on burbs of chitown, i lived in them my whole life
Posted by: Nav on June 28, 2004 08:07 PMlook in wood dale. there's actually about 5 houses on sale on my street ranging from about $200,000 to $450,000 (that one is our neighboor. the house is big and only about 3 years old) we're right by elmhurst and it's a great community. also look into itasca although that's just as expensive as elmhurst. anyways, if you want info on burbs of chitown, i lived in them my whole life
Posted by: Nav on June 28, 2004 08:07 PM
