An opportunity has presented itself within my company for me and my family to move to Chicago. Their office is located in Bannockburn.

I'm pretty stoked about the opportunity, but don't know much about the city. Can any Chicago based members shed some light on the windy city? What are the suburbs like, are there any areas I should avoid, cost of housing, etc...

I would also be looking for a recreational hockey league. Does anyone know of leagues out there?

if you move into chi town it is hella-fide expensive, unless you move into a shit hole neiborhood. there are a few nice areas in town that are not too much $, but i dont know what too much is to you.

west subs are fried if they are too close to the city.

north subs are expensive if too close to the city

south subs are kinda shitty if your too close to the city.

southwest and northwest close subs are not to bad price and area wise.

are you renting or buying makes a big diff anywhere.

i just went on mapquest cause ive never heard of Bannockburn, that is 30 miles from downtown chicago, i thought you meant chicago.

good luck to you, if you have any more ? feel free to pm me.

i am a CHICAGO native!

Thanks Manny, I appreciate the input.

Bannockburn close to Buffalo Grove, Highland Park, Deerfield and places like that.

I was looking at Buffalo Grove, but it is indeed expensive...

People I've talked to told me to stay away from southern Chicago... I'm not really sure why...

From the south your commute would be hell. try Mundelein for better housing. Cheaper than Buffalo grove. One of the most under rated towns in Lake county. Growing by leaps and bounds. Average home I think is going for around 200K Schools are pretty good and Work would be about 1/2 hour 40 min away. Deerfield is nice but pricey. Gurnee further North is Okay too. Waukegan has sections that are great sections from hell. North Chicago (Name of town) Stay away from at all costs. The further north and or the further west you go the better the prices for housing. Let me know if you need anything

I think your best bet is to check out Southern Wisconsin. Northern Illinois is super expensive. My Dad has worked in Skokie for the last 23 years and they live in Lake Geneva. That is a 45 minute commute from Northern Illinois area (Gurney ect....) Check out Kenosha and the surrounding areas. Crystal Lake (WI), Twin Lakes (WI), and Lake Geneva (WI) are some cool places to check out. Lake Geneva can be expensive, but you can find some really nice priced homes there. Lake Geneva is where everyone from Chicago spends their summers...

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask me for help.

They probably meant the south side of the city. As manny said, the south suburbs close to the city are going to be sort of crappy. I live in Frankort, which is a southwest suburb, but this area would be a hell of a commute for you. LOL Though, I did commute to Northbrook for a year, but that was before I had the X.

As Lincoln said, southern Wisconsin is a pretty good option for you too, especially if you're looking at housing prices. If you're looking to buy, housing prices and property taxes will likely be much less in southern Wisconsin than they are in the north suburbs!

Good luck with your search!

they told you to stay away because the south side of chicago (unless your downtown)is like the movie "escape from new york" if you havent seen it yet see it, to get some insight and its just a good movie.

south side of chicago is imfamous in the country for crime,violence and crackheads.
the south side is generally anything south of madison street ( 0 hundred ), and you also want to stay away from the west side, it makes detroit look like disney land. west side is anything west of pulaski (4000 west, and south of north ave which is 1600 north).

any other ? ask

just one request, you move here join MXO.

I would advise the same until you hit about 127th and further south.

Chicago is not a bad place to live in but the lack of any "hills" drives me nuts. You can drive across the whole state and not see any.

As far as for wheeling - you have to go to Indiana, Wisconsin, or Kentucky for that as well.

I live on the north side of the city and it's not too bad here. About 25 mins south and I have the Downtown. 30 minutes north and I have the suburbia. The area could be a little better (got my car's windos busted 2 times) but overall it's not too bad. I guess busted windows are to be expected if you are living in the city with such a diversed population.

Oh man, north west side here, and recently windows have been busted around here too... sucks.

busted windows that sucks, how about on xmas day, to boot!

Yeah, a friend of mine had his window busted right on New Year's eve/morning. He left the car in Deerfield (nice burb) by a friend's house and we all went to Michigan. Parents of the friend where he left the car call him at 4 am to tell them that someone busted the window and got the detector out of there. The burb is a nice area, the car was right by the house too. To add to everything else, when the window was taped up, the same morning the kids came back to the car to get the suction cups that help the radar in place. Odecity of the kids...

Ok now, I think I'm scraing the guy off here. Go on and relocate - great place to live!

I spoke to a real estate agent today who suggested Buffalo Grove, Deerfield and Vernon Hills. All are apparently close to Bannockburn (where my office is). If everything goes right, I should be in the Chi-town area later this month to check out these areas.

Thank you all for the great feedback. It's been very helpful.

Hey PlayHard,

I tried sending you an email, but it got bounced back as undeliverable. I'm sending you a PM instead...

Erik

It all depends on how long of a commute you want. And the length of commute will depend on start and end time of work.

I would look NW of the Bannockburn. Vernon Hills, Hawthorn Woods and even out to Wauconda.

I use to make the drive daily from Naperville to Schiller Park until I relocated in St Louis.

The ONLY thing that I don't miss is the TRAFFIC. But my start/end times were early enough that the commute was tolerable.

YOU WILL LIKE WHAT CHICAGO HAS TO OFFER!!

Buffalo Grove, Deerfield and Vernon Hills are all good areas. I work equadistant from all of them, pretty much in the middle.

Good places!

Hey Mapman. Sorry, that email address is old. If you still want to send me an email you can send it to playhard@rogers.com

I lived in Deerfield for a long time, grade school, highschool. I work in Highland Park and live in southern Wisconsin. I make the drive every day and it is not that bad. I got a five bedroom house on a two acre lot for a lot less than a smaller house in Ill. Good luck on the move.

Hey PlayHard.

Are you working with a Realtor? If not, I'm a Realtor for Coldwell Banker in Algonquin. I live in Lake in the Hills which is a far west suburb of Chicago. I use to work in Wheeling which is right by Bannockburn. My commute was about an hour each way. It's almost acceptable nowadays to drive at least 45 minutes one-way to work. Let me know if you want some auto generated home searches from me with more specific criteria to match what you are looking for. If not, welcome to Illinois! You'll love it here!