2cents

well, make sure to consider commuting: major transportation (metro, CTA..) or drive.

i have a friend who was looking at high rise condos (museum park, 740 fulton, river north), but she works in burb, libertyville...

to drive; you would spend at least 1hours one way from downtown; metro is available, but from museum park is like more than 1 mile away to Union station, also the Metro line that goes to libertyville is on a little messeup schedule like:

from libertyville leaving to Union station at 4pm something, 7 something...too early to get out to work to make 4pm, 7pm too late...by the time you get to the Union, then go home from that point.

well...if you work at home or commuting is not a problem, ignore above.

wicker park!!!!

TaxMan

I would say that it's somewhat true that the realestate values in Wicker Park/Bucktown area has peaked, but then IMO realestate values everywhere should've peaked out by now after this hot-ride for this industry in general.

I'd definitely say that at this point a home in Lincoln Square would appreciate at a higher & faster rate than a home in Wicker Park/Bucktown area.

rmc22

Since opinions are welcomed...
Cross of Rogers Park.

youngjun91

You can get into a decent townhomes in Evanston for 400, condos maybe in the 350 range. Taxes are relative. Evanston taxes may be high compared to where you're coming from, but it's cheap compared to where I live (North Shore or Lake County). Evanston is a fun place to live - rented there for a year - it's a smaller, toned down, more collegiate version of Chicago, with easy access to Chicago.

You can get into a decent 2 bedroom condo in the city for 300s. Extrapolate from there. I wonder what the city taxes are like compared to Evanston or Lake County.

Glenview is nice. The Glen in Glenview is very nice but even more expensive than aforementioned options. Tax in Glenview is cheap compared to Lake County though (at least it used to be). My taxes are high because I'm paying for all these nice schools for which I don't even have kids to send to yet!

Highland Park is one of the more fun options in Lake County with a very nice downtown, comparable to Evanston I think, though things don't stay open as late. Michael Jordan lives there, if that means anything. But if you thought Evanston taxes were high...

I also like Museum Park, my friend lives there, very nice condo living...