atoms
join:2000-12-16
Chicago, IL
| reply to zeroidea
Re: Do you commute?
I live in the city and commute from my bedroom to my home office. The consulting work is nice, but I'm not much of a self-saleman, so I will probably be looking for a full time job in January. I have never worked outside the city (unless you count Evanston) since I moved here in 1988.
So when I look for a new job my number one criteria will be: What Kind of Commute? If I can't do it by bicycle or walking then either I will have to be desparate to take it, or the compensation will have to be enormous. |
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Goober
Premium
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL
 ·Comcast
·WOW Internet and C..
| reply to Jon
said by Jon  :
said by drmorley :
We just looked at a couple of houses in Prairie Crossing in Grayslake where the property taxes were $7500.
It looks like the wife and I might be moving out of our beloved city this spring. Not to Grayslake though 
Yeah that's a lot, I suppose some burbs are pricey but it's one thing when you go in knowing that and another when they suddenly double with little or no notice.
I wouldn't even mind so much if I thought there was something good coming of it but where is it going?
They don't plow the side streets in the winter, our street looks like it hasn't been repaired in 50 years, the schools suck, the police don't come when you call them, Water bills have gone up, city sticker prices are going up, meters, tickets, etc, etc, etc...
I wouldn't really mind it if I thought it was going for something other than putting in bicycle lanes on the major roads. 
Recently they did property reassessments here in Naperville. They didn't raise rates, since they'd already significantly upped them just a year or two ago. But personally, from what I can tell, my property tax will go up to $8000.00 this next year because of the reassessment.
My wife and I every so often consider moving (within Naperville), but property tax rates make it a very significant disincentive to move up. I've got a mental block against paying $1000.00 or more a month for property tax on my personal house, which is where our next move would take us.
On the flip side, I do think that we get something good for our taxes. That's what makes it tolerable (barely). |
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revuney
join:2003-03-22
Somerville, MA
| reply to Jon
Live in Mchenry, commute to Kenosha everyday for work.
Not too bad of a ride, since the vast majority of it is cutting thru the various farmland across the state-line area. Used to Live in Kenosha, but moved to Mchenry for a year, so I could be a bit closer to School/GF.
But after another year or so, I can likely start telecommuting to work, and I'll probably move back to Evanston or Rogers Park (on the northside) .. I really miss living in the city. Kenosha was quaint and pretty. Mchenry is.. just kind of.. well it's halfway between work/School . But Chicago is home. Always has been, always will be. |
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Jon
Premium
join:2001-01-20
Lisle, IL
| reply to RadioDoc
said by RadioDoc :
said by Jon :
Try that in the burbs!
I love living in the city but I need to get the hell out of cook county!
Appeal that sucker...there are law firms which do this on a contingent fee basis for 1/3 of the tax saved. It's well worth it if you see those kinds of increases.
Yeah we're appealing, We actually appealed last year too b/c they have our building listed as a 4 unit and it's really only 2 and an "In-law" apt.
They basically sent us back a letter saying,
No, we decided our assessment is right so you're appeal is denied.
We let it go for some reason but this time we're gonna fight it.
We mailed our appeal a few day's ago, We measured the house outside (that's what our lawyer told us to do) And sent assessments of comparable properties on our block so we'll see what they come back with.
We're trying it on our own before we ask our lawyer to do something we have to pay for.
BTW: If you live in Cook County you can search for assessments Here |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
 ·AT&T Midwest
| reply to Jon
said by Jon :
Try that in the burbs!
I love living in the city but I need to get the hell out of cook county!
Tell me about it...Crook County is more like it. We were up to $5,500+ in property taxes on our house and $13,000+ on 5000 sq. feet of commercial property with three storefronts on it before we hired a lawyer to go beat it down. They got it reduced to about 50% of the original assessment. It's a racket. Appeal that sucker...there are law firms which do this on a contingent fee basis for 1/3 of the tax saved. It's well worth it if you see those kinds of increases. |
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Jon
Premium
join:2001-01-20
Lisle, IL
| reply to drmorley
said by drmorley :
We just looked at a couple of houses in Prairie Crossing in Grayslake where the property taxes were $7500.
It looks like the wife and I might be moving out of our beloved city this spring. Not to Grayslake though
Yeah that's a lot, I suppose some burbs are pricey but it's one thing when you go in knowing that and another when they suddenly double with little or no notice.
I wouldn't even mind so much if I thought there was something good coming of it but where is it going?
They don't plow the side streets in the winter, our street looks like it hasn't been repaired in 50 years, the schools suck, the police don't come when you call them, Water bills have gone up, city sticker prices are going up, meters, tickets, etc, etc, etc...
I wouldn't really mind it if I thought it was going for something other than putting in bicycle lanes on the major roads. |
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drmorley
Premium,MVM
join:2000-12-20
Park Ridge, IL
clubs:
| reply to Jon
We just looked at a couple of houses in Prairie Crossing in Grayslake where the property taxes were $7500.
It looks like the wife and I might be moving out of our beloved city this spring. Not to Grayslake though |
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Jon
Premium
join:2001-01-20
Lisle, IL
1 edit | reply to trs23
said by trs23 :
And my house just appreciated 84% in the last 5 years!
Where do I live? Wicker Park / Bucktown / Logan Square.
I live in Logan Square too,
Have you gotten your property tax bill yet?
Our property taxes went from $3200 last year to $6100 this year!
Try that in the burbs!
I love living in the city but I need to get the hell out of cook county!
*edit* sorry 6100 not 6800 |
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Goober
Premium
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL
·Comcast
·WOW Internet and C..
1 edit | reply to insomniac
I think for the younger and the older crowd (or rather the crowd with no or older kids), the city is probably the place to go and be. But, with 3 kids under the age of 8, I am certainly not heading into the city given every opportunity (although we have done so on several occasions).
Living and working in Naperville to me outweighs all the things that I'm supposedly missing by not being in the city. To have my commute cut by an average of over 2 hours a day makes my life so much better. I went from a 1.25 hour one-way commute to a .25 hour commute (Naperville to far west Lisle) After 10 years of the commute, give me suburbia and local commutes any day. |
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trs23
join:1999-07-24
Chicago, IL
1 edit | reply to insomniac
I've seen much worse traffic in the burbs than the city. Try heading down golf road in Schaumburg on a Saturday.
I like how people say they would have to give up their car in the city. I live in a 4bedroom 3bath townhouse with a 2 car garage. I have the EL 3 blocks away and tons of bars / clubs / restaurants within an easy cab or walk away.
I also pay less per month than people living in Lincoln Park and paid less for my house than many Suburbs.
And my house just appreciated 84% in the last 5 years! Try that in the burbs!
Where do I live? Wicker Park / Bucktown / Logan Square. |
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insomniac
Oh Yeah
Premium
join:2002-09-22
Naperville, IL
clubs:
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to RadioDoc
said by RadioDoc :
Anyway, the point was that there are far more reasons to head into the city than there are to stay in sub-bore-bia.
Not to add fuel to the fire here, but as a Napervillian myself, I agree. That's why I head into the city at any possible opportunity. I only live in the suburbs because right now, it's far more convenient for work (Fermilab) and school (North Central College). However, as far as the western suburbs go, I'll take Naperville over a lot of them. I weighed the pros and cons of living in Aurora or the Tri-Cities instead of Naperville, and it was a pretty easy choice.
But it's still my goal to be living and working in Chicago (where there's actually some culture after dark) by the time I'm 30. And don't even get me started on driving in Naperville. Ugh.
--
If everything seems to be going well, you've obviously overlooked something. |
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ChiDavid78
join:2003-07-14
Lisle, IL | reply to zeroidea
I think the way it goes is "to each their own" on the city/burbs thing. I like aspects of both and would never stop going to concerts in the city, but I am unwilling to give up my car for every day chores so I live in the burbs. |
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schja01
I need to get a life.
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-27
Morton Grove, IL
clubs:
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to zeroidea
said by zeroidea :
...the cities were the only real place to go for top-rate entertainment, and the suburbs had large populations of city-workers who wanted to live in houses.
Yea, that pretty much describes how things were here in the '70s.
J
--
There are only 10 types of people in this world . . . Those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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zeroidea
join:2001-02-05
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to zeroidea
Ah.. Well, thanks to all who contributed their views..
Chicago seems to have a very different relationship with its neighboring towns than, say NYC or Cleveland have with their suburbs.. I grew up in NJ and attended college in OH, and both times the cities were the only real place to go for top-rate entertainment, and the suburbs had large populations of city-workers who wanted to live in houses. |
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Chinabound
Premium
join:2002-12-21
Antioch, IL
clubs:
·Comcast
| reply to zeroidea
Geez. this almost turned into a Naperville thread.
To answer your curiousity zeroidea , there are still far more people commuting into the city each day from the suburbs, rather than out to the suburbs from the city. If that ever changes, they will change the direction of the reversible expresslanes on the Kennedy from inbound in the morning to outbound in the morning!  However, I read in the Tribune more than 15 years ago how the trend is changing. As these lily white suburbs continue to grow, so will the outbound commuters.
In addition to our home in Westport, we also rent a house in Antioch, up by the WI state line. Once a month we drive down to Chinatown for our food shopping (my wife is Chinese). I time it perfectly: We leave the house at 10:am - reach the Kennedy Junction around 10:45 with the expresslanes still set for inbound - Chinatown 15 minutes later. Do our thing there in Chinatown for a couple of hours, then return home with the expresslanes in our favor once again, before rush hour begins. I commute more in New York City from Connecticut, which by comparison - Chicagoland people don't even know what a traffic jam is! |
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gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs: | reply to lionelgroulx
Yup very good points. |
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lionelgroulx
join:2001-11-27
Chicago, IL
| reply to gdm
said by gdm :
Now I will be starting a new job in the city and taking the train like I used to. I do agree train can be a pain with riders but I will take metra over CTA any day!!!
Another thing sucking about Chicagoland is the lack of decent overnight (night-owl) transportation. Only the blue & red CTA lines run 24/7 and a handful of buses. Metra trains leave the loop at 12:30/45 at the latest.
The CTA has been doing an efficient job at cutting off night-owl service on its rail lines. Remember when the Green Line (Oak Park - Englewood, Dorchester) and Purple line (Evanston) ran 24/7?
Not exactly accomodating for those folks who have to work the late hours (ie. maintenance workers) in the loop who do not have automobiles.
Pace of course has been stricken with funding issues and service cuts across the board. And it wasnt until 2-3 years ago that Pace stopped illegally deducting full-rates on CTA cards rather than just the transfer fee.
--
alcohol, the cause of and solution to all of lifes problems |
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gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs:
·AT&T U-Verse
 ·AT&T CallVantage
·Comcast Digital Vo..
·Comcast
| reply to zeroidea
I used to commute once I moved out to the burbs then for the last 2 years haven't gone near the city for work. I occasionally went in to meet friends for lunch or what ever.
Now I will be starting a new job in the city and taking the train like I used to. I do agree train can be a pain with riders but I will take metra over CTA any day!!!
I also like the fact of not having a 40 minute car ride anymore:) |
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Jon
Premium
join:2001-01-20
Lisle, IL | reply to zeroidea
I commute from Chicago to Schaumburg.
The ride out at 5:30am isn't bad but back in almost always sucks, Friday's especially. |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to Goober
No, there are quite a few bad restaurants in the Loop. I didn't mean to give them all a blanket endorsement. It's the great ones there which overshadow most in the burbs I'm talking about.
Anyway, the point was that there are far more reasons to head into the city than there are to stay in sub-bore-bia. |
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