Same question -how are Wilmette and Winnetka?
I also see parts of East Glenview actually feed into New Trier. Is there snottiness about the NT kids who live in Glenview/Wilmette vs Winnetka?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I grew up in Glenview and recently moved to Evanston. There were lots of Asian students in the schools then, I think there are likely more now. I mean don’t get me wrong- Glenview is no Berkeley, CA (where I also lived) but being Asian in Glenview is very normal.

IMHO the nicest neighborhood in Glenview is Swainwood, near Roosevelt Park and pool. It is the old part of town and absolutely gorgeous, leafy, walk to train and downtown Glenview, including the library. Tons of families for your kids to play with. For your budget you can easily get something there. I also like the neighborhood near Sleepy Hollow Park although beware you are close to the river so flooding could be an issue depending on the lot.

The Circles are also pretty though a bit less walkable. Glen Oak Acres is beautiful though less walkable - big lots,very leafy, near a gorgeous park (Cole Park) and the public tennis center and Wagner Farm (great for kids)

Swainwood area looks nice… but there are maybe 2 or 3 houses on the market in this entire area. None of them look appealing.

Does anyone know about the area further west — closer to Flicka Pool and Catherine Crowley Park?

There's very little desirable inventory right now. I live in Glenview and I've just started casually looking, planning to buy next year. There are many lovely areas of Glenview. Best to drive around or look at them on Google Streetview. I dislike much of the Glen - houses close together and the trees aren't great. Swainwood is lovely, as are Glen Oak Acres, the Circles and Golf Acres. From talking to a real estate agent lately, Tall Trees is also nice, but a bit less expensive. I will be looking farther west as you get more house for the money. My neighborhood, Glen Oak Acres, is pretty gorgeous, with curvy streets and big lots. But no sidewalks and lots of teen drivers, which means I'm not excited about my kids running around. We're also losing housing diversity, with the smaller houses getting replaced by huge, imposing homes. And the houses are far apart, which means we don't see many neighbors. I will miss Cole Park and Wagner Farm if we move farther away. Wagner Farm is amazing community resource - we've enjoyed a community garden there for eight years.

I'm also planning to look in West Wilmette, Northwest Evanston, Deerfield, Northfield, and Northbrook. And maybe Park Ridge.

I find this map of presidential votes fascinating: https://www.citybureau.org/newswire/2020/12/22/interactive-2020-illinois-general-election-precinct-maps. It shows you just how much more conservative Glenview is than Wilmette and Deerfield, for example. It's pretty eye opening.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I grew up in Glenview and recently moved to Evanston. There were lots of Asian students in the schools then, I think there are likely more now. I mean don’t get me wrong- Glenview is no Berkeley, CA (where I also lived) but being Asian in Glenview is very normal.

IMHO the nicest neighborhood in Glenview is Swainwood, near Roosevelt Park and pool. It is the old part of town and absolutely gorgeous, leafy, walk to train and downtown Glenview, including the library. Tons of families for your kids to play with. For your budget you can easily get something there. I also like the neighborhood near Sleepy Hollow Park although beware you are close to the river so flooding could be an issue depending on the lot.

The Circles are also pretty though a bit less walkable. Glen Oak Acres is beautiful though less walkable - big lots,very leafy, near a gorgeous park (Cole Park) and the public tennis center and Wagner Farm (great for kids)

Swainwood area looks nice… but there are maybe 2 or 3 houses on the market in this entire area. None of them look appealing.

Does anyone know about the area further west — closer to Flicka Pool and Catherine Crowley Park?

Also about Glenview: It has a really amazing park district: 2 outdoor pools, 1 indoor pool, indoor tennis, indoor hockey rink, 2 golf courses, paddle tennis, lots of parks and programs.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I grew up in Glenview and recently moved to Evanston. There were lots of Asian students in the schools then, I think there are likely more now. I mean don’t get me wrong- Glenview is no Berkeley, CA (where I also lived) but being Asian in Glenview is very normal.

IMHO the nicest neighborhood in Glenview is Swainwood, near Roosevelt Park and pool. It is the old part of town and absolutely gorgeous, leafy, walk to train and downtown Glenview, including the library. Tons of families for your kids to play with. For your budget you can easily get something there. I also like the neighborhood near Sleepy Hollow Park although beware you are close to the river so flooding could be an issue depending on the lot.

The Circles are also pretty though a bit less walkable. Glen Oak Acres is beautiful though less walkable - big lots,very leafy, near a gorgeous park (Cole Park) and the public tennis center and Wagner Farm (great for kids)

I grew up in the area too. Swainwood does have nice old trees - it used to be a tree nursery. Lots of sidewalks. I like the area just west of the train station on Grove Street. Look on the maps for the areas around the downtown Metra train station. There is a coffee shop and yoga studio in downtown Glenview. I can see why people would think of the area as being conservative - there is a large Catholic parish there. I'm sure it's more diverse now than when I grew up. The area around the downtown Metra train station would have way more trees than the train station near the Glen.

I've always liked Arlington Heights - more down to earth than some of the fancy north shore suburbs. They seem to have a large downtown with a train station.

Check out the Lincolnshire area feeding into Stevenson High School, it has a large Asian population something like 30-40%.

OP, I grew up in Glenview and recently moved to Evanston. There were lots of Asian students in the schools then, I think there are likely more now. I mean don’t get me wrong- Glenview is no Berkeley, CA (where I also lived) but being Asian in Glenview is very normal.

IMHO the nicest neighborhood in Glenview is Swainwood, near Roosevelt Park and pool. It is the old part of town and absolutely gorgeous, leafy, walk to train and downtown Glenview, including the library. Tons of families for your kids to play with. For your budget you can easily get something there. I also like the neighborhood near Sleepy Hollow Park although beware you are close to the river so flooding could be an issue depending on the lot.

The Circles are also pretty though a bit less walkable. Glen Oak Acres is beautiful though less walkable - big lots,very leafy, near a gorgeous park (Cole Park) and the public tennis center and Wagner Farm (great for kids)

Sorry - I meant to ask which neighborhoods to target in Glenview around 1mill to 1.25mill?

Anonymous wrote:I've been in Glenview for eight years and have two kids. It's okay. Surprisingly conservative. There's some diversity, mostly Latino and first generation Eastern European. You can get a nice, but not amazing, house for $1m. You're compromising on something at that price point. We've been disappointed with the elementary school so far, but my oldest is just 8. We're considering moving either for better schools or to get more house for our money (we're in one of the more costly areas, and the ranches keep getting replaced with 6000+ square foot towering homes, changing both the demographics and the feel of the neighborhood). I do like being pretty close to the Lake and Glenview has wonderful amenities, with Costco, Whole Foods, and the like within easy reach.

I'd suggest looking at the Romona school district in Wilmette. I've been hearing great things about the elementary and you should be able to get a decent house for $1m. And you're really close to the Lake and closer to the city thank your other options. It's not the prettiest area, but trees and parks are plentiful, and it's just a nice place to live.

Thank you - I went to Wilmette several times and it’s just so flat with nothing around. I did like that Glenview had stuff so do and see. What are neighbors you think I should target if I could up my budget by another 100-200k?
I was surprised to see that there is crime around Central Rd and also up by “Munz” whatever that is… east of The Glen. Also, are there any neighborhoods with sidewalks?? Every house I click to street view and it looks like a barely paved road where two cars could barely squeeze by each other, often with a shallow ditch to the side. Do people not walk much in Glenview? I do like that Wilmette has sidewalks.

Arlington Heights has a Japanese mall there with grocery store, food court, bakery etc which draws many people, Asian and non Asian to it. Great location right on a metra stop. For up to 1 million dollars you can get a really nice house.

This one is an example. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/112-S-Derbyshire-Ln-Arlington-Heights-IL-60004/3322543_zpid/

I used to live in Northbrook. There is a pretty decent Asian population. One unique thing about Northbrook is that there are 4 elementary and middle school districts although all the kids end up at Glenbrook North High School. District 27 and 28 are all Northbrook students. Districts 30 and 31 are each half Northbrook and half Glenview. So if you live in one suburb and have lots of friends from the other, after middle school, you will go to a different high school than your friends. Ds and sibling grew up in one of the 50/50 ones and we have friends with kids in one now. As soon as high school starts people make new friends and it’s fine. It is likely that one of the districts has a higher population of Asians than the others. Your realtor can’t tell you but hopefully you can ask around.

Anonymous wrote:I've been in Glenview for eight years and have two kids. It's okay. Surprisingly conservative. There's some diversity, mostly Latino and first generation Eastern European. You can get a nice, but not amazing, house for $1m. You're compromising on something at that price point. We've been disappointed with the elementary school so far, but my oldest is just 8. We're considering moving either for better schools or to get more house for our money (we're in one of the more costly areas, and the ranches keep getting replaced with 6000+ square foot towering homes, changing both the demographics and the feel of the neighborhood). I do like being pretty close to the Lake and Glenview has wonderful amenities, with Costco, Whole Foods, and the like within easy reach.

I'd suggest looking at the Romona school district in Wilmette. I've been hearing great things about the elementary and you should be able to get a decent house for $1m. And you're really close to the Lake and closer to the city thank your other options. It's not the prettiest area, but trees and parks are plentiful, and it's just a nice place to live.

This is pretty good advice. In Wilmette, you would also be aligned with New Trier for high school, which is obviously great academically but you need to be sure that is the environment you want to raise your kids (due to level of wealth of the students, competitiveness, etc.) Also, its worth noting that the homes around Romona aren't exactly close to the Wilmette Metra station used to get downtown. It's about 2 miles so quite a decent walk.

I've been in Glenview for eight years and have two kids. It's okay. Surprisingly conservative. There's some diversity, mostly Latino and first generation Eastern European. You can get a nice, but not amazing, house for $1m. You're compromising on something at that price point. We've been disappointed with the elementary school so far, but my oldest is just 8. We're considering moving either for better schools or to get more house for our money (we're in one of the more costly areas, and the ranches keep getting replaced with 6000+ square foot towering homes, changing both the demographics and the feel of the neighborhood). I do like being pretty close to the Lake and Glenview has wonderful amenities, with Costco, Whole Foods, and the like within easy reach.

I'd suggest looking at the Romona school district in Wilmette. I've been hearing great things about the elementary and you should be able to get a decent house for $1m. And you're really close to the Lake and closer to the city thank your other options. It's not the prettiest area, but trees and parks are plentiful, and it's just a nice place to live.

I'm from Chicago and honestly you can't really go wrong with any of those suburbs. In fact, many Chicago suburbs have pretty good public schools. The city itself is a different story. To my knowledge, those suburbs will be overwhemingly white in case you have an issue with that. I can't really think of too many suburbs with a high Asian percentage. I believe Niles has a very diverse population and Asian presence, as evidenced by the presence of Assi Grocery Store (carrying Chinese, Korean, Phillipino food) and H-mart (which is Korean). Niles is not far from Glenview, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend living there at your budget level and to the lackluster schooling (unless you lived in the area of the town rolling into Maine South high school)

Arlington Heights specifically has a pretty developed uptown with plenty of restaurants and the metra station. You probably don't want to live in the section that rolls into rolling meadows high school though. Glenview is nice but would probably avoid the Glen area due to your criteria of wanting established tree shaded streets. Can't say much about Northbrook other than the schools are really good. All these suburbs are pretty much working professionals that are family oriented.

We are a mixed Asian family with kids, new to Chicagoland but house hunting. Can anyone give general thoughts on these suburbs or even recommend specific areas in these suburbs? My criteria are:

-budget 1mil
-some updating ok but don’t want a fixer
-must be able to easily walk to something, whether a community fitness center or coffee shop
-ok commute to The Loop
-great schools
-established, trees, shade… I don’t want to live in a sunny new development with row after row of houses and searing concrete/asphalt
-diversity… I looked at old threads but a lot of suburbs mentioned I looked up and they have only 1-2% Asians!