home search priorities

We've been wondering where to live.

Since my wife's job is likely to be in the suburbs, we'll look for a home in the Chicago suburbs.

Here are our housing search priorities (at this moment):

1. Within a reasonable distance from my wife's office (in case of emergencies, etc...)
2. Near a great school system
3. Near a great montessori school (I think we'll start them there)
4. Spacious houses (I'd settle for 3,500 sq feet, but I'd like something bigger) - with grandma and grandpa on board we need liebensraum (sp?)
5. Neighbors with children close to the age of ours
6. A backyard we can fence in for the children to play
7. A community with strong values, especially education-oriented
8. Neighbors with similar professional and business leadership interests
9. Lots of activities and recreation for children
10. Near costco (less than 10 miles)

Well these are the priorities we can think of.

One benefit of moving to Chicago is that we can probably have a basement - no basements in NC.

One of the downsides is that the houses we're looking at cost between $800k - $1.2M. Big difference between IL and NC.

Still saving 5.25% in income tax should offset some of the additional expense - at least the larger property tax and some of the mortgage.

Have a great weekend,

makingourway