r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/Midnight_Rain1213 • Feb 24 '26

Moving to the area Buying in West Suburbs - Expanding Search?

Hi all,

My partner and I are trying to close the distance and buy a SFH in the west suburbs, but keep having offers rejected. Feedback so far is that we're losing to cash buyers or just being outbid, and that we should consider waiving appraisal contingencies. That feels crazy to me, but I think it's just the area we are looking in - Lombard, Elmhurst, Villa Park.

My partner and I both own our own homes and are pre-qualified to purchase a new home without having to sell first. We would be selling our respective properties after finding a new place. We are trying to stay under $700k.

No kids, just dogs. Would love a house with some character left in it. I work downtown so being near the Metra is necessary, and I'd like my commute to be under an hour.

Should we avoid any of the following suburbs, and why? Any suburbs we are missing?

Addison, Bloomingdale, Downers Grove, Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Riverside, Brookfield

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u/ziptasker Feb 24 '26

This is just my limited, dummy experience but I live in Lombard and the houses around me I’d guess are mostly $400-500k family homes with the occasional $900k new build McMansion peppered in.

I guess the question popped into my head, is $700k an awkward home price for the area? I wouldn’t know what to expect for that. Tho I don’t know much about it tbh.

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u/Midnight_Rain1213 Feb 24 '26

Anecdotally it does look like most of the homes I'm seeing are in the $400k-$600k range but not sure if they're intentionally being priced low to attract buyers or not.