Moving to Lockport, IL: Should You Buy a Home Here?
Lockport is the only town on my list where you can stand on a street that was laid out around a canal lock from 1848 and be looking at a subdivision that did not exist four years ago. That is not a slogan. It is the actual reason the numbers in this article behave strangely, and it is the reason a t
How I Rate Southwest Suburb Towns (and What Each Star Actually Means)
Every town guide I write ends with a star rating across eight categories. This page defines every one of them: what is measured, where the number comes from, and what separates three stars from four. I am putting this in writing for a simple reason. Almost every town rating online tells you a place
Moving to Palos Heights, IL: Should You Buy a Home Here?
The three Palos villages are easy to blur together, and Palos Heights is the one that sits in the middle, in price, in feel, and on the map. It offers something its two neighbors do not: an actual walkable downtown, plus Lake Katherine and a close-in Metra station, wrapped around a settled, establis
Moving to Palos Hills, IL: Should You Buy a Home Here?
The three Palos villages get talked about as one place, but they are not, and Palos Hills is the one that surprises people. It is the affordable, denser, more practical member of the trio, home to Moraine Valley Community College and a housing mix heavy on condos, townhomes, and modest single-family
Moving to Palos Park, IL: Should You Buy a Home Here?
People tend to lump the three Palos villages together, and they are genuinely different places. Palos Park is the wooded, big-lot, slow-down end of the trio: horse trails, forest preserve on three sides, and a village center that still feels like a small town. If you want space and quiet inside a re
Moving to Tinley Park, IL: Should You Buy a Home Here?
If you have been priced out of Frankfort or Orland Park but you still want an established Cook County suburb with a real downtown, a Metra line, and solid schools, Tinley Park is probably the town you should be looking at hardest. It is one of the best values in the established South Suburbs, and th
Moving to Orland Park, IL: Should You Buy a Home Here?
Orland Park is the retail and amenity hub of the southwest suburbs: three Metra stations, some of the best shopping and dining in the area, strong schools, and a real downtown finally taking shape around the train. It is also Cook County, and 2026 is a reassessment year, which means the tax number o
Moving to Mokena, IL: Should You Buy a Home Here?
Mokena is one of those Will County towns people land in and stay. It has two train stations, a genuine downtown along Front Street, parks and preserves you can actually walk to, and it feeds one of the most sought-after high school districts in the area. It is also not cheap anymore, and the tax bil
Moving to Frankfort, IL: Should You Buy a Home Here?
Frankfort is the town the rest of the Lincoln-Way area gets compared to. The historic downtown actually functions as one, with restaurants and shops around Breidert Green instead of a strip mall pretending. The Sunday market draws thousands. Lincoln-Way East sits inside town lines, the Old Plank Roa