Reviews & Comments
Darien, IL
Darien is OK, but our weather is oppressive. -
2/13/20212/13/2021 I've lived in the Darien Illinois area for 35 years now. It's fine. Traffic is only nasty during the A.M. and PM rush hours. Thankfully, PM rush over is only about 2.5 - 3 hours long-which is excellent! The schools are very good. We've had a recent referendum which passed on it's 3rd attempt. Although the public did not want it to pass, it did eventually, so the schools just got a huge infusion of cash for improvements. I'm anxious to see how my property taxes will be impacted. If you have kids, you will LOVE it here for the excellent schools that we child-free people pay for disproportionately on your behalf. Darien is great for families! Local amenities are very good, lots of shopping, summer events & tons of parks but still a LOT of empty stores. We are close - but not too close to world renowned beautiful Chicago for excitement. Midway airport is close. Lots of health care available. Lots of green here. Low crime. The biggest problem? Our weather. It has gotten progressively worse these last 4 years due to Climate Change caused by excessive human population. Today, we are in our 2nd full week of extreme low temps and massive snow. This will continue into the 3rd week as well, breaking all kinds of records. So far in February 2021, we've received almost 3 ft of snow and we can't get out of our homes or driveways. No longer is there anywhere to put the snow. Wind chills all this month have been 20 , 30 , and 42 degrees below zero. Yes, you read that right. The weather forecasters report that these conditions will continue. We continue to break weather records in Winter and Summer. Expect snow to start just before Halloween and extend to early/mid May. Spring is short, very short and beautiful. It begins Mid May and lasts until Mid-June. It is lovely Spring weather for that one month. Breathtakingly lovely. Our hot and extremely humid & tropical summers begin Mid-June and last into the early days of October. Temps in the summer are typically in the high 80;s to the high 90's with oppressive humidity close to 95% to 100% humidity. It is extremely tropical in Darien, Illinois. You cannot open your windows in the summer ever - not even at night where it does NOT cool down. Our falls are spectacular and colorful and last about 1.5 months. We try and pack as much as living as we can into our 2.5 months of beautiful weather; then we go inside for the rest of the 9.5 to 10 months. If your choose to live here, make sure your home is well insulated and large enough to navigate our long winters and summers. Central A/C & heating MUST be hefty, sturdy and in excellent condition, and serviced twice a year for maintenance. Having a reliable HVAC contractor is absolutely essential to live here. Make sure you have her / his business card ready. Establish a good relationship with your HVAC person; you will need their services more than ever in our harsh climate. Would I like to move? Absolutely! Darien has always been a place where you have to escape in the Winter. Now with climate change, you have to escape in the Summer as well. It is most helpful to have two (2) homes in different parts of the country if you choose to live in the Midwest.
Walnut Creek, CA
Home costs for 2017 -
5/23/2017I forgot to add that the cost of a single family home in Walnut Creek in 2017 is very high. You can get a small, older home for about $800,000 -- but be prepared to put in a bid quickly. Prices have skyrocketed these last couple of years. If you are reading this post in 2018 or later, you won't find that $800,000 single family home any longer. The price has gone up! Some of the really great condos right in downtown Walnut Creek are more expensive than the single family homes!
Walnut Creek, CA
Very congested living, good weather, expensive, gr -
5/16/2016In 2016, as I write this, I am concerned about the number of large scale apartment/condo buildings being built in Downtown Walnut Creek and the surrounding areas. An explosion of heavy constructuion has engulfed the Downtown area for at least two years now. The amount of housing proposed and in various stages of completion of many large-scale buildings is STAGGERING. With the Walnut Creek downtown area so incredibly crowded NOW, how can this many additional people possibly be accommodated? Will there be room to walk on the sidewalks? Yes, Walnut Creek is beautiful, clean, numerous restaurants and stores but extremely expensive to live here and highest of densities. Weather is good. The last two years were record breakers in heat (as it was in many places on the entire planet in 2014 and 2015), and Walnut Creek was no exception. We had many days in the hundreds and the hot weather lasted through October. By November it's comfortable again and our winters are absolutely lovely, pleasantly warm and frequently sunny by early afternoon onward. It's shorts and T-shirts for many days all through the winter. Walnut Creek is the destination area for fine shops and restaurants and draws people from out East. That's why traffic is so bad anywhere near the weekends. One just can't move around here! Wish I could afford it, that's why I live in the affordable Rossmoor Neighborhood.
Castro Valley, CA
2015 review of Castro Valley, CA -
11/11/2015CURMUDGEON - THANK YOU for your post. The most important part of your comment is your second paragraph. "Hodge-Podge" is the correct word for a lot of Castro Valley housing. I'm writing this at the end of 2015 and have lived in Castro Valley for many years. Although the location is wonderful for commuting, the town of Castro Valley is extremely crowded and not pretty at all for a stroll or shopping. Even with the "renovation" of a couple of blocks in the Village Center in 2014, little was done to improve the looks or a way to get around in Castro Valley. Only in Castro Valley would someone drop off a freshly killed black bear on the side of the road closer to San Leandro and get away with it. Castro Valley does have a great park called Lake Chabot and a small neighborhood theater and a good high school. The climate is great but with the drought conditions it's getting to be a great deal hotter in the summer and fall so one MUST have air conditioning now starting in 2014. The climate is no longer what it was like in 2008. It's hotter! Neighborhood sidewalks and streets are in sub-par condition with extremely crowded street parking. Lots of dog-lovers in Castro Valley who allow lots of barking for the enjoyment of the neighbors. Most people don't use their garages but instead park on the crowded streets and use the garage for storage only or another bedroom. The main thoroughfare thru C. Valley is Redwood Road and is perpetually littered/dirty. Poor zoning laws allow the landscape to look littered and disheveled. Housing is extremely high probably due to its location but much of the older housing is not in the best shape. Lots of churches and two large grocery stores in town, but that's about it. Nothing cultural here, but it's location is good enough that you can commute to entertainment, better restaurants and better shopping to the Oakland area or east of Castro Valley. Come and live in Castro Valley if you need a good location for commuting and understand you must go elsewhere for amenities. This last sentence sums it up.