.3 miles just to get to a bus stop? Sounds like a bus stop desert.
This is all the “snow blower” you need.
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That’s… probably not bad for a suburb of Chicago. Most of them were built for sprawl.
Love kingsize – I have one of their credit cards and everything.
Well, if he winds up in Oak Park or Forest Park, while they are suburbs, they were established and largely built well before WWII, and they’re laid out, functionally, very much like neighborhoods within the city, rather than the sprawling suburbs that are further out.
Ooooh…I want one.
Check out Lands End and L. L. Bean-I’ve lived in the northern half of the US 65 years and I’ve never been cold in a coat of theirs. L L Bean also has some of the best boots out there. Remember, they started out making boots to survive Maine winters and it doesn’t get much colder than that in the lower 48. Both of them also have great sales, good return policies and customer service.
Layers are a big part of the answer. L L Bean makes some great polar fleece or flannel-lined jeans or chinos also. Have several pairs of gloves so a pair can be drying and you still have a warm enough pair to wear. Consider the same for boots. You might like to have some of those instant disposable handwarmer packets too, at least initially. They make some that fit in shoes and boots also.
I wouldn’t even look at leases or rentals that don’t include covered, plowed parking. For your sake you might want to pay more for a heated space. I’d give housing convenient to rapid, public transit downtown primacy. Ride the route to your place of work on a work day before you sign a lease. Even if you plan to drive most days (be warned, downtown parking is hideously expensive and CPD ticket like no other), you want a back-up for snowy days when driving is a bad idea and there will be those days.
Prepare to love Chicago-great place to live.
Just in case this wasn’t entirely facetious…
If you are a homeowner, you’re almost undoubtedly going to need to shovel snow. If you buy in Oak Park or Forest Park, your house will very likely have a sidewalk in front of it, and there’s going to be some form of village ordinance requiring you to clear the public way (the sidewalk which runs parallel to the street) of snow in a timely fashion.
You’ll probably have other sidewalks on your property, such as leading to your front and/or back door from the street, and you’ll want to clear those, even if you aren’t legally required to. (If it’s impossible to get to your mailbox due to snow on the walk, the USPS may decide to not deliver your mail.)
You’ll also want to get some sidewalk salt – there are various types, but all of them do the same basic function, which is to melt any ice that forms on your walks.
If your house doesn’t have a garage (many don’t, in those suburbs), you might have to park your car on the street. As @Dinsdale notes, street parking can sometimes be hard to come by, and in the winter months, the village likely has regulations on when cars can be left on the street during snowfall (typically, it’s alternating sides of the street when there’s snow on the street). You’ll also be needing that snow shovel for digging your car out of the snowbank that gets formed by the snow plows.
If you do have a garage, that takes a huge hassle out of winter, but you’ll still also need to shovel your driveway, too.
Fair enough. I grew up in Arlington Heights, Palatine, Mt Prospect etc. Transport was C&NW (now Metra) and not much else. Sprawl was very much the rule.
Born and bred Chicagoan. I now live about 50 miles west of the city. I’m old and you couldn’t pay me to live in the city. You will quickly learn that while Chicago is o.k., the state of Illinois sucks. It’s a state to move from instead of moving to.
Yep, winter is cold. I have a horse and spend time in the outdoors. Layers are your friend. Start with a base layer of Underarmour or Smartwool and build. Smartwool socks, good insulated footgear. Hat and gloves.
Learn to shovel snow and what dibs means WRT parking spots.
Chicago winters are exaggerated. We haven’t even had any measurable snow yet, and the real cold only lasts from around Christmas to the middle of February. What you will have to get used to is the cost of living, which is very high in this area. The money you make here will be worth 15 to 20 percent less here than it would be worth in Texas, the exact percentage varying on the area of Texas in which you lived.
This is a beautiful city. The lakefront is divine, and the restaurants and night life are outstanding.
As a lifelong Chicago(area)an it was amusing to talk w/ my new golf buddy from Texas - and a new homeowner - about snow removal! 
Just the sort of thing we Yankees take for granted were entirely foreign to him.
But, like Jasmine says, the last couple of years we’ve barely had anything that would qualify as a Chicago winter. A snowstorm and a cold snap here or there, but not the months below freezing with ever-growing piles of grey slush/ice…
Whereabouts in OP are you looking. Just curious. I’ve got friends who live pretty much everywhere from the NE to the SW corners and into Forest Park. I’ll say again - so much of the Chicago area is TREMENDOUSLY segregated. IME in the Chicago area I’ve never encountered a more racially/ethnically/sexual identity diverse area than OP. Which - IMO - is a good thing.
Dseid is an OPer. I wouldn’t be surprised if he shows up here.
Yeah, I forget where the dividing lines are sometimes…
I’m looking at a place in Oak park (not ssure how to describe where in OP)right now – waiting on mortgage pre-approval to make an offer. It does have a garage and a long driveway – I’m thinking some sort of snow blower may be in my future. We’ll see how it goes, but I’ve got a bad back and don’t know how well I’ll be able to shovel.
I found a place in Forest Park I loved, but it sold just as I got my offer letter.
Long driveway + bad back definitely sounds like a prescription for a snowblower (or hiring someone to clear your snow).
Yup. While some of my years have been in the sister community of River Forest over three decades in Oak Park and ish.
More of a semi urb than a suburb.
Happy to answer any questions.
Great town! Winters not so bad barring polar vortex days and rare bad storms. Many houses have garages with alley access. Real estate taxes high. Which I fear may price out economic diversity.
Besides the el also Metra works well. And in decent weather biking in to the city is doable even though some get anxious about riding through the west side.
Where abouts is your possible new house in the town? Major cross streets would do.
And if you buy a snow blower, make sure you get a big 2 stage blower to deal with the heavy snow of Chicago.
I have a two-stage snowblower, and it’s awesome. I mostly got it because I live on a corner, which leaves me with a lot of sidewalk to clear, and the road that runs along the side of the house is a busier street – the plows run along that street constantly, and the snow that gets pushed up onto that sidewalk by the plows can get really wet and heavy.
I agree with this. I don’t even own a proper winter coat. Layer up and you’re fine, unless you need to be standing outside for hours. (OK, this certainly varies by individual and one’s tolerance to cold, I guess. But I don’t find winters here to be particularly bad – well, there were a few days back-to-back in the winter of '93-'94 that was pretty harsh, and I remember the coldest day in Chicago standing at a bus stop back in 1985 when it hit -27F – yeah, that was kinda chilly, but otherwise, for the most part, it’s not all that bad. I actually suffer more from the humid hot summers here when they come.)
Near augusta and n austin