Neighborhood profile: Old Farm

A convenient location, excellent schools and affordable home prices attract home buyers to the Old Farm subdivision in Naperville.

“In Old Farm, you can buy a nice house reasonably priced with four bedrooms and 2½ baths, including a master bath. And you can even get a split-level or a home that hasn't been updated for less than $300,000,” said Cathy Michaels, broker and associate with RE/MAX Professionals Select.

Michaels favors Old Farm because she has lived there for 34 years and plans to stay. When she moved into the subdivision, there were no trees, and there were just 37,000 people living in Naperville.

Now the neighborhood has matured, and there are a lot of nice trees and tree-lined cul-de-sacs, and Naperville has grown to a city of more than 150,000 residents.

Old Farm is a little older production subdivision with four or five different model homes built in the middle to late 1970s, Michaels said.

“My house is a two-story with four bedrooms, 2½ baths and basement. I've updated most of it. It's a very serviceable house. It doesn't have vaulted ceilings, and the washer and dryer are in the basement because that's how homes were built then.”

Michaels likes Old Farm so much that two years ago she showed a home there to her niece Sara Buresh and husband Scott.

“We both grew up in Naperville and wanted to stay in Naperville,” Sara Buresh said. “We're both teachers, and we wanted to make sure we had good schools in District 203. And we wanted a nice house that we could afford.”

That specific home — a two-story with three bedrooms and a nice yard — met the couple's criteria and they loved the home.

“The house was rehabbed, so it's a very nice house with a new kitchen, the entire basement redone and new hardwood floors. All the baths were rehabbed, so we didn't need to do the major stuff,” Sara Buresh said.

“It's a nice smaller community where people are friendly and helpful. When we were trying to do some work on the house, people offered to help or to give us the name of someone they recommended.”

Situated on 87th Street east of Modaff Road, Old Farm sits in a convenient location not far from downtown. “You can't really walk there, but we're off Washington Street about 10 minutes away,” Michaels said.

For recreation, neighborhood parks offer playgrounds and sports facilities while the premier Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve showcases a natural area of scenic beauty for education and recreation.

Springbrook Golf Course won 2011 Glancer Magazine readers choice award for favorite course in Naperville. The course is known for its mature lush foliage and trees with beautiful views of open space and trails.

Shopping abounds in downtown Naperville, Bolingbrook and along 75th Street. “Downtown Naperville of course is fabulous with the Carillon, shopping, restaurants and the Riverwalk,” Michaels said.

Naperville is one of the few towns that has a lot of sculptures and other public art, which is very nice. North Central College and Edward Hospital are right in town. And there's a bus to the downtown train station, Michaels said.

“Naperville is very nice because it has a lot of history. Many people don't realize that it's the oldest community in DuPage County.”

Listing sheet

<b>Price range:</b> $210,000 to $340,000

<b>Age of homes:</b> 35 years

<b>Schools: </b>Kingsley Elementary, Lincoln Middle and Naperville Central High schools in Naperville Unit District 203

<b>Parks: </b>Naperville Park District