Thinking about moving to Burr Ridge or Hinsdale? In this video, I put Burr Ridge and Hinsdale side-by-side and compare who has the better food, schools, location, shopping, recreation, and housing/real estate market. Locations I feature in this video include:
✅ Stix & Stones Pizzeria (Burr Ridge) 🍕
✅ Baldinelli Pizza (Hinsdale) 🍕
✅ Sweet Ali’s Gluten Free Bakery (Hinsdale) 🧁
✅ Kirsten’s Danish Bakery (Burr Ridge) 🥨
✅ LifeTime Athletic (Burr Ridge) 🚴
✅ The Burr Ridge Village Center & Historic Downtown Hinsdale 🛍
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My name is Eric and I’m a REALTOR® in Chicago, Illinois. I specialize in helping out of state newcomers find the perfect home here in Chicago. When I’m not selling homes, I love spending time with my wife and 6 children, serving my congregations (I’m an ordained Lutheran pastor and serve Zion, Summit & Immanuel, Hodgkins), exercising, and making Neapolitan pizza from scratch and baking it in my Ooni wood-fired oven. Despite being a Chicago native, I’m a St. Louis Blues fan (I blame it on my time at the Seminary), and some of my favorite recent shows include Billions, Breaking Bad, and Loki. I devour books like they’re pizza. I’ve recently finished “The Man’s Guide to Women” by John Gottman (an eye-opening read) and “Ninja Selling” by Larry Kendall. I’m currently working through “Think Again” by Adam Grant, and have “Hook Point” by Brandon Kane and “Millionaire Success Habits” by Dean Graziosi on deck. BLOG: www.ericandersenhomes.com/blog/ If you want have questions about moving to Chicago or would like to discuss the real estate market, feel free to reach out! I’d love to hear from you. Email me anytime at eric@eandersenhomes.com.
Eric Andersen, B.A., M.Div.
Owner/Designated Managing Broker, Eric Andersen Homes
📲 Text/Call: 708.674.6725
📩 Email: eric@eandersenhomes.com
Transcript:
Welcome back to my channel! Today we’re comparing Burr Ridge and Hinsdale and attempting to answer the highly subjective question, which is the better place to live? Spoiler alert, Hinsdale is going to win this round, but I personally like Burr Ridge better, so I’m actually not sure how that happened. But honestly, I can’t tell you if Burr Ridge or Hinsdale is a better place for you to live; that’s a highly personal question. I’m just here to give you some more information about both places, highlight some of the great things Burr Ridge & Hinsdale have to offer, and hopefully we’ll have some fun along the way. So I’m Eric, owner and designated managing broker at Eric Andersen Homes, and in this video, we’ll compare food, schools, location, shopping, recreation, and, of course, the housing market and real estate in Burr Ridge and Hinsdale. Just a reminder to like this video, subscribe to my channel and turn on notifications so you don’t miss out on other, awesome videos about Burr Ridge, Hinsdale, and more. So first, and most importantly, who has the better pizza? Because as everyone knows, the most important factor when deciding on where to live is the pizza. Burr Ridge is the clear winner when it comes to pizza thanks to Sticks and Stones in the Burr Ridge Village Center. They serve some exceptional, wood-fired Neapolitan pizza. The dough and ingredients are always fresh, they have a great lemon chicken soup, and the menu also includes salads, calzones, sandwiches, and a few options for kids. I like that it’s a local, independent place, and the decor is contemporary with a relaxed, casual vibe. And bonus, they serve the legendary Plush Horse ice cream from nearby Palos Park. In fact, the footage you’re seeing is from my lunch today. I had to go there for, you know, research purposes. The only real downside to Sticks and Stones is they serve individual pizzas, so if you have 6 kids like me, that can get expensive in a hurry. I know they have a kids’ menu, but still, at $8 a pop, I’m looking at nearly $50 to feed my kids pizza. If I’m looking to buy pizza for my family, I’m going to Baldinelli Pizza in Hinsdale. It’s another great, local small business. They always use fresh ingredients and make a great thin crust pizza, and I can even get a 20-incher for only $23. Most pizza places will call a 14” or 16” pizza a large. If you can find an 18” pizza you’re doing really good. But Baldinelli’s offers a 20” beast of a pizza, and it’s a thing of beauty. But overall, I’m still giving this round to Sticks and Stones in Burr Ridge because it’s really hard to compete with high-quality Neapolitan pizza. Staying with the food theme, next up is best gluten free bakery, and no question, this one goes to Sweet Ali’s Gluten Free Bakery in downtown Hinsdale. Now that’s probably unfair, one, because Sweet Ali’s is probably one of the best gluten free bakeries anywhere, and two, Burr Ridge doesn’t have a gluten free bakery. Kirsten’s Danish Bakery is near and dear to my heart being a Dane myself, but this round is about gluten free bakeries. And frankly, Sweet Ali’s is so good, it’s better than a lot of high gluten bakeries. We’ve all had that really dense, styrofoam-like substance that is typical when it comes to gluten free products. And if that’s what you’re looking for, Sweet Ali’s will be a major disappointment. Sweet Ali’s has an extensive menu, including breads, cakes, coffee cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and they even have pizza crust, pasta, rice, and some savory options, like chicken pot pie and quiches. Turning to schools, Burr Ridge received an A+ overall from Niche, and their rank was #38 in Chicago area. They rated 13 schools, and all received an A or A+ except for two, which got a B- and C+. So lower, but not terrible by any means. Hinsdale also received an A+ overall for their schools, but Niche ranked them at #5 in the Chicago area. Of the 28 schools they rated, nothing came in lower than an A-. So based on Niche’s rankings, Hinsdale wins the point for schools. Next up, commuting. Accessibility to downtown Chicago is a big deal for many residents of Burr Ridge & Hinsdale, so let’s see how they compare. A commute from Burr Ridge to Millennium Park is 21 miles and will run you about 30 minutes with limited traffic. Hinsdale to Millennium Park is about 25 miles and will take about 37 minutes for that same commute, so Burr Ridge is actually a little closer and faster. But hold on—many commuters will take Metra, the commuter train, from suburbs to city and back again, and Hinsdale has 3 Metra stops in town: West Hinsdale, Hinsdale, and the Highlands Metra Station. Burr Ridge doesn’t have any Metra stops, though you can make it to the Willow Springs Metra Station in 8 minutes, which is only about 3 miles away. But overall, I’m going to have to give the point to Hinsdale for this round since both are similarly close to the city, but Hinsdale crushes Burr Ridge when it comes to train stations. The next thing we’ll compare is shopping in Burr Ridge vs. Hinsdale. This one’s tough. Most of Burr Ridge’s shopping, dining, and recreation happens in the Burr Ridge Village Center, which I love. It offers over 30 shops, restaurants, boutique stores, a music and dance studio, and more. It’s always professionally landscaped and even has condominium residences if you’d like to live there. But Hinsdale has the world-class downtown Hinsdale Historic District, which has 73 buildings and a park. You’ll see stunning, architecturally-significant buildings in downtown Hinsdale that go back to the 1880s in the Late Victorian and Queen Anne Styles, which provide the perfect setting for you to walk around and enjoy all their downtown has to offer. So while I personally enjoy and spend more time at the Burr Ridge Village Center than in downtown Hinsdale, Hinsdale wins this round for overall size, beauty, and historical significance. I feel like the score has gotten a little lopsided here. I gave Hinsdale the point for proximity to city even though Burr Ridge is closer and a shorter commute, and the schools and shopping are more comparable than the current score reflects, so Burr Ridge is going to get an extra point right now for LifeTime Athletic. Hinsdale is close to the awesome new Life Time in Oak Brook, but if Hinsdale wins location for having Metra, Burr Ridge wins for having its own LifeTime. LifeTime Burr Ridge is a great place, and sometimes I’m there for 2 to 3 hours at a time. I’ll usually start by going to one of their group fitness classes. Then I’ll hang out in the sauna, hot tub, or steam room for a while, and then work in the cafe while enjoying a vegan PB & B smoothie. I live on those things. They’re fantastic. Next, let’s turn to the housing market. Hinsdale is known for their luxury homes, and that’s reflected in the median sale price of homes in Hinsdale vs. Burr Ridge. You will find more larger, higher-end, luxury homes in Hinsdale than you will in Burr Ridge. On the other hand, you’ll pay for it. Burr Ridge offers more value by comparison, and you’ll also notice that over the past 3 years, the Burr Ridge real estate market has seen better gains than Hinsdale. In 2020, Hinsdale property values actually decreased by a median of 2.7% while Burr Ridge added 3.3%. And while Hinsdale has had a very strong 2021, adding 7.5%, Burr Ridge blew them away by adding 13.7%. I also did the wife test: I honestly thought she would say she liked Hinsdale better in a heartbeat. And while she ultimately went with Hinsdale, she was a little torn and struggled to answer the question. For her, the Burr Ridge Village Center and the area is a major plus, but she’s partial to Hinsdale’s homes and what she described as the overall neighborhood feel, which she liked better. So Hinsdale gets the point from my wife, because even though I like Burr Ridge better, the secret to a happy marriage is knowing that your wife is always right. So there you have it. This is my video. I’m judge and jury and I personally like Burr Ridge better, but somehow Hinsdale still wins, 6 to 4. Like this video and subscribe to my channel for more videos about Burr Ridge and Hinsdale, and reach out any time if you’re thinking about buying or selling a home in Burr Ridge or Hinsdale or relocating to the area from out of state. I’m Eric with Eric Andersen Homes here to remove the headache from real estate and provide expert guidance for your next purchase or sale.