r/e tax Forest Park (Chicago, Cicero: real estate, renters, condos)

[tugofwargame]

Does anyone understand the real estate tax structure in the Forest Park, IL area?

Including all average number of add-ons what is the approximately % rate? And is property taxed on last purchase price or value assessed by the tax assessor's office?

Is Forest Park an improving town or a deteriorating town?

TIA

[tugofwargame]

Thanks it does help. I haven't been in Chi-town for many years and may relocate that way. Still trying to figure out r/e tax cost. Maybe a realtor could help?

[SonySegaTendo617]

i'd say Forest Park is improving, and i'd definately consider it. though i've only briefly driven through tiny portions of Forest Park, I like what they've done with their Madison St. business strip. i hear they've also done nice things with Circle Ave. too.

you might want to look south at Berwyn too, in addition to Forest Park. housing prices in that town are often cheaper than ones in the area of F. Park-O. Park-R. Forest. also, i find if anything, its a very underrated town(and nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be, and if anything, its definately on the rise), plus houses and condos are slowly being rehabbed and/or built in parts of town again. the south part of town is especially nice, it has 2 very nice music clubs, a nice downtown, and a new slate of candidates(and mayor) were recently elected about a year or so ago, kicking out pretty much almost all of the former Councilmen who were corrupt. not to mention it has slightly less crime than Forest Park has. hope my post helps you out a lot, and that your move to Chicagoland(regardless of where you finally decide to move) goes well!

[SonySegaTendo617]

Originally Posted by Marita1848

I just moved out of Berwyn. Unless your moving south of Ogden Ave. DON'T consider this town. We lived on the north side and it is turning really bad!! This area has a lot of renters and people don't care who they rent to. The crime rate is way up (did you miss the article in the Trib a few weeks ago?). Their is trash all over the streets, graffiti on the garages. We moved from Forest Park thinking that this area would take off we'll it has but in the wrong direction. I'm not sure were the previous poster lives but it's not in North Berwyn. Good luck

i will admit i don't live in Berwyn(i just used to visit it several times a year, since i knew someone in town, but don't do so as much anymore, since i started going to college outside of Chicago). thanks for pointing that article out(googled it myself), i had no clue that the north side of town has suffered from a spike in crime this year(i'm not anyone with a special interest in Berwyn, just so you know, i only still visit it a few times a year(hadn't last visited there however since very early this year), and stand corrected on what i said about there and Cicero). that's really sad to hear, and i'm glad you did post that(since it was eye-opening to me, as i have many memories of visiting there, and Cicero to a lesser extent, when i was younger).

hopefully, Berwyn can successfully fight these problems, and avoid becoming another Calumet City-type suburb. i saw your other post too on the other thread, and i'll take you at word about what you said about Cicero's gang problem(and that i underestimated it). i will still say however that some south portions of both towns aren't too bad, and that i think its negative reputation is somewhat overblown. i guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on our mindsets of Berwyn.

i also found these 2 articles on Liberty Suburban(wouldn't surprise me though if you're read them):
http://www.libertysuburban.com/story.php?pub=3&sid=65742 (broken link) (about a meeting with mayor, residents, and police about crime in the north part of town)
http://www.libertysuburban.com/story.php?pub=3&sid=66853 (broken link) (about Berwyn possibly creating a housing authority)

[Opinion]

I live in South Berwyn west of Ogden and have been there for 6 years. I will say that although the North side of Berwyn is less desirable right now, change is coming. The new mayor just needs some time to put his policies in place. Did you hear about the new 62 unit condo development planned for Roosevelt and East Ave? Do you think developers would invest millions of dollars if they felt the area was trash and not worth it? If you are considering Berwyn as a place to live, I would recommend South Berywn for now as it has many conveniences and is affordable when compared to some of the nearby suburban towns. Berywn's propety values have increase over 30% in the last five years and the mayor will use the tax dollars to improve the city. I'm not a politician or an advocate of Berwyn, but I am a father of 6 including 3 teenagers and we have not had any issues raising our kids in Berwyn. Besides, let's keep it real...every town has issues and you will soon find out that you will trade one set of problems for another. If you teach your kids proper values, you shouldn;t have any issues.