Oak Park working towards retirement. OK dreaming . . .

[mlh27]

Yeah, that's pretty much why a lot of our downtown area is comprised of restaurants or very niche retail. It is definitely a challenging retail environment, for sure - but what does this have to do with teardowns?

[BigLake]

Originally Posted by linicx

The Village of Oak Park is a place of about 50,000 residents. As a place it has many awards for architecture, and restaurants. Even the library has an award or two. OP has the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the world. And it was home to some of the most well know writers of the 20th century. "Papa" Hemingway comes to mind.

Op is green; it is leafy; it's walkable; it's quirky, and it has a dog park. Oak Park is the last place I thought I would find The Church of Beethoven, or the Chinese Methodist Church. The population is as diverse as its culture. You can rub elbows with a young bachelor millionaire as easily as you can with a person who is not as blessed. OP is a rainbow of colors and ideas, of families and singles, of gay and straight. The politics is neither the high collar ultra Right Victorian Christian of the past, nor is it of the ultra left leaning Liberal of today, but rather a mix of the worst and the best..

Hate it or love it? Haters target Oak Park for political and religous reasons, but the lovers of Oak Park stay because it is 'home'. Enjoy it. Oak Park is a great place to live, and it still has a desirable address. If you are not sure about parking taxes, grocery taxes, and real estate taxes do rent for a while. Your boots on the ground, and personal experience in OP will make a difference as to whether or not you want to retire here.

There will always be someone who pays a higher property tax than you. The highest property taxes in Chicago are found in the Streeterville neighborhood. However, Illinois property taxes,as a whole, devolve as you move south of I-80. Your taxes base is different in every county. It is set in Springfield for th whole state by the taxing authority. The property tax you pay in OP stays in Oak Park. It does not wander off to support East St. Louis, Cairo, or even Champaign.

This is a very even-handed and informed post.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by linicx

... However, Illinois property taxes,as a whole, devolve as you move south of I-80. Your taxes base is different in every county. It is set in Springfield for th whole state by the taxing authority. ...

http://www.revenue.state.il.us/publi...ios/pio-16.pdf

Your tax bill is based on two factors:
• equalized assessed value (EAV) of your property, and
• amount of money your local taxing districts need to operate
during the coming year (i.e., levies).
The assessment on your property is set by local officials and
is merely a method of fairly distributing the tax burden among
all property owners in your community (i.e., the tax base). Your
tax bill can remain the same or decrease even though your
assessment is increased if the tax base increases or the taxing
districts do not increase their levies. Conversely, your tax bill
can increase even though your assessment remains the same
or decreases if the tax base decreases or the taxing districts
increase their levies.

[linicx]

Explaining how the tax system in Illinois works to most people is a waste of time. It is complicated. It is based on property size, location, area density, residential or commercial, out buildings, and others such as a house external size, garage size, foundation type, fire district, basement or not, etc..

Cook County and Chicago have the most expensive houses and property, the most dense population, the largest number of failing schools, the largest numbers of family living in poverty, more hospitals, more higher education units, more trains and buses, and more pricey tourist venues, more county offices, more parks, more officers and patrol cars, more county jail space, more state and federal roads to repair, more very poor areas like Ford Heights, and more shoreline to clean, than the rest of the state.

Thus the second largest county in America that is home to the third largest city in America keeps 100% of its property taxes collected in Cook County and in Chicago to support your county services in the suburbs and in Chicago, too.

If you move downstate a couple of hundred miles you find areas of 100,000 plus that do not have Cook County and Chicago tax problems as they do not offer the same services. Therefore your tax bill is lower, unless of course you demand a McMansion. The highest taxes support the exclusive gated enclaves. Yes it is pricey, but not nearly as pricey as the Streeterville neighborhood in Chicago, or Kenilworth, Illinois -- at one time the fourth most exclusive enclave in America.

You can find all of this information about your future taxes in the county where you close to live.

Originally Posted by chet everett

http://www.revenue.state.il.us/publi...ios/pio-16.pdf

[chet everett]

Illinois Now Has the Second-Highest Property Taxes in the Nation | Chicago magazine | Real Estate & Neighborhoods January 2014

our property taxes have gotten so high that it’s having a negative effect on our housing market.” He points to reduced demand, as evidenced by a rising number of people leaving the state. Moving to Indiana—where property tax rates are less than half those in Illinois, and the cost to buy a house is much lower, as well—becomes more appealing, he says. That’s especially true for senior citizens and others who don’t have kids in public schools and so don’t feel compelled to pay high taxes to cover the schools, ... corporations that are looking to relocate may consider not only their own potential tax burden but the taxes their employees will pay. Companies that opt to leave Illinois (or if those that were considering coming here choose some lower-tax state), they reduce the demand for homes here, too.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...e-property-tax

in the 2011 tax year was insurance magnate Richard Parrillo, who paid nearly $246,780 last year on a new 15,533-square-foot limestone mansion in Lincoln Park.

If you can explain how any single family home can possible justify nearly a quarter million dollars in taxes that are ostensibly for services from the city / county that would be quite the feat...

[oakparkdude]

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...e-property-tax If you can explain how any single family home can possible justify nearly a quarter million dollars in taxes that are ostensibly for services from the city / county that would be quite the feat...[/quote]

That's only about 1.6% of the estimated property value, which is quite the deal for Chicagoland. Most folks in the suburbs are paying 2% or higher on their SFH.