Talk to me about taxes (Chicago, Hinsdale: credit, daycare, cheap house)

[damba]

Perhaps, but in parts of Chicago the same 200k
doesnt go as far as you think.

[Avondalist]

Originally Posted by Caglee

You're living in another world entirely if you think 200k is "upper middle class". According to the most recent census, a household earning 200k or more is in the top 5.6% of all households in the country. That is solidly upper class, nothing middle about it, and you can't make sweeping generalizations about the Chicagoland area or Chicago proper when you're speaking to only the top 5%.

Upper class means you don't have to work. It's more about wealth than income at that point.

$200k is the new $100k. Marks of upper middle class status are living in a nice suburb and sending your kids to private school. You can't do that in Chicagoland on $100k.

[Surf123]

Are those of you that are making 200k/family putting your kids in private schools? I am not debating anyone who states they feel you need that much to be comfortable. However I am a bit confused at the idea. We certainly dont make 200k per year. However we also don't plan to put our kids in private schools. We also don't want a 600k home. While I agree to some extent that it may be overpriced to just live middle class there - the amenities and culture chicago has to offer are second to none.
I am not trying to force the issue of affording a place where I cannot afford as I wouldn't want to be pushed out due to finances. But when I crunch numbers 200k seems VERY comfortable to me there as opposed to "just" comfortable. Of course everyone lives different lifestyles and like everything else in my life I would say my lifestyle is just middle of the road - not too frugal or speedy either.

[JJski]

3 years ago when we lived in Nothville MI (public schools just as good as La Grange/Western Springs, hinsdale even) our house cost 450K --- That equivalent house here in La Grange was 800K. Its just much more expensive here unless you get further away from big city...

I think the majority in these towns do use the public schools - hence why you pay the HUGE prices/taxes...

..And prices for these most desirable areas keeps going up...

[damba]

<shrug> Again, it's about personal perspective. Anyone who has a desire to live in a SFH in much of the north shore (or Hinsdale, etc.) will be paying through the nose for that privilege. If someone lives in an area with great schools and high property taxes, they might not feel the need to put kids into private even if they earned that mystical '$200K'.

The people who through hard work and time turn a house they bought for $350K into a house that looks like it cost $600K are the folks that grab my attention

cheers

Originally Posted by Surf123

Are those of you that are making 200k/family putting your kids in private schools? I am not debating anyone who states they feel you need that much to be comfortable. However I am a bit confused at the idea. We certainly dont make 200k per year. However we also don't plan to put our kids in private schools. We also don't want a 600k home. While I agree to some extent that it may be overpriced to just live middle class there - the amenities and culture chicago has to offer are second to none.
I am not trying to force the issue of affording a place where I cannot afford as I wouldn't want to be pushed out due to finances. But when I crunch numbers 200k seems VERY comfortable to me there as opposed to "just" comfortable. Of course everyone lives different lifestyles and like everything else in my life I would say my lifestyle is just middle of the road - not too frugal or speedy either.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by damba

<shrug> Again, it's about personal perspective. Anyone who has a desire to live in a SFH in much of the north shore (or Hinsdale, etc.) will be paying through the nose for that privilege. If someone lives in an area with great schools and high property taxes, they might not feel the need to put kids into private even if they earned that mystical '$200K'.

The people who through hard work and time turn a house they bought for $350K into a house that looks like it cost $600K are the folks that grab my attention

cheers

Right now I can show you homes in less desirable part of even nicer towns like Naperville that have listing prices around $350K that are in all important ways identical to homes in more desirable parts of the same towns that have list prices around $600K. The key factor is LOCATION and that does translate into some tax consequences too -- that $600K home in a more convenient location in Naperville is probably served by D203 and likely has some neighbors even more costly, the tax bill is probably right around $1K/mo and folks probably OK with paying it as they likely find it a mostly fair value for the schools, parks, libraries and various other government provided services they enjoy. That $350K home likely is served by a school district that is both a little less desirable than 203 and probably currently has a bit higher tax RATE. Thus this home may be currently paying around $750/mo in total property taxes and maybe the residents already feel like it is harder to see the value they get for many of the amenities that are not easy to use...


Now if you are saying that you would be impressed by someone picking up a foreclosure near the core of Naperville and then fixing it up to add $250K in value just with hard work I would say that is not feasible -- firstly there really never were all that many foreclosures / short sales near the core area of Naperville. Secondly most foreclosures need a bunch more than just "tidying up". Even if you were 'fortunate' to find such a home that had the potential for "updates and expansion" the kind of return possible would have to factor in at least the costs of material and believe me there are not many home shoppers so foolish as to allow flippers to make huge profits on inferior materials that it is easy to profit in nicer areas. Quite the opposite, the lessons most flippers have learned is that as a rule of thumb it is easier to make decent profit not when focusing on high end or even upper middle class area as it is when you instead focus on much less attractive part of the market -- not so much the very bottom of burned out area, but rehabilitating homes that can acquired VERY inexpensively and then brought up to modest neighborhood standards as afford-ably as possible. In practical terms that often means finding a really trashed home for well below $100k that might profitably be sold in the price range under $150K with about $25k worth of work. Sadly, when looking for such properties one is likely to find that MANY that might work with this formula are already in areas where the PROPERTY TAXES are very nearly 5% of the CURRENT low asking price and thus there is NO HOPE for even an aggressive crew of flippers / marketers to turn such situations around. The areas with such home are sometime remarkably close to desirable areas -- about 10-15 minutes from the core of Naperville there are numerous such "hopeless" situations in West Chicago... Even trying to get a true volunteer organization, like Habitat for Humanity, to do the work with donated material and free labor is still going to leave any potential homeowner on the hook for property taxes of over $400/mo and that will not work for many "low income" people that might otherwise be interested in such a situation...

[nikitakolata]

Originally Posted by Surf123

Are those of you that are making 200k/family putting your kids in private schools?

I can't speak for anyone else, but hell to the no. We're not paying out the nose in property taxes to then go and pay for private schools too. No frickin' way. Even if we made $400k/year we'd be using the public schools in Elmhurst.

[My Kind Of Town]

Originally Posted by nikitakolata

I can't speak for anyone else, but hell to the no. We're not paying out the nose in property taxes to then go and pay for private schools too. No frickin' way. Even if we made $400k/year we'd be using the public schools in Elmhurst.

Same here in Hinsdale, using the public schools, though I don't feel like we are paying out the nose in property taxes currently.

[JJski]

Nikita, Ditto here in LG...

[nikitakolata]

Originally Posted by My Kind Of Town

Same here in Hinsdale, using the public schools, though I don't feel like we are paying out the nose in property taxes currently.

We just got re-assessed. A lovely increase of $1200/year.