Oak Forest - Laramie Ave. area ok? (Cicero, Orland Park: for sale, real estate)

[tewcewl]

The wife and I have been looking for homes in the area. We're currently renting an apartment in Crestwood. We just found a nice home for sale in our price range on Laramie Ave. near 159th.

Is this a good area to move in? I know some parts of O.F. are shady. (I'm looking at you Cicero and 159th.) The taxes for the property are listed as $4,100. Is that about normal or too high for Oak Forest?

We really like this house, but have been looking mostly in Crestwood (due to its property tax rebate) but haven't found the right size home for us. Any advice would be helpful!

[NYrules]

A lil FYI for you... Orland Park offers the same property tax rebate as Crestwood, but for some reason noone seems to know about it. http://www.orland-park.il.us/index.asp?NID=288

$4,100 for a house in OF is pretty normal I would think. You need to make sure that the current homeowner filed for his/her homeowner's exemption because if they didn't for whatever reason... Usually stupidity or laziness... That could lower those taxes another $500-$1000 a year, so find out if the homeowner's exemption has been filed under the tax year they are representing. Also look up the address on zillow.com and see what it has to say about the property, the history of the house, and what the neighbors are all paying for their taxes and how much they bought their houses for. Oak Forest Real Estate & Oak Forest Homes for Sale - Zillow

[tewcewl]

Originally Posted by NYrules

A lil FYI for you... Orland Park offers the same property tax rebate as Crestwood, but for some reason noone seems to know about it. Village of Orland Park, IL - Official Website - Property Tax Rebate

Thanks for the advice! You know, it's so funny. I did hear about the Orland Park property tax rebate, but I got so many conflicting answers. It does indeed seem like no one knows about it! But whereas, EVERY SINGLE PROPERTY listing in Crestwood advertises the tax rebate as a selling point.

The wife and I are not worried about schools right now as we don't have kids and don't plan to for a couple more years. But I know I DON'T want my kids to go to OFHS. I'd rather go somewhere in District 230 or at least Lincoln-Way, but this way I can build up some equity and then purchase a property in those areas.

Is this area of OF safe? I'm assuming so since the high school's right there and there's two elementary schools right down the road.

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by tewcewl

Thanks for the advice! You know, it's so funny. I did hear about the Orland Park property tax rebate, but I got so many conflicting answers. It does indeed seem like no one knows about it! But whereas, EVERY SINGLE PROPERTY listing in Crestwood advertises the tax rebate as a selling point.

The wife and I are not worried about schools right now as we don't have kids and don't plan to for a couple more years. But I know I DON'T want my kids to go to OFHS. I'd rather go somewhere in District 230 or at least Lincoln-Way, but this way I can build up some equity and then purchase a property in those areas.

Is this area of OF safe? I'm assuming so since the high school's right there and there's two elementary schools right down the road.

Its a fine area. Whats the biggie about Oak Forest High? Its not a bad school. Their athletics are really good I know that much.

[tewcewl]

Originally Posted by NYrules

Its a fine area. Whats the biggie about Oak Forest High? Its not a bad school. Their athletics are really good I know that much.

Is it? I don't know. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I guess we'd always had a distaste of people who were from there. IIRC, there was actually a saying "OFS" - Oak Forest Scum. Even my best friend who went to the high school didn't like it very much. Ah, kids.

I've got time to research schools as we don't plan on having kids for another couple of years.

[Mamama Mia]

Originally Posted by tewcewl

Is it? I don't know. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I guess we'd always had a distaste of people who were from there. IIRC, there was actually a saying "OFS" - Oak Forest Scum. Even my best friend who went to the high school didn't like it very much. Ah, kids.

I've got time to research schools as we don't plan on having kids for another couple of years.

An educator friend's kids both graduated from Oak Forest and she was very happy with their academic program. Her son went to Michigan on a baseball scholarship and is now with the Detroit Tigers and their daughter went to Missouri on a softball scholarship, she was Gatorade player of the year. Both were Illinois State Scholars and excelled in acadmics in high school and college.

[crbcrbrgv]

Originally Posted by tewcewl

Is it? I don't know. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I guess we'd always had a distaste of people who were from there. IIRC, there was actually a saying "OFS" - Oak Forest Scum. Even my best friend who went to the high school didn't like it very much. Ah, kids.

I've got time to research schools as we don't plan on having kids for another couple of years.

School digger rates it a four star school with a ranking of 62 out of 604 public high schools in the state of Illinois. tewcewl, my guess is you went to Lincoln Way or Sandburg.