For those of you who've fled Illinois, where did you go? (apartment complex, lease)

[Taco1234]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

Hmm, I guess it depends on the individual situation, but I didn't really lose any money by moving here from Dallas. My rent is the same, I only have to fill up my car once per month, my car insurance is cheaper, my electric bill is half, and food seems to be around the same price.

However, based on what I've read, Nashville has a considerably lower cost of living than Dallas or Chicago. I suspect it's similar to Kansas City. I lived there for a few years and it has a very low cost of living. I could probably move there with a 25% cut in salary and maintain the same quality of life.

Renting is a lot different. when you tack on property taxes, the difference between buying a 500k home here vs somewhere with 3-4k property taxes is huge. You can just say: I'm not going over $1500 a month rent. When you have kids to consider and schools are top property and you tack on 15k taxes it's much different. You rent and likely have no kids and can live wherever.

[numberfive]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

Hmm, I guess it depends on the individual situation, but I didn't really lose any money by moving here from Dallas. My rent is the same, I only have to fill up my car once per month, my car insurance is cheaper, my electric bill is half, and food seems to be around the same price.

However, based on what I've read, Nashville has a considerably lower cost of living than Dallas or Chicago. I suspect it's similar to Kansas City. I lived there for a few years and it has a very low cost of living. I could probably move there with a 25% cut in salary and maintain the same quality of life.

Yes, very much so. The insidious part about the taxes here is not that we can afford it, but what it costs us. It hits homeowners disproportionately more than renters. And many renters will eventually be homeowners, so if you're laying down roots somewhere, financially you'll be worse off in the Chicagoland area vs many other picks.

The politicians here are like used car salesmen: "what would you like your house payment to be?" The total bill at the end could be wildly different.

I just pulled up a quick amortization schedule and plugged in some numbers. This is napkin math, so close but not exact numbers. Let's say a homeowner here in the Chicagoland area has a $350k mortgage and property taxes of ~$11k. Their PITI payment is going to be approximately $2700/mo. Now if we want to match that payment in a lower cost area like Nashville, you'd have to up the mortgage amount to $490k. That's right: property taxes alone are stripping $140,000 of buying power from this family. It's like lighting $140,000 on fire, since you'll never see it anyway.

Then factor in home appreciation: since you can buy more home in the lower cost of living area, and assuming standard growth for both areas, that becomes a $330,000 difference.

How much extra time being a wage slave would it take you to earn $330,000 extra? Years, I'd guess. It is for us. Living in Illinois would cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of extra time working, from housing costs alone. And this is just scratching the surface, we're not talking about the state income tax or other cost of living differences.

[Happy in Wyoming]

The temperature in Chicago is currently 87 with 46% humidity. The high today at my home was 72; it's currently 44 with an expected low of 41. The predicted high for tomorrow is 55. Admittedly, our temperatures are currently below normal, but where would you rather live?

[CGab]

Originally Posted by numberfive

Yes, very much so. The insidious part about the taxes here is not that we can afford it, but what it costs us. It hits homeowners disproportionately more than renters. And many renters will eventually be homeowners, so if you're laying down roots somewhere, financially you'll be worse off in the Chicagoland area vs many other picks.

The politicians here are like used car salesmen: "what would you like your house payment to be?" The total bill at the end could be wildly different.

I just pulled up a quick amortization schedule and plugged in some numbers. This is napkin math, so close but not exact numbers. Let's say a homeowner here in the Chicagoland area has a $350k mortgage and property taxes of ~$11k. Their PITI payment is going to be approximately $2700/mo. Now if we want to match that payment in a lower cost area like Nashville, you'd have to up the mortgage amount to $490k. That's right: property taxes alone are stripping $140,000 of buying power from this family. It's like lighting $140,000 on fire, since you'll never see it anyway.

Then factor in home appreciation: since you can buy more home in the lower cost of living area, and assuming standard growth for both areas, that becomes a $330,000 difference.

How much extra time being a wage slave would it take you to earn $330,000 extra? Years, I'd guess. It is for us. Living in Illinois would cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of extra time working, from housing costs alone. And this is just scratching the surface, we're not talking about the state income tax or other cost of living differences.

And taxes are continuing to increase, especially in Cook County! I posted here earlier, but to recap, we moved to NW Indiana last year. My property taxes were $10k, they are now $3k for similar type of home!


Cook County residents' property taxes going up, especially in Chicago | abc7chicago.com

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by numberfive

Yes, very much so. The insidious part about the taxes here is not that we can afford it, but what it costs us. It hits homeowners disproportionately more than renters. And many renters will eventually be homeowners, so if you're laying down roots somewhere, financially you'll be worse off in the Chicagoland area vs many other picks.

The politicians here are like used car salesmen: "what would you like your house payment to be?" The total bill at the end could be wildly different.

I just pulled up a quick amortization schedule and plugged in some numbers. This is napkin math, so close but not exact numbers. Let's say a homeowner here in the Chicagoland area has a $350k mortgage and property taxes of ~$11k. Their PITI payment is going to be approximately $2700/mo. Now if we want to match that payment in a lower cost area like Nashville, you'd have to up the mortgage amount to $490k. That's right: property taxes alone are stripping $140,000 of buying power from this family. It's like lighting $140,000 on fire, since you'll never see it anyway.

Then factor in home appreciation: since you can buy more home in the lower cost of living area, and assuming standard growth for both areas, that becomes a $330,000 difference.

How much extra time being a wage slave would it take you to earn $330,000 extra? Years, I'd guess. It is for us. Living in Illinois would cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of extra time working, from housing costs alone. And this is just scratching the surface, we're not talking about the state income tax or other cost of living differences.

What you also have to consider is how much house you get for your money. We looked at Nashville (Franklin/Brentwood) before moving back to the Chicago burbs and found that we got a better bang for our buck in Chicago so it's really six one way, a half dozen the other. You pay higher taxes in Illinois, but get more home/land for your money. Nashville home prices are way overpriced right now, IMO.

[wase4711]

several years ago, Nashville was a great bargain; now that so many folks are abandoning cities like chicago/new york, Nashville is in big demand, so of course prices go up..
it still gets cold and snows some times there, so for us, it was a no go...but i've been there alot, and its a very nice area, especially Franklin/Brentwood..

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by wase4711

several years ago, Nashville was a great bargain; now that so many folks are abandoning cities like chicago/new york, Nashville is in big demand, so of course prices go up..
it still gets cold and snows some times there, so for us, it was a no go...but i've been there alot, and its a very nice area, especially Franklin/Brentwood..

Yep, good old supply and demand.

Funny about the snow thing because that was another reason we ruled out Nashville, but opposite of your reasoning. We love the snow and wanted to move to a city with significant snowfall, which goes to show that what works for one, does not necessarily work for another.

[numberfive]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

What you also have to consider is how much house you get for your money. We looked at Nashville (Franklin/Brentwood) before moving back to the Chicago burbs and found that we got a better bang for our buck in Chicago so it's really six one way, a half dozen the other. You pay higher taxes in Illinois, but get more home/land for your money. Nashville home prices are way overpriced right now, IMO.

Those higher taxes significantly cut into your purchasing power. In my example, the taxes alone reduce the purchasing power by $140,000. That's $140,000 that could be going in your pocket, but instead goes "poof" to taxes. Then there's the price per square foot -- here by me, it's over $200/sqft. In the Nashville area it's more like $110-$150/sqft.

Which Chicago suburb did you feel has better bang for the buck than Franklin/Brentwood? That's the most expensive area surrounding Nashville, just curious what you're using in your comparison.

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by numberfive

Those higher taxes significantly cut into your purchasing power. In my example, the taxes alone reduce the purchasing power by $140,000. That's $140,000 that could be going in your pocket, but instead goes "poof" to taxes. Then there's the price per square foot -- here by me, it's over $200/sqft. In the Nashville area it's more like $110-$150/sqft.

Which Chicago suburb did you feel has better bang for the buck than Franklin/Brentwood? That's the most expensive area surrounding Nashville, just curious what you're using in your comparison.

Don't forget to factor in the land. A prereq for us was a (1) acre minimum lot and highly rated schools so we focused on Barrington, The Fox Valley and Naperville and ended up in the St. Charles area. We have several acres and paid ~$120 per sq. ft. Haven't looked recently, but we couldn't find anything even close to that in Franklin/Brentwood, especially on 1+ acres.

[4122]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

Don't forget to factor in the land. A prereq for us was a (1) acre minimum lot and highly rated schools so we focused on Barrington, The Fox Valley and Naperville and ended up in the St. Charles area. We have several acres and paid ~$120 per sq. ft. Haven't looked recently, but we couldn't find anything even close to that in Franklin/Brentwood, especially on 1+ acres.

Franklin is much closer to Nashville than Saint Charles is to Chicago Which is probably a big reason why you could find more in St. Charles.