Are these Illinois County Medians Accurate? (Peoria, Champaign: mortgage, credit issues, attorney)

[Our Own Home]

The Our Own Home program (www.ourownhome.net), which is offered through the Illinois State Treasurer's Office, has a cap on “Median Home Values by County”. I was hoping that you could give me your opinion on whether or not the median numbers listed below are accurate. Keep in mind that this program is made for moderate to low income people, and that it is the median value for the county. I really appreciate your assistance. The purpose of this is to gather as much data on each specific county in Illinois so I can make sure that we are giving each county its fair value, and in turn making the "Our Own Home" program be as accurate and helpful as it can be for the residents of Illinois. Thanks again and as always if you need to contact me, please do so. I can be reached by phone, email, or on the forum. My direct contact information is listed below. Below you will see the county and its maximum purchase price (median) for the program. I truly appreciate your feedback.

One last thing: We do not endorse, recommend, or refer any financial institution. It is unethical and against the law. This is a free program to help those having housing difficulties.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Noven
Our Own Home/Mi Casa USA
Program Manager
Office of the Illinois State Treasurer
1-312-814-5964 or toll free at 1-888-803-4663 (HOME)
bnoven@treasurer.state.il.us
www.ourownhome.net
www.micasausa.net

Thank you again for your input!

OUR OWN HOME
Illinois Median Home Values by County
Effective through December 1, 2006

County Median

Adams $97,146
Alexander$42,919
Bond $88,537
Boone $158,826
Brown $60,909
Bureau $99,973
Calhoun $79,156
Carroll $88,280
Cass $70,547
Champaign$121,690
Christian $78,385
Clark $81,341
Clay $66,178
Clinton $107,555
Coles $91,878
Cook $202,645
Crawford $69,647
Cumberland$88,280
DeKalb $174,632
Dewitt $95,476
Douglas $90,593
DuPage* $208,500
Edgar $69,776
Edwards $60,010
Effingham$109,739
Fayette $76,458
Ford $90,721
Franklin $57,954
Fulton $74,659
Gallatin $59,496
Greene $61,552
Grundy $165,251
Hamilton $61,423
Hancock $74,787
Hardin $52,428
Henderson$73,631
Henry $99,845
Iroquois $100,102
Jackson $87,637
Jasper $83,525
Jefferson $81,983
Jersey $106,398
Jo Daviess$114,494
Johnson $83,140
Kane $206,114
Kankakee $127,472
Kendall $199,047
Knox $81,598
Lake* $208,500
La Salle $111,795
Lawrence $58,853
Lee $107,169
Livingston$102,415
Logan $97,275
Macon $89,693
Macoupin $85,710
Madison $99,202
Marion $69,005
Marshall $97,532
Mason $78,642
Massac $81,341
McDonough$78,642
McHenry*$208,500
McLean $147,518
Menard $120,276
Mercer $88,023
Monroe $161,268
Montgomery$70,418
Morgan $97,403
Moultrie $93,548
Ogle $131,970
Peoria $110,253
Perry $70,675
Piatt $106,141
Pike $69,390
Pope $65,021
Pulaski $42,791
Putnam $114,494
Randolph $84,425
Richland $80,313
Rock Island$101,387
Saline $62,066
Sangamon$117,192
Schuyler $69,390
Scott $74,273
Shelby $85,581
St. Clair $99,845
Stark $79,413
Stephenson$104,599
Tazewell $114,622
Union $76,972
Vermilion $71,960
Wabash $72,217
Washington$95,476
Warren $74,016
Wayne $62,541
White $55,384
Whiteside$97,275
Will $198,276
Williamson$81,341
Winnebago$118,092
Woodford $132,227

[Steve-o]

DuPage seems low. I have yet to find a decent house under that price. Most homes I see are 3-400K and up with LOTS in the million plus range. This data seems faulty? But then again I could be wrong.

[Switch625]

For Champaign county, those numbers are low if you want to locate in Champaign-Urbana or one of the affluent suburbs. The small towns and depressed areas drive down the median, so I can see where they came up with that figure. It's all about location.

[HappyToGo]

At first glance I thought Sangamon looked a little low, but after a little research I agree with the number... I thought that Sangamon would have been MUCH higher than Effingham Co, but it has been a long time since I have lived there.

Good Luck with your research~

[Paxtonian]

The figures for Ford County sound right. I'm curious- how does one sign up for your program? I'm interested in buying a house eventually, but I'm not sure I'd qualify for a standard mortgage with my credit history and income.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

DuPage seems low. I have yet to find a decent house under that price. Most homes I see are 3-400K and up with LOTS in the million plus range. This data seems faulty? But then again I could be wrong.

For one, it looks like they averaged DuPage, Lake and McHenry Counties together. Notice they all have asterisks by them and all have the same median value. Also, keep in mind a lot of new construction is condos/townhouses which would yield lower median home costs. If the figures were of median single-family home costs, it would probably be quite a bit higher in the collar counties including DuPage. Also keep in mind that while single-family construction tends to be big dumb shiny McMansions and they're the ones that get most of the attention, most of the collar counties' housing stock still consists primarily of '50s-through-'70s-vintage ranches, split-levels, modest Cape Cods and the like.

[Our Own Home]

Originally Posted by Paxtonian

The figures for Ford County sound right. I'm curious- how does one sign up for your program? I'm interested in buying a house eventually, but I'm not sure I'd qualify for a standard mortgage with my credit history and income.

Paxtonian,

First of all, I appreciate the feedback. From everyone. Sorry it took me a while to respond but I am out and in the field all week. You don't actually sign up for the program. In a nutshell, we have financial institutions all over the state that are already enrolled. If you are having troubles in obtaining a conventional home loan, then you will want to contact one of the participating lenders and speak with a loan officer. The Illinois State Treasurer's Office cannot refer you to any bank as it would be a conflict of interest and against the law. If you go to the Our Own Home's website, www.ourownhome.net, you can click on a link entitled "find a lender". Then just highlight the county that you are seeking to purchase a property in. A list of all the lenders will come up. You can contact one or all of the listed participants--that is up to you. Now if you go to one of them and are approved traditionally, then you do not need the assistance that the Our Own Home program provides. However, if you are not approved due to some factor (and each bank has their own factors) such as credit issues, loan to value, etc... then you should ask them about attaching the Our Own Home program's pledge to see if you would then qualify. I am not a counsler or attorney, but I strongly encourage anyone looking to purchase or refinance a property to do research, have an attorney look over all documents related to the contracts and know what they are signing. The more informed you are, the better decision's you can make. I hope that this helps. You can always go to the website for more information, or contact me directly at the contact info below.


Sincerely,

Benjamin Noven

Program Manager

Our Own Home

Office of the Illinois State Treasurer

312-814-5964

bnoven@treasurer.state.il.us

[Our Own Home]

Originally Posted by Drover

For one, it looks like they averaged DuPage, Lake and McHenry Counties together. Notice they all have asterisks by them and all have the same median value. Also, keep in mind a lot of new construction is condos/townhouses which would yield lower median home costs. If the figures were of median single-family home costs, it would probably be quite a bit higher in the collar counties including DuPage. Also keep in mind that while single-family construction tends to be big dumb shiny McMansions and they're the ones that get most of the attention, most of the collar counties' housing stock still consists primarily of '50s-through-'70s-vintage ranches, split-levels, modest Cape Cods and the like.

Drover, Steve-O:


Actually, by law we can only go up to 50% of Fannie Mae's annual determination of a what the median value of a home is. Being that it is currently $417,000--we can go up to the $208,500. The program is not meant for use by someone looking to buy a half a million dollar home. The reason that you see counties with a * by them is because that is the maximum value we can go by law. And I do appreciate your input--thanks!

Benjamin Noven

Our Own Home

Program Manager

Office of the Illinois State Treasurer

312-814-5964

bnoven@treasurer.state.il.us

[Drover]

That'll explain the lowball figure.

[cdrobert]

The median home value for dupage county is actually some where between 350,000 to 380,000. Highest in the state.