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Old 07-17-2012, 10:10 PM
 
Location: Michigan
6 posts, read 14,469 times
Reputation: 15

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My family will soon be moving to Illinois from Utah... we have lived in Ohio, Alabama, Kansas and Connecticut as well... My husband took a job in Crystal Lake and we have visited the area a few times but still trying to figure out the best fit for our family so I am looking for any and all opinions... I have looked into the schools systems in all four areas (Crystal Lake, Cary, Lake in the Hills, Huntley), we have also looked at houses in a few of the neighborhoods both in person and on-line... the biggest adjustment for us in the taxes but other than that we have found many houses that would meet our needs within our price range but still trying to figure out where would be the best fit... we would like to move house to house, vs renting for a bit due to our kids ages... we have 2 kids ages 10, entering 5th grade (has type 1 diabetes) & 6, entering 1st grade...we want to live in and area with great schools, great support system within the school (teachers, nurse, staff, etc), good location to all the shopping without living in the shopping, nice neighborhood, etc... Any input would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you in advance for your time!!
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Old 07-17-2012, 10:28 PM
 
16,032 posts, read 28,291,970 times
Reputation: 24475
Quote:
Originally Posted by alf7199 View Post
My family will soon be moving to Illinois from Utah... we have lived in Ohio, Alabama, Kansas and Connecticut as well... My husband took a job in Crystal Lake and we have visited the area a few times but still trying to figure out the best fit for our family so I am looking for any and all opinions... I have looked into the schools systems in all four areas (Crystal Lake, Cary, Lake in the Hills, Huntley), we have also looked at houses in a few of the neighborhoods both in person and on-line... the biggest adjustment for us in the taxes but other than that we have found many houses that would meet our needs within our price range but still trying to figure out where would be the best fit... we would like to move house to house, vs renting for a bit due to our kids ages... we have 2 kids ages 10, entering 5th grade (has type 1 diabetes) & 6, entering 1st grade...we want to live in and area with great schools, great support system within the school (teachers, nurse, staff, etc), good location to all the shopping without living in the shopping, nice neighborhood, etc... Any input would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you in advance for your time!!
As a corporate refugee, I would recommend Crystal Lake over the other alternatives. While I have no children, I have heard very positive things about the various Crystal Lake schools. There are three high schools in the district and each one has a lot of supporters and the like. What we liked about Crystal Lake is the housing stock is older and there are actaully trees in most yards. The population is a little less transient than in the otehr communities.

LITH is not my favorite as the houses are newer and a lot of them were slapped up in the past ten years. I am not saying that every place is bad BUT the ones that we looked at in the lower price ranges were just not well buit.

Huntley as a community seems to be dominated by Del Webb. That makes school levies harder to pass.
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Old 07-18-2012, 06:59 AM
 
12,933 posts, read 17,850,321 times
Reputation: 9102
On the other hand, Del Webb homeowners pay a lot in taxes and have no children in school. So the school district, unless it wastes money, should be well-funded.
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Old 07-18-2012, 07:35 AM
 
28,460 posts, read 81,439,920 times
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There are some screwy school boundaries in that area. I know for a fact that some of the homes with "Huntley" mailing addresses are served by schools in neighboring districts. The difficulty is not just the very wide range of property values (especially in areas constructed at the peak of the "boom"...) / tax situations, but also the large distances that some kids have to travel to get to the various schools.

Speaking to the question of the schools in Crystal Lake itself I know that there are at least two different elementary districts, the large D47 and relatively smaller D46. Performance of the schools in D47 covers a wider range than D46. Currently I believe there are some home owners in the districts that feel very over burdened with taxes, though that is not uncommon throughout the region, given the irresponsible ways that our state legislature has not addressed ongoing issues in the way pensions are funded...

Looking at the list of all the districts in McHenry Co there are some depressing patterns -- McHenry Country School Performance with only D46 having both of schools cited for Academic Excellence. The "next best" performance is arguably the Johnsburg schools, D12, where all its elementary schools were at least meeting standards.

If schools are important to the OP I would also recommend looking at the better performing schools in areas of neighboring Cook Co or Lake Co like Barrington, Lake Zurich, Long Grove and Buffalo Grove. The trade off is likely to be a slightly longer commute to work and higher costs however I know that the more mature areas do typically offer a higher level of support for kids with even minor medical issues, nicer range of shopping and entertainment, MUCH better access to Chicago and a more uniformly "upscale" feel overall.
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Old 07-18-2012, 08:26 AM
 
Location: Lake Arlington Heights, IL
5,479 posts, read 11,676,108 times
Reputation: 2825
Quote:
Originally Posted by chet everett View Post
There are some screwy school boundaries in that area. I know for a fact that some of the homes with "Huntley" mailing addresses are served by schools in neighboring districts. The difficulty is not just the very wide range of property values (especially in areas constructed at the peak of the "boom"...) / tax situations, but also the large distances that some kids have to travel to get to the various schools.

Speaking to the question of the schools in Crystal Lake itself I know that there are at least two different elementary districts, the large D47 and relatively smaller D46. Performance of the schools in D47 covers a wider range than D46. Currently I believe there are some home owners in the districts that feel very over burdened with taxes, though that is not uncommon throughout the region, given the irresponsible ways that our state legislature has not addressed ongoing issues in the way pensions are funded...

Looking at the list of all the districts in McHenry Co there are some depressing patterns -- McHenry Country School Performance with only D46 having both of schools cited for Academic Excellence. The "next best" performance is arguably the Johnsburg schools, D12, where all its elementary schools were at least meeting standards.

If schools are important to the OP I would also recommend looking at the better performing schools in areas of neighboring Cook Co or Lake Co like Barrington, Lake Zurich, Long Grove and Buffalo Grove. The trade off is likely to be a slightly longer commute to work and higher costs however I know that the more mature areas do typically offer a higher level of support for kids with even minor medical issues, nicer range of shopping and entertainment, MUCH better access to Chicago and a more uniformly "upscale" feel overall.
It would be a reverse commute, opposite heavier traffic flow and about 30 minutes from Barrington/Lake Zurich. Buffalo Grove adds about 15 minutes to the commute.
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Old 07-18-2012, 08:37 AM
 
16,032 posts, read 28,291,970 times
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The only issues with longer commutes in the Crystal Lake area is the great volume of traffic in the area.

When I moved to the area in 2000, I could leave the house and get to work in 15-17 minutes every morning, Now the same drive with SIX more traffic lights is running 24-26 minutes each morning.

As for the taxes, I would like to see any place in this area that has lower taxes. I am not aware of any.
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Old 07-18-2012, 11:00 AM
 
Location: Lake Arlington Heights, IL
5,479 posts, read 11,676,108 times
Reputation: 2825
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlawrence01 View Post
The only issues with longer commutes in the Crystal Lake area is the great volume of traffic in the area.

When I moved to the area in 2000, I could leave the house and get to work in 15-17 minutes every morning, Now the same drive with SIX more traffic lights is running 24-26 minutes each morning.

As for the taxes, I would like to see any place in this area that has lower taxes. I am not aware of any.
And if you do, be VERY dubious of school quality since most school funding is through local property taxes.
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Old 07-18-2012, 11:56 AM
 
Location: Barrington
63,948 posts, read 44,050,408 times
Reputation: 20645
I had clients from Ogden a few years ago. Their wish list was similar and they were stunned by our property taxes, too. They landed in Lake Barrington and put their 2 boys into Barrington Schools.
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Old 07-21-2012, 01:49 AM
 
Location: Michigan
6 posts, read 14,469 times
Reputation: 15
Taxes is the biggest thing throwing us for a loop... Just to give you an idea, we bought our house for $225,000... 2 years ago, taxes are $2300 a year, my kids go to the 5th highest ranking elementary school in the entire state of Utah, of course, number 1 & 2 are charter schools for gifted children...
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Old 07-21-2012, 03:18 AM
 
Location: Not where you ever lived
11,537 posts, read 29,009,205 times
Reputation: 6407
Real Estate Taxes stay local and primarily support schools. School starts in about a month. You'll need school records, and the kids may have to need eye exam and physicals too. You will probably have to educate- and I use the word lightly - the school, nurse and teachers regarding your child's medical needs as two why, what, where and when. A letter from the doctor will support your position.

Good Luck and Welcome!
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