Flossmoor's Future (Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park: 2015, crime rate, buy)

[urza216]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Calm down.
I have taken classes at Govenors State iin University Park, was in traffic court in Markham about three months ago, was with a friend who buried their mom in Worth about 6 weeks ago, have friends that still teach at Bremmen Twnship Highschool in Midlotian, have relatives that live in Oak Lawn, bought my plasma back at The Little Guys old store in Glenwood.

I loves the south suburbs...

The OP asked about stability and "the future" and I am doing my best to help them (and any one with the desire to learn...) that beyond the recent whipsaw in real estate values there are all kinds of forces / trends that can be weighed.

Glenwood! There's a suburb in close proximity to Flossmoor...

The rest are also less than 45 minutes away to Flossmoor.. And in a thread about Flossmoor too! Imagine that!

[chet everett]

Hey, look at this thread: //www.city-data.com/forum/19183755-post25.html This time I didn't even use the the dictionary...

[urza216]

Lol, I remember that post and that thread, Chet. Thanks for the re-cap. As I noted in that thread, down here Blueberry Hill has hefty competition with Big Apple which has locations in Chicago Heights and Hazel Crest.

And you shouldn't presume anything about me either. Although I have very little familarity with the NW burbs.

I apologize if I came off as a jerk. You are right that downtown Flossmoor is a stone throw away from a main path and therefore slightly off a "beaten path". But if you made a wrong turn, you would immediately be upon it..

And I still think in a thread about Flossmoor, there should be more chatter about south / southwest burbs. I mean because Flossmoor is pretty far removed from anything that's not downtown, the south side, the south suburbs, the southwest suburbs and NW Indiana. No one died and made me the king of anything but it's still irritating.

[chet everett]

Not much irritates me. Well being from a State with 12M souls who live and breath pride in their Alpha city along with producing corn and soybeans...

But seriously when I read articles about "neo-traditional" urban planning or schemes for towns further out in the SW suburbs trying to "create" a town center I do feel like screaming that such efforts would be better directed toward promoting the existing towns like Flossmoor... The fact is that there are some people that really are completely unaware of what sorts of options exist in the region.

[JamieLannister]

Originally Posted by chet everett

But seriously when I read articles about "neo-traditional" urban planning or schemes for towns further out in the SW suburbs trying to "create" a town center I do feel like screaming that such efforts would be better directed toward promoting the existing towns like Flossmoor... The fact is that there are some people that really are completely unaware of what sorts of options exist in the region.

I completely agree. It's such a shame.

[vafrog]

BER78 - We just recently moved out of Flossmoor - to another state, for a job transfer - nothing regarding the area. We loved our time there. I would be happy to chat with you about the area if you want to private message me.

[concerned2013]

Taxes are too high. The country clubs are all going to start closing. First was Ravisloe, I'll let you guess the next. Once the clubs are gone, the truly affluent won't have a reason to stay there, and they'll go elsewhere, taking their investment dollars with them.

Need to reduce the property taxes... which means cut government waste... which means.... good luck.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by concerned2013

Taxes are too high. The country clubs are all going to start closing. First was Ravisloe, I'll let you guess the next. Once the clubs are gone, the truly affluent won't have a reason to stay there, and they'll go elsewhere, taking their investment dollars with them.

Need to reduce the property taxes... which means cut government waste... which means.... good luck.

Country clubs are the only reason "truly affluent" people live in Flossmoor, huh? And apparently these "truly affluent" people are the glue that holds the town together, you suggest. Assuming your claims about the sociology of this area are even true, would you mind supplying a link? I've heard nothing about any country clubs closing down..

[chet everett]

I have heard from numerous sources that many golf courses / country clubs (both fully private members only kind of places and the privately owned "daily fee" types) are facing an awful combination of aging members /patrons, rising costs of operation (which taxes are a part of but also all kinds of increases in cost of food and staff...), downturn in the banquet bsuiness, and changes in younger people's tastes in recreation.

I doubt that there is much different about the golf spots in southern Cook Co compared to other parts of the region -- golfers tend not to generate any "ancillary business" except for the rare "pro shop" and maybe a tank of gas for the ride home.

If some courses close / clubs fold it probably will not have any deleterous effect and if the right kind of developers can get their hands of the right kind of course it could be a plus -- some courses have layouts that they could support some townhouses or even single family detaached homes and still have a very nice course and clubhouse....

[concerned2013]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I have heard from numerous sources that many golf courses / country clubs (both fully private members only kind of places and the privately owned "daily fee" types) are facing an awful combination of aging members /patrons, rising costs of operation (which taxes are a part of but also all kinds of increases in cost of food and staff...), downturn in the banquet bsuiness, and changes in younger people's tastes in recreation.

I doubt that there is much different about the golf spots in southern Cook Co compared to other parts of the region -- golfers tend not to generate any "ancillary business" except for the rare "pro shop" and maybe a tank of gas for the ride home.

If some courses close / clubs fold it probably will not have any deleterous effect and if the right kind of developers can get their hands of the right kind of course it could be a plus -- some courses have layouts that they could support some townhouses or even single family detaached homes and still have a very nice course and clubhouse....

Agreed (about much of the state of golf), but what I was getting at is that, most North Shore and "Hinsdale area" clubs still have waiting lists. The club was the center of the members social lives for generations. Clubs on the South Side had waiting lists until 2005... Now, if you're breathing (and then maybe not), and your check clears, you're in. The "truly" affluent have moved out of the area. BUT, you have homes that sold for $1 million a few years ago, that had reasonable taxes of $35k (for a home of that value). Now the home is worth $350k, and the taxes are still $35k... and going up...

The people that can afford $35k in taxes might as well buy the $1 million dollar home in Hinsdale.

I was only using the clubs closing on the south side vs. elsewhere as indicative of the economic and social demographics.