North Wheaton move

[holl1ngsworth]

Originally Posted by chet everett

H'worth has said before that he and his family very much appreciate finding their home in Wheaton; they moved from Chicago and were motivated by the nice mix of amenities including schools that have n̶e̶a̶r̶l̶y̶ as impressive performance as those in towns with equally affluent demographics, especially when factoring out the somewhat larger population of students that contribute to "diversity"...

Take out "nearly," maybe change "even more" to "equally," and yea, you're right on. Wheaton schools are great. Especially compared to higher-priced competition like Elmhurst or Downers Grove :

2016 West Suburban PARCC Data

Illinois Report Card

And before you go off on PARCC, previous years' ISAT data generated similar ordinal rankings.

Most of my "boosting" has been directed at homebuyers shopping the 350k-450k range -- prices where Wheaton has represented an incredible value over the past couple years. BUT, this spring season has seen prices jump and inventories fall, and unfortunately there's no longer the same array of nice four bed options <450k. Most in excess of 500k now. The historic overlay district under 750k is still a tremendous value compared to similarly priced real estate in further removed sections of those "other" towns.

[chet everett]

I have always liked Wheaton; the things holding back the town from "surging" have mostly been addressed nicely -- the situation with the former site of the Middle School (which was a high school even earlier) being converted to a VERY nice Mariano's is perhaps the single biggest "boost" to that part of town. The potential for things to "spillover" to other parts of town also seems quite strong.

The thing too is that as Glen Ellyn seems to be kind asymptotically closer to a "ceiling" there is likely to be pressure driving prices in not just Wheaton but also Lombard to new highs. I tend to like this from a "old real estate guy" stand-point but the "former teacher" in me worries about what sorts of displacement might also be driven by such forces. The real worrisome issues are about the way that Illinois' continuing fiscal crisis will put MORE pressure on not just schools but even municipalities abilities to maintain services like police and fire protection. (..and I think we agree that for towns that have long lacked balanced developments current property taxes on even modestly priced homes are ALREADY something that is not sustainable...).

Wheaton was able to leverage things both in its core as well as the retail that is mostly healthy along the southern periphery. Though Glen Ellyn has less retail the overall value of residential property is mostly a moderating force that keeps "average" tax from being too frightening. Towns without that balance are going to face very stiff headwinds very quickly unless there are major changes in how the state addresses budgetary issues...

[RJA29]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I have always liked Wheaton; the things holding back the town from "surging" have mostly been addressed nicely -- the situation with the former site of the Middle School (which was a high school even earlier) being converted to a VERY nice Mariano's is perhaps the single biggest "boost" to that part of town. The potential for things to "spillover" to other parts of town also seems quite strong.

The thing too is that as Glen Ellyn seems to be kind asymptotically closer to a "ceiling" there is likely to be pressure driving prices in not just Wheaton but also Lombard to new highs. I tend to like this from a "old real estate guy" stand-point but the "former teacher" in me worries about what sorts of displacement might also be driven by such forces. The real worrisome issues are about the way that Illinois' continuing fiscal crisis will put MORE pressure on not just schools but even municipalities abilities to maintain services like police and fire protection. (..and I think we agree that for towns that have long lacked balanced developments current property taxes on even modestly priced homes are ALREADY something that is not sustainable...).

Wheaton was able to leverage things both in its core as well as the retail that is mostly healthy along the southern periphery. Though Glen Ellyn has less retail the overall value of residential property is mostly a moderating force that keeps "average" tax from being too frightening. Towns without that balance are going to face very stiff headwinds very quickly unless there are major changes in how the state addresses budgetary issues...

Good joke, that one was funny.