Property Taxes In Suburbs - Wilmette, Glencoe, Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills (Chicago: short sales, assessor)

[djw228]

My wife and I are considering moving from Chicago to one of several different suburbs including Wilmette, Glencoe, Hinsdale, and Clarendon Hills. I'm trying to understand how property taxes in those suburbs are set. For instance, I've seen very comparable houses have large differences in the annual property tax, as much as two to four thousand dollars. I've looked through the city-data forums, run google searches, asked my realtor, etc. but I can't figure out how property taxes are set in these suburbs.

My question is: can anyone explain (or at least give me an idea) of how property taxes are set in the north suburbs or Hinsdale / Clarendon Hills?

Thanks very much for any help!

[chet everett]

Illinois basically has a system that deliberately obscures the inputs.

DuPage Co. does a little bit better job of trying to explain what goes into the soup, and the Downers Grove Township Assesor (of which Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills are part of) has about the most up to date online records of any part of the region.

There are special service districts that by themselves do not make up fior the diffenrces that exist due to differences in selling price, but all those indivual items make the bills / rate hard to sort out.

If you get a lower priced house in an area with high average assseemnts you tend to get a wee bit of a better deal, but honestly even that is inconsistent as the assessor tries to toss out the short sales and such when they factor recent sales...

I can give lots of examples that would make your head spin.

[djw228]

Thanks, that's helpful and in-line with what I expect. I think I read a post in another thread that said "I called the assessor's office and even they couldn't explain it to me."

[Sarah H.]

Having lived in the Chicago area for over 20 years and owning 3 homes during this time I have to say I still don't understand how property taxes are assessed. I read the bills and I can do the math but where these numbers come from I have no idea. This is why it's common for home owners to contest their taxes yearly. There are many attorneys who specialize in this it's so bad. You can do it on your own but the small fee my attorney charges is more than worth the hassle it saves me, not to mention the lowered taxes.

So my point is you really don't have to know how the taxes are figured as long as yours are fair for your property and in line with others in your immediate area. When looking at homes note the taxes on the listing sheet so you know where you're starting and be prepared to pay them if you can't get them lowered.

Good luck!

[Philbert]

Cook County at least has recently (last 2 or 3 years?) moved to an approach where the assessed value is purported to be 10% of market value.

You can search for any address (or property by PIN) and pull up the assessed and implied market value at the Cook County Assessor site:
http://www.cookcountyassessor.com/Property_Search/Property_Search.aspx

Unfortunately, to the extent these values represented "market" value, in some cases they seem much more "bubble peak" numbers than current. For properties with 2010 assessed numbers, I have seen reductions in assessed value.

It would be my intention, upon buying a home, to appeal the assessed value using the purchase price as evidence of true current market value.

[djw228]

Great, thank you to everybody that has replied, this has been very helpful.

[chicagojlo]

I thought I read that in Lake County you have to have lived in the property for two Januaries in order to appeal. Is that true or did I misunderstand? Taxes are currently our biggest stumbling block in buying a home.