Homewood vs. Flossmoor (updated information) (Orland Park, Tinley Park: violent crime, purchase, public schools)

[Humboldt1]

Allen,

Your article references race.

Do you have any articles that show Homewood Flossmoor is good regardless of race?

I don't think most people care how one race did specifically well on just one test, the Psychology test.

I have never said that HF is a bad school just that the school and the neighborhood as a whole are not what they were 20 years ago. There are many areas that have declined over the past 20 years, including Schaumburg in my mind due to older housing and aging infrastructure. Hanover Park too. It isn't just the south suburbs.

[allen2323]

Chet,

As far as jobs, everyone in my area that I know seems to be employed in very good professional careers. Not saying the recession hasn't hit here hard as well. I know it's hard to see where everyone out here works looking in from the western suburbs, but this was actually one of the fastest growing regions in chicagoland until the recession slowed growth everywhere. Surrounding areas within a 10 mile radius that have open land to grow such as frankfort, matteson, new lenox, monee, crete, mokena, etc. saw huge population increases according to the recent 2010 census. There are lots of large corporations located nearby all along I-294 that help fuel the growth which the area has great access to.

Compared to some of the most expensive neighborhoods in the country such as kenilworth (ranked the 2nd wealthiest suburb in the country), wilmette, hinsdale, oak brook, etc. yeah prices in say flossmoor or olympia fields are pretty cheap. But, these areas also have far higher median household incomes then flossmoor and olympia fields. Compared to other non exclusively wealthy affluent suburbs such as arlington heights, bolingbrook, naperville, Schaumburg, skokie, orland park, frankfort, new lenox, darien, etc. Not really. In fact median home sales prices in flossmoor and olympia fields went up in tandem with the rest of the housing market and both suburbs peaked out with a median price around 350k in 2007. According to the census more current median home value estimates in olympia fields comes in at $291,700 and $268,700 in flossmoor.

Much of the talk about home prices in the far southern suburbs being so much cheaper is totally overblown. Sure there appears to be a god awful lot of very cheap foreclosures on the market in many of the middle class far southern suburbs. And many of these are listed at unbelievably great prices. But, foreclosures will only be around for so long. Only a relatively small percentage of homebuyers, like myself who purchased after the collapse will be fortunate enough to have gotten in on those bottom basement prices. Foreclosures now account for over 50 percent of home sales volume in some areas, so current home sales price data will be rather meaningless once the foreclosures stop falling from the sky. Once the new foreclosures stop hitting the market we are going to see the relatively small supply of cheap foreclosures dry up very quickly. Banks don't lose money forever. I doubt the more recent borrowers who have gone through much tougher underwriting standards will be losing there homes anytime soon. As well as all of the recent cash buyers who have no mortgage at all. With foreclosure prices being so cheap cash buyers are at an all time high accounting for over a third of all home sales overall this previous quarter.

[allen2323]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

Allen,

Your article references race.

Do you have any articles that show Homewood Flossmoor is good regardless of race?

I don't think most people care how one race did specifically well on just one test, the Psychology test.

I have never said that HF is a bad school just that the school and the neighborhood as a whole are not what they were 20 years ago. There are many areas that have declined over the past 20 years, including Schaumburg in my mind due to older housing and aging infrastructure. Hanover Park too. It isn't just the south suburbs.

The school is 60 percent african american. Why wouldn't it be pertinent information that the african americans at Homewood-Flossmoor passed more AP Psychology exams than any other african american student body in the entire country? The schools entire AP program was clearly pinpointed by the college board as being excellent. This is the college board here. I think this is tantamount to hearing it from the horses mouth, not some local newspaper rankings. The college board which is the premier authority on the matter saying clearly that HF has a model AP program. I think we all already know how well the white students at HF are outperforming.

An important quote from the college board:
"Academic success has spanned all ethnicities as AP enrollment has grown from 877 in 2002 to 1,523 in 2010."

Homewood-Flossmoor Builds on Success-

[urza216]

I don't understand how Homewood supports three Starbucks - Especially with the Carbiou Coffee in town. And I sometimes find myself wondering where all the black people are when I'm in certain parts of downtown Homewood. I don't see any anywhere.

This forum is so far removed from the way people actually talk about Homewood in the real world. It is interesting hearing the west side perspective though.

Homewood is kind of the Oak Park of the south suburbs. I think Humboldt1 and Chet realize this on some level and that's why they keep on talking about Homewood.

White people are welcome in Homewood. It's a very welcoming place to all stripes of people.

[deechee]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

Allen,

Your article references race.

Do you have any articles that show Homewood Flossmoor is good regardless of race?

I don't think most people care how one race did specifically well on just one test, the Psychology test.

I have never said that HF is a bad school just that the school and the neighborhood as a whole are not what they were 20 years ago. There are many areas that have declined over the past 20 years, including Schaumburg in my mind due to older housing and aging infrastructure. Hanover Park too. It isn't just the south suburbs.

I don't know...I would still consider Schaumburg a nice place to live.

[Humboldt1]

Allen,

I need to educate you and some other posters on foreclosures. They are not going away anytime soon. Chet feel free to chime in.

I have access to a number of REOs thru various banks and banks are holding onto lots of inventory, often listing properties for the full loan amount instead of selling at market. This inflates the balance sheets of these mostly regional banks and allows them to only declare losses once the properties are sold.

Allen,

When did you buy? You say you bought a foreclosure after all the prices declined?

I can tell you prices in the Chicago area are continuing to go down. Per Case-Shiller on seasonally adjusted basis we are back to late 2001 valuations. We are not done yet as the Case-Shiller reports 3 months in arrears. We will go down another 10 percent or so over the next year and maybe bottom middle of next year if the economy does not worsen.

Not sure why you bought in the last year or so unless you got unbelievable foreclosure deal. There will be plenty of those in the next couple of years.

If you bought to take advantage of 8k tax credit you may not understand that you have already lost that 8k and more since buying the home unless you bought 100k home.

Banking and foreclosures are things I work with everyday so I am more than happy to discuss this.

Btw, many of the foreclosures were with bank financial, standard and marquette, which have lots of homes available in flossmorr, homer glen and homewood and numerous apartment buildings and homes on the south side of Chicago.

[allen2323]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

Allen,

I need to educate you and some other posters on foreclosures. They are not going away anytime soon. Chet feel free to chime in.

I have access to a number of REOs thru various banks and banks are holding onto lots of inventory, often listing properties for the full loan amount instead of selling at market. This inflates the balance sheets of these mostly regional banks and allows them to only declare losses once the properties are sold.

Allen,

When did you buy? You say you bought a foreclosure after all the prices declined?

I can tell you prices in the Chicago area are continuing to go down. Per Case-Shiller on seasonally adjusted basis we are back to late 2001 valuations. We are not done yet as the Case-Shiller reports 3 months in arrears. We will go down another 10 percent or so over the next year and maybe bottom middle of next year if the economy does not worsen.

Not sure why you bought in the last year or so unless you got unbelievable foreclosure deal. There will be plenty of those in the next couple of years.

If you bought to take advantage of 8k tax credit you may not understand that you have already lost that 8k and more since buying the home unless you bought 100k home.

Banking and foreclosures are things I work with everyday so I am more than happy to discuss this.

Btw, many of the foreclosures were with bank financial, standard and marquette, which have lots of homes available in flossmorr, homer glen and homewood and numerous apartment buildings and homes on the south side of Chicago.

Humboldt, yes I agree with you. Prices will still continue to decline. But, mostly in areas that have held up fairly well thus far. Still a ways to go from the bottom and quite frankly I think alot of folks are thinking certain areas are in the clear way too soon.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by webbermishoe

When you are on these forums, you have to know who your audience is. You should take half of the comments made with a grain of salt.

This is true..

Although sometimes I know who my audience is and I just don't care.

[Humboldt1]

Homewood is not comparable to Oak Park.

[ajolotl]

This is one thing we can definitely agree on.

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

Homewood is not comparable to Oak Park.