?s for Beverly/Morgan Park Residents (Chicago: house prices, buyers, school)

[beverlybrat60643]

Okay, I know I just severely minimized the responses to this thread, but I have a few ?s that people that live here would be the only people to know.

1. Clissold Elementary. Loved my alma mater. I've heard that it has gotten "ghetto" in the last few years... I probably shouldn't be concerned with this because I haven't been to the school in years, and don't get out when the kids do. But driving down Western today, I didn't see ghetto - just some kids going home Thursday after school. According to CPS though, the school is 62% Black and 36% White.

2. Looking on Chicago Tribune, Morgan Park's median house prices went up 15% to 179K, while Bev's fell. I'm no homeowner - any reason why?

[ajolotl]

The market in beverly this year was dominated by first-time buyers looking for mega-deals on beat up, modest-sized homes. Most of the nicer houses on the market haven't sold (with the exception of two breathtaking homes for just over $1M, a threshold rarely crossed in the area). Prices have probably relaxed about 20% from their peak, but I wouldn't read too much into the data this year. The community is very stable -- few tear downs and not much land to expand into. People usually come and stay for a long, long time.

Regarding Morgan Park -- no clue. I imagine though that it would be a statistical fluctuation. No real reason that prices would go up there.

I've heard both sides of the Clissold debate. I don't know who to believe, but bottom line -- anything that is 2/3 black is likely to have a non-trivial ghetto element. It's impossible to avoid since ghettoness is so pervasive in the U.S. urban black community. I'm sure Clissold is no exception. Doesn't make it bad per se, just uncomfortable for whites. Not sure how non-ghetto blacks feel about these things, but they seem to have more tolerance.