Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You aren't kidding. We looked at some places in DeKalb County a few years ago and couldn't believe the property taxes. I live in Kankakee County, roughly an hour south of Chicago. Here, housing values in nicer areas with good school districts (Bourbonnais and Manteno) are comparable to what we looked at in DeKalb County, Property taxes are sharply lower though. Houses that go for $150-$200k in Kankakee County would generally fall in the $4000-$5000 range. After accounting for offsetting factors like a lower sales tax and significantly lower utility costs, our cost of living is slightly higher than in northwest Indiana. If you aren't sold on northwest Indiana and since you appear to be willing to live an hour or so from Chicago, maybe places like Manteno and Bourbonnais would be worth a look.
Good suggestions. So, here's where we stand as of now. We've narrowed the choices of where our daughter will be treated (and subsequently, where we'll eventually be living) to 2 places: One of the hospitals is Shriners in Chicago (Oak Park), and the other is in Dallas, TX. We have our first appointment in Chicago in a less than 2 weeks, and we'll likely be making our decision based on that visit, because they are going to begin some form of treatment immediately, as will the hospital in Dallas, as we're scheduled to go there 10 days later to meet them. If we like Shriners and the doc we see there, we'll likely choose Chicago because of the proximity to where we are now and the fact that we can begin treatment without having to move immediately, although we still want to move before spring. My wife and I have decided not to worry about the Illinois taxes right now. We'll be renting to start out anyway, and getting our daughters care underway is our primary goal. If we pick Chicago, and a couple years from now we're ready to buy a home again, we'll deal with that then. I am nervous about moving us to Texas ( I lived there when I was younger) because of the distance, the oppressive heat, and the fact that we're die hard Midwesterners, but there are obviously a lot of pluses to being down there as well, such as not having to deal with much of the winter nonsense, no state income tax, more jobs - LOTS more), newer housing stock, etc. It's the biggest decision of our lives, and I just pray me make the right one. We'll know soon enough.
Here is a really good chart showing where the highest and lowest property tax rates are in the state. Note that areas with higher property values may have lower rates in many cases, but still have very large tax bills.
Note that outside of Chicagoland, there is still a big difference between northern and southern Illinois.
Also note that it varies greatly by municipality, or even by individual property. So even though DuPage county is not in the top tax tier overall, I am paying about $2,200 per $100,000 in home value in Glen Ellyn, which has a higher tax rate than say, Downers Grove or Lisle.
It's an interesting chart. One thing that struck me is that, if you exclude the extremes at either end, there isn't a ton of difference; 10th lowest is $1280 while 10th highest is $2050. That's ~$115 a month on a home with a value of $180k (the approximate median home price in Illinois).
What's tricky about this, besides the fact that taxes can vary fairly widely within a county, is the variability in values of roughly comparable homes. Cook County may have a low average, but what kind of home can you buy for ~$180k compared to what that will get in some of the counties outside of exurban Chicago that rank higher on this chart? That's hard to quantify.
The real downside is if you live very far from Oak Park the distance won't be much different than if you say where you currently live. There is an option where you won't need to drive frequently, but it might be too much for you child. .
Princeton, in Bureau County, IL is about 2 hours West of downtown Chicago by train. There are four dally trips between Union Station and Princeton every day. The OP trains transit between the same station downtown and Oak Park several times daily.
Princeton is a very nice small town with a well regarded school system. It is sthe county seat.
The real downside is if you live very far from Oak Park the distance won't be much different than if you say where you currently live. There is an option where you won't need to drive frequently, but it might be too much for you child.
Sorry, don't getcha on this one. We currently live in Petoskey, Michigan, which is a 5 and a half hour drive from the Chicago Loop in great weather, minimal traffic, and WITHOUT kids. My plan is to eventually put us within an hour and a half's drive of Shriners in Oak Park if we choose them to treat our daughter.........and you're saying cutting out 4 hours of travel time with a baby to and from the hospital won't make much of a difference?
Oops, mea culpa! I misunderstood you to be closer than 5.5 hours and your child was older; my mistake. In this case the train ride one way would be close to 2.5 hours in fair weather.
Chicagoland as a whole is 10M people. To me minimal surface traffic in Chicago is about 5am on Sunday morning. It is not as quite as busy coming into the city on Saturday as most grocers are open late or all night. During the week traffic is "normal busy", but a rush hour 6-9a and 3-6p it is jam packed "crazy busy." Which is why most mothers have morning appointment with children between 10-12 as it opens an 9-2 window. Traffic is busy between 8-9a but not nearly as busy as 6:30-8a. This is why living in or near OP is an advantage for you and your child. I alway thought traffic on Sunday (after rush hour) to about noon on Tuesday was some what lighter.and perhaps even slower.
One of the reasons Chicago traffic flows well is because it has a plethora of routes with 4-6 lanes of traffic each way. It might be on a major surface street like LSD, or a short few mile Interstate route.
Oops, mea culpa! I misunderstood you to be closer than 5.5 hours and your child was older; my mistake. In this case the train ride one way would be close to 2.5 hours in fair weather.
Chicagoland as a whole is 10M people. To me minimal surface traffic in Chicago is about 5am on Sunday morning. It is not as quite as busy coming into the city on Saturday as most grocers are open late or all night. During the week traffic is "normal busy", but a rush hour 6-9a and 3-6p it is jam packed "crazy busy." Which is why most mothers have morning appointment with children between 10-12 as it opens an 9-2 window. Traffic is busy between 8-9a but not nearly as busy as 6:30-8a. This is why living in or near OP is an advantage for you and your child. I alway thought traffic on Sunday (after rush hour) to about noon on Tuesday was some what lighter.and perhaps even slower.
One of the reasons Chicago traffic flows well is because it has a plethora of routes with 4-6 lanes of traffic each way. It might be on a major surface street like LSD, or a short few mile Interstate route.
I thought you might not have realized exactly where we are. We're under an hour from the Mackinac Bridge, which connects to Michigan's U.P. WAY up there!
I really prefer to settle in a semi-rural to rural area further out of town, but who knows what'll happen. I've heard that there's some really bad areas (Austin?) that border OP, and that makes me nervous. More than nervous.
I thought you might not have realized exactly where we are. We're under an hour from the Mackinac Bridge, which connects to Michigan's U.P. WAY up there!
I really prefer to settle in a semi-rural to rural area further out of town, but who knows what'll happen. I've heard that there's some really bad areas (Austin?) that border OP, and that makes me nervous. More than nervous.
Austin is a rough neighborhood, but it's definitely not semi-rural by a longshot, so you'd probably never find yourself living there; most of Oak Park is pretty nice, though. There are actually some really nice, affordable condos in the city that have reasonable property taxes. It would be a completely different type of living than you have now, but it is affordable and comfortable living. For more rural, my friend owned for a while out in DeKalb, which is definitely more rural but not that far from the city. She seemed to think the cost was pretty reasonable out there.
Last edited by Maintainschaos; 02-01-2014 at 09:47 PM..
I didn't. It sound like the area where I live, but not as cold. As far as I am concerned Austin sucks. I never did like it. The only way to live where what you and I understand as rural is to not live in Cook County as the population is dense.
I lived with one foot in the medical community for over 25 years while I tried to maintain something that resembled a home life. It did not exist; it was a goal. Stress, fear of the unknown, and the ever unexpected medical emergencies in the middle of the night and on weekends were constant companions.
Almost every Illinois county has a sheriff, a court house, a fire chief and a volunteer fire department that may or may not have trained EMT. The offices and equipment are located in the county seat - which may have the only hospital in the county. If you live here your 25 bed hospital might have a helio-pad for emergency flight. White out and severe storms keep planes grounded. What you hope for is an ambulance and fire truck that can plow through the 19" snow to get to you. The last time Peoria had one of these storms the ambulances were parked in fire house driveways and the Army reserve stationed at the airport cleared the path for ambulance and fire. It was much the same the year the temp was so cold taxi and bus did not run.
The closer you live to the county seat, the faster you receive emergency response. Large counties have many satellite fire departments with volunteer firefighters. Illinois is blessed with hundreds of small villages and communities of under 500. These are not necessarily near Chicago, and are normally separated by 10-20 miles of corn, beans, and livestock. In the worst foul weather county roads are closed, bridges are impassible. You hope for the farmer with a tractor and plow to help. This is the reality of rural Illinois. I still live very rural, but it is in a county seat not far from hospital, fire and police, and it has its own power plant.
One cannot win every war; pick the battles wisely.
Living 50 miles from the only hospital that can treat your child is not ideal, but it can be done if you are prepared. You will apply for a non-turn off of power to your house due to medical reasons. It is a medical form your doctor signs that the Com Ed or Ameren has on file. What this means is .. in a power failure yours will be one of the first homes to have power restored.
I hate to say this, but most doctors (yours won't) think parents or spouse are over-reacting and don't know how to care for their patient. You do. I did. It was a novel experience to most of our last doctor. We learn to refuse things that are not productive. Our family pharmacist was the first line of defense. 'This doesn't work; what is similar?' Then I called the doctor.
End of life was the primary reason I moved back to Illinois; I do not regret it. I won this battle as I found what my family needed: a doctor who listens, a very good medical network, and great care. My creature comfort was secondary, as within seven years my adult child and spouse died.
There are advantages to living in OP besides the mature trees and parks. The doctor is close; he may live in OP. He is most likely on staff locally and at the children's hospital. The police in OP keep the gangs out. The worst is petty crime. You do not have to live near Austin. Dairy can be delivered to your house. You will be near grocery stores, library, entertainment, several places to worship, good public schools, educated adults, hotels, restaurants. You should also have good Internet connection -- which lacks in most rural areas. Fire, police, EMT are in OP.
There are at least three members here, of which one is a doctor, who live in OP and can tell you more, such as where the quieter areas are, the best teachers, the best family parks, where kids hang out, walking paths. It is a most remarkable place to live considering its size. OP is culturally and politically very diverse. One can find their niche and be comfortable regardless of adverse circumstances. Believe it or not the property taxes in Cook County are about half of Dallas. OP is in Cook County, and not the City of Chicago.
On the other hand, if you find you will be at the hospital frequently, then you might re-consider living closer to it. It is the proverbial rock or hard spot decision.
Regardless of where you live I strongly suggest, as you have a child with issues, that you buy the furnace fllter that trap virus, bacteria, flu, mold spores, and allergens to give your child the cleanest possible air inside the house. I personally use 3M Filtrete 1900. The outside of the packaging lists what it can trap. I've used it since 2005 without flu, colds, allergy flairs ever since, but you must keep doors and windows closed to be efficient. I would change it once a month. My spouse had lung diseases. Because we live in an area with a sandy loam, and traffic, I changed our filter every two weeks. It traps a lot of sand dust along with the bad stuff. My spouse never had a lung infection - which is very common with lung issues.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Northerner
I thought you might not have realized exactly where we are. We're under an hour from the Mackinac Bridge, which connects to Michigan's U.P. WAY up there!
I really prefer to settle in a semi-rural to rural area further out of town, but who knows what'll happen. I've heard that there's some really bad areas (Austin?) that border OP, and that makes me nervous. More than nervous.
Applied for a job in Lake Geneva, WI this morning. Hour and a half from Shriners, with considerably lower property taxes (3-4K range), even just across the border in IL in places like Hebron and Harvard. Anyone ever been up there? Kinda sounds like a resort area, much like where we are now.
Last edited by Tyryztoll; 02-03-2014 at 10:29 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
