West Cook News

In November 2016, Jasmine and Jeremias Lopez paid $175,000 – $183,038 in today's dollars – for a six-bedroom, three-bath home at 629 S. 16th Ave. in Maywood. The home's 2016 property taxes were $5,559, an effective rate then of nearly 3.2 percent.

Jasmine and Jeremias Lopez sold the home on June 6 for $219,000. Their tax bill this year: $8,390, or about 4 percent of its sale value. 

That's the median effective rate in Maywood this year, according to a Blockshopper.com analysis of real estate sales data in West Cook from Jan 1. to June 30, 2018, among the highest in West Cook.

It is also more than three times the national average.

Put another way: a $219,000 home in Indiana, where the effective rate is 0.89 percent, would have a property tax bill of about $1,949 or more than $6,400 less per year.

Blockshopper's data, covering 32 West Cook communities, indicates that homeowners in Maywood, Countryside and River Grove pay the highest property taxes in West Suburbs – between 3 and 4 percent.

The communities of Oak Park, Northlake, River Forest, Bellwood, Cicero, Berwyn, Forest Park and Melrose Park have effective property tax rates of between 2.5 and 3 percent.

Illinois homeowners pay the second-highest property taxes in the country with an effective median rate of 2.22 percent, just behind those in New Jersey (2.28 percent).

Equity-less home ownership

Nicole Hamilton sold her four-bedroom home at 1933 S. 21st Ave. in Maywood on May 29 for $205,000. The transaction appeared to be a $48,000 gain over what she paid for it – $157,000 – in March of 2011.

But that apparent profit is largely a mirage. Taking into account the effects of inflation, the home cost Hamilton $177,000 in today's dollars. Then consider that she paid about $38,000 in taxes while she owned the house, with the final tax bill at $5,566, meaning Hamilton's effective tax rate was 2.7 percent. All told, she lost about $10,000 on the deal.

In other parts of West Suburbs, some properties have become largely unsalable, and numerous sales involve foreclosures and bank-owned properties. But overall, Cook County home values have risen about 5 percent over last year at this time, according to Zillow.com, and the median home value is $222,400.

Sales activity appears to be mixed for high-end home sellers. In Hinsdale, where the median home value is $717,500, sales were up 5.5 percent in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2017. But in LaGrange, where the median home value is $395,000, sales numbers were down 14 percent over the same time period.

Those communities have some of the lowest effective tax rates in West Suburbs.

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West Cook communities paying the highest effective property tax rates

The following table ranks West Cook County communities with more than five home sales by their median effective property tax rate, calculated using sales and property tax data from 2018.

City	Jan - June 2018 Sales	Jan - June 2018 Median Price	Median tax	Effective Property Tax Rate
Maywood	158	$125,000	$4,951	3.96%
Countryside	38	$131,000	$4,188	3.20%
River Grove	54	$167,500	$5,351	3.19%
Oak Park	473	$351,000	$10,492	2.99%
Northlake	81	$169,000	$4,756	2.81%
River Forest	109	$470,000	$13,179	2.80%
Bellwood	112	$150,500	$4,154	2.76%
Cicero	263	$165,500	$4,392	2.65%
Berwyn	358	$217,250	$5,672	2.61%
Forest Park	161	$215,000	$5,445	2.53%
Melrose Park	134	$192,500	$4,858	2.52%
Franklin Park	105	$210,000	$5,219	2.49%
Berkeley	36	$187,250	$4,582	2.45%
Willow Springs	64	$260,750	$6,243	2.39%
La Grange	173	$395,000	$9,393	2.38%
Lyons	72	$165,000	$3,931	2.38%
Hillside	49	$180,000	$4,251	2.36%
Brookfield	171	$242,000	$5,654	2.34%
Riverside	67	$410,000	$9,560	2.33%
Hinsdale	32	$717,500	$15,765	2.20%
Schiller Park	63	$195,000	$4,258	2.18%
La Grange Park	97	$350,000	$7,511	2.15%
Elmwood Park	185	$255,000	$5,490	2.15%
Broadview	40	$179,000	$3,807	2.13%
Indian Head Park	53	$218,000	$4,498	2.06%
Westchester	164	$239,500	$4,915	2.05%
Burr Ridge	34	$481,250	$9,445	1.96%
North Riverside	42	$233,000	$4,404	1.89%
Western Springs	120	$545,000	$10,034	1.84%
Harwood Heights	62	$266,500	$4,757	1.79%
Norridge	101	$285,000	$4,782	1.68%
La Grange Highlands	21	$360,000	$5,760	1.60%

Source: Blockshopper.com; Cook County Assessment Office

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West Cook median home prices

The following table ranks West Cook County communities by the change in their median sale price from 2017 to 2018.

City	Jan - June 2017 Sales	Jan - June 2017 Median Price	Jan - June 2018 Sales	Jan - June 2018 Median Price	Change
Stone Park	10	$119,500	9	$163,000	36.40%
Hillside	53	$137,500	49	$180,000	30.91%
La Grange Highlands	24	$292,500	21	$360,000	23.08%
Bellwood	138	$124,000	112	$150,500	21.37%
Franklin Park	137	$175,000	105	$210,000	20.00%
Lyons	76	$137,500	72	$165,000	20.00%
Maywood	127	$105,000	158	$125,000	19.05%
Broadview	69	$152,000	40	$179,000	17.76%
Elmwood Park	175	$225,000	185	$255,000	13.33%
Melrose Park	141	$170,000	134	$192,500	13.24%
Cicero	316	$149,000	263	$165,500	11.07%
Riverside	94	$373,500	67	$410,000	9.77%
Western Springs	105	$500,000	120	$545,000	9.00%
Brookfield	159	$222,500	171	$242,000	8.76%
Norridge	100	$262,500	101	$285,000	8.57%
Berwyn	378	$201,250	358	$217,250	7.95%
Berkeley	38	$177,000	36	$187,250	5.79%
Northlake	71	$160,000	81	$169,000	5.63%
Hinsdale	30	$680,000	32	$717,500	5.51%
Oak Park	494	$337,500	473	$351,000	4.00%
Willow Springs	49	$254,500	64	$260,750	2.46%
North Riverside	50	$230,000	42	$233,000	1.30%
Forest Park	158	$212,750	161	$215,000	1.06%
Westchester	171	$238,000	164	$239,500	0.63%
Indian Head Park	45	$220,000	53	$218,000	-0.91%
La Grange Park	94	$354,250	97	$350,000	-1.20%
Harwood Heights	63	$270,000	62	$266,500	-1.30%
River Forest	123	$499,000	109	$470,000	-5.81%
Schiller Park	56	$208,000	63	$195,000	-6.25%
River Grove	65	$182,000	54	$167,500	-7.97%
Burr Ridge	48	$540,000	34	$481,250	-10.88%
La Grange	139	$460,000	173	$395,000	-14.13%
Countryside	41	$190,000	38	$131,000	-31.05%

Source: Blockshopper.com; Cook County Recorder