1869 Evanston IL Home - Keep Radiators?

WMno57

This morning I'm reading the Chicago Tribune and there's an article about the sale of an 1869 home. Cool! The article states the home has Central AC. I'm now very worried; does that mean they ripped out the radiators? No mention of heat type in article, but I gots to know. No address, so I put on my internet detective hat and find pictures on Zillow.

link to interior pictures here:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/525-Judson-Ave-Evanston-IL-60202/3567581_zpid/?mmlb=g,0

spudwrench2

Some of the photos show both floor standing radiators and floor grates, so the rads are for heat and ducted A/C is on top of that. I can't see someone switching to forced air heat and leaving unused radiators in place.

JUGHNE

The details do say heating: steam; radiators and air cond.
But the real estate taxes would just make you proud to live there

PC7060

JUGHNE said:

The details do say heating: steam; radiators and air cond. But the real estate taxes would just make you proud to live there

I know we are not supposed to post price but since it’s a public record…..

2020

taxes $24,173

I don’t suppose the taxes have gone down in tbe last two years.  

WMno57

Illinois has some of the highest property taxes in the Nation. A homeowner will pay 2.5 to 4 percent of the market value of the property every year. For a long time with rising property values no one seemed concerned because the home appreciation covered the property taxes. That all came to a crashing halt in 2008. Other state's home real estate values came back after the recession. Not Illinois.
For the longest time Illinois legislators kicked the can down the road on pension funding. They racked up a 533 billion dollar pension liability. This must by law be covered by the taxpayers of Illinois. $41,000 for every single Illinois man, woman, and child. Illinois State Constitution says pension benefits may not be diminished. Also, Illinois charges zero state income taxes on Pension income. Everyone else pays 5% state income tax.
Now for the bad news. The only way this Ponzi scheme could have worked is if the population of Illinois continued to grow rapidly. Last year alone Illinois lost net 104,000 residents. It was a cakewalk of a party until the music stopped and there weren't enough chairs for butts.
Illinois does have really good pizza though. Much better than New York.

JUGHNE

And those taxes were based on an accessed value of less than $100,000.

So there is an opportunity to raise the accessed value for more collection?

WMno57

Accessed values in Illinois are designed to confuse. Most counties, the accessed value is 1/3 the market value. Cook County (or Crook County if you prefer) the accessed value is 1/6 the market value. That was designed to make people feel better when they got their assessments. Doesn't matter because everyone in Illinois (including Cook) pays anywhere from 2.5 to 4 percent of the market value every year. I don't foresee home property tax relief for Illinois homeowners any time in the near future.

JUGHNE

Any numbers can get kicked around a lot. But the bottom line is what matters.

My house accessed value is 165K, annual taxes are $3,500....half of which goes to the school district.

However the insurance insists on tagging it for 400k.....about right..maybe.

One argues with the tax man that it over valued.
If it burns to the basement then argue with the insurance that it is worth more.

And Nebraska is noted for having very high real estate taxes?

The Steam Whisperer

"Other state's home real estate values came back after the recession. Not Illinois."

I'm in Chicago and our residential property values continue to rise rap[idly....values in my area are much higher now than prior to 2008. Demand is much greater than supply. Suburban Chicago real estate taxes are very high. A similiar home and neighborhood in the city can have much lower taxes than the same in the burbs. Your statement about values not coming back after 2008 I believe holds true for rural areas ( I still have some connections back into the North Central Illinois rural area where I lived for a bout 25years) but in the city of Chicago and I believe most of the city suburbs values have jumped. New residential high rises are going up right now along the Chicago river just west of downtown.

I understand neighboring Indiana taxing bodies are undergoing a financial crisis.... the taxes have been so low for so long they can't afford to maintain the current infrastructure. The billboards I used to see along the Dan Ryan touting that it is so much better to live in Indiana all are gone now.

FStephenMasek

Thankfully, we have Proposition 13 in California. Our property taxes go up a maximum of 2% per year, and are based on the purchase price. We paid $341,204 for our home in 1998, it is now worth $1,500,000, and our property taxes are less than $5,000. We also have relatively low cost for heating and cooling, as we are at 900 feet above sea level and 9 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Income taxes here are HIGH, but we also have tremendous economic opportunities and fine weather. Property tax is just one factor.

shakingthrough

Evanston is a really neat town. It is the first suburb north of Chicago, with easy access by car or public transit to downtown. It is on Lake Michigan so there are multiple beaches, and also home to Northwestern University. Lots of smart people, a diverse population, a vibrant downtown, and great restaurants and entertainment. And much of the housing stock, at least close to the lake, is vintage. The university does not pay property taxes as far as I know, so that combined with the generally high home values, drives the higher property tax bills. It is still a desirable place to live in terms of the Chicago area. 

spudwrench2

That house is about a mile from ours. Let's just say that our house is much more modest, as are our property taxes. (Still high, but at least to me it's well worth it to live in a nice community.)

WMno57

I never expected this thread to drift into property taxes. I only posted the tax info because Wallies seemed surprised at what property taxes are in Illinois. I lived in Chicago area, Illinois for 30 years. It had it's pluses and minuses. I've been a Hoosier now for 4 years. I guess I'm now on the fringe of Chicagoland.

www.taxfoundation.org is an excellent source for tax information.

PC7060

WMno57 said:

I never expected this thread to drift into property taxes. I only posted the tax info because Wallies seemed surprised at what property taxes are in Illinois.    

scha·den·freu·de /ˈSHädənˌfroidə/

noun: pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.

   

Steamhead

PC7060 said:

JUGHNE said:

The details do say heating: steam; radiators and air cond.
But the real estate taxes would just make you proud to live there

I know we are not supposed to post price but since it’s a public record…..

2020

taxes $24,173

I don’t suppose the taxes have gone down in tbe last two years.  

Looks like gravity hot-water to me. Didn't see a boiler-room pic. Ripping that out would be stupid, and you can't fix stupid.

JUGHNE

Info stated steam heat with radiators.

The Steam Whisperer

Here's part of why Property taxes are high...and it's not in "Crook County" but in Dixon, IL... boyhood home of Ronald Reagan. The largest municipal embezzlement in U. S. history. I believe the estimated total amount was around 80 million dollars of which about 57 million was actually documented.

Rita Crundwell - Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Rita_Crundwell

There's other factors, like Illinois's version of Proposition 13, which has been circumvented by simply creating new taxing bodies when funding ran out for existing taxing bodies.

WMno57

I may have moved, but I still have family and friends there.
I get no pleasure from other's misfortune.
The Illinois legislators have dug the entire state into a deep financial hole. This has been going on for decades. It is entirely possible that in the future the State of Illinois will declare bankruptcy and 49 other states will be paying for that.

Mad Dog_2

What a house that is! Hell to paint though. Mad Dog

Jamie Hall

Interesting commentary. Let me assure you it's even more interesting when the property is a National Historic Register listed property... the property taxes are actually rather reasonable (at least for Connecticut) since there is asbestos siding (shudder) and asbestos pipe insulation (horrors) and lead piping (oh no)(ut's only some of the drains) and 1950s wiring (all fuses) so the fair market value is low. but insurance? Ah. Well, you have to insure related to replacement value, not fair market value. Translation: uninsurable at anything remotely resembling an affordable figure.

WMno57

When did steam heat first appear in homes? I thought I remember reading here that hot water heat came later and came to Canada first, then USA. Would 1869 be early for central heat?

Jamie Hall

I wouldn't know for sure, but I would say that 1869 would be pushing it pretty hard. You might find some form of formal central heat in very upscale buildings -- but likely more like central air from a gravity system and coal burning furnace.

Unless, of course, you count the central chimney stacks in colonial houses. Fire them up in the fall, keep them going -- and they do a marvelous job of keeping all the rooms warm!