The property taxes on this home in unincorporated Crete Township are nearly four times what they are on a similarly-priced home in Dyer, Ind., less than two miles away. | Zillow
The property taxes on this home in unincorporated Crete Township are nearly four times what they are on a similarly-priced home in Dyer, Ind., less than two miles away. | Zillow
Tire shop owner Frank Aleman and his marketing executive wife, Jessica, are selling their five bedroom, four bath, 2,800 square-foot ranch on five wooded acres at 3245 E. Buried Oak Drive in Willowbrook, a community in unincorporated Crete Township abutting the Indiana border.
Their current asking price: $324,000.
Less than a two miles and a five minute drive east over the state line, a three bedroom, two bath ranch on Beall Road in the non-descript Enclave subdivision— a home one-third smaller on a lot one-fifteenth of the size— could be had for about the same price, $325,000.
The rub that explains how, in the same area, a much larger home on a much larger lot wouldn’t fetch a higher price starts with basic math.
The buyer of that home in Dyer will pay $238 per month in property taxes.
Putting 20 percent down, the Dyer 30 year mortgage payment would be $1,467.
Crete’s would be $2,173, an extra $700 per month, $8,500 per year, and $254,000 over the life of the mortgage.
And that's assuming property taxes in Illinois don't keep going up.
That's not a safe bet, particularly in Crete, Monee, Willowbrook and the rest of eastern Will County, where tax bills have risen steadily over the last decade, while home values stagnate.
An analysis by Local Government Information Serviced (LGIS), which publishes the Will County Gazette, found that all three communities had effective property tax rates higher than three percent for first six months of 2018.
The LGIS analysis tracked home sales and property tax bills from Jan 1 to June 30.
Crete (3.26 percent), Monee (3.18) and Willowbrook (3.03) were among the highest in Will County, posting rates more than three times higher than the average just minutes away in Indiana (0.89).
Only Tinley Park— a small portion of the village is in Will County— posted a higher rate, a median of 4.63 percent, or $10,177 ($848 per month) on a $220,000 home.
New Lenox (2.93 percent), the Will County portion of Aurora (2.85%), Steger (2.78%), Lockport (2.74%), Bolingbrook (2.66%), Romeoville (2.58%), Peotone (2.55%), Plainfield (2.53%), Manhattan (2.52%) and Mokena (2.50%) all have effective tax rates more than twice the national average.
Will County's lost decade of home equity
Home prices rose in most of Will County during the first six months of 2018, compared to the first six months of last year. But they are still working their way back to highs set more than a decade ago.
Crete’s median home price of $156,000 is still 32 percent off its high in 2008 of $195,000— $228,000 in 2018 dollars. Home values in Monee ($195,000 in ’18 vs. $249,310 in ’08, down 22%) and Beecher ($211,450 vs. $240,000, down 12 percent) are both rising again, but still lower than a decade ago.
Higher population, more affluent areas in western Will County haven’t been immune from this trend.
Prices slightly rose in Frankfort to $385,000, but that’s still 14 percent lower than 2008, when the median price was $446,000. In Mokena, they rose to $295,000, 15 percent off 2008 highs ($348,000).
In New Lenox, the median home prices was $224,975, down five percent from 2017 and 31 percent from 2008, when it peaked at $327,000.
Dentist Marlene Adams paid $11,856 in property taxes that year on her 6,500 square foot, five bedroom, four bath “nestled in the woods of Riivendell wrapped by a winding creek” in New Lenox.
Her tax bill was up 30 percent from the $9,122 she originally paid when she bought the home for $485,000— $664,000 in today’s dollars— in Dec. 2003.
Adams sold her home on Aug. 17 for $399,000, losing $265,000 in effective equity. She paid $179,830 in property taxes over 15 years of ownership.
And while Adams' home value fell over the past decade, her property tax bill rose another 18 percent to $13,959, an effective rate of 3.5 percent, or four times the national average.
---
Will County communities paying the highest effective property tax rates
The following table ranks Will 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 Tax Rate |
| Tinley Park | 11 | $220,000 | $10,177.14 | 4.63% |
| Crete | 68 | $156,500 | $5,103.73 | 3.26% |
| Monee | 20 | $195,000 | $6,209.90 | 3.18% |
| Willowbrook | 10 | $245,000 | $7,428.36 | 3.03% |
| New Lenox | 30 | $224,975 | $6,587.56 | 2.93% |
| Aurora | 90 | $256,000 | $7,289.92 | 2.85% |
| Steger | 16 | $105,500 | $2,935.36 | 2.78% |
| Lockport | 33 | $204,000 | $5,580.60 | 2.74% |
| Bolingbrook | 250 | $227,750 | $6,052.98 | 2.66% |
| Romeoville | 204 | $186,000 | $4,794.60 | 2.58% |
| Peotone | 6 | $152,500 | $3,895.82 | 2.55% |
| Plainfield | 91 | $271,000 | $6,865.94 | 2.53% |
| Manhattan | 74 | $253,883 | $6,407.33 | 2.52% |
| Mokena | 67 | $295,000 | $7,360.31 | 2.50% |
| Naperville | 77 | $438,000 | $10,614.88 | 2.42% |
| Frankfort Square | 50 | $230,000 | $5,554.26 | 2.41% |
| Shorewood | 76 | $247,000 | $5,960.28 | 2.41% |
| Minooka | 5 | $279,000 | $6,563.52 | 2.35% |
| Wellington Heights | 9 | $170,000 | $3,944.96 | 2.32% |
| Homer Glen | 41 | $319,000 | $7,398.70 | 2.32% |
| Beecher | 8 | $211,450 | $4,872.90 | 2.30% |
| Frankfort | 122 | $385,000 | $8,806.40 | 2.29% |
| Channahon | 54 | $233,000 | $5,137.68 | 2.21% |
| Joliet | 486 | $182,750 | $3,922.00 | 2.15% |
| Crest Hill | 10 | $172,500 | $3,594.58 | 2.08% |
| Wilmington | 13 | $160,000 | $3,246.12 | 2.03% |
| Crystal Lawns | 14 | $192,500 | $3,755.62 | 1.95% |
| Elwood | 17 | $183,000 | $3,523.08 | 1.93% |
| Braidwood | 37 | $155,000 | $2,569.32 | 1.66% |
-
Will County median home prices
The following table ranks Will 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 |
| Steger | 31 | $50,000 | 16 | $105,500 | 111.00% |
| Aurora | 122 | $194,000 | 90 | $256,000 | 31.96% |
| Willowbrook | 27 | $195,000 | 10 | $245,000 | 25.64% |
| Beecher | 24 | $172,003 | 8 | $211,450 | 22.93% |
| Joliet | 867 | $150,000 | 486 | $182,750 | 21.83% |
| Bolingbrook | 482 | $190,000 | 250 | $227,750 | 19.87% |
| Wilmington | 27 | $135,000 | 13 | $160,000 | 18.52% |
| Crete | 104 | $135,500 | 68 | $156,500 | 15.50% |
| Romeoville | 312 | $163,500 | 204 | $186,000 | 13.76% |
| Braidwood | 45 | $137,000 | 37 | $155,000 | 13.14% |
| Monee | 48 | $174,500 | 20 | $195,000 | 11.75% |
| Minooka | 17 | $250,000 | 5 | $279,000 | 11.60% |
| Crystal Lawns | 18 | $172,500 | 14 | $192,500 | 11.59% |
| Crest Hill | 138 | $154,700 | 10 | $172,500 | 11.51% |
| Shorewood | 136 | $225,000 | 76 | $247,000 | 9.78% |
| Mokena | 136 | $272,088 | 67 | $295,000 | 8.42% |
| Manhattan | 111 | $234,950 | 74 | $253,883 | 8.06% |
| Elwood | 17 | $169,900 | 17 | $183,000 | 7.71% |
| Lockport | 221 | $190,000 | 33 | $204,000 | 7.37% |
| Frankfort Square | 70 | $215,000 | 50 | $230,000 | 6.98% |
| Naperville | 291 | $410,500 | 77 | $438,000 | 6.70% |
| Frankfort | 184 | $361,250 | 122 | $385,000 | 6.57% |
| Plainfield | 333 | $255,000 | 91 | $271,000 | 6.27% |
| Channahon | 77 | $221,000 | 54 | $233,000 | 5.43% |
| Homer Glen | 138 | $307,500 | 41 | $319,000 | 3.74% |
| Wellington Heights | 7 | $169,000 | 9 | $170,000 | 0.59% |
| New Lenox | 210 | $237,450 | 30 | $224,975 | -5.25% |
| Peotone | 18 | $161,250 | 6 | $152,500 | -5.43% |
| Tinley Park | 41 | $248,000 | 11 | $220,000 | -11.29% |
Alerts Sign-up