Here is one for example... http://www.trulia.com/property/1071878153-Stonegate-11019-N-Onyx-Ln-Dunlap-IL-61525
Obviously a nice new 5 br house... but holy crap $13k in property taxes!
I just don't get how so many people are able to afford this- and they are still flocking to Dunlap so it seems. I feel like other than good schools and parks this area has nothing to offer. No retail at all, not close to anything of any significance so you are totally reliant on driving everywhere for anything. Most families there have to be so house poor, right?
If big yella was ever to pull out I just picture Dunlap as a foreclosure ridden ghost town.
This exact observation is what led me to question goals / savings / possessions / etc.
This area was mostly shielded in 2009. There were layoffs and job elminations but they were always "someone else". There were foreclosures but (mostly) not for houses like the above.
But when there were rumblings about this company and it's HQ, along with my anxiousness I held over since '09, I knew I had to change stuff up. That's when I examined how people could afford things like that house, new cars, etc.
The answer is not that clear. The jobs here at this company are very high paying. A driven college graduate can break the 6 figure barrier by time they reach 30. Almost all of the people I know are dual income though not necessarily the same income level. In addition there is a ripple effect or trickle down to various suppliers and consultants nearby, grocery stores, schools, etc. So there is a lot of money / income in general.
A segment of those people spend everything they have (no big shock). I know a couple who is in their early 40's, no kids, $400k house, 4-5 vacations a year to the Caribbean, etc. etc. I visited them a couple times and thought they had just moved in to their house because many of the rooms were empty. What I finally figured out is they were so house poor that they couldn't afford furniture for the "secondary" rooms. They appear wealthy to passersby but are not. I have also noted that many of these people have wealthy parents since they are second or third generation at the company I work.
A segment of those people do have expensive houses, but have saved considerable money to buy them and didn't get them until later in their careers. My company basically pays for everything when you move overseas and has a very lucrative relocation program domestically. Additionally the company only recently transitioned from pensions to 401k and it was fairly done, so most people over 40 do not have to be particularly careful with their finances (if they believe that nothing could ever happen to their pensions....) I've noticed that many people with houses like the above have relocated at some point so they've been able to save even more of their high incomes than others.
Painting with a broad brush here but that is my take on it.
Funny thing is, that house has a stone facade but almost all the houses in that price range around here have vinyl siding on sides and back. Not exactly what I would call high end.
Personal question- where do you think is the most mustachian place to live in the greater Peoria area once FIREd? Somewhere in the Peoria area or possibly in one of the smaller towns like Washington, Lacon, Morton, etc?
How adverse are you to gunfire (only partially kidding)? Peoria itself is incredibly segmented. Some very nice neighborhoods and older houses on boulevards and then a couple streets over it's some sort of war zone. I had an apartment in central Peoria for a ridiculously low rate of $425 / mo with a pool and two carports. Caring management, and a very nice unit. There were a couple break-ins (trying to steal quarters from the downstairs laundry machines) but the people across the way were fine and the back-to-back neighbors were Mormons. I used to jog on streets nearby, all family homes, no issues. You can get older homes full of character in decent parts of Peoria for well under $100k. Schools are so-so but taxes are fairly low. The city has auctioned off homes for less than a thousand bucks but I wouldn't drive down those streets much less live there.
West Peoria has good areas and cheap homes. Lots of blue collar types. Still some criminal elements in some places.
East Peoria (across the river, so not connected to Peoria) is sort of up and coming. They have riverboat and shopping income so it's bringing their schools up, bring people there to live, bringing home prices up, and improving the "picture". We looked at several houses in EP and would have seriously considered it.
Pekin is fairly cheap but is sort of a large town that is contracting / dying.
"Suburbs" - Germantown Hills, Metamora, Washington, Morton, Tremont, Goodfield, Brimfield, Kickapoo, Edwards, Chillicothe - All are good, stable options with good schools. Housing is on higher end for middle income folks but there are still affordable houses. Morton probably has the least affordable older houses, a typical 70's trilevel is no less than 160-180k but there are some houses with character that can be had for less.
We picked Groveland. She grew up there, it is 4 miles from Morton, Morton school district, 10 minutes to work. Some newer houses, and we snatched up one that was 5 years old and very efficient. We also considered Tremont, a few miles down the road, but got lucky and something came up here.
