Flossmoor?? (Chicago, Naperville, Oak Park: upper-class, appointed, for sale)

[MoveIL]

Hi all,

I am considering a move from downtown Ch to Flossmoor, due to commuting convenience and the desire to own a houseand and starting a family. I like Flossmoor's older housing stocks/tree-lined streets, house prices etc. However... a few things have me concerned:
I have heard a lot of hype (including on this forum) about the Homewood Flossmoor Schools. Well, comparing the HF highschool with other highschools in the Northern suburbs (such as Winnetka), I was very disappointed: HF highschools performance according to the latest report cards is only slightly, if at all, above state average...and well below that of the Northern burbs. I don't have kids yet, but since housing prices tend to correlate with school performance, this worries me. Where does the hype come from? Has the quality of the schools been decreasing lately?
The other concern that I have is that even within a small block of beautiful homes, a TON of homes seem to be up for sale right now. Also, a lot of homes have been on the market for more than 6 months. Is there a feeling that the market down there is in a downward spiral? Should I hold off on buying (especially since I MIGHT move again in a couple of years, though I have been saying that for many years now)?
Please HELP!!

[ahava]

Originally Posted by MoveIL

I have heard a lot of hype (including on this forum) about the Homewood Flossmoor Schools. Well, comparing the HF highschool with other highschools in the Northern suburbs (such as Winnetka), I was very disappointed: HF highschools performance according to the latest report cards is only slightly, if at all, above state average...and well below that of the Northern burbs. I don't have kids yet, but since housing prices tend to correlate with school performance, this worries me. Where does the hype come from? Has the quality of the schools been decreasing lately?

I've been wondering about this too. The schools in Homewood/Flossmoor are good compared to other south suburbs, but there are tons of better school districts in the north and west suburbs. There are 66 high schools in the metro area with a better PSAE average than Homewood-Flossmoor. Perhaps the schools used to be better, and that's why people are moving away now. I don't know.

[Frank the Tank]

I went to Homewood-Flossmoor for high school and now live in Naperville. Part of HF's reputation does somewhat stem from the fact that it compares very favorably to the other schools in the south suburbs, even though it might not have the scores of the top schools in the north and west suburbs. The facilities are also state-of-the-art and extremely well-funded by the community - the physical assets of the high school, in particular, are as good or better than anything that you'll find in the Naperville or North Shore schools. At the same time, a lot of the "hype" is due to HF's demographics - out of the upper tier schools in the Chicago area (not counting selective magnet schools), it is one of the few, if not the only one, that is truly racially integrated.

The issue, which people probably shy away from discussing in public since it's obviously an extremely sensitive subject, is really whether that racial integration is a temporary phenomenon before there is a tipping point toward one side (as has happened with many of HF's neighbors in the south suburbs). I've mentioned this in other threads before, but the racial makeup of HF has changed pretty dramatically over the past decade, where it went from being a 90% white school at the beginning of the 1990s to being a majority African-American school today. Meanwhile, nothing has really changed about the economic demographics - Flossmoor continues to be as affluent as ever and is noted as one of the top destinations for upper middle class minorities. I'm not saying this as a criticism or advocation but merely as an observation that can be easily verified by census data and school demographic report cards over the years. One could argue that this is the quintessential example of white flight that's still happening today since there aren't the usual accompanying factors that people like to point to when they give reasons for moving - crime hasn't gone up in the area, the schools are generally of the same quality, and people have the same incomes - so the only difference left is race. Whether this is right or wrong, it ends up having an impact on housing prices.

[tktez]

People looking for a house are usually set on either the North suburbs, South Suburbs, or whatever. So someday when you're selling your Flossmoor house you'll be showing it to people who want the stellar Homewood-Flossmoor school district, not people thinking "Maybe I should move to Winnetka instead." Your kids will get a very good education there. As far as the For Sale signs, houses have been for sale and just sitting there all over the suburbs. People late getting on the bandwagon for the housing boom are finding they can't get buyers like their neighbors did 2 years ago. Some are stubbornly sticking with the ridiculous prices people were getting last year, but really it's a good time to buy because overall prices have come down. Real estate is something that goes up reliably over time but can have some real fluctuations along the way. A lot of people seem to have forgotten that.

[Cinema]

Everyone has made excellent points, especially Frank. As with Oak Park, there is that "achievement gap" that the communities are trying to address, although I have yet to see a solution. Obviously, when home prices continue to be high and the minority percentage increases, upper-class Blacks and/or Hispanics are moving into homes once owned by upper-class Whites, so the economic base stays the same. However, the school system some of the students are coming from may not have been as advanced or up to par. And then you get the infamous achievement gap.

Given the racial makeup of most north and northwest suburbs, I don't think you can compare scores, you're talking about different student bodies, costs per student, etc. Since you don't have kids right now, you might want to concentrate on the grade schools, as my husband keeps reminding me, there's no law that says you have to stay in a community through the high school years! In my opinion, Homewood or Flossmoor is still the best place to head if you're going to the southern burbs, what the community has to offer is top notch.

Also keep in mind that lots of houses get put on the market closer to the end of the school year. Unfortunately ours (we're in a different community) has been sitting on the market for 3 months!!! :-(

[jimmie31]

[quote=Frank the Tank;765863]I went to Homewood-Flossmoor for high school and now live in Naperville. Part of HF's reputation does somewhat stem from the fact that it compares very favorably to the other schools in the south suburbs, even though it might not have the scores of the top schools in the north and west suburbs. The facilities are also state-of-the-art and extremely well-funded by the community - the physical assets of the high school, in particular, are as good or better than anything that you'll find in the Naperville or North Shore schools. At the same time, a lot of the "hype" is due to HF's demographics - out of the upper tier schools in the Chicago area (not counting selective magnet schools), it is one of the few, if not the only one, that is truly racially integrated.

The issue, which people probably shy away from discussing in public since it's obviously an extremely sensitive subject, is really whether that racial integration is a temporary phenomenon before there is a tipping point toward one side (as has happened with many of HF's neighbors in the south suburbs). I've mentioned this in other threads before, but the racial makeup of HF has changed pretty dramatically over the past decade, where it went from being a 90% white school at the beginning of the 1990s to being a majority African-American school today. Meanwhile, nothing has really changed about the economic demographics - Flossmoor continues to be as affluent as ever and is noted as one of the top destinations for upper middle class minorities. I'm not saying this as a criticism or advocation but merely as an observation that can be easily verified by census data and school demographic report cards over the years. One could argue that this is the quintessential example of white flight that's still happening today since there aren't the usual accompanying factors that people like to point to when they give reasons for moving - crime hasn't gone up in the area, the schools are generally of the same quality, and people have the same incomes - so the only difference left is race. Whether this is right or wrong, it ends up having an impact on housing prices.[/I totally agree with everything you said. We are Upper Class African Americans and that is why we purchased a million dollar home in Naperville, vs Flossmoor because of appreciation of the houses in the South Suburb compared to Naperville. This is sad but true.