The owners of this West Dundee home saw its value fall by nearly half, while paying more than $150,000 in property taxes over 14 years. | Zillow
The owners of this West Dundee home saw its value fall by nearly half, while paying more than $150,000 in property taxes over 14 years. | Zillow
Sreeni Donepudi was working as a wireless software engineer at Motorola in March 2004 when he and his wife, Hima, bought a brand new, 3,400 square-foot, five-bedroom red brick Georgian with a three-car garage at 2625 Carrington Drive in West Dundee for $474,000, or $632,000 in today’s dollars.
Its tax bill then: $7,324, or about 1.5 percent of its value.
By last year, it had risen 67 percent to $12,228, or 3.7 percent of the $331,000 the Donepudis received for the home when they finally sold it July 25.
Over 14 years of ownership, the Donepudis paid $150,603 in property taxes on 2625 Carrington Drive, in the “Timbers & Valleys” section of the Carrington Reserve subdivision, built by Pulte Homes.
According to Blockshopper.com, the median sale price in the subdivision peaked at $487,000 in 2006, or $650,000 in 2018 dollars. Its median property tax bill then was $5,002, or about one percent of home value.
This year, the subdivision’s median home sale price is $322,500 and its median tax bill is $9,708, for an effective property tax rate of three percent, three times the national average and three times what it was when the subdivision was originally built.
West Dundee's effective property tax rate this year is 3.27 percent, second-worst in Kane County, according to an analysis of Blockshopper.com public sales data by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes the Kane County Reporter.
Blockshopper's data, covering 27 Kane County communities with more than five sales since January, shows homeowners in Maple Park, West Dundee, unincorporated Tanner Woods, Algonquin and Sugar Grove pay the highest property taxes in the county, each clocking in with effective rates higher than three percent.
Pingree Grove, Sleepy Hollow, Gilberts, Prestbury, Elburn all have rates higher than 2.75 percent.
South Elgin, Hampshire, Elgin, Geneva, Burlington, East Dundee, Montgomery, North Aurora and Carpentersville are higher than 2.5 percent, about average in Illinois but 1.5 times the national average.
Trouble at the top end
Like everywhere in metro Chicagoland, the highest-end homes are facing the strongest headwinds in Kane County.
In Jan. 2008, Consultant Greg Klocek and his wife, Dorothy, paid $604,000, or $707,000 today, for a five bedroom, 4.5 bath colonial at 1358 Karen Road in West Dundee.
They sold June 22 for $510,000, a loss of some $200,000, adjusted for inflation. And over ten years of ownership, the Klocek’s paid $135,650 in property taxes. Their bill last year was $14,513, 15 percent higher than it was when they bought their home, even though their home value was significantly lower.
At least they sold. Down the street from the Kloceks, commercial real estate broker Jeff Rowlett is trying to sell his custom-built four-bedroom, four bath with a swimming pool. He paid $671,000 for it in 2005— $865,000 today— and is asking just $549,900.
Rowlett has paid $177,467 in property taxes over 13 years of ownership.
According to Zillow, the highest-priced would-be home seller in Carpentersville is asking $549,900 with a tax bill of $19,260 (3.5 percent). In Sleepy Hollow, it is $569,000 with a tax bill of $21,215 (3.7 percent).
West Dundee's highest-priced home is a 13,000 square-foot mansion with seven bedrooms, nine baths and eleven parking spaces in its downtown, currently for sale for $1.295 million. The John Fierck Home, named for the president of Illinois Iron and Bolt Company, its former owner and once the area's largest employer, has been on the market since 2013.
According to Zillow.com, there are 31 homes currently for sale over $300,000 in West Dundee, where the median home price this year is $220,000, down seven percent from 2017 ($236,250).
West Dundee’s median price was $274,000 in 2008 before the real estate crash, or $321,000 in today’s dollars.
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Kane County communities paying the highest effective property tax rates
The following table ranks Kane County communities with more than five home sales by their median effective property tax rate, calculated using sales and property tax data from Jan. 1- June 30 2018.
| City | Jan - June 2018 Sales | Jan - June 2018 Median Price | Median tax | Effective Tax Rate |
| Maple Park | 11 | $165,000 | $5,660 | 3.43% |
| West Dundee | 71 | $220,000 | $7,188 | 3.27% |
| Tanner Woods | 6 | $315,000 | $9,948 | 3.16% |
| Algonquin | 67 | $229,000 | $6,985 | 3.05% |
| Sugar Grove | 102 | $255,500 | $7,745 | 3.03% |
| Pingree Grove | 89 | $210,000 | $6,224 | 2.96% |
| Sleepy Hollow | 29 | $265,000 | $7,779 | 2.94% |
| Gilberts | 66 | $228,500 | $6,645 | 2.91% |
| Prestbury | 25 | $266,500 | $7,459 | 2.80% |
| Elburn | 69 | $275,000 | $7,617 | 2.77% |
| South Elgin | 137 | $228,000 | $6,031 | 2.65% |
| Hampshire | 72 | $247,500 | $6,423 | 2.60% |
| Elgin | 605 | $188,000 | $4,862 | 2.59% |
| Geneva | 256 | $334,000 | $8,599 | 2.57% |
| Burlington | 7 | $204,000 | $5,210 | 2.55% |
| East Dundee | 53 | $172,000 | $4,379 | 2.55% |
| Montgomery | 74 | $176,500 | $4,486 | 2.54% |
| North Aurora | 150 | $259,950 | $6,572 | 2.53% |
| Carpentersville | 306 | $159,000 | $3,997 | 2.51% |
| Big Rock | 17 | $226,000 | $5,621 | 2.49% |
| Wayne | 9 | $690,000 | $17,024 | 2.47% |
| Batavia | 228 | $299,500 | $7,300 | 2.44% |
| St. Charles | 274 | $284,950 | $6,748 | 2.37% |
| Campton Hills | 114 | $407,500 | $9,569 | 2.35% |
| Lily Lake | 15 | $386,000 | $9,024 | 2.34% |
| Aurora | 703 | $154,900 | $3,471 | 2.24% |
| Huntley | 79 | $242,000 | $4,797 | 1.98% |
Kane County communities with the highest median home price
The following table ranks Kane County communities by the change in their median sale price from 2017 (full year) to 2018 (Jan. 1 through June 30).
| City | Jan - June 2017 Sales | Jan - June 2017 Median Price | Jan - June 2018 Sales | Jan - June 2018 Median Price | Change |
| Scraper-Moecherville | 9 | $65,500 | 3 | $165,000 | 151.91% |
| Lily Lake | 11 | $231,900 | 15 | $386,000 | 66.45% |
| Wayne | 8 | $445,500 | 9 | $690,000 | 54.88% |
| Algonquin | 87 | $190,050 | 67 | $229,000 | 20.49% |
| Pingree Grove | 92 | $182,000 | 89 | $210,000 | 15.38% |
| Hampshire | 67 | $216,000 | 72 | $247,500 | 14.58% |
| Elburn | 62 | $243,250 | 69 | $275,000 | 13.05% |
| North Aurora | 127 | $235,000 | 150 | $259,950 | 10.62% |
| Elgin | 655 | $170,000 | 605 | $188,000 | 10.59% |
| Marywood | 4 | $197,450 | 3 | $215,000 | 8.89% |
| Bowes | 1 | $295,000 | 2 | $320,500 | 8.64% |
| Batavia | 254 | $276,500 | 228 | $299,500 | 8.32% |
| Huntley | 98 | $223,500 | 79 | $242,000 | 8.28% |
| Aurora | 697 | $144,900 | 703 | $154,900 | 6.90% |
| Carpentersville | 274 | $149,000 | 306 | $159,000 | 6.71% |
| Gilberts | 73 | $215,000 | 66 | $228,500 | 6.28% |
| East Dundee | 38 | $162,700 | 53 | $172,000 | 5.72% |
| Campton Hills | 98 | $389,500 | 114 | $407,500 | 4.62% |
| Prestbury | 20 | $259,000 | 25 | $266,500 | 2.90% |
| St. Charles | 266 | $277,450 | 274 | $284,950 | 2.70% |
| Montgomery | 78 | $175,500 | 74 | $176,500 | 0.57% |
| Geneva | 271 | $335,000 | 256 | $334,000 | -0.30% |
| South Elgin | 152 | $230,000 | 137 | $228,000 | -0.87% |
| Sleepy Hollow | 26 | $270,250 | 29 | $265,000 | -1.94% |
| Sugar Grove | 94 | $266,000 | 102 | $255,500 | -3.95% |
| Rainbow Hills | 9 | $337,221 | 4 | $318,450 | -5.57% |
| West Dundee | 58 | $236,250 | 71 | $220,000 | -6.88% |
| Maple Park | 9 | $181,250 | 11 | $165,000 | -8.97% |
| Tanner Woods | 7 | $356,500 | 6 | $315,000 | -11.64% |
| Novak Park | 7 | $208,500 | 2 | $184,000 | -11.75% |
| Big Rock | 8 | $264,500 | 17 | $226,000 | -14.56% |
| Burlington | 1 | $241,000 | 7 | $204,000 | -15.35% |
| Williamsburg Green | 1 | $560,000 | 1 | $459,000 | -18.04% |
| Exposition View | 3 | $112,000 | 2 | $90,000 | -19.64% |
| Almora Heights | 2 | $209,250 | 1 | $150,000 | -28.32% |
| Five Island Park | 6 | $397,000 | 3 | $240,000 | -39.55% |
| Wildrose | 4 | $365,375 | 1 | $210,000 | -42.52% |
| Kaneville | 5 | $228,500 | 2 | $96,550 | -57.75% |
Source: Blockshopper.com; data includes the Kane County portion of each community.
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