Market Watch: Lake Forest homeowners lose over $1.3 million on sale of house
The home: 1331 Elm Tree Road, Lake Forest
The 4,902-square-foot brick home has 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, an attached garage, kitchen island, hardwoods, central air, sunroom, recreation room and lush professional landscaping.
The seller: M Preston, C Jansing & Mary Preston Cain
The purchase: In April 2012, Preston, Jansing and Cain paid $2.65 million for the home, or roughly $2.89 million in today's dollars, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The purchase: In April 2012, Preston, Jansing and Cain paid $2.65 million for the home, or roughly $2.89 million in today's dollars, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The sale: According to Zillow, they sold the home for a little over $1.57 million on March 1, or an estimated $1.32 million less than the original purchase price, in today's dollars.
Preston, Jansing and Cain originally listed the home for $2.92 million in October 2014 and lowered the price in February 2015 to $2.84 million. The price dropped again in September 2015 to $2.74 million. In January 2018, the home was re-listed at $2.69 million. The price continued to drop in February, May and October 2018 to $2.49 million, $1.99 million and $1.79 million, respectively.
The property taxes: Based on data compiled from Blockshopper.com and Zillow, Preston, Jansing and Cain paid $226,600 in property taxes between 2013 and 2017, or about 14.39 percent of the sale price.
Illinois' highest-in-the-nation property taxes are eroding home equity and depressing home values across the state. This report is part of a SYHN News Service series on recent home sales that demonstrate the consequences.
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The Financial Facts in Today’s Dollars
| Seller's Purchase Price | Amount Home Sold for in 2019 | Seller’s Property Taxes |
| $2,650,000 | $1,574,615 | $226,600 |
