For home seekers willing to travel far and wide, the road may well lead to Cortland.
Cortland? Never heard of it? That’s because the tiny town is so far out it doesn’t even appear on some maps of the Chicago metropolitan area.
Surrounded by endless acres of farms in the land beyond Aurora/Naperville, just north of Interstate Highway 88, Cortland can best be pinpointed as being located near DeKalb, home of Northern Illinois University.
Cortland’s location is no mystery to Anthony and Kristin Trapino. They were the first buyers at Richland Trails, a new subdivision being built in the community by Cambridge Homes.
What lured them to the far reaches of western suburbia?
“Price was the biggest reason,” said Anthony Trapino.
Last April the couple bought a two-bedroom, 1,805-square-foot Sunshine ranch, base-priced from $186,000. They are in the process of moving in, with their newborn son.
“The same house would have cost $40,000 more at Cambridge Lakes,” in northwest suburban Pingree Grove, said Anthony Trapino.
“Kristin is excited about the new home. We had looked at townhouses and existing homes, but the small price difference didn’t make them worth it,” he said.
Anthony Trapino works in sales in DeKalb, while his wife is a student at Aurora University and hopes to get a teaching job.
Home buyers like the Trapinos are willing to become pioneers in distant outposts of suburbia because the price is right, according to real estate analyst Tracy Cross.
“Price is the primary driver in Cortland, where the average single-family home is $207,000. The same size house costs an average of $370,000 in the Fox Valley north of St. Charles and $348,000 in Aurora,” said Cross, president of Tracy Cross and Associates in Schaumburg.
Closer to Cortland, he noted that homes average $236,000 in DeKalb and $275,000 in Sycamore.
“Northern Illinois University is one of the generators of housing sales in the area, which has its own economic base,” he said.
Interest in DeKalb County as a location for new housing construction started to grow in 2002, according to Cross.
“In 2003, the county recorded 1.9 percent of all suburban sales in the Chicago area. In the first three quarters of this year, DeKalb County rose to 3.3 percent of all suburban sales,” he said.
But along with other communities, Cortland is suffering from the current housing slump, Cross said. He believes sales will be slow in 2008, but will shoot up by 15 percent in 2009.
Cortland is ready for the boom when it comes.
“Cortland is a diamond in the rough. We’re now in a pro-growth stage, and we want to do it right. We want Cortland to be something special,” said Mayor Robert Seyller.
He described Cortland’s far-out location this way: “We’re the ring around the collar. We’re 60 miles from Chicago, which is an hour and 15-minute drive, but not in rush hour.”
The population of Cortland was listed as 2,066 in the 2000 census. Since then, it has almost doubled to about 4,000, according to Seyller. He estimates the town will have 10,000 to 12,000 residents when all current and proposed projects are completed.
Plenty of surrounding farmland is available, so Cortland could top out at 35,000 to 40,000, but that could take 30 years or more, Seyller said.
Despite the expected growth, the mayor is committed to maintaining “a small-town feel. We encourage all developers to plan neighborhood designs with a homey, rural feel. We don’t want a vinyl jungle.”
Today, while residential construction continues in Cortland, its center still has a sleepy appearance with two gas stations, a restaurant, a library, town hall and a barber shop, which is owned by the mayor.
Khan Mohabbat, professor of economics at Northern Illinois University, believes suburbia eventually will extend out to the DeKalb-Cortland-Sycamore region and even further west.
“But now we’re still at the periphery of the Chicago area,” he added.
Noting that home construction has exceeded demand in DeKalb, Mohabbat predicts it will take 18 months or two years for the housing market to come back.
Currently, “sellers are getting only 92 percent of the asking price, and homes are taking an average of 105 days to sell,” he said.
But in the next 5 to 10 years he foresees a technology corridor developing along I-88 between Aurora/Naperville and DeKalb.
Another real estate expert questions the staying power of Cortland as a housing hot spot.
“Now, buyers don’t need to go to the ends of the earth for a bargain,” said Steve Hovany, president of Strategy Planning Associates in Schaumburg.
Hovany noted that Cortland “expected to do big numbers in 2006 and 2007. They had developers lined up and ready to go. But the housing slowdown has reduced the pressure to push that far out.”
When the housing market does bounce back, buyers will find plenty to choose from in Cortland.
Richland Trails, where the Trapinos are moving, is planned for 201 single-family homes on an 80-acre site with 16 acres of open space. The ranch and two-story floor plans offer two to four bedrooms with 1,715 to 3,018 square feet. Prices range from $186,000 to $222,000.
Dave Smith, vice president of marketing for Cambridge Homes, said that while Cortland is a 20-minute drive to Aurora/Naperville, Cortland benefits from nearby DeKalb, which is loaded with services, including a bonanza of shopping options.
“Also, because of the university, there are cultural attractions not found in other rural environments,” Smith said.
Another new development is Chestnut Grove, which is planned for 317 units by Montalbano Homes. Single-family homes with three to four bedrooms and 1,276 to 2,275 square feet are priced from $179,990 to $199,990. Three decorated models recently opened.
Tony Montalbano, president of Montalbano Homes, said duplexes will be available in 2008, with prices ranging from $140,000 to $170,000.
Montalbano said that prices are lower in Cortland because builders were able to buy land at lower rates.
“There’s a lot of land out here. This is where the market is going,” he said.
Among other current projects in Cortland are:
*Nature’s Crossing by Eagle Homes, 500 single-family homes with three and four bedrooms, priced from $208,090 to $253,890.
*Robinson Farm by Pinnacle Construction, 660 units in traditional neighborhood designs with townhouses starting at $128,000 and single-family homes at $169,900.
*Coventry Townhomes of North Field Farms by Brian Grainger Construction, with 1,490-square-foot units priced from $169,900.
“We’re working on a new Uptown project that will include retail, townhouses and maybe low-income housing for seniors, ” Seyller said. “Construction could start next year at the 33-acre site on the northwest corner of Cortland Center and Somonauk Roads.”
Seyller said about 2,000 more units have been approved but construction has not yet started.
“Developers were lucky when they originally bought land here. As we go forward, land will be more expensive,” Seyller said.
He noted that 2005 was the best year for housing permits in Cortland, “but permits have been down substantially this year.”
Even so, Cortland has prepared for growth with a new $24 million sewer plant with the capacity to handle all the new housing projects and a population of 12,000. To pay for it, builders are assessed an $8,500 connection fee for each new house.
No matter how fast Cortland grows in the future, it already claims to be the third largest town in Illinois. That’s because it was officially incorporated as a “town” in 1865, and only two other towns in the state are larger, in terms of land area.
