Wauconda · Lake County · IL
Homes for sale in
Orchard Hills.
- Active listings
- 3
- Median list
- $599K
- Avg time on market
- 11 days
- Sold · last year
- 3
Active listings
3 homes on the market
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About the community
A mid-2000s Wauconda subdivision that is really two neighborhoods sharing one entrance.
Orchard Hills sits on the northeast side of Wauconda off Fairfield Road north of Route 176, built by Neumann Homes beginning around 2003 and substantially finished by roughly 2006. It combines detached single-family homes on Apple Valley, Applewood, Macintosh, and Napa Suwe with attached townhomes on the Braeburn streets, which is why the same subdivision name covers everything from compact two-bedroom plans to homes past three thousand square feet. A Wauconda Park District playground sits inside the neighborhood on Apple Valley Drive, and the orchard-themed street names run throughout.
At a glance
Detached homes plus townhomes
Single-family homes on the orchard-named streets and attached townhomes on Braeburn, under one subdivision name.
Built 2003 to 2006
A Neumann Homes production community developed in the mid-2000s and now fully built out.
Two very different HOA tiers
Detached owners pay a modest annual assessment; Braeburn townhome owners pay a monthly fee many times higher.
Park inside the neighborhood
Orchard Hills Park on Apple Valley Drive, a Wauconda Park District site with a playground, shelter, and open field.
Wauconda District 118
MLS records for homes here list Robert Crown Elementary, Wauconda Middle, and Wauconda High School. Confirm by address.
Sidewalks and street lights
Curb and gutter, sidewalks, underground utilities, and curving low-traffic residential streets.
Millennium Trail corridor
The Lake County trail runs through this part of Wauconda, with the Lakewood trailhead off Fairfield Road south of Route 176.
No private lake rights
Bangs Lake access is through the Park District's Phil's Beach and public marinas, the same as any Wauconda resident.
Level I trauma center
Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Lake County's only Level I trauma center.
What’s close
Orchard Hills sits northeast of downtown Wauconda off Fairfield Road, north of Route 176 and inland from Bangs Lake.
- Highway
- Route 12 (Rand Road) is Wauconda's main regional artery, with Route 176 running east and west through the village as Liberty Street and Bonner Road.
- Train
- Wauconda has no Metra station. The nearest options are Libertyville and Fox Lake on the Milwaukee District North line, Round Lake Beach and Prairie Crossing on the North Central Service, and Barrington and Crystal Lake on the UP Northwest line, all a drive away.
- Shopping
- Liberty Square at Rand Road and Liberty Street, anchored by a Jewel-Osco, plus downtown Wauconda's Main Street and larger retail in Lake Zurich and Libertyville.
- Hospital
- Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, with Advocate Good Shepherd in Barrington and Northwestern Medicine McHenry also within reach.
- Schools
- Wauconda Community Unit School District 118. MLS records list Robert Crown Elementary, Wauconda Middle School, and Wauconda High School. Confirm by address.
- Recreation
- Orchard Hills Park inside the subdivision, plus Cook Park, Phil's Beach on Bangs Lake, and Lakewood Forest Preserve nearby.
What it’s actually like to live here
Orchard Hills is what a mid-2000s Lake County subdivision looks like when it was planned well and then aged into itself. Neumann Homes laid it out on the northeast edge of Wauconda in 2003 and had it essentially finished by 2006, so the whole neighborhood shares one architectural vocabulary: two-story elevations in vinyl with brick fronts, two-car attached garages, vaulted great rooms, gas fireplaces, and the deep basements Chicago-area buyers expect. What has changed in the twenty years since is everything around the houses. The parkway trees are mature now, the playground on Apple Valley has raised a full generation of kids, and the streets have the settled look a brand-new subdivision cannot buy at any price.
The unusual thing here is that it is really two neighborhoods sharing one entrance. The Braeburn townhomes give buyers a low-maintenance way into the Wauconda school district at an attainable price point, and the detached homes on Apple Valley and Applewood run substantially larger, past three thousand square feet with finished lower levels. That range is a genuine advantage: a family can start in a townhome and move up without leaving the same mailbox cluster, and a downsizing empty-nester can stay in the neighborhood they already know. It also means the two HOA tiers are wildly different, because the townhome assessment is buying roofs, siding, lawns, and snow removal that the single-family owners handle themselves. Buyers who only skim a listing summary get surprised by this, so read the tier you are actually buying.
Now the honest tradeoffs. Wauconda has no Metra station, and that is the defining commuter fact of this village: if you work downtown you are driving twenty to thirty minutes to a train in Libertyville, Fox Lake, Round Lake Beach, Barrington, or Crystal Lake before you start the ride, or you are driving the whole way. Lake County property taxes are heavy and will show up in your payment in a way that surprises buyers coming from other states. Orchard Hills is also not on Bangs Lake: the lake is why a lot of people love Wauconda, but this subdivision sits a couple of miles inland with no private lake rights, so you use Phil's Beach and the public marinas like everyone else. And the original builder filed for bankruptcy in late 2007 and was liquidated, so there is no builder warranty and no builder to call, which makes a real inspection of the roof, siding, windows, furnace, and drain tile worth every dollar.
Market trends
Why this market moves the way it does
Orchard Hills carries an unusually wide internal price band for a single subdivision name because the Braeburn townhomes and the larger detached homes are effectively two different markets. Comps have to match the product, and the two HOA tiers mean carrying costs differ sharply between them.
What holds value
The fundamentals matter more than the cosmetics here. Buyers want floor plan, lot, and basement, in that order. Cosmetics are the tiebreaker.
- Two products, two markets
- The attached townhomes and the detached homes trade in clearly different price bands and against different competition.
- Uniform mid-2000s vintage
- The community was built in a tight window, so floor plans and finishes are consistent and updating status becomes the main differentiator.
- District 118 demand
- Buyers targeting Wauconda schools without wanting a lakefront price point keep steady interest in this inventory.
- Carrying cost by tier
- The townhome assessment is many times the detached assessment, which affects affordability calculations and buyer pools differently.
- Finished lower levels
- Many detached homes have finished basements adding usable space, and those homes separate from the pack on price per usable square foot.
Real talk
Who shouldn’t buy here
Here is the honest version before you tour.
There is no train in Wauconda, and that is the single biggest thing to be honest about. Every Metra option is a drive of roughly twenty to thirty minutes before you board, which changes the math on a downtown commute substantially. Plenty of buyers here work locally or in the Lake County corridor and never think about it. If you are commuting to the Loop daily, drive the route at your actual departure time before you commit.
This subdivision is not on Bangs Lake and carries no deeded lake rights, private beach, or boat slips. Some listing sites show amenity checkboxes for this subdivision like lake, water rights, gated, or horse trails. Those are pooled MLS artifacts and they are wrong here. Wauconda's lake access runs through the Park District's Phil's Beach and the public marinas and launches, available to any village resident.
Neumann Homes filed Chapter 11 in late 2007 and was liquidated, so there is no builder warranty and nobody to call on a construction defect. For a neighborhood that finished before the filing that matters less than it sounds, but any home from this era deserves a real inspection of the roof, the siding, the windows, the furnace and air conditioner, and the sump and drain tile. Lake County taxes also run in the mid two to low three percent range of value, so verify the actual assessment and exemption status for the specific address.
One piece of advice
“Orchard Hills is a solid, settled Wauconda neighborhood with a rare feature: a genuine move-up path inside a single subdivision, from a Braeburn townhome to a three-thousand-square-foot detached home a few streets over. Just be clear about which tier you are buying, because the assessments are nothing alike, and go in knowing there is no train and no lake rights. Confirm the school assignment with District 118 for your exact address and inspect a mid-2000s home like the mid-2000s home it is.”
The questions buyers actually ask
Orchard Hills FAQ
The questions I get most from buyers shopping Orchard Hills. If yours isn't here, text 224-385-8779, same-day reply.
- How much is the HOA?
- Single-family homes are $40 per month. townhomes and condos are $360 per month.
- What does the HOA actually cover?
- Detached single-family owners pay a modest assessment covering common area and entryway landscaping, the detention basins, signage, and association administration. Townhome owners on Braeburn pay substantially more, which typically covers exterior building maintenance, lawn care, snow removal, and master insurance on the structure. Confirm the current figure and the declaration with the listing agent or association before you write an offer.
- What are property taxes like?
- Roughly $8,000 – $15,000 per year, depending on home size and value. Lake County assessor records are the source of truth. Happy to pull a specific bill on any home you're considering.
- When was Orchard Hills built?
- Neumann Homes built the community between 2003 and 2006. Neumann Homes stopped new construction in 2006, so every sale today is a resale.
- What's the typical closing timeline?
- 30 to 45 days from accepted offer to keys. Cash deals can close in two weeks. Conventional financing is usually closer to 45.
- Is Orchard Hills townhomes or single-family homes?
- Both. The community was built with a majority of detached single-family homes plus a smaller group of attached townhomes. The townhomes are on Braeburn Drive, Braeburn Court, and Braeburn Lane and carry unit-letter addresses. The detached homes are on Apple Valley Drive, Applewood Drive, Macintosh Drive, and Napa Suwe Lane. That split is why you will see everything from compact two-bedroom plans up past three thousand square feet under one subdivision name.
- Who built Orchard Hills, and when?
- Neumann Homes, the Warrenville-based production builder, started Orchard Hills around 2003 and finished it by roughly 2006. Neumann floor plans catalogued for the community include the Newport and Nantucket on the townhome side and larger detached plans including the Fairmont, Princeton, Whitman, Clearwater, and Ridgeway. Neumann filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2007 and was later liquidated, so there is no active builder warranty on these homes.
- What does the HOA cost and what does it cover?
- It depends which side you buy. Detached single-family owners pay a modest assessment that covers common area landscaping, entry signage, the detention basins, and association administration. Townhome owners pay substantially more per month, which typically covers exterior building maintenance, lawn care, snow removal, and master insurance. Get the current figure plus a copy of the declaration and budget from the listing agent before you write an offer, since the two tiers are nothing alike.
- What schools does Orchard Hills feed into?
- Wauconda Community Unit School District 118. MLS records for homes in the subdivision list Robert Crown Elementary School, Wauconda Middle School, and Wauconda High School. The district's other elementary and middle schools sit in Island Lake on the opposite side of the district, which supports that assignment, but attendance boundaries do get redrawn. Confirm your specific address with District 118 before you make a decision based on a school.
- Does Orchard Hills have access to Bangs Lake?
- Not privately. Orchard Hills sits inland, roughly a couple of miles northeast of the lake, and carries no deeded lake rights, private beach, or boat slips. Wauconda residents reach Bangs Lake through the Wauconda Park District's Phil's Beach on North Main Street and the public marinas and launches. Motorized boats need an annual village safety inspection and lake usage sticker. Bangs Lake is a natural glacial lake of roughly 306 acres, and most of its shoreline is privately owned.
- What do homes in Orchard Hills cost right now, and how is the market?
- Pricing moves, so rather than quote a number that goes stale, check the live Market snapshot on this page. It pulls current activity for Orchard Hills straight from the MLS. In general terms, the Braeburn townhomes are one of the more attainable ways into Wauconda schools, and the detached homes on Apple Valley and Applewood sit toward the upper end of the local single-family market because of their size and finished lower levels.
- Who is the real estate agent for Orchard Hills?
- Joe Keegan is the local licensed Illinois real estate broker who covers Orchard Hills in Wauconda, IL through Subdiview, a neighborhood-first home search for the Chicago suburbs and collar counties. Joe prices and negotiates from the live MRED sold comps for Orchard Hills specifically, not national averages, and can help you buy or sell here. Reach Joe at 224-385-8779 or joe@joekeeganhomes.com.
Your local agent
Joe knows Orchard Hills
Most agents will list anything. I focus on the places I actually know, and the things that move value here don't show up in the MLS write-up: which streets and buildings hold demand, what the HOA or assessments really cover, how the comps read once you account for condition and location, and where buyers consistently want to be.
When you're ready to tour or list, you want someone who has read the last 50 closed comps in this specific market, not a national average, and can tell you what they actually mean for your price. That's how I work. Text or call any time, and I'll give you a real take, not a brochure.
- Licensed Illinois broker
- Comp-driven pricing
- Wauconda specialist
- Honest local market take
- Brokerocity
Market snapshot
Orchard Hills, by the numbers
Live MRED data, refreshed daily. The numbers below tell you what this market is doing today, not what Zillow's algorithm thinks it might be doing six weeks from now.
Typical list price
$599,000
Homes for sale right now
3
Avg time on market
11 days
Sold in the last year
3
This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC for the period August 17, 2025 through August 17, 2026. Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC does not guarantee nor is it in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by Midwest Real Estate Data LLC may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.
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Schools serving Orchard Hills
Where Orchard Hills homes go to school
Homes in Orchard Hills are most often zoned to Wauconda HS. Open a school to see its area, the district, and every home for sale that feeds it.
School assignment is derived from the school the MRED listing agent entered and is not a guarantee. Always verify current attendance boundaries with the district before writing an offer.
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