The Web's top niche consumer research portal for second homes in luxury gated communities reported affluent residents in the Land of Lincoln shopped for real estate from Florida developers (29%) most often in 2008. Florida information requests outpaced other second home and retirement destinations like North Carolina (20%), Tennessee (10%) and South Carolina (10%).

"As Americans celebrated former Illinois Sen. Barack Obama getting a new home this week in The White House, we wanted to release data showing others in Illinois were thinking about new real estate too," said Elisabeth Miller-Fox, co-founder of PrivateCommunities.com. "This report shows specific interests by state and people in Illinois were broad in their shopping patterns; they had interest in vacation home and second home spots across the country."

Miller-Fox added that a combined 15 percent (15%) of all requests were made for information about communities in Arizona, Georgia, Texas and Virginia. The report is based on people in Illinois who made Web site information requests at PrivateCommunities.com from January through December, 2008, and was tabulated as part of the portal's proprietary tracking process.

Established in 1996, PrivateCommunities.com is a comprehensive research and information site for affluent consumers seeking primary, retirement or second homes in Destination Amenity Communities. The listings include profiles of private, semi-private and resort golf clubs in more than 30 states and international destinations in Mexico, Costa Rica and the Caribbean. Communities listed offer a variety of amenities like golf, boating, tennis, equestrian with properties from $100,000 to $10 million.