News About The Glen

The new norm at Tower Crossing in The Glen…prices over $700,000

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Home prices at the ultra-cool Tower Crossing townhome development in The Glen (in Glenview Illinois) are hitting post-recession highs. Built between 2003 and 2007 these 4 story brick, Georgian style homes offer between 3,031 and 4,105 square feet of luxury living. There are 6 basic models and 9 floor plans. In addition to their beauty and size a huge appeal to Tower Crossing townhomes is their proximity to Glen Town Center, The Glen’s popular and upscale retail and dining “main street”. In fact they border Glen Town Center on 3 sides making a walk to dinner nothing more than a short stroll.

Digging into pricing data recently I found exactly what I expected. A materially higher percentage of Tower Crossing homes are now selling for $700,000 or more than in recent years. In 2010 there were no $700,000 sales. In the next two years (2011/2012) approximately a fourth of sales were at this level; and this grew to about half of sales in 2013/2014. But in 2015 (through mid-November) 93% of sales (13 of 14) were at $700,000 or more! The prices of larger Tower Crossing models (such as the Blackstone, Omni, and Biltmore) have been selling well into the $700’s for a few years, but now even smaller homes (for instance Valencias and Drakes) have reached $700,000+ price points. Because these smaller (though still quite large) models are selling in the low $700,000, the prices of larger models are increasing into the high $700’s and even the $800’s. In fact we saw a sale at $800,000 or more in 2014 and another in 2015. I sold both of these magnificent homes, and incidentally…they were worth every penny. I believe I have another $800,000 sale waiting in the wings. Until last year we hadn’t seen an $800,000 sale since at least 2007. Of course what any home will sell for is influenced by its condition, by market factors (including competition) at the time of listing, and by choice of realtor.

For more information about Tower Crossing you can go to www.towercrossinghomes.com or contact me at 847-401-1802 or margaretludemann@gmail.com. I am a Tower Crossing homeowner and an award winning Realtor.

Margaret Ludemann, @properties Real Estate

Southgate on the Glen…huge single family homes and cozy row homes and villas

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Southgate is a very high end residential community in The Glen, an upscale residential and retail development in Glenview, Illinois.

The Southgate neighborhood lies comfortably on 104 beautifully landscaped acres, and is home to 299 attached and detached homes of very quality. The property borders The Glen Club’s 18 hole championship golf course. Southgate has a private playground, multiple pocket parks, and a pedestrian path to Westbrook Elementary School. 642 adults and 413 children live in Southgate for a total of 1,055 total residents, making it the largest of the various Glen communities.

There are four housing types in Southgate. Here is a brief overview of each:

There are 55 custom, detached “estate” homes which border The Glen Club golf course. These properties are zoned R-3 (three homes per acre) so they offer very large yards. The homes are large, too, many over 5,000 square feet; and they sell at price points between about $1.6 and $2.7 million, though some have sold for more.

182 detached, single family homes – which the developer referred to as “semi-custom” – were extensively adapted and modified so that no two homes are identical. Zoning is R-4, four homes per acre. Most of these homes range between 3,000 and 4,500 square feet, and they typically sell between $1.3 and $1.6 million.

38 lovely row homes offer 1,585 to 1,919 square feet and two to three bedrooms. They typically sell in the $500s.

24 cozy villas are sized between 1,625 to 2,055 square feet, and they offer two or three bedrooms. Most of these homes sell in the $400s to low $500s.

If you would like more information about Southgate or The Glen generally, please contact me. I am an award winning Realtor and a proud owner of a Glen home.

Margaret Ludemann, @properties Realtor

847-401-1802     margaretludemann@gmail.com

Impact of new jobs report on Glen home buyers & sellers

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The Labor Department reported last Friday that the economy created 271,000 new jobs in October which is much better than anticipated; and the unemployment rate dropped to 5%. That’s great news, of course.   In simple terms, people without jobs can’t purchase homes, so more jobs = a larger pool of prospective buyers.

Even entry level jobs can positively impact the market for higher priced homes in places like The Glen and greater Glenview where I focus my real estate practice. Why? Because the sale of an existing entry level home turns the home seller into a buyer of another home, presumably one with a higher price point.

There is a downside to today’s report, though my sense is that it will modest, at least in the short term. With the very positive news on job growth, the Fed is more likely to increase interest rates at its next meeting in December. If so, it will be the first increase since 2006. While the federal funds rate is not directly tied to mortgage interest rates, it increases the borrowing costs of lenders who will pass along their additional costs to their home buyer clients in the form of higher mortgage rates. I’m not an economist and I don’t play one on TV, but I suspect that the Fed’s December increase (if it occurs) and any further increases next year will be modest because the Fed does not want to throw a wrench into a still recovering economy.

So here’s the take away:  A healthier employment climate will increase housing demand, but expect modest increases in mortgage interest rates in 2016.

Margaret Ludemann

Realtor, @properties, Glenview Illinois

847-401-1802   margaretludemann@gmail.com

Porch Piracy

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I hadn’t heard of the term “porch piracy” until recently when I read an article about it. Basically it involves the theft of packages delivered to a home and left at the front door. Thieves look for opportunities such as this, some even following Fed Ex and UPS trucks as they make their deliveries. This is a very real problem in much of the country, and it’s growing.

Crime in The Glen is not a common occurrence. In fact, there is little of it in this beautiful residential and retail development in Glenview Illinois, about 18 miles north of downtown Chicago. This is an upscale area with home prices ranging from around $400,000 to over $2,000,000. That’s not the community profile one thinks of as a high crime area. But what makes the community so lovely also can make it a target of porch piracy. In an area like ours packages left at the door are likely to be filled with expensive items such as electronics.

I decided to ask the Fed Ex delivery guy who regularly delivers in The Glen how he decides whether to leave a package if there’s no one home to receive it. He told me that the company provides some guidance based on historical data of porch piracy by location, and as a person familiar with the various streets in the The Glen development he uses his best judgment as to whether a theft may occur. I’ve never had a problem myself, and none of my immediate neighbors have ever mentioned it. But all of us in The Glen should be aware of the potential problem.

The most effective way to ensure that your packages won’t be stolen is to require signatures for items that you’ve ordered. Alternatively you can ask that packages only be delivered during hours that someone is likely to be home.

Margaret Ludemann

Glen homeowner and @properties Realtor

margaretludemann@gmail.com         847-401-1802

Homeowner associations’ role in a home sale

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Home sale transactions in The Glen generally involve homeowner associations after an agreement has been reached between buyers and sellers. When the Village of Glenview Illinois took ownership of the former Naval Air Station Glenview in the late 1990’s it developed a master plan for its use. The result is what we now know as The Glen with large areas of luxury homes, a retail area known as Glen Town Center, commercial space for corporate and professional offices, and open space as well.

The residential areas were divided into several large parcels, and home builders were allowed to submit bids for development. This resulted in the following neighborhoods being built: Cambridge, Chapel Crossing, Glen Shore, Landings, Southgate, and Tower Crossing. Three additional developments have since been built: Regency, Patriot Commons, and Westgate. The latter two are still under construction. Homeowner associations, generally referred to as HOAs, were created; and they are governed by boards of directors composed of residents.

Generally speaking if a home is being sold in an area governed by a homeowners association – whether it is The Glen or elsewhere – that association will likely be asked to provide governing documents such as articles of incorporation, bylaws, covenants, rules, and regulations. They also are asked for financial information and the status of legal actions. Attorneys representing the buyer, seller, and lender review these documents. It is important for the buyer and the lender to understand the financial and legal health of the association. Among other things they want to know whether there are outstanding obligations that could impact the new owner. If there are lawsuits or excessive debt a buyer may not wish to complete the purchase and/or the prospective lender may choose to deny the home mortgage application.

The HOAs that I am aware of in The Glen are sound, and seldom do I hear of problems that result in a failure of a housing purchase. I am a Glen resident, and I am an active Realtor in the local real estate market. If you may be interested in buying or renting a home in The Glen, please contact me at 847-401-1802 or margaretludemann@gmail.com.

Margaret Ludemann, @properties Realtor