News About The Glen

24 great reasons to live in The Glen

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There are 24 restaurants in The Glen, the upscale housing and retail development in Glenview Illinois on Chicago’s North Shore. We realtors talk a lot about homes. How big they are. Where they are located. Nearby schools. Prices. Too often, though, we forget to discuss other benefits of living in a particular locale. So today I want to tell you about a HUGE benefit of living in The Glen. And here’s one: As a resident I can walk to two dozen Glen restaurants. Really.

The Glen is not your ordinary housing development. Sure, we have plenty of single family homes with large yards. But we also have townhomes, row homes, two-flats, duplexes, condos, and rental apartments. And they are in close proximity to all of these wonderful places to dine and also dozens of shops and entertainment venues. We’re kind of suburban. But we’re kind of urban, too. Actually, we’re a blend of both…with the advantages of each.

I live in Tower Crossing. It’s a neighborhood of townhomes that borders Glen Town Center, The Glen’s “main street”. I can walk out my front door and walk a half block to Salerno’s Italian restaurant. Walk a half block in the other direction and I can dine in The Glen Club’s grill with traditional American cuisine. There are 15 other restaurants right in town center and several others if I’m up for a walk of 5 or 6 blocks. The Glen offers food of all kinds. We have, as I said, Italian and American cuisine; and we also have Mexican, Irish, Japanese, Thai and Indian. From upscale dining to casual sandwich shops, The Glen has it all.

How many times have you wanted to go out to eat, but you didn’t want to deal with traffic? Or maybe you didn’t want to drive after having a cocktail? Ah, the beauty of living in The Glen.

To see a list of all Glen restaurants (and their menus) go to www.theglentowncenter.com. And if you are interested in living in the Glen, give me a call at 847-401-1802 or send me an email at MargaretLudemann@CBexchange.com.

Margaret Ludemann, @properties Realtor

Where the kids are…in The Glen

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The Glen is a housing and retail development in Glenview Illinois, on Chicago‘s North Shore. It’s filled with luxury homes, restaurants galore, boutiques, a book store, a movie theater, and (drum roll please)…a lot of kids! In my most recent blog I wrote about the new Glen census which tells us that roughly one-third of the 3,921 residents in privately owned homes and rental housing are children. I’ve had a few emails asking which specific Glen neighborhoods have the most.

There are 9 such neighborhoods in The Glen (not counting Navy and senior housing). Naturally the neighborhoods with the most single family homes have the most children. In these neighborhoods about 40% of residents are kids. Chapel Crossing (43%), Landings (44%) and Southgate (40%) have only single family homes. Cambridge (42%) offers single family homes, town homes, duplexes, and two-flats.

2 neighborhoods offer only attached homes and have roughly 20% children:  Tower Crossing (18%) and Patriot Commons (19%). Another neighborhood, Regency, has a high percentage of town homes; and 19% of its residents are children.

Aloft (5%) offers rental apartments in Glen Town Center, The Glen’s shopping and restaurant “main street”. And Glenshore (7%) has condo apartments.

Obviously the large single family home neighborhoods are great for kids. Lovely homes. Big yards. Did I mention BIG YARDS? But before you get the wrong impression, Glen neighborhoods with attached housing are also great for the little ones. I live in Tower Crossing, a development with 154 4-story town homes with 3,031 to 4,105 square feet. We moved here 11 years ago when my son was 3 years old. Our development has a wonderful common area which, to my son, represents his back yard. The additional benefit is that he’s grown up barely one block from all of the fun in Glen Town Center. He walks to the movie theater, meets his buddies for hamburgers at Mooyah, and wanders our wonderful book store.

The bottom line? The Glen is a great place for children whether your preference is for large single family homes or for attached housing. If you would like to learn more about The Glen please email me at MargaretLudemann@CBexchange.com or call me at 847-401-1802. I am an award winning Realtor living in and selling Glen homes.

Margaret Ludemann, @properties Realtor

New census of The Glen tell us a lot about the homes, neighborhoods and residents

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The new census for The Glen has just been completed, and it is interesting reading. For instance it tells us that there are 4,960 residents residing in 2,221 homes in the 13 development areas (read: neighborhoods), as of August, 2014. Of these nearly 5,000 residents, 1,367 are children.

Each year the Village of Glenview (in Illinois) has this census done to calculate payments to various jurisdictions which provide services to Glen residents. So, for instance, the more children in schools means that the village owes more money to local school districts. Let’s dig a little deeper into the census results.

The 13 development areas include 9 with privately owned homes or rented single and multi-family homes. The other 4 include Navy housing and 3 senior housing communities. Navy? Yes, indeed. The Glen resides on the grounds of the former Naval Air Station Glenview; and there remain 112 housing units for Navy personnel of which there are 213 adults and 80 children.

In the 9 communities with privately owned and rental homes, there are 3,921 residents of which 1,287 (33%) are children.   Here is a breakdown by neighborhood:

Chapel Crossing: 167 homes, 368 adults, 277 children

Landings (Concord): 143 homes, 324 adults, 250 children

Southgate: 299 homes, 626 adults, 413 children

Cambridge: 244 homes, 481 adults, 200 children

Tower Crossing: 154 townhomes, 306 adults, 68 children

Patriot Commons: 68 homes, 122 adults, 23 children

Regency: 146 homes, 179 adults, 43 children

Aloft: 181 apartments, 185 adults, 10 children

Glenshore: 31 homes, 43 adults, 3 children

Of the 1,287 children in The Glen, 1,175 are of school age. 82% attend public schools. 18% attend private schools. This last number is particularly interesting because in most suburban communities the percentage of children in private schools averages between 4% and 8%. This variance is likely due to the economic standing of Glen residents. In other words, it is a development comprised largely of affluent families who can afford private education.

There is a lot of additional information in this year’s census, and I will include more of it in future blogs.

Margaret Ludemann, Glen homeowner and @properties Realtor

847-401-1802, MargaretLudemann@cbexchange.com

Flight Fest shows off The Glen’s wonderful lifestyle

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One of the great things about living in The Glen (a housing development in Glenview, Illinois) is the frequent entertainment only minutes away from any Glen home. I’ve previously written about the weekly summertime concerts on Tower Drive (The Glen’s “main street”), the parades, the annual Art Fair, vintage car shows, and many other wonderful events. This past weekend we enjoyed Flight Fest in Gallery Park which is in the heart of The Glen.

Flight Fest was organized by the Glenview Park District, and what a day it was! The Festival kicked off at 1pm with a ceremony honoring the men and women of the U.S. armed forces, past and present. Live music was provided all day long and into the evening, too. There was “big band” (swing), a teen band, and classical, country and pop music.

The activity schedule for the day was targeted to families with children. There were roving entertainers, games, a Story Walk, Eurobungy, inflatables, a rock climbing wall, face painting, and a giant hot air balloon. It was like having a carnival right in our own back yard.

I really enjoyed visiting the exhibit of the former Naval Air Station Glenview which resided on the property which is now The Glen. There were old photos, a film and many artifacts.

The Glen has many neighborhoods, each with distinctive homes styles and types. We have single family homes, townhomes, row homes, two-flats, duplexes, and condo apartments. The price range is roughly from $400,000 to over $2 million. But as I tell many of my buyer clients, you’re buying not just a home, but a lifestyle. Flight Fest was but one example of the kind of lifestyle we live here in The Glen.

If you would like to know more about living in the Glen, please call me at 847-401-1802 or email me at Margaret.Ludemann@gmail.com.

Margaret Ludemann, Glen homeowner and @properties Realtor

Mortgage interest rates: good news for home buyers and sellers

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A few weeks ago a potential buyer of a home in The Glen (in Glenview Illinois) told me that he was holding off buying a home until mortgage interest rates improve. I believed that was unwise, so I researched historical 30 year, fixed rate mortgage interest rates using Freddie Mac data. I grouped them into 5 year periods and calculated the averages. What did I learn…that recent mortgage interest rates are roughly half what they were 25 years ago!

The average rate in August (the most recent data available) was 4.12% for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. This is a smidgeon higher than early months of 2013. Rates, however, have inched downward in each of the last 4 months; and that August rate of 4.12% is actually lower than the same month last year. So it is clear that home financing today is extremely low. While rates may bump along with modest increases and decreases in the short term, there is no evidence that they will become appreciably lower in the foreseeable future. In fact, it is likely that rates will eventually increase to more normal levels.

Interest rates matter…a lot…because they affect a buyer’s monthly payment and the total cost of financing over the period of ownership of a home. Every 1% rise in interest rates reduces buying power by approximately 11%. Obviously today’s low interest rates are beneficial to home buyers, but they are also good for home sellers. If buyers can purchase more house because of low interest rates, there are more qualified buyers for sellers’ homes.

If you are interesting in buying a home in The Glen or greater Glenview, please email me at Margaret.ludemann@cbexchange.com or call me at 847-401-1802.

Margaret Ludemann, Glen homeowner and @properties Realtor