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Listing your home for buyers with children

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In areas which cater to families with school age children, it’s important to time the listing of your home appropriately. The basic rule is that you need to get it on the market in time for buyers to close, get moved, and settle in prior to the start of the school year. Often sellers list their homes too late, and they miss the real estate market for buyers with kids.

Let’s take The Glen as an example. The Glen is an upscale housing and retail development on the former grounds of Naval Air Station Glenview in Glenview Illinois. It is home to a couple of thousand luxury homes of various types, including single family homes, townhomes, row homes, duplexes, condos, and two-flats. Prices in the Glen range from the high $300,000s to over $2 million.

Children in the Glen attend District 34 elementary and middle schools, including Westbrook Elementary School, Glen Grove Elementary School, and Attea Middle School. For high school they attend Glenbrook South High School in District 225. Naturally, there are wonderful private schools available in the area as well, but for purposes of this exercise let’s look at the public school calendar. From there, we will work backward to determine the best time to list your home.

The first day of District 34 schools for next school year will be August 23; for District 225, it will be August 25. If we assume a family would like to get their kids settled in their new neighborhoods to make friends two or three weeks before school starts, we’re looking at a move-in date of around the first of August. Prior to moving in, we can assume a time on market of a month or two…so to be safe, let’s say two months. After the agreement is signed, there is usually a 45 to 60 day period before closing. So, doing the math we find that getting a home on the market would be best to occur by early-April.

This means that home sellers in the Glen who wish to attract families with children should be moving rather rapidly to get their home ready to be listed. You need to find your Realtor and get your home prepared for showing. There’s really not a lot of time to spare.

I am an award-winning realtor who lives in and sells extensively in The Glen. If you are interested in selling, buying or renting in the Glen (or greater Glenview), please contact me right away.

Margaret Ludemann, @properties Realtor

847-401-1802  margaretludemann@gmail.com

Glenview, one of the safest cities in the U.S.

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Safety. You’ll find few other factors more important to home buyers. And here’s some great news for homeowners in The Glen, a residential and retail development in Glenview, Illinois. Glenview is ranked the 37th safest city in the United States!

OK, let’s put that in perspective. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, there are 19,354 incorporated communities in the country. So, Glenview is in the top 0.0019% of American cities in safety. Rare air, indeed.

So, where did this ranking come from? As you know, lists of ‘top this’ and ‘top that’ appear regularly, often from sources with, shall we say, ulterior motives and questionable credibility. But that’s not the case here. Neighborhood Scout is a national neighborhood search engine and provider of location-based analytics for real estate investors, mortgage professionals, and home buyers.

The rankings are determined by factoring in data from over 18,000 law enforcement agencies, and ratings are assigned for various types of crime, such as murder, robbery, assault, burglary, and theft. Looking at the list of the Top 100 safe cities, we find that the safest places to live are in areas where residents can afford to relocate for quality of life. These tend to be bedroom communities near major cities, with low unemployment, high educational attainment, and great schools such as those found in Glenview. (In a future blog, I’m going to analyze Glenbrook South High School’s recent high ranking.)

So, if you are a resident of The Glen, rest easy…you’re in a great place. If you are considering buying a home in the Chicago area, take a look at The Glen. I am an award-winning Realtor and a long-time Glen homeowner, so give me a call.

Margaret Ludemann, Realtor, @properties

847-401-1802   margaret.ludemann@CBexchange.com

Interest in buying homes starting early

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There are definite signs that buyers interested in purchasing homes are starting early this year. In a typical year, new contracts for home sales decline significantly after Thanksgiving, and the real estate market is dead through year end. Within a week or two after the New Year, we begin seeing a few buyers poke their heads up from the ice and snow. But any significant buyer interest is typically not noticeable until sometime in mid-February to early March.

This year is different. Not sure why, but it is. Here are two indications of early interest that I’ve seen just in the last week:

First, I listed a home a few days ago, and I had an offer that very day. And it was a good offer. In fact, the offer was made without the buyer seeing the home!

Second, my proprietary website, www.homesintheglen.com, had a near record number of first time visitors (556) last week! I haven’t seen that number of first time visitors since the top of the market last July; and it’s the second highest number ever on my site.

I should say that my Glen website, which shows homes for sale in The Glen in Glenview Illinois, is a very real barometer of buyer interest. It is the only Glen-specific, Glen-only website in existence, and it produces real home buyers. I have been able to track visitors to sales rather easily. So, let’s look at a comparison of that 556 visitor number to previous years. In the same week a year ago, the site had 336 first time visitors. And the year before that? 368.

This time of year there are fewer homes for sale, so sellers have an advantage of less competition. It looks like this year they’ll have more than the usual number of buyers looking at their homes.

If you are interested in selling your home or in buying, please give me a call. I am an award-winning Realtor affiliated with @properties in Glenview, Illinois.

Margaret Ludemann

847-401-1802   margaretludemann@gmail.com

92 days, 2 hours, 18 minutes, 53 seconds

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OK, this will be a little different from my normal weekly blogs about real estate in The Glen (in Glenview Illinois). Well, actually, it will be a lot different.  This blog is about a piece of real estate that’s diamond shaped and measures about 340′ down the lines and 400′ to center.  Confused?  Well, if you are a baseball fan like me you know what I’m talking about, so read on.

As an active – very active – realtor serving The Glen I have three professional websites. My Glen website is www.homesintheglen.com which will tell you everything you want to know (and more) about this great development. Tower Crossing is the very popular townhome community in The Glen, and it’s where I live. My website – with loads of information about this community – is www.towercrossinghomes.com. I have a more generic website, too, www.margaretludemann.com.

So what’s the baseball angle? Well, if you’re like me you are already counting down the days until baseball’s Opening Day. I used to get out my calendar and count the days, but then I thought…hey, I’ll get an electronic counter timed for that magical day when life in all its glory begins anew.

So on the bottom of the home pages of my three websites you’ll find an Opening Day Counter…by days, hours, and minutes. Oh…seconds too! As I type this blog I see that I only have to wait 92 more days + 2 hours, 18 minutes and 53 seconds.  I can’t wait.

Pretty cool, huh?

Margaret Ludemann, @properties Realtor

847-401-1802   margaretludemann@gmail.com

Glen Town Center to get a nice facelift in 2016

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The Glen is about to receive a very nice upgrade in 2016. The Glen is an upscale residential and retail development in Glenview Illinois on property that was once a naval airbase. It was developed beginning in 2010, and it continues today with new homes still being constructed.

I live a half block from The Glen’s main shopping and eating area called Glen Town Center. It’s filled with scores of boutiques and eateries as well as a theater, coffee house, and book store. Over time some parts of the sidewalks have shown their wear as freezing and thawing have done minor damage. And some of the trees along Tower Drive, the main street through the area, have suffered, too. Don’t get me wrong, the place still sparkles…I mean it looks TERRIFIC…but it’s going to look even better!

The updating planned for next year will feature new sidewalks, trees, other landscaping, and signage. My neighbors join me in my excitement for this project which will add to the already strong appeal for shoppers, diners, current residents, and yes to those who are considering living in The Glen. Plans have been created, vetted and approved by the Village Trustees. Work will being in March, and completion is forecast for September.

If you haven’t been to The Glen I urge you to stop by for a meal and shopping. If you’ve been here before I suggest you think about making it your home. We have single family homes, townhomes, row homes, two flats, duplexes, and condos. Home prices range from the high $300s to over $2 million. For more information about homes in The Glen, please contact me. In addition to being a Glen homeowner, I am an award winning Realtor focused on Glen properties.

Margaret Ludemann   @properties Real Estate

847-401-1802   margaretludemann@gmail.com