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2017 should be a solid year for home sales and prices in The Glen

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The Glen in Glenview, Illinois is not only a great place to live, but it also enjoys a strong real estate market. I thought you would find it interesting to look ahead to Glen home sales and prices in 2017.

The economic environment for real estate sales was positive in 2016 which is good news for 2017. The economy continued its steady growth, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.6% in November, the lowest since 2007. A year ago, the rate was 5%. During the Great Recession, unemployment rose to as much as 10%. Wages, too, increased in 2016. Interest rates remained very low with the average 30 year fixed rate loan under 4% for most of the year.  Rates began to climb late in the year, but remained low by historical standards. Economic growth, jobs, wages and mortgage interest rates, of course, are huge drivers of home sales, so we are heading into 2017 with some wind at our backs.

Based on these factors and my intimate familiarity with The Glen, I see a solid year ahead for Glen homeowners who wish to sell their homes. This is true for single family homes, townhomes, duplexes and condos. Mortgage rates should continue to be low by historical standards though they are likely to rise marginally during the year. The current 30 year fixed rate mortgage is about 4.3%; a jumbo is about the same. Fifteen year fixed rate mortgages stand at roughly 3.6%. Economists at The National Association of Realtors project prices of homes in the Chicago metropolitan area will increase by 1.9% in 2017. Based on my analysis of The Glen real estate market, I suspect that we may see a somewhat larger increase.

If you may be interested in selling your home or buying one anywhere on the North Shore, please contact me. I am a long time Glen resident and an award winning Realtor affiliated with Coldwell Banker. Among the 80,000+ Coldwell Banker Realtors worldwide, I have been recognized for being in the top 2%. I can be reached at margaret.ludemann@cbexchange.com or 847-401-1802.

Margaret Ludemann

Home buyers…by the numbers

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I’m a data freak. I love to sift through all kinds of numbers about the real estate market. And I think it makes me a better Realtor.

The Illinois Association of Realtors recently crunched it’s wealth of data to determine who buys homes in our state, and I thought you might be interested in the information it uncovered about home buyers. So here goes…

  • 69% of home buyers in Illinois are married, 17% are single women, 5% are single men, and 8% are unmarried.
  • The median income of a buyer (or married buyers) is just over $90,000.
  • 13% of buyers are veterans.
  • First time home buyers make up a little more than a third of the total (37% to be precise).
  • 92% choose a previously owned home; 8% buy new.
  • 14% of buyers are purchasing senior-oriented homes.
  • Home buyers expect to live in their homes for, on average, 15 years.
  • Particularly important to a Realtor like me, 86% use the internet during their home search; and they found photos to be extremely important to them. (No surprise there!)

It is important to understand, however, that there is no single real estate market in Illinois. These numbers include buyers in small towns, suburbs, and the city of Chicago.   Some buyers buy multi-million dollar single family homes while others purchase starter homes or condos. There are even multiple markets in The Glen (in Glenview Illinois), where I live and work. They are defined by home type and price point. To find a home in a market that is right for you (whether a community, a development, a neighborhood, or even a street), an experienced Realtor can inform and guide you.

Margaret Ludemann

Coldwell Banker Realtor and Glen homeowner

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

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, Coldwell Banker Realtor

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 Coldwell Banker in Glenview, Illinois.

Margaret Ludemann

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

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 margaret.ludemann@cbexchange.com.

Margaret Ludemann, Coldwell Banker Realtor