Southgate in The Glen

Update: Southgate home sales & prices

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Southgate is a luxury housing development in The Glen, the north shore’s premier lifestyle community, located in Glenview, Illinois.  Southgate has 237 single family homes.  The following is an update on home sales and housing prices.

4 homes sold from mid-July to mid-September:

  • 4 bedroom semi-custom home on Saratoga sold for $1,279,000.  The home was listed in June, went under contract 3 days later, and closed on 7.30.13.
  • 5 bedroom, 3814 sq ft, semi-custom home on Midway sold for $1,315,000 which was more than the asking (list) price of $1,249,000.  The home was listed in May, went under contract 3 days later, and closed 7.19.13.
  • 5 bedroom semi-custom home on Kittyhawk sold for $1,250,000.  The home was listed in June for $1,275,000, went under contract in July, and closed on 8.14.13.
  • 4 bedroom semi-custom home on Bennington sold for $1,000,000.  This home was listed in March at $1,179,000; it had a price reduction to $1,139,000, went under contract in June, and closed on 8.20.13.

1 home is currently under contract:

  • 5 bedroom, 4200 sq ft, semi-custom home on Independence was most recently listed for $895,000.  This is a short sale.

2 homes are currently listed for sale:

  • 5 bedroom semi-custom home on Kittyhawk was listed in July at $1,399,000.  The home had a price reduction to $1,325,000 which is its current list price.
  • 3 bedroom semi-custom home on Independence was listed in July at $1,268,000.  The price was subsequently reduced to $1,235,000 which is its current list price.

Southgate is one of several developments in The Glen including Tower Crossing, Chapel Crossing, Landings, Cambridge, Regency, Patriot Commons and Glen Shore.  If you would like information about homes in any of these Glen developments, please contact me at margaretludemann@gmail.com or 847-401-1802.

Margaret Ludemann, Glen resident and @properties Realtor

*  The source of the information in this report is the MLS; and homes identified in this update/report were listed/sold/rented by various participants in the MLS.

Tower Crossing Prices up 5.3%, Sales Too

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The Glen is the premier lifestyle community on the North Shore of the Chicago metropolitan area, located in Glenview, Illinois.  It is composed of several neighborhoods one of which is called Tower Crossing.

Tower Crossing is a townhome development with 154 stunning homes, built between 7 and 10 years ago.  It borders Glen Town Center (The Glen’s “main street” which offers restaurants, shopping, a theater, and much more) on three sides.  The 4th side of Tower Crossing borders The Glen Club’s Championship 18 hole golf course designed by Tom Fazio.

There are 6 models of Tower Crossing homes (Astoria, Biltmore, Blackstone, Drake, Omni, and Valencia), and they vary in size between 3031 sq ft and 4105 sq ft.  The current price range is between roughly $600,000 and $800,000.  I am one of the fortunate owners of a Tower Crossing home, an Astoria End Unit model.

As the #1 Realtor* in Tower Crossing, I track home sales and prices constantly.  2013 is turning out to be a banner year for the development.  Sales have increased dramatically in 2013.  So far 17 homes have sold vs. 11 in all of 2012, 13 in 2011, 6 in 2010, and 7 in 2009.  There is also one Tower Crossing home under contract waiting to close; and 2 homes are for sale.

Prices are up 5.3% in the first 8 months of 2013.  On average Tower Crossing homes sell for $196.77 p/sq ft.  In 2012, non-distressed Tower Crossing homes sold for $186.88.  (2011 = $188.86;  2010 = $189.50;  2009 = $179).  As you can see, prices were flat for the 3 years immediately prior to 2013 after dropping considerably when the real estate market collapsed.

If you are interested in Tower Crossing or any home in the other Glen neighborhoods (Cambridge, Chapel Crossing, Glen Shore, Landings, Patriot Commons, Regency (row homes, new construction), and Southgate), please contact me at 847-401-1802 or by email margaretLudemannl@gmail.com

Margaret Ludemann, Glen Resident & @properties Realtor

*  Margaret sold or rented more Tower Crossing homes in 2012 than any other Realtor.

Major Employers Near The Glen

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Glenview, Illinois is home to the stunning development called The Glen on the former grounds of Naval Air Station Glenview.  The development is now 13 years old, and it hosts 5,000 very fortunate residents.  The Glen, which is the premier lifestyle community on the North Shore, is like a small town in many respects with its several neighborhoods within walking distance of its quaint downtown called Glen Town Center.  But parts of The Glen also feel very urban with brick row homes within a few blocks of shopping, dining, and entertainment.

I regularly receive calls and emails from people throughout the country (and the world) inquiring about homes for sale in The Glen.  Why?  Well, because Glenview and a few contiguous communities are home to several large corporate headquarters with executives being transferred in from most anywhere.  Within about a ten minute drive of The Glen you will find the headquarters for Allstate Insurance, Kraft Food Group, Walgreens, Anixter International, ITW, Baxter International, and Scotts Foresman.  Often transferees know about The Glen from their relocation teams or home office employees or from prior visits to headquarters for meetings.  The Glen is desirable due to its proximity, upscale homes, vibrant lifestyle, two golf courses including The Glen Club, and the reputation of area schools.

Just in the last month I helped an executive transferring in from Atlanta purchase a home in our Southgate neighborhood; I sold a home to a Kraft exec; and I sold a home for an executive transferring to Boston who had come to The Glen from out of state 8 years earlier.  The latter two sales were in the Tower Crossing neighborhood.  Two of my favorite neighbors were transfers in from England and Australia.  The Glen also attracts executives working in the many Chicago corporations; downtown Chicago is only a 30 – 40 minute train ride.

The Glen is not, however, an overly transient community.  The bulk of its residents are long term homeowners, either Chicago-area natives or professionals who came here for their jobs and decided that the lifestyle is just too great to leave.

If you would like to learn about homes in The Glen, please call me at 847-401-1802 or send an email to margaret.ludemann@gmail.com

Margaret Ludemann, Glen resident and @properties Realtor

Connecting Neighbors in The Glen

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The Glen is an upscale residential and retail community in Glenview, Illinois.  It is composed of 1,106 privately owned homes of various types including single family, townhomes, duplexes, two-flats, villas and condos.  2,439 adults live in these homes, and of course a lot of children as well.  The Glen is like a small town with its own “downtown” (Glen Town Center) with scores of restaurants, shops, theater and more.

The small town feel is one of the great benefits of living in The Glen even though it is a community within Chicagoland’s popular North Shore.  Contributing to this sense of community is our group email system which uses Yahoo as its technology engine.  Membership in The Glen Yahoo Group is restricted to homeowners/residents alone.

Sharing helpful information is the purpose of our email group…in other words, being neighborly.  Most emails deal with recommendations of service providers (“I need a plumber.”), promoting community activities (“This weekend is the art show in Glen Town Center”), assisting neighbors in need, promoting non-profit organizations, and even selling personal items such as the bike you no longer need or your priceless (!) collection of 8-track tapes.  For profit commercial & marketing activity is not allowed, though selling your extra Cubs or Bears tickets is just fine.

Some of the individual neighborhoods within The Glen also have their own group email systems in addition to the larger Glen group.  I know of groups for the Regency, Southgate, Tower Crossing, Landings, and Chapel Crossing neighborhoods.  Emails posted on these group systems tend to be neighborhood-specific, while The Glen group emails are about most anything that strikes your fancy.

Being neighborly is a treasured characteristic among residents of The Glen.  We take pride in our community where I have lived for 10 years.  If you would like to explore living in The Glen please contact me at margaret.ludemann@gmail.com or 847-401-1802.

Margaret Ludemann, Resident of The Glen and @properties Realtor

The lull between the (sales) storms

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The spring and early summer real estate market in The Glen (in Glenview, Illinois) was the strongest in many years.  The Glen, as many of my blog followers know, is an upscale residential and retail community built on the site of the former Naval Air Station Glenview.

As an example, in The Glen’s Tower Crossing neighborhood with 154 row homes, 15 homes have already sold in 2013 as compared with 6 by this same time last year.  In fact, only 11 Tower Crossing homes sold in all of 2012.  Most other Glen neighborhoods have seen the same strong sales performance this year, especially in Chapel Crossing, Landings, Cambridge and Southgate.  I should add Regency to that list.  As the only new construction project in The Glen, sales have been hot all year.

There is, however, a bit of a lull right now.  Late summer is typically a slow period in real estate.  Many buyers want to make their purchases and move in prior to the start of school, which in the Glenview Public Schools is August 20.  Using again the example of Tower Crossing, only 1 home closed last year between August 15 and November 9.  Closings in this period correspond roughly to sales contracts being signed between mid-July and mid-September.

The market will pick up again – I suspect strongly – in late September, and it is likely to continue until Thanksgiving.  So the point is that this is a particularly great time for buyers to be searching for their next home.  They will face less competition with competing buyers; and some sellers who missed getting their homes sold in the spring and summer may be a bit more flexible on price.  If you are interested in living in The Glen, please call me at 847-401-1802 or send an email to margaret.ludemann@gmail.com.  I live in The Glen, and know this market inside and out.

Margaret Ludemann

Glen Resident and @properties Realtor