townhomes

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

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

Kids in The Glen

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Kids. Lots of them. Right here in The Glen!

In fact we have 1,336 children (ages birth through the 12th grade) in the 1,254 privately owned homes in this upscale residential and retail community in Glenview Illinois. As a long time Glen resident and as a Realtor who focuses heavily on The Glen, I know what a wonderful place this is for children. I have a 15 year old son who has grown up here, and he loves everything about it. Gallery Park, Lake Glenview, soccer fields, tennis courts, Kohl Children’s Museum, Arclight Movie Theater, and so much more.

We have eight developments with privately owned homes in The Glen, not counting Westgate which is under construction. Here is a breakdown of children in each:

Chapel Crossing: 167 homes 284 kids 1.7 kids p/home

Landings: 143 homes 236 kids 1.65 kids p/home

Southgate: 299 homes 413 kids 1.38 kids p/ home

Cambridge: 244 homes 234 kids 0.96 kids p/home

Regency: 148 homes 76 kids 0.51 kids p/home

Tower Crossing: 154 homes 73 kids 0.47 kids p/home

Patriot Commons: 68 homes 16 kids 0.24 kids p/home

Glen Shore: 31 homes 4 kids 0.13 kids p/home

Not surprisingly the developments with the most single family homes have the highest percentage of children p/home: Chapel Crossing and Landings. Southgate and Cambridge have a mix of single family homes and attached housing. On the other end of the spectrum, the developments with the most attached housing (mainly townhomes and condos) have the lowest percentage of children p/home: Tower Crossing, Regency, Patriot Commons and Glen Shore.

If you would like to know more about The Glen please give me a call.

Margaret Ludemann, Realtor, @properties

847-401-1802   margaretludemann@gmail.com

Glenview. The Glen. And 97%. Read on…

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97% is the number. I’ve never seen anything like it.

That’s the percentage of residents of Glenview Illinois who rate their community as “an excellent or good place to live and raise children.” I’ve lived in a lot of places before settling in The Glen, a residential and retail development in Glenview, including large sophisticated cities like Chicago and Boston. And mid-sized cities like Newton, Massachusetts and Omaha, Nebraska. I’ve even lived in a really, really small town (population 85…that’s not a typo). But of all the places that I have called home at various times in my life, I’ve never seen a number like that. 97%. Wow.

The Village of Glenview conducted a survey of residents last spring, and that’s where the number came from. Other survey results were equally impressive. For instance 90% of respondents feel safe in their neighborhoods, 92% have a positive view of Glenview’s reputation, and nearly 70% are satisfied with the value they receive for their tax dollars. I’m particularly impressed with this last finding. OK, 70% isn’t 97%…but we’re talking taxes here. Who the heck likes to pay taxes? But here in Glenview nearly 3 out of 4 believe that they’re getting a good deal. You’re not going to find a number that high in many other communities.

While I haven’t seen a similar survey for the Glen, I know that the feeling here is similar to greater Glenview. I’ve lived here for a dozen years, and life simply cannot be better. Homes in the Glen are beautiful, and there is great variety…from condos to townhomes…and row homes, duplexes, two-flats and single family homes. Home prices range from the $300,000s to over $2 million. The retail area resides in Glen Town Center where there are scores of shops, restaurants, a book store and a movie theater. And best of all, I can walk to all of it as can every resident in The Glen. As I said, I’ve lived in a lot of great places. But count me among the 97%…I love it here, and I don’t plan to move.

For anyone interested in living in the Glen please contact me. I am an award-winning realtor with @properties, and I would love to show you why so many people…97% of them…believe that this is a very special place.

Margaret Ludemann     847-401-1802   margaretludemann@gmail.com