North Shore Views

Archive for September, 2010

Wilmette’s Antiques Row

If you’re an antique lover Wilmette’s Antiques Row is your destination for an afternoon of serious browsing. Although not an official name, the stretch of Ridge Rd between Lake and Wilmette Avenues has become known locally as Antiques Row because of the collection of stores clustered in those few blocks. Now we have a new one to cement the moniker. Collector’s Corner has moved in to the location at the corner of Lake and Ridge Roads, making it the northernmost stop on the Row. Here’s a rundown of the six shops:

Heritage Trail Mall Antique Emporium

410 Ridge Rd.
(847) 256-6208
Hours: Monday-Friday 11:00-5:30; Saturday 10:00-5:30; Sunday 12:00-5:00

Heritage Trail is the oldest antiques store on Ridge Rd. It was opened in 1993 by owners Joan and Jerry Carlson, who still manage the mall with the help of daughters Lisa Chrisopoulos and Kirsten Carlson. The mall has over seventy dealers and sells just about everything: furniture, jewelry, artwork, light fixtures, glassware, porcelain, books and silver. The dealers’ stalls are packed to the gills with their finds and you can get lost in here for hours (and I have) poking around.  Heritage Trail also has a flea market twice a year, the first Sunday in May and October. (This year’s fall flea market is coming up on October 3rd from 9-5). You can get great bargains directly from dealers in the parking lot and there is also merchandise on sale inside the store.

Pandora’s Box

416 Ridge Rd.
(847) 251-4416
Hours: Wednesday & Saturday 10:00-5:00; and random other times

Pandora’s Box is a two-story treasure trove right next to Heritage Trail.   Jenny Zervas opened the store in 2006 and characterizes her merchandise as “domestic eclectic”. She buys her stuff at estate sales or on Craig’s List and she is always on the lookout for unique or unusual pieces. Most of it is antique or vintage but she’s open to having a few new things if they fall into the unusual or interesting category. She also has a fondness for frames, so there are lots of them displayed around the shop.

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Tags: antiques stores

The North Shore’s 10 Most Expensive Properties

Zillow just published its annual “10 Most Expensive Homes for Sale” list so I thought it would be fun to do my own list of the 10 most expensive homes for sale on Chicago’s North Shore. While we can’t compete with the Spelling mansion, which, at a jaw-dropping $150,000,000, holds the top honors on Zillow’s list, we do have some pretty impressive properties right here in our own backyard.

The homes that are currently on the North Shore “top ten” list range in price from $7,900,000 to $28,000,000. One is in Evanston, two are in Winnetka, two are in Highland Park and five are in Lake Forest. Seven of them are lake front properties and all but three were built before 1930. And, assuming you can afford the price tag to buy one of these beauties, be prepared to cough up another $30,000-132,000 a year in property taxes.

1. Modern Chateau
Location: Winnetka
For Sale: $28,000,000

I watched this one go up and it took over two years to build. Designed by Richard Landry, this French chateau style mansion is situated on two acres inside a walled enclave. It’s not on the lake but it has pretty much everything else you could want including 26 rooms, a 9-car garage, pool and exquisite finishes throughout. Architect Richard Landry is known as “Architect to the Stars” and also designed the homes of Rod Stewart, Wayne Gretzky, Tom Brady, and Eddie Murphy, among others.

2. The Schweppe Estate
Location: Lake Forest
For Sale: $15,000,000

This gorgeous 27 room manor was built in 1917 and completely restored in the 1980’s by 70 craftsmen from around the U.S. and Europe. The estate’s claim to fame is that it once hosted the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and the heirs to the crown of Sweden.

3.”Little Orchard”
Location: Lake Forest
For Sale: $11,500,000

This 5.4 acre lakefront estate was designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw and built in 1927. It has beautiful gardens and grounds and claims to have the best beach in Lake Forest.

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Tags: Luxury homes

10 Reasons to Buy a Home Now

If you are confused about the future of the U.S. housing market, you’ve got plenty of company. And I think we have the media to blame for that.

One day the headlines say things are getting better. The next day it’s all doom and gloom again. This has been going on for months now, especially since the end of the tax credit. Every time a new piece of economic data is released everyone wants to be first with their predictions about what it means. The economists, whom we rely on to bring some rational thought and analysis to the table, are as bad as the media. Rather than bringing clarity they are adding to the muddle. And all this confusion has potential home buyers running for the hills.

The fact is, no one (including the economists) has a clue what’s going to happen with the housing market in the short term. Any more than they can predict what the stock market will do.

So, I found it refreshing to see Brett Arends’ article in the Wall Street Journal in response to Time’s September 6 cover story “Rethinking Home Ownership”. While acknowledging the issues plaguing the current market, Arends cuts through the confusion and delivers the bottom line: that there are as many (if not more) reasons to buy a home now as ever:

1. You can get a good deal
2. Mortgages are cheap
3. You will save on your taxes
4. It’ll be yours
5. You’ll get a better home
6. It offers some inflation protection
7. It’s risk capital
8. It’s forced savings
9. There’s a lot to choose from
10. Sooner or later, the market will clear

Tags: Buying a home

North Shore Chicago Absorption Rates

In real estate parlance absorption rate is a measure of how long it will take for all the homes that are on the market to sell (or be absorbed) at the current rate of sale. This can either be stated as a percentage, meaning what percent of homes are being sold (or absorbed) by the market every month; or it can be stated as months supply, meaning how many months will it take to sell all the homes currently listed.

Absorption rate is calculated by dividing the number of sales in the previous month by the number of homes on the market at the end of the month. In a balanced market (meaning neither a buyer’s market nor a seller’s market) the absorption rate would be 15-18%. Lower than that means it’s a buyer’s market. To calculate months supply, divide the number of listings by the number of sales in the previous month.  Six months supply is considered a balanced market. Less than six months supply is a seller’s market. More is a buyer’s market. During the recent housing market meltdown some markets had as much as 48 months of inventory.

On the North Shore of Chicago absorption rates have improved considerably in the last year. In August of 2009 the absorption rate for the North Shore overall was 8% and the months supply was almost 13. This August the absorption rate was 11% and the months supply was 8.8.

The individual towns with the largest improvement in absorption rate were Evanston, Wilmette and Winnetka. At least for the time being these towns have reached a balance between supply and demand. Mind you, that may not be true (and isn’t) for all price ranges. In some cases there is still an over-supply of homes (especially at the higher price points) and in some cases we are actually experiencing a situation where there is more demand than supply.

Tags: absorption rate

The Big Top Comes to Wilmette

There is something about a tent circus that makes me nostalgic. Not that I ever went to a tent circus when I was a kid. By that time Barnum and Bailey was a three-ring extravaganza you had to drive all the way downtown to the Civic Center to see. It didn’t arrive on a train in the dead of night (at least I don’t think it did). There was no tent. And you had to drive 40 minutes and pay to park in some big underground parking garage. Not exactly small town Americana.

But I did see movies about how circuses used to be in the good old days. My favorite was a Disney one called Toby Tyler about a kid who runs away from home to join the circus. He starts out with a job peddling concessions and then (somehow) manages to work his way up to being a bareback rider (within about a week of joining the circus!). I willingly suspended my disbelief and imagined myself as Toby doing acrobatics on the back of a horse to the cheers of the crowd.

So, I’m looking forward to indulging my childhood fantasies once again when the circus comes to Wilmette. The Kelly Miller Circus is a traditional tent circus with elephants, horses, a dog act, clowns, trapeze artists and jugglers as well as a midway. The proceeds from the circus will go to support the District 39 Education Foundation, which provides funding for enrichment activities and programs for the District’s six schools. (Full disclosure: I am on the board of the Foundation).

Not to be missed is the elephant-powered raising of the big top at 9:00 am on the morning of the circus. This is sure to be a kid-pleaser and there is no charge to attend.

Two performances will be held on Saturday, September 25 at 2:00 and 5:30 pm.  Tickets are $25. They can be purchased at Lad & Lassie, Fuel, The Noodle, or Depot Nuevo in downtown Wilmette, at Nail Art on Ridge Rd. or at the Mikaelian Center on Locust Rd. They can also be ordered online at www.D39Foundation.org.

For those who are not into the circus (or are afraid of clowns), you can still support the District 39 Education Foundation by buying raffle tickets. They are $10 apiece or $25 for three tickets. First prize is $1000 cash, second prize is $500 and third prize is $250. Raffle tickets are available at the same outlets where circus tickets are sold (or you can buy them online).

Tags: District 39 Education Foundation, Kelly Miller Circus

North Shore Market Update – August 2010

Home sales on Chicago’s North Shore rose 24% in August vs. a year ago. The median price for detached single family homes also increased 8%, to $677,500. Time on market decreased 25% to 152 days. All towns except Kenilworth and Highland Park experienced sales increases, with Lake Forest and Winnetka showing the most dramatic gains. Evanston, Wilmette, Glenview and Glencoe had healthy increases in median sale price.

North Shore Market Update – August 2010

Data is for single family detached homes – Source: MRED – Deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Tags: North Shore market data, North Shore real estate trends, North Shore sales trends

Do You Really Want to Sell Your North Shore House?

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Seller-

My clients wanted to buy your house. They really did. Or at least they thought they did based on the description and pictures they saw on the MLS. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get in to see the house in person due to your “24 hour notice required – NO EXCEPTIONS” showing instructions. So now they have left town again, having put in an offer on another house that they liked almost as much as yours.

You see, my buyers are relocating to the North Shore from another state for a new job, and they only had this weekend to figure out where they wanted to live and find a house to buy. Once we’d done our area tour and they had identified two or three North Shore communities to focus on, I went about setting up appointments for later that day. When I called about your house, the appointment desk told me we could not see your house because of your showing instructions. When I explained about my out-of-town buyers, he said he was very sorry, but no.

Believe me, I understand how stressful it is to have your life disrupted by people traipsing through your home at the drop of a hat. And I know how difficult it is to keep your house in showing condition at all times, especially when time on market drags on and on. It is certainly your prerogative to decide when and under what conditions to show your home. However, I noticed that your home has been on the market for 97 days and has had one price reduction already, so I respectfully suggest that, if you really want to sell your house, you may want to consider being more flexible with showings.

The more accessible you can make your home to potential buyers, the more quickly you are likely to get an offer. And the faster you get the house under contract (the data shows) the more money you will get for your home.

Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I had a qualified and highly motivated buyer who, in all likelihood, would have made an strong offer on your house this weekend. But once you said no to a showing, you lost them. They won’t come back at a more convenient (for you) time.

Please, for your own sake, try to be more flexible the next time someone wants to see your home. You may just get an offer.

Tags: home selling tips