North Shore Views

Shadow Inventory on Chicago’s North Shore

Every time we read or hear news about the housing market, there’s something about shadow inventory and how it will delay the market’s return to normalcy.

But what is shadow inventory? Do we have shadow inventory on the North Shore? How bad is it? How will it affect our local real estate market?

Shadow inventory is usually defined as distressed property that has not yet come on the market, but will at some point in the future. There are three types of shadow inventory:

1. Homes where the owners are at least ninety days delinquent on their mortgage payments.
2. Homes in the foreclosure process.
3. REO (bank-owned) homes that are now owned by the bank but which have not yet been listed for sale.

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Tags: distressed property, foreclosure, shadow inventory

Waiting to Sell Your North Shore Home Until Prices Go Back Up

“I think I’ll wait until prices go back up.”

I hear that a lot from North Shore homeowners after I tell them what their house will sell for in today’s market.

And I can certainly understand that sentiment. Many of us (me included) have homes that are worth less than we paid for them. And the prospect of losing money on the sale is not an appealing one.

I tell my clients that, if they don’t need to move or don’t have a burning desire to do so, it may not make sense to sell now, because prices are at their lowest point in several years, and are only just now starting to turn the corner.

However, if you do need to move or really just want to get on with your life, consider this before you conclude that it makes good financial sense to wait. You could be waiting a long time and in the meantime you are putting your life on hold.

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Tags: Home seller tips, housing prices, Pricing a home to sell

How to Choose a North Shore Real Estate Agent

When you go to buy or sell a home on the North Shore of Chicago you have literally hundreds of real estate agents to choose from. How do you choose the agent to guide you through the transaction? Do you hire a friend who has her license? Or the agent you met at an open house? Or the one your sister-in-law used?

According to research done by the National Association of Realtors, most people (61%) hire either someone they know or an agent who was referred to them. The rest look for the agent who seems to have the most signs and ads or the one who answers the phone when they call the number on a yard sign. For the most part, however, people do not tend to evaluate agents against any specific set of criteria. But they should. After all, your home is the biggest investment you will ever make, so you should reassure yourself that the agent you hire is highly qualified to represent you in the transaction.

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Tags: how to find a good Realtor, real estate agents

The North Shore is Just a Short Commute to Chicago

When I talk to people who are thinking of moving to the North Shore, one of the concerns that often comes up is the commute. In their minds a move to the North Shore is like a move to Outer Siberia. They’ll be sooo far away from everything and their commute will be sooo long.

So I made a little chart to show you how long it takes to commute from each of the North Shore towns to downtown Chicago on the Metra North Line. I think you’ll discover that it can take less time to get downtown than it does from north side neighborhoods like Lakeview, Lincoln Square or Roscoe Village.

And, at least on the train, you can usually find a seat and snooze or read the paper on the way to work and decompress on the way home after a hectic day at the office.

Approximate Commute Time (in minutes) from North Shore to Downtown Chicago

Tags: commute time, commuting from North Shore to downtown Chicago

City and Suburbs: The Best of Both Worlds at 724 Vernon Avenue in Glencoe

If you are looking for a cookie-cutter house on a suburban cul de sac, this is not the house for you.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a home that allows you to combine the advantages of in-town living with the benefits of the North Shore lifestyle, the house at 724 Vernon Avenue in Glencoe might just fill the bill.

You can enjoy living in a spacious 11 room home with a private patio and back yard in an area with great schools. But you can also walk out your front door and be just steps from Starbucks, the playground, shops, restaurants and the Metra. In fact, you can get downtown faster from here than you can if you lived in Roscoe Village!

The historically significant residence at 724 Vernon Avenue in Glencoe was originally built as the headquarters for the Chicago Telephone Company in 1908. It was expanded in 1920 when Illinois Bell was formed through a merger of Chicago Telephone and Central Union Telephone Company. The home began as a small brick one-story building and was enlarged in 1927 to the two-story, stucco-faced residence that you see today. During World War II the home was designated as a bomb shelter.

Over the years it has been substantially updated, with a newer kitchen that opens to a family room with built-ins and fireplace. The living and dining rooms with their dramatic fourteen foot ceilings, are perfect for entertaining.

While the original master suite and two other family bedrooms are on the main floor, the piece de resistance of this home is the newer loft-like master suite on the second floor, with doors opening to a lovely roof-top deck that overlooks the garden.

There is a two-car garage plus five outdoor parking spaces for visitors or clients; or those spaces could be rented to neighboring businesses, providing additional monthly income.

The large basement has media room, exercise room, bedroom and full bath, sauna, workshop and storage.

If you have thought about moving to the suburbs but feel ambivalent about leaving the convenience and walk-ability of the city, you should come see this home. You could not find a more convenient location within steps of town, train, shopping and dining.

Watch this video and get a better feel for the home. You can see more photos here. If you would like more information about 724 Vernon Avenue (or any other North Shore home), please give us a call at 847-881-6657. We’d be happy to help you!

We are North Shore real estate specialists and one of the top teams in the area. If you would like to schedule a buyer or seller consultation with the Come Home North Shore team, please contact us at 847-881-6657 or send us a note here.

 

Tags: 724 Vernon Ave., Glencoe homes for sale, homes with high walkable score

North Shore Real Estate Update – August 2012

Home sales on Chicago’s North Shore continued to rebound in August, with a 19% increase over last year. Only Kenilworth and Lake Forest showed a decline from last year. Year to date, however, Lake Forest was up 7%.

Better yet, August appears to mark the entry into Phase 2 of the recovery for the North Shore, with median prices finally increasing 5% over last year. Not all towns are showing appreciation yet, but growth in Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka and Glenview are enough to drive the total.

Market time has declined to well under six months for most towns reflecting the high level of buyer activity and the low inventory of homes for sale. Wilmette continued to have the shortest market time, with an average of 2.7 months. Six to seven months is typical of a normal market.

North Shore Real Estate Data – August 2012

Source: MRED LLC – Data for single family homes. Deemed Reliable but not guaranteed.

If you’d like more detailed information about homes sales or price trends in your market you can find it on our Market Statistics page.

We are North Shore real estate specialists and one of the top teams in the area. If you would like to schedule a buyer or seller consultation with the Come Home North Shore team, please contact us at 847-881-6657 or send us a note here.

Source: MRED

Wilmette’s Prairie Garden

I’d driven driven by it a hundred times on the way to the pool and barely even noticed it. And then, all of a sudden, it seems, the big one and a half acre section of Centennial Park that used to be a grassy depression, came alive with a carpet of wildflowers. Finally, on the last official day of summer, having taken my last swim of the year, I stopped to see it up close. I got out of the car, walked out into the middle of the garden and just stood there without moving for about ten minutes, just watching and listening. And the longer I stood, the more I saw and heard. I saw scarab-like beetles in clusters on flowers. Grasshoppers jumped from plant to plant. Two Monarchs fluttered around me, stopping to drink the nectar of the liatris. Goldfinches swooped and cavorted before stopping to gorge on the seedheads of the brown-eyed susans.

This is Wilmette’s new prairie garden, which has been three years in the making. The garden is the brainchild of Charlotte Adelman, retired attorney and author of two books about native Midwestern plants. She approached the Wilmette Park District back in 2009 and proposed turning the retention pond into an oasis of native plants and wildlife. It is now full of native grasses, thistle, cardinal flower and, perhaps most important to those of us who love Monarch butterflies (and who doesn’t), the garden is home to milkweed. Milkweed is the only plant on which Monarchs can lay their eggs, and there is less and less of it as land has been cleared for development, so Monarchs are becoming scarcer.

You can learn more about prairie gardens and tour the Centennial Garden at a free lecture sponsored by the Wilmette Garden Club on September 7 at 12:30 pm at the Mallinckrodt Senior Center.  Charlotte Adelman will speak and then lead a walking tour of the garden from the corner of Hunter Rd. and Wilmette Avenue. For more info, contact Susan Gatto at 847-256-1353.

North Shore Views is the most comprehensive online source for North Shore Chicago real estate and community information. Whether you are looking for market statistics, homes for sale or local events, North Shore Views has it all at your fingertips. Browse information regarding our communities, market data, luxury homes, lakefront property, schools and what you should know about making the move to the North Shore.

Tags: gardens, prairie garden

Family Fun on the North Shore: September 2012

Summer may be over but there are still lots of fun things to do with the kids, both outdoors and in. Here are some ideas:

Farewell to Summer Family Luau

September 8 from 5:00 to 9:00 pm
Tower Roar Beach, Tower and Sheridan Roads, Winnetka

Enjoy one last day at the beach when lifeguards are back to ensure a safe swim from 5:00 to 7:00. Food will be served throughout the event and there wil be a live luau dance and fire show from 7:00 to 8:00. The evening will conclude with a bonfire, s’mores and snow cones, followed by a movie at 8:00. Pre-registration required by 5 pm September 4.

Fall Fun at Wagner Farm

September 22
Wagner Farm, Wagner Rd., Glenview

Build Your Own Scarecrow from 12:00 to 3:00 pm
Bring some old clothes and the farm will provide pumpkin head, straw and the know-how to help you build your very own scarecrow. $5.00.

Harvest Bonfire from 5:00 to 8:00 pm.
S’mores for everyone under the autumn night sky. Come kick off harvest season at the farm! Enjoy storytelling by the fire. $3.00 per person (kids under 2 are free) Hot dogs for roasting at an additional cost.

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Tags: family fun, Things to do

Is the Housing Recovery Really Here?

The question we get the most from clients, friends and people we meet on the street is: “Is the housing market recovery really here?” People are confused. They hear that home sales are up… but they also hear that prices are still declining. Both are true, so what gives?

The answer is quite simple, really:

There are always two steps to a housing recovery. The first is sales. The second is prices. They are two separate things and one must always happen before the other. Where we are in the recovery is that step one (sales) is definitely here.  There is significantly more buyer traffic to internet real estate sites and to open houses, more showings and more multiple offer situations than there has been in three years. Most importantly, pending and closed sales are on the rise. Not just a a short term surge, but a sustained trend. And economists project it to continue.

These two graphs (above) reflect national numbers. Sales on the North Shore were up 17% over last year through the first half, so no reason to think that the general trend going forward wouldn’t follow the national one.

So now let’s talk about Step Two of the recovery. On a national basis, we’re not quite there, though we are just on the cusp. Prices have bottomed out and are beginning to turn upwards. A survey of 111 industry analysts and economists project that prices will grow moderately over the next four years:

On the North Shore prices for 2012 are down 5% from last year through the first half, but some communities are starting to see some price appreciation. Low inventories of homes for sale in some price bands will continue to exert upward price pressure. In July, prices were only down 2% on the North Shore, and three communities (Glencoe, Winnetka and Glenview) actually saw increases in the median home price.

North Shore Views is the most comprehensive online source for North Shore Chicago real estate and community information. Whether you are looking for market statistics, homes for sale or local events, North Shore Views has it all at your fingertips. Browse information regarding our communities, market data, luxury homes, lakefront property, schools and what you should know about making the move to the North Shore.

Tags: housing market data, housing recovery, pending home sales

Historic Victorian House in Wilmette

If you like houses with history, this vintage Victorian home at 519 Forest Avenue in Wilmette could be the one for you.

One of the oldest existing homes in the village, this home was designed by Dwight Perkins (who designed the Lion House at Lincoln Park Zoo, among other things) and built in 1895 for the Knox family.

It sits on a large 100 x 190 foot lot that is just a short walk to the beach. The house has a wrap around porch with two porch swings. It’s one of the only remaining homes with a turret. Although it is Victorian in style, the inside shows some Prairie influences. Some parts of the house have been updated (kitchen and master) but oodles of original details remain, including gorgeous woodwork, five fireplaces and a second floor library with a decorative ceiling motif.

Listed for $1,507,000 the home has four bedrooms and three and a half baths. A stairway in the turret leads up to a large master on the third floor with treetop views.

You can see more photos of the home here. If you would like to see it in person, give us a call. We’d love to show it to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are North Shore real estate specialists and one of the top teams in the area. If you would like to schedule a buyer or seller consultation with the Come Home North Shore team, please contact us at 847-881-6657 or send us a note here.

 

Tags: historic homes, Victorian style