North Shore Views

Guide to Highland Park Preschools

Ravinia Nursery School

686 Red Oak Lane, Highland Park, IL 60035
(847) 831-3700
www.ravinianurseryschool.com

Ravinia Nursery School is a developmental preschool where children are encouraged to learn through play. Children learn at their own pace and in their own direction. Programs include a classes for 3-4 year olds (five mornings/week from 9:30-11:00) and a class for 4-5 year olds (five afternoons/week from 12:30-3:00). The younger class focuses on outdoor play, arts and crafts, music, singing and stories, while the older class adds language, literacy and math skills like counting, sorting and classifying objects.
There is also a summer camp.

Highland Park Montessori Schools

There are three Montessori schools in Highland Park. The goal of the schools is to help children become creative and competent human beings who are fully aware of themselves and the world around them.They are dedicated to creating an environment where children can feel comfortable and are able to learn in a respectful, caring community. The children work independently and in groups  in a non-competitive atmosphere and are encouraged to make decisions from an early age.

Programs include a parent-child class (2 months+), a toddler class (2-3 year olds), a primary class (3-6 year olds) and full-day kindergarten

• Highland Park Montessori
  1301 Clavey Rd., Highland Park, IL 60035
  (847) 433-3383
• Montessori Connection West
  1731 Deerfield Rd., Highland Park, IL 60035
  (847) 831-9393

• Montessori Connection East
  330 Laurel Ave., Highland Park, IL 60035
  (847) 433-5106

www.highlandparkmontessori.com

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Tags: Highland Park, Preschools

Highland Park Real Estate Trends

Highland Park real estate trends are looking more positive recently but not as positive as the trends for Glencoe, its neighbor to the south. Sales were up, but not as much as in Glencoe and prices were down.  Months supply of inventory has decreased since the beginning of the year, but remains higher than Glencoe’s months supply.

Highland Park Home Sales

December home sales (single-family houses, condos and townhomes) were up 19% over November and also up 19% vs. December 2008. However, total 2009 sales of 242 are 18% behind 2008 sales of 294. Although trends have been positive since May, the market in Highland Park was dead through April, which depressed total year numbers. Sales in the second half of 2009 were comparable to the same period last year.

Home Prices

The downward trend in prices that began early in 2008 appear to have slowed. The average selling price in December was $623,634, down 0.5% vs. last year but up 71% vs. November. One month’s increase does not a trend make, so we shouldn’t draw any conclusions from one big jump.

Housing Inventory and Months Supply

Inventory of homes for sale has been trending down since June and was 12% lower than November.  However, inventories continued to be higher than for December 2008. Currently there is 16.3 months supply, meaning that it would take over 16 months to sell all the houses on the market at the current rate of sale. This is 6 months more than Glencoe.

Market Time

Market time, the number of days a property is on the market before it sells, has been increasing since the middle of 2008.  But in December market time was down, vs. November and vs. December of 2008, suggesting that sellers are getting more realistic about pricing and buyers are responding.

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

North Shore Market Update – December 2009

In December 2009 sales of single family homes on the North Shore were up 32% vs. December 2008, while average prices were down 8%. Market time increased 21% to 200 days for sold properties.

Average prices declined in all towns except Glenview and Glencoe. Winnetka and Northfield had the largest price declines AND the largest increase in units sold, so price does seem to be the biggest driver in the market today.

Wilmette was the only town were there were fewer units sold in 2009 than 2008.

December 2009 vs. Year Ago*

	Units Sold	Avg. Price	Market Time
Town	% Change	% Chg	% Chg
Evanston	6%	-24%	20%
Wilmette	-22%	-14%	28%
Glenview	25%	16%	19%
Northfield	200%	-73%	159%
Winnetka	138%	-39%	-1%
Glencoe	38%	15%	69%
Highland Park	22%	-4%	-18%
Lake Forest	67%	-1%	25%
North Shore	32%	-8%	21%

* Single family homes (Source: MRED – Deemed reliable but not guaranteed)

Tags: Evanston, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Kenilworth, Lake Forest, North Shore market data, North Shore real estate trends, North Shore sales trends, Northfield, Wilmette, Winnetka