UrbanToBurban

Northbrook, IL – Wildebrook Subdivision

2009-07-13T20:58:00.001-07:00

Subdivision Name: Wildebrook
Location: Wildebrook is located at the Southeast Corner of the intersection at Sanders and Dundee (main entrance on Dundee just east of Sanders).
Street Names: Torrey Pines Parkway, Riviera Court, Pebble Beach Road, Spyglass Lane, Bermuda Dunes Place, Indian Wells Lane.
Public Schools:

Elementary:	HICKORY POINT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (27)
Junior High:	WOOD OAKS JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL (27)
High School:	GLENBROOK NORTH HIGH SCHOOL (225)

Other Relevant Information:

Parks: The closest park(s) to Charlemagne is Oak Green Park located on the West side of Sanders between Walters and Dundee.
Grocery Store(s):
- Dominick's (Sanders and Dundee),
- Sunset Foods (1127 Church Street at Cherry)
- Fresh Farms (291 E. Dundee at Milwaukee in Wheeling)
There are sidewalks throughout the subdivision.
Portions of Pebble Beach Road and Bermuda Dunes Place border Sportsman's Golf Course.

Association (Y/N): Yes. There is an annual assessment of approximately $100.

Currently Available Properties:

MLS #	Stat	Street #	CP	Str Name	Sfx	Area	LP/SP	# Rms	Beds	Baths	Type	SCI
07059758	ACTV	3650		Palm Canyon	Dr	62	$699,500	12	5	2.1	2 Stories	N
07197059	ACTV	850		Bermuda Dunes	Pl	62	$845,000	12	4	3.1	2 Stories	N
07200367	ACTV	950		Bermuda Dunes	Pl	62	$850,000	10	5	4.2	2 Stories	N
07168914	ACTV	3631		Pebble Beach	Rd	62	$997,000	14	5	5.1	2 Stories	N
07232749	ACTV	3651		Pebble Beach	Rd	62	$1,100,000	14	6	6.1	2 Stories	N

Northbrook, IL - Charlemagne Subdivision

2009-07-13T20:38:00.001-07:00

As promised, I will be posting information about specific Northbrook Neighborhoods and the currently available and recently sold properties in these neighborhoods. For my first such post, I have chosen the Charlemagne subdivision:

Subdivision Name: Charlemagne
Location: Charlemagne is located at the Northeast Corner of the intersection at Sanders and Dundee (main entrance on Dundee just east of Sanders).
Street Names: Bordeaux Dr, Bordeaux Ct, Charlemagne, Michelline Ln, Brittany Road, Brittany Ct, Touraine Terrace, Anjou Dr, Dauphine Ave, Normandy Ln., Versailles Dr.
Public Schools:

Elementary:	HICKORY POINT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (27)
Junior High:	WOOD OAKS JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL (27)
High School:	GLENBROOK NORTH HIGH SCHOOL (225)

Other Relevant Information

Parks: The closest park(s) to Charlemagne is Oak Green Park located on the West side of Sanders between Walters and Dundee.
Grocery Store(s):
- Dominick's (Sanders and Dundee),
- Sunset Foods (1127 Church Street at Cherry)
- Fresh Farms (291 E. Dundee at Milwaukee in Wheeling)
There are sidewalks throughout the subdivision.

Association (Y/N):
Yes. There is an annual fee ranging from approximately $90 - $110.

Currently Available Properties:

MLS #	Stat	Street #	Str Name	Sfx	Area	LP/SP	# Rms	Beds	Baths	Type
07052233	ACTV	3823	Bordeaux	Dr	62	$499,000	7	3	2	1 Story
07124157	ACTV	3614	Dauphine	Ave	62	$499,000	8	4	2.1	1 Story
06822667	ACTV	4075	Picardy	Dr	62	$539,000	10	4	2.1	2 Stories
07230172	ACTV	3748	Dauphine	Ave	62	$579,900	10	4	2.1	2 Stories
07248561	ACTV	4062	Picardy	Dr	62	$598,000	10	4	3.1	2 Stories
07210592	ACTV	621	Michelline	Ln	62	$629,000	8	4	2.1	1 Story
07200692	ACTV	3860	Bordeaux	Dr	62	$639,900	9	4	2.1	1 Story
07251485	SS	3719	Dauphine	Ave	62	$645,000	10	5	2.2	2 Stories
07253017	ACTV	4061	Bordeaux	Dr	62	$674,000	10	4	2.1	1 Story
07128394	ACTV	3815	Bordeaux		62	$775,000	11	4	2.1	2 Stories
07253091	HC72	631	Dauphine	Ct	62	$775,000	9	4	2.1	1 Story

Recently Sold/Under Contract Properties:

MLS #	Stat	Street #	Str Name	Sfx	Area	LP/SP	# Rms	Beds	Baths	Type
07159342	CLSD	3826	Normandy	Ln	62	$500,000	10	5	2.1	2 Stories
07084794	CLSD	649	Charlemagne	Dr	62	$507,000	9	4	3	1 Story
07153518	CLSD	3850	Normandy	Ln	62	$606,000	8	4	3.1	2 Stories
07251485	SS	3719	Dauphine	Ave	62	$645,000	10	5	2.2	2 Stories
07133339	CLSD	4044	Picardy	Dr	62	$742,000	12	4	2.1	1 Story
07253091	HC72	631	Dauphine	Ct	62	$775,000	9	4	2.1	1 Story

Northbrook Real Estate Market Update

2009-07-02T20:34:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure if you feel the same way but lately every time I turn on the television, read a newspaper or launch my Web Browser I am overwhelmed by negative images and information that I see related to Real Estate. Most of the time, the information provided is either too general or not related to a market that pertains to me. That said, I thought I would take this opportunity to provide you with some statistics that I think are relevant to the Northbrook Real Estate Market. I will be updating this periodically and also plan to blog each week about specific neighborhoods in the Northbrook community and their pros/cons, activity levels, etc. I encourage you to follow my posts at UrbanToBurban or check back frequently and let me know if there is a particular topic or area that you would like to see covered.

Here goes nothing…

Per MLSNI, as of today's date below is a Snapshot of the Northbrook Real Estate Market's Activity as it relates to Single Family Homes for the past year (some of these statistics are eye-opening):

Month	Months Supply of Inventory	Active Listings	Active - Average Days On Market	Under Contract	Under Contract- Average Days On Market	Sold	Sold - Average Days on Market	Sold Average $	Sold Median $	Median $ as a % on Average $
June-09	9.647	403	148.75	34	96.59	23	113.70	$531,130	$477,000	89.8%
May-09	12.615	390	154.66	26	96.58	32	126.91	$623,591	$477,700	76.6%
April-09	11.429	384	158.43	28	124.86	18	100.33	$687,344	$697,500	101.5%
March-09	11.607	384	162.10	28	121.93	16	151.75	$588,469	$467,500	79.4%
Feb-09	17.722	368	163.72	18	112.78	7	85.71	$408,461	$385,000	94.3%
Jan-09	16.833	358	163.56	18	98.33	6	158.33	$466,250	$462,500	99.2%
Dec-08	33.333	359	167.92	9	137.22	15	120.00	$637,667	$580,000	91.0%
Nov-08	25.231	388	152.41	13	122.23	15	96.00	$542,067	$540,000	99.6%
Oct-08	23.533	415	143.47	15	118.93	23	93.17	$761,087	$575,000	75.5%
Sept-08	20.941	429	135.64	17	110.88	18	65.94	$531,111	$541,000	101.9%
August-08	16.000	443	131.88	23	84.70	34	74.85	$638,728	$602,500	94.3%
July-08	17.762	424	123.66	21	71.86	35	100.00	$675,965	$617,500	91.4%
June-08	11.194	419	119.60	31	79.74	29	94.45	$728,176	$608,000	83.5%

As always, I encourage comments and questions from anyone with information or opinions.

What's Happening in Suburbia for the 4th of July

2009-06-27T18:37:00.001-07:00

We all know that the City of Chicago hosts a huge fireworks show over the lake by Navy Pier for the 4th but short of taking the trek downtown, where do the suburbanites go? Check out the below links to find see what's going on:

Northbrook - http://www.northbrookjuly4th.org/Schedule.htm

Glenview - http://www.glenviewparks.org/assets/pdfs/July%204th%20Donation%20Form.pdf

Highland Park - http://www.pdhp.org/index.cfm/fa/events.event_detail/object_id/ef1337ff-5bf1-4618-b88c-80adece3c429

Happy 4th!

Kid Friendly Restaurants in the Suburbs

2009-06-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

I don’t know about you but sometimes I find that going out to dinner with kids can be quite an adventure (not to mention expensive), so when my family and I took the leap from Chicago to suburbia in 2006 I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few kid friendly restaurants, some that even offer up deals. Below is a sampling of some of my favorite kid friendly hangouts that I wanted to share. Feel free to add to or comment on these as I am always looking to expand my horizons.

Suburb	Restaurant	Location	Cuisine	SpecialFeature/Deal
Northbrook	Go Roma	3601 Dundee Rd	Italian	Sunday – Kids Eat Free
Northbrook	Barnabys	960 Skokie Blvd	Pizza/Italian	Good pizza, kids can be noisy
Glenview Northbrook Deerfield	Potbelly Sandwich Works	www.potbelly.com	Sandwiches	Smaller kid friendly portions and music on the weekends.
Glenview	Jolene’s Café and Wine Bar	1100 N. Milwaukee	General	Ice Cream comes free with Kid’s Meal
Northbrook	Little Louie’s Red Hots	1342 ShermerRd	Hot Dogs, salads, sandwiches, etc.	Look for coupons in local mailers
Northbrook	Stir Crazy	1186 Northbrook Ct	Asian	Tues/Thurs after 4pm – Kids 10 & under eat free with Adult meal purchase
Northbrook	Max and Benny’s	461 Waukegan Rd	Deli	Kid’s menu, crayons and paper. Also have options for fruit instead of fries
Wheeling	RAM	700 N. Milwaukee Ave	General	Sundays Kids Eat for $1.00
Skokie	Champps Americana	134 Old Orchard Ctr	General	Tues. Night - Kids Eat Free
Northbrook	Dairy Queen	2770 Dundee Rd	Ice Cream	During summer months: Face painting – Monday nights Moon Walk – Tuesday nights Clown – Thursday nights
Glenview Northbrook Highland Park Wilmette Skokie	Corner Bakery	www.cornerbakerycafe.com	Café – breakfast and lunch	Kids menu and crayons and paper
Arlington Heights Glenview Highland Park Lake Zurick Lincolnshire Wilmette	Walker Brothers Pancake House	www.walkerbros.net	Breakfast	Kid-size pancakes Kid’s birthday club
Wheeling	Claim Jumpers	781 N Milwaukee	General	Offer a baby plate and a kid’s menu
Highland Park	Michael’s Chicago Style Red Hots	1879 Second St.	Hot Dogs, etc.
Highland Park	Country Kitchen	446 Central Ave	Breakfast Lunch	Kid options – Mickey Mouse pancakes, chicken fingers, grilled cheese,etc
Glenview Highland Park Wilmette Buffalo Grove	Love’s Yogurt	Lovesyogurt.com	Frozen Yogurt/Salads	Yogurt options with toppings kids like (sprinkles, etc) Junior-size portions of food
Deerfield	Red Star Tavern	695 Deerfield Rd	American	Kids Menu
Glenview	Bravo	2600 Navy Blvd	Italian	Kids Menu and Make your own Pizza Dough

As a point of clarification, I can’t guarrantee that any of these deals are still valid – only that this has been my experience.

Staging to Sell

2009-06-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

To sell quickly in today’s competitive market, I strongly recommend that you spend some time staging your home prior to listing. The goal of staging is to ensure that your home appeals to the widest possible audience. In my opinion this is accomplished by emphasizing the best qualities of your home while simultaneously downplaying it’s less desirable attributes.

It is also critical to keep an open mind as you engage in this process. Remember, it is not about you or your tastes but rather what the profile of the most likely buyer for your home will be looking for. For example, you might have a very traditional style or really like the textured walls/wallpaper/mirrors that you have up throughout the home but that doesn't mean that your buyers will. In general, I resort to a simple rule - when in doubt, the more neutral the better.

Staging doesn’t always have to be expensive or complicated either. Simple things like “de-cluttering” and organizing closets will often make a world of difference. In some cases, relocating furniture to maximize the space and flow of a room can also help. All this said, if you do nothing else you MUST be sure to keep the home clean and odor free especially when it comes to Kitchens and Baths. Nothing will ruin a showing faster than a sink full of dishes or floater in the toilet.

Stay tuned for more suggestions or feel free to contact me to discuss in more detail.