Margaret Goss, Realtor Winnetka & North Shore Real Estate

No Dairy Queen for Winnetka!

Winnetka residents waited all summer long for Dairy Queen to open up on the corner of Elm and Lincoln streets. The windows to the old Depot restaurant were papered over and a hopeful sign there said Dairy Queen was doing the renovations.

Month after month went by and the brown paper in the windows started to look bedraggled and the permit vanished. Nary a workmen showed up. I started to worry when I called Dairy Queen last spring inquiring about the opening date and was told there were no plans to open one in Winnetka.

Now it's confirmed. The head of business development for the Village of Winnetka told me this week that the company has canceled its plan. Why? The original store was to serve only ice cream and treats - then someone at the corporate office decided that they should also serve hamburgers and hot dogs.

Well, unfortunatley for Dairy Queen, D's Haute Dogs, just a few storefronts to the north at 551 Lincoln, already had that business. The Village felt that since D's was in first, their business should be protected and Dairy Queen pulled out.

If you really need a fix of Dairy Queen you'll still have to drive over to Lake St. just west of the Edens. Or, you could go to D's Haute Dogs which is now serving smoothies.

Just a few years ago, the bewildering words "short sale" were starting to pop up in our realtor meetings. No one really bothered to learn much about them since things like that didn't happen on the North Shore. Maybe in Evanston, Chicago, or the south suburbs.

Not so today. Realtors have had to listen and learn about the implications of short sales, pre-foreclosures, foreclosures, auctions, and other distressed properties. Certainly the North Shore has not been immune. While recently showing condo properties for a friend on the North side of Chicago, fully 90% of these units were distressed. The North Shore is not seeing numbers approach anything close to that, but enough to raise heads and have people calling and asking about them.

Here's how the numbers look:

Total Units for Sale Short Sales/Foreclosure

Winnetka 204 7

Northfield 75 4

Wilmette 189 13

Kenilworth 53 1

Glencoe 22 4

During the past week in Winnetka there were two extreme instances:

• 719 Lincoln, originally priced at 2,900,000 in 2006, inexplicably raised to $4,300,000 in 2007 and finally selling at $1,260,000.
• 384 Hawthorn, originally sold in 2005 for $2,570,000 and just listed (under contract) for $1,336,500.

No wonder interest in these properties have jumped. But buyers need to understand that not every such home will be reduced to almost half. In a short sale, the owner is trying to avoid foreclosure and owes more on the loan than the house is worth. The homeseller is trying to sell the house for less than the loan amount and the bank may or may not approve the sale - a process which can take many months to work out. In the end, the bank may try to get the seller to refinance the loan and avoid taking the loss on the loan.

In a foreclosure, the homeowner has defaulted by not making payments. The process is complicated and there are several different types of foreclosures. In the end, the house is put up for sale and generally sold at a large discount.

Many people think the great wave of foreclosures is behind us as people with subprime loans defaulted. But some, like me, think that the next big wave is just beginning and those with prime loans begin to have difficulty making payments. I recently read a prediction that the next surge will not peak until 2013.

These distressed home listed about are available now for purchase. If you would like more information, please give me call and I'll be happy to discuss them with you.

Big Views . . . (from every room!)

Tiny Price . . .   ($188,500!)

Have you dreamed of waking up in the morning to beautiful, sunny lake views?  Or what about windy roiling waters?  Maybe deep dark clouds with a promise of rain?

 

 

 

How about 1 level living?  Not feeling like swimming in the lake?  Go ahead and try the heated pool or soak yourself in the hot tub.

 

 

 

For the unimaginable price of $188,000 you can have a premier two-bedroom, two-bath unit at the prestigious 1630 Sheridan Road building.  While the lake sits on one side, the other side offers Plaza del Lago shopping including dining, grocery shopping, Crate and Barrel, Starbucks, gift stores, clothing stores, and summer art shows. 

 

 

 

 

 

Really . . . what are you waiting for?

 

View Larger Map

Another month, another set of stats. Sales are still below average (what is average nowadays, anyway?) Sale prices have continued with downward pressure - except when priced properly. As I've shown month after month, competitive price = quick sale and more profit. It's really that simple.

Winnetka - 12 closed sales (20 in August)

1035 Elm $569,500 161 days on market, 82% of asking price

1257 Scott $575,000 33 days on market, 87% of asking price

1413 Tower $590,000 398 days on market, 66% of asking price

910 Spruce $647,500 428 days on market, 82% of asking price

437 Chestnut $730,000 401 days on market, 69% of asking price

756 Lincoln $742,500 397 days, 68%

1264 Forest Glen $751,500 138 days, 86%

1088 Mt. Pleasant $758,000 80 days, 82%

511 Willow $1,100,000 613 days, 72%

532 Oak $1,300,000 46 days, 87%

82 Woodley $1,425,000 506 days, 50% of asking price!

1234 Westmoor $2,800,000 1089 days, 60% of asking price!

Northfield - 2 closed sales (4 in August)

214 Frontage $210,000 298 days on market, 81% of asking price

51 Coventry $853,425 179 days, 90%

Wilmette - 23 closed sales (24 in August)

626 Lavergne $353,200 8 days on market, 97% of asking price

2246 lake $359,500 83 days on market, 91% of asking

412 Lavergne $370,000 9 days on market, 113% of asking (foreclosure property went over asking price)

1704 Walnut $389,000 4 days on market, 100% of asking

3127 Sprucewood $485,000 100 days, 88%

2219 Birchwood $500,500 32 days, 95%

800 Chilton $580,125 325 days, 84%

226 Sunset $605,000 98 days, 69% (short sale)

2136 Kenilworth $650,000 50 days, 81%

115 3rd $650,000 155 days, 87%

1234 Isabella $659,450 56 days on market, 92%

1515 Forest $725,000 31 days on market, 96%

1920 Thornwood $775,000 97 days, 93%

431 Central $850,000 40 days, 89%

605 6th $950,000 128 days, 88%

687 Sheridan $960,000 294 days, 80%

2035 Greenwood $1,084,000 88 days, 85%

600 Forest $1,325,000 113 days, 83%

906 Pawnee $1,352,000 86 days, 90%

505 Laurel $1,555,000 213 days, 76%

1310 Maple $1,575,000 147 days, 87%

436 Lake $1,660,000 166 days, 83%

2333 Iroquois $2,225,000 293 days, 80%

Kenilworth - 5 closed sales (5 in August)

551 Ridge $450,000 60 days on market, 90% of asking price

504 Brier $875,000 1 day, 92%

542 Kenilworth $1,248,000 103 days, 83%

123 Oxford $1,750,000 557 days, 60%

337 Raleigh $2,100,000 167 days, 70%

Glencoe - 12 closed sales (9 in August)

954 Vernon $286,600 605 days on market, 38% of asking price (foreclosure property)

1109 Hohlfelder $455,000 13 days on market, 100% of asking price

455 Drexel $516,000 106 days on market, 96%

38 Drexel $610,000 38 days, 88%

1069 Elm Ridge $650,000 108 days, 76%

205 Dennis $915,000 205 days, 72%

446 Jackson $920,000 422 days, 63%

428 Woodlawn $1,370,000 71 days, 81%

1045 Meadow $1,470,000 432 days, 53%

1150 Fairfield $1,651,359 290 days, 63%

120 Beach 53 days, 71%

382 Sunset 202 days, 69%

Sales in September compared to August of this year held steady except in Winnetka where there was a considerable drop in numbers. Maybe Winnetka parents had more kids going off to college and were distracted . . .?

Many years ago when I lived in my very first apartment in South Pasadena in California, my house was just 1/2 block away from a street that was destined to become an extension of the Long Beach Freeway.  The street was called Meridian and those of us who traveled the area knew it was long overdue but also a shame since the street sliced through a nice leafy suburb with pretty homes.  To this day, the extension has not been built because of strong, vehement actually, opposition to it.

Fast forward to today and the scene is repeating itself in the struggle over what ultimately happens to Willow Road as it slices through Northfield, a nice leafy suburb with pretty homes.  Again, locals are not exactly thrilled to have this heavily traveled route expanded to accommodate the huge number of cars that use this popular east-west thoroughfare.  I moved here from Los Angeles in 1986 and it's been a bottleneck almost every day of the year.

The section in question is a 1 1/4 mile strip that stretches from Happ Road on the east side to Sunset Ridge at the west end.  As two lanes pinch into one, traffic comes almost to a standstill guaranteeing long waits even at non-peak periods.  Throw in a left turn driver and you might as well get out and walk.

View Larger Map

Over the past 30 years the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has made several proposals at reconstructing the street, including the most recent in 2005.  The plan then was to construct a less invasive three-lane road and was widely supported by Northfield residents because it did not drastically alter the character of the village.  Villagers wonder why that plan, estimated at between $6-7 million was not built and why yet another (tax funded) study has been proposed.

Northfield officials were dismayed when the 2005 plan was scuttled and believe that larger interests in Glenview and Northbrook helped bring it down. Glenview developed the Glen and Northbrook is developing the Techny area, both of which depend on a free flowing Willow Road.

But IDOT is indeed going back to the drawing board. But this time the strategy incorporates the idea of "context sensitive solution" which involves holding public meetings, selecting stakeholders and offering designs that make sure that the concerns of residents for safety are addressed.  Stakeholders are, as the term suggests, representatives from various sectors such as schools, PTA, parks districts, etc. from the four villages that are directly affected:  Northfield, Winnetka, Glenview and Northbrook.

State senator Jeff Schoenbeg (D-Evanston) who had previously opposed the widening, now throws his support behind the new effort.  He has said "probably 98% of the people support the four-lane concept" while "there is a very small segment of the Northfield political community who will never change their decades-old opposition to widening Willow." He also claims that Northfield has used lobbyists to block efforts to address the problem.

Finding common ground is the goal here.  Balancing the character of the village and it's stated need for safety against the concerns of congestion and access to businesses is what the context sensitive design process should address with fairness to all. 

This will not be a quick process:  the first stakeholder meeting is scheduled in October, by 2011 the various plans should be winnowed down to one that everyone can live with, and barring no further lawsuits, construction could begin in 2013.  The upcoming two-year period is a time for any interested parties to attend meetings and offer public comment. 

Here is the link to keep up to date on the progress of Willow Road:

Keeping Up On Willow Road