Kenilworth Realtors

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Kenilworth, Illinois Real Estate Agents

Only forty minutes north of downtown Chicago, Kenilworth is the youngest community among the nine North Shore villages bordering Lake Michigan. Of those nine, it is the only one that was initially developed as a planned community. Kenilworth real estate agents point out that nearby Chicago, Lake Michigan and the layout of the neighborhoods with tree-lined streets are making homes there extremely popular among buyers on the North Shore.

Kenilworth has one school, the Joseph Sears school, which is named after the village founder. High school aged students normally attend New Trier High School, which serves several surrounding communities and is credited with being one of the best in the country. The village has a well planned and vigorous downtown area which includes a variety of retail stores and businesses. There is a park district complete with swimming pools, playgrounds and ball fields. All of the neighborhoods were carefully planned to cater to resident needs and foster a sense of connection and Kenilworth real estate agents say those factors influence buyers.

Kenilworth real estate agents will describe housing available in the form of historic homes, a few town homes, medium priced single family homes, some recent virtual mansions and new construction lake shore estates. At present there are no condominium developments in the village.

With a resident population of around 2,500, Kenilworth is known as the most wealthy community in or around Chicago. In a 2006 issue of Forbes magazine, it was labeled as the 88th most expensive Zip code. Some studies done by Kenilworth real estate agents show that average priced homes there have increased in value over 100 percent over the past five years. At that rate, the appreciation is greater than any of the properties in the other nine North Shore communities. The average home value is around $1.5 million, which means that from past records and figures, the yearly increase in value has been in excess of $150,000. From an investment standpoint, those are impressive figures.

The number of houses sold has decreased slightly over the past few quarters, but those homes that are on the market usually sell within 2 or 3 months. Recent list prices have ranged anywhere from $525,000 to $3.6 million per property. Most of the houses in Kenilworth are older single family homes. In fact, of the nearly 400 established residences there, the majority are at least 80 years old with some dating back more than 100 years in construction.

It is this wealth of historic homes, Kenilworth real estate agents have discovered, that has caused a huge amount of dissension in the village. Many new residents buy these houses and tear them down to build much larger homes with a more modern design. Long time residents have tagged these new buildings "McMansions" and have launched campaigns to stop the development. The major points of contention are that aside from the destruction of the original historic buildings, these new construction homes are too contemporary in design to fit in with the neighborhoods in particular and village in general.

One such disputed homes was on Kenilworth Avenue and was slated for tear down during the summer of 2006. Protests were successful and the house has been preserved, but the controversy caught the national spot light and the National Trust for Historic Preservation added the village of Kenilworth to the "Eleven Most Endangered Places" in the nation.

Despite all of that, Kenilworth real estate agents report a healthy property market. Listings for single family residences in neighborhoods such as The Glen subdivision or Monterey Drive often start at $2.4 million and up. These golf course lots tend to be more lavish and expensive.

There are beautiful Colonial homes listed for sale on Abbotsford Road from $999,000 and up. Kenilworth real estate agents also have several older homes in the eastern part of the village that run from the upper $700,000 range. Almost every section of the village has beautiful homes for sale with plenty of history attached.

With or without the addition of more McMansions, Kenilworth will retain its character and continue to be one of the best and most comfortable places to live in the North Shore. Over 100 years of living in so many homes says a lot about a community.