Pick your place (7/7/08)

[Anthera]

But Long Grove is a really nice place. I bet if you compared it to Burr Ridge it would have come out on top. Its not really fair when one community has the lake and the other doesn't.

[irish setter girl]

Kenilworth for me. While there are some great spots on Long Grove, I'd prefer something lake-side.

[Drover]

Kenilworth. Location location location. Swap locations and my pick is Long Grove.

[Nysee53]

Kenilworth is not a great comparison to Long Grove. You are comparing the Midwest's most exclusive community to an upper-middle class inland suburb. Kenilworth is so pretty, It will be tough for me to continue business there if they continue to persue the landmark status.

[Anthera]

Which houses have you built in K/W? I sincerely doubt that you have built any houses in Kenilworth. Leo Birov has built several, and the rest have been built primarily by 3 Kenilworth based builder/investers groups.

[Nysee53]

Involved in project on Abingdon. Involved on upcoming project on Greenwood, one on Oxford Road, and soon hopefully one on Sheridan and one on Kenilworth Ave. It is hard to bargain with the sellers now in Kenilworth and the village makes it a pain also. The Birovs no longer build in Kenilworth. My organization is considering a move from Lake Forest to the Kenilworth Realty Co. building, but it is a little expensive.

[Anthera]

Ahh, so you have contributed money or done subcontracting to some of the local building/invester groups. I thought you were saying that your company had built homes in K/W.

[Nysee53]

My company has yet to build a home in Kenilworth independently. We have put up sometimes 50% of money to a home and my partner who is also an architect has designed homes and he has also participated in several renovation projects in the area. Primarily we build in Lake Forest, Winnetka, and Glencoe. We are expanding to Glenview and dropping Lake Bluff and Deerfield due to high inventory and a slow market. Glenview has high inventory also, but we feel we can sell a home faster in Glenview than Lake Bluff or Deerfield.

[Anthera]

I didn't think you had built a house in Kenilworth. I am familiar with most builders in Kenilworth and Winnetka.

Well, good luck with that. Its going to be very difficult to build any spec houses soon. There is too much inventory sitting around, and many banks have stopped funding specualtive ventures. Even commercial projects with tenants in place are having great difficulties getting funding.

[Nysee53]

Kenilworth is pretty good for spec housing, because it has low inventory, but one problem we have in Kenilworth is that it doesn't stand out enough against Winnetka, Glencoe, and Wilmette enough to draw more buyers who are willing to sacrafice square footage for a Kenilworth address. Luckily, we work with a great bank in Lake Forest who helps us finance 100% of our projects. Our organization is an affiliate of Greystone Builders in Highland Park. I took over for a man that was interested in pre-fabricated housing only. I bought him out of the organization and have renamed and restructured it. I served on the Southeast Evanston Development Organization for a while and that was not too sucessful. We were able to get developers to renovate a few houses and build 6 houses in Southeast Evanston. Originally some where angered by me being a member, as I did not reside in Evanston, and I myself did not build in Evanston.