Hi {{first_name}},

Ask buyers what they want near their next home. Somewhere after "good schools" and "not on a busy road," you'll almost always hear some version of "a grocery store I can get to in five minutes."

That raises a great question: does the store down the street actually make your house worth more? A few new studies took a real swing at it. Then I looked at what's happening in Hawthorn, downtown Libertyville, and Mundelein, and the answer got more interesting.

Quick reminder: trick-or-treat is Saturday. If you need the hours for your town, they're in last week's issue.

Short version: being near good retail helps. Being next to it doesn't.

A study of Costco openings found no price bump on average. In denser and higher-income areas, though, homes within five miles gained 5% to 8% over the following two and a half years. Then researchers in Fresno looked at what happened when a Costco moved to a new location. Homes near the old site rose 8% to 9% compared with similar neighborhoods. Homes near the new one barely moved. The researchers' best explanation: the traffic left.

There's also a chicken-and-egg problem. Big retailers do serious homework before they build, so some of that appreciation is just them picking towns that were already on the way up.

The takeaway: buyers pay for a five-minute drive. They don't pay to stare at a loading dock.

Hawthorn, Vernon Hills. In 2025, Vernon Hills had the highest retail sales in Lake County, more than $2 billion, up 13% in a year. Part of that came from shoppers left behind when Golf Mill and Northbrook Court declined. Part came from the apartments built around the mall. The Domaine added 311 units in 2024, and 282 more are planned by 2028. The $5 million interior refresh wraps up this fall, with outward-facing storefronts starting in 2027. Retail brought people, and people brought more retail.

Downtown Libertyville. Downtown was added to the National Register of Historic Places last year, and new spots keep filling storefronts. Libertyville homes sold for a median of around $625,000 this spring and summer, well above the county median of about $410,000. Not all of that is downtown, since schools and lot sizes do plenty of the work. But being able to walk to dinner is part of what people are paying for.

Mundelein. This is the one to watch. The blocks around the downtown Metra station have added roughly 530 new homes, and that number passes 770 once the projects under construction finish. Rooftops usually come first and shops follow, and downtown Mundelein is in that gap right now. Farther out on Route 60/83, the proposed Ivanhoe Village plan calls for 3,200 homes plus retail, though it's still working through the planning process.

If you're buying: measure drive time, not distance. Two easy miles beat one congested one. Before you write an offer, drive by at noon on a Saturday. That's when you find out whether the shopping center is a convenience or a headache.

If you're selling: walkability and nearby shopping belong in your listing description, because buyers do care. A new store opening down the road doesn't automatically add $20,000 to your price, though. Recent comparable sales decide that, not headlines.

Want to see what's for sale near the places you'd actually shop? Search Lake County homes here.

Every town in Lake County is making a bet right now on what goes where. Vernon Hills bet on turning a mall into a neighborhood, Libertyville bet on keeping its downtown historic, and Mundelein is betting that if it builds homes, the shops will follow.

For you, the question is simpler: what do you want within five minutes of your front door? Get that right and the rest of the house usually falls into place.

If you're weighing a move and want to talk through which towns fit how you actually live, grab 20 minutes on my calendar.

Until next week…

P.S. I finally got around to building out my YouTube channel. Same idea as this newsletter, just with more of my face. If you'd like to join me over there, I'd love to connect.