Why I Left the Northern Lakefront for Vero Beach

Glencoe chose nature. That is what makes it different from every other wealthy suburb on the North Shore.

Not just the lake — every North Shore town has the lake. Glencoe has the ravines. The forest preserves. The sense that the land itself was worth protecting before anyone thought to call it an amenity. It is the second-richest suburb in Illinois, with an average home value of $1.39 million and a crime rate nearly 75 percent below the state average. The community earned it.

And Illinois is charging accordingly.

IThe tax structure

At the North Shore's effective property tax rate — between 2.3 and 2.6 percent — an average Glencoe home generates roughly $32,000 to $36,000 annually in property tax. Before a dollar of Illinois' 4.95 percent flat income tax is assessed. Before the next reassessment.

Illinois carries the highest combined state and local tax burden in the nation: $13,099 per household annually — $4,472 above the national average, nearly 52 percent more. That describes the median Illinois household. The Glencoe household is not the median.

Here is the part that I think matters most. The more the Glencoe homeowner earns, the more Illinois extracts. The more the home appreciates, the higher the bill. There is no bracket that protects achievement. There is no ceiling.

Florida has a different architecture. No state income tax. No estate tax. And a homestead exemption now expanding through HJR 1-F — passed by the Legislature this June, 75 to 26 in the House, 30 to 9 in the Senate. It goes to voters this November. Establish primary Florida residency before December 31, 2026, and your household is positioned for the protections under consideration.

That is a legislative deadline. It is on the calendar because the Legislature put it there.

IIWhy Vero Beach — and specifically Grand Harbor

The Glencoe buyer is not looking for just any Florida address. The buyer who chose Glencoe — for the forest preserves, the ravines, the community that kept its character — will not be satisfied by a high-rise tower twenty minutes from a beach. That buyer wants the thing itself.

Grand Harbor is the thing itself.

It sits on the Indian River Lagoon — one of the most biodiverse estuaries on the East Coast. Championship golf threaded through native mangrove and waterway. A deep-water marina. An Atlantic beach club. The natural surroundings are not decorative. They are structural to the address. The Glencoe buyer will recognize the logic before they learn the name.

And the financial entry point is the discovery that reframes everything. Comparable barrier-island property in Vero Beach trades at roughly two-thirds the price of equivalent inventory in Naples. Same Florida coastline. Same private club culture. Same natural character. At approximately 66 percent of the price. The all-cash transaction rate here is 62.7 percent — the highest in the country. That number tells you who buys here, and who you would be living among.

IIIA personal note

I moved to the Vero Beach barrier island from Connecticut nearly twenty years ago. I made this calculation myself — not as a real estate exercise, but as a life one.

What I found was that the instincts that choose Glencoe are exactly the instincts that recognize Vero Beach. Privacy. Nature. A community that has decided what it wants to be and held that line. The difference is the ocean instead of the lake — and a tax bill that does not grow larger every year.

IVHow we work

Vero Premier Properties — the Signature Division of Coldwell Banker Global Luxury — was built for this buyer. We hold membership in the International Luxury Alliance, a referral network across 60 global markets. If you are working with a Coldwell Banker Global Luxury agent on the North Shore, the handoff is direct. Your representation, search history, and preferences travel with you.

The only luxury real estate app within 100 miles of Vero Beach

Search Grand Harbor, Sea Oaks, John's Island, and every barrier island community in real time — with collaborative tools built for the buyer arriving from out of market. Available on the App Store (ID: 6744754515). Contributes to a roughly 40% faster path to contract.

We also keep a Financial Concierge Desk that pairs clients with residency and estate counsel. And we hold the only Cleveland Clinic Preferred Physician Realtors designation in Indian River County — a credential that matters to buyers who care about what happens on the other side of the closing table.

RealTrends Top 1.5% Nationally 2,000+ transactions · $1.2B+ in career sales volume

Apple News Top 10 Most Trusted Realtors in Florida — 2025 Named among the state's most recognized luxury practitioners

International Luxury Alliance · 60 Global Markets Active referral network across six continents

Cleveland Clinic Preferred Physician Realtors The only designation of its kind in Indian River County