Archive for the 'Chicago Info/News' Category
“Good” News, Bad News Regarding The Chicago Housing Market
December 6th, 2011 categories: Chicago Neighborhoods, Chicago Real Estate News, Economic Recovery, For Buyers, For Homeowners
The Chicago Tribune in late November brought both good and bad news for Chicago homeowners in the same story, covering reports showing that home prices in the Chicago area fell in September but that the number of local owners underwater on their mortgage loans also dipped.
First, the prices: According to the latest findings from the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, home prices in the Chicago area dropped 0.8 percent in September when compared to August. They were also down 5 percent when compared to September of 2010.
Prices in the Chicago area today are at levels the area last saw in the spring of 2002, according to the Tribune story.
The “better” news? The Tribune also reported on the latest numbers from CoreLogic that showed that 24.9 percent of all homeowners with a mortgage in the Chicago area owed more on their loans than what their residences were worth at the end of September.
That number isn’t great. But it is better than the 25.2 percent of homeowners who were underwater on their mortgage loans at the end of the second quarter of this year.
Still, even with that slight improvement, 383,625 residences in the Chicago area were underwater on their mortgage loans at the end of September. Obviously, that number is far too high, especially considering nationally that only 22.1 percent of all residential properties with mortgage loans were underwater at the end of the same month, according to CoreLogic.
Both sets of numbers show that the housing market in Chicago, as in the rest of the nation, has a long way to go before it can be considered healthy again. The good news is for buyers: Home prices in the City, even in traditionally attractive neighborhoods such as Lakeview, Lincoln Park and Lincoln Square, remain affordable. Buyers today can find great bargains on good properties in the best locations.
| Discussion: 1 Comment »
Zell: High-Quality Real Estate Still A Good Investment
September 22nd, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, Economic Recovery, For Buyers, Housing Market
It’s easy these days to get down on the U.S. economy. The recovery from the Great Recession hasn’t been strong enough to please anyone. The national unemployment rate is still too high. Housing values are stagnant. Home sales are down.
But, no less a financial guru than Sam Zell says that the U.S. economy is now on the right track. And that certainly qualifies as good news.
The Bloomberg news service covered Zell’s recent speech at a real estate conference in Chicago. According to the story, Zell told audience members that the U.S. economy will continue to improve and that high-quality real estate remains a wise investment.
I couldn’t agree with Zell more, especially when it comes to his thoughts on the value of real estate. I’ve argued during even the worst days of Chicago’s real estate slump that city housing remains a top investment. Yes, the value of Chicago condominiums and single-family homes is down now. But that just makes this an even better time to purchase local real estate.
Housing in Chicago’s top neighborhoods, places like Lincoln Square, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Bucktown and Ravenswood, remains a solid investment. It’s true that no one can predict how home values will react over the years. But historically, home values have risen over time. The key is for owners to hold onto their homes for a long enough period of time – usually five years or more does the trick.
Buying a house was never meant to be a get-rich-quick investment. Remember, when you buy a condominium or single-family home, you get the benefits of living in that home. You also get tax advantages that you don’t get when you rent. You can’t say that about any other investment you can make.
During the days of the U.S. housing boom, buyers in Chicago were able to purchase condos or single-family homes in hot neighborhoods, fix them up and sell them for sometimes double what they initially paid, all in a few months’ time. That isn’t happening today.
But that doesn’t mean that owning a home is a bad financial investment. Though nothing is guaranteed, those homeowners who are patient will usually find that their homes are good investments.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW PROPERTIES NOT YET ON THE MARKET.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Home Sales Up or Down? It Depends on the Numbers You Use
September 16th, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, Economic Recovery, For Buyers, For Homeowners, For Sellers
How healthy is the Chicago housing market? The short answer is that it’s as healthy as most housing markets across the country. The more complicated answer? That depends upon what numbers you use.
According to the most recent sales statistics from the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, the sale of single-family homes and condominiums in Chicago fell 19.5 percent in July from the same month one year earlier. In July, 1,589 homes were sold. That’s down from 1,975 homes sold in the same month in 2009.
Now, that number seems awfully bad. But it isn’t as bad when you consider that condominium and single-family home sales fell 27 percent across the nation in July.
Chicago home sales also look stronger if you consider year-to-date sales. Thanks in no small part to the federal first-time and move-up buyer tax credits, both of which expired on midnight on April 30, Chicago’s year-to-date home sales are ahead of what we saw last year.
According to the numbers from the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, Chicago’s housing sales from January through July were up 25 percent from the same period in 2009. So far this year, Chicago has seen 12,397 home sales. That’s far ahead of the 9,915 home sales the city saw from January through July of 2009.
If you’re still looking for bad news from the REALTORS® association, you can always study its median sales price numbers. The median price is an important one; it’s the figure at which half of homes sold for higher prices and half for lower.
According to the association, the city of Chicago’s median home price in July stood at $196,000. That’s down 19.8 percent from the $245,000 at which the median stood in the same month one year earlier. The year-to-date median sales price of $215,000 is down 6 percent. The median price was $229,000 for the period of January through July of 2009.
The point of all this isn’t to confuse home buyers or sellers. It’s to point out one fact: The Chicago housing market is a mixed bag of positive and negative news today. In that respect, it’s little different from the majority of housing markets across the country.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW PROPERTIES NOT YET ON THE MARKET.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Incentives To Buy Homes Now Keep Coming
August 23rd, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, Economic Recovery, For Buyers, Mortgage Info
It’s easy to get down on today’s residential housing market. Home values are down. Foreclosures are up. Sales are sluggish.
But all of these factors, which make selling a condominium or single-family home today so challenging, make this a great time to buy a home in Chicago.
The Illinois Association of REALTORS® reported that the median sales price of Chicago homes stood at $230,000 in the second quarter of this year. That’s an extremely affordable price for Chicago. And by taking out an FHA loan, buyers here only have to come up with a down payment of 3.5 percent of a home’s purchase price.
At the same time, inventory levels are high. Buyers have a lot from which to choose when it comes to buying condominiums or single-family homes in some of the city’s top neighborhoods, like Lincoln Park, Ravenswood, Lakeview, Lincoln Square and Streeterville.
Then there’s the news regarding mortgage interest rates. According to the latest numbers from Freddie Mac, the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan stood at an amazing 4.42 percent for the week ended Aug. 19. The rate for the average 15-year fixed-rate loan hit 3.90 percent. Both rates were down from the previous week, and down from the same period one year earlier. This means that buyers today can get more home for their dollars.
Even the high number of foreclosures in Chicago and the rest of the country can mean good news for buyers. When banks and other lending institutions have to re-sell their foreclosures, they usually do so at a greatly reduced price. Again, this gives buyers the opportunity to purchase homes for fewer dollars. Some buyers might purchase a foreclosure to be able to get into a neighborhood that they otherwise could not have afforded.
No one’s arguing that this is a difficult time in which to sell a home. But for first-time buyers and any others who don’t have to first sell a residence, this is a great time to buy.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW PROPERTIES NOT YET ON THE MARKET.
| Discussion: 1 Comment »
Singles Find Chicago Market A Welcoming One
July 26th, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, Chicago Real Estate News
The housing market may be a challenging one for sellers, but it’s not bad at all for buyers. And for single buyers in the Chicago area, today’s market is ideal.
The Daily Herald recently ran a story about the growing number of single buyers purchasing condominiums and single-family homes in the Chicago region.
This is a big change. It used to be that single men and women rented apartments. Today, though, a growing number of them are skipping the rental period altogether.
The reasons are many. For one thing, the median sales price of condominiums and single-family homes in Chicago and its suburbs has dropped during the housing slump. Chicago housing is more affordable today than it’s been in years. Single buyers can purchase more home for their dollars today.
Then there are the record-low mortgage interest rates. The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan was still well under 5 percent as of the middle of July. That’s a terrific rate. For single buyers, it means they’ll pay less each month on their mortgage payments.
The Herald story also points out that the now-expired first-time homebuyer tax credit from the federal government, which provided a tax credit of up to $8,000 to buyers who were purchasing their first homes, encouraged a larger number of single buyers to enter the housing market.
There are other benefits to single buyers today, too. Sellers in Chicago and its surrounding areas are often desperate to move their homes. They’re often willing to lower their asking prices and make more concessions to buyers, all to help sell their homes in less time. There’s also a large inventory of condos and single-family homes on the market today. Simply put, buyers have plenty of choices when looking for a Chicago home today.
Personally, I think it’s a great idea for singles to purchase their own homes as soon as possible. Residential real estate in the Chicago area has traditionally retained its value. Though there are never any guarantees, single buyers who purchase today at what might be near the bottom of the local housing market will be well positioned to see their home purchase increase in value before they sell.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW PROPERTIES NOT YET ON THE MARKET.
| Discussion: No Comments »
