Archive for the 'For Homeowners' Category
Jennifer Hudson’s Home Purchase Tells The Tale Of Today’s Chicago Housing Market
December 5th, 2011 categories: Chicago Real Estate News, FSBO's, For Buyers, For Homeowners, For Sellers
Sellers today might not believe it, but some Chicago residents are still buying homes. Just ask Jennifer Hudson.
The Chicago singer and Oscar-winning actress has a contract pending on a 12,000-square-foot home in the Chicago suburb of Burr Ridge, according to the Chicago Tribune. The home is listed at $2.795 million.
It’s not certain yet just what Hudson will pay for the house. But Hudson’s purchase, even if it’s a full-price offer, provides a quick lesson on the state of the housing market in the Chicago area today. And for Chicago home sellers, the message is clear: Price reductions are still the order of the day for many city condominiums and single-family homes.
If Hudson pays $2.795 million for the home, she will nab it for a price that is more than 33 percent lower than the residence’s original listing price, according to the Chicago Tribune story. That original list price stood at $4.2 million before falling to the current price that attracted Hudson’s offer.
This is happening on a smaller scale to home listings across the Chicago area. Sellers still are frequently dropping their asking prices as their only way to attract buyers. There’s a reason for this: Home buyers today are savvy. They know that the housing market, both in Chicago and across the country, is down. They know, too, that many sellers are eager to move their condominiums and single-family homes, and are willing to drop their asking prices to do it.
If you’re trying to sell today, it’s important that you work with a REALTOR(R) who knows your market. This professional can help you set the right price for your listing, and can boost your odds of moving your residence in the shortest amount of time possible.
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Selling Your Home During The Holidays? Don’t Overdo The Ho-Ho-Ho
December 2nd, 2011 categories: FSBO's, For Homeowners, For Sellers, Staging Advice
It’s fun to decorate your home for the holidays. No one denies this. But if you’re trying to sell your Chicago condominium or single-family home during the holidays, don’t overdo the Santas, reindeer and twinkling lights.
Simply put, too much holiday cheer can turn off potential buyers. It can also make your home look cluttered and small. And those are two adjectives you don’t want buyers to associate with your condo or single-family home.
Remember, selling a home is a very different process than is living in it. When you’re selling, your home must also look its best. And you must always have it decorated to showcase its most positive features. When potential buyers tour your residence, you want them to remember the size of your generous master bedroom, the modern appliances in your updated kitchen and the open space in your living room.
You don’t want them remembering that 10-foot-tall Santa waving to them from your front lawn.
Tasteful decorating is even more important today. The number of home buyers shrinks during the holidays and winter months even in the strongest of residential housing markets. It’s not as much fun to tour homes when the temperature plunges below the freezing mark.
But in today’s challenging housing market, one in which it’s difficult to even move condos and single-family homes in top neighborhoods such as Lincoln Park, Lakeview and Lincoln Square, it’s more important than ever to showcase your home to its fullest. The number of buyers out there is low. And they have plenty of homes from which to choose when they’re finally ready to purchase.
Don’t give these buyers a reason to bypass your residence. It’s OK to decorate. No one will hold your holiday cheer against you. But when you overdo it, and when your home looks more like an amusement park ride than a residence, you run the real risk of turning way those elusive buyers that are actually out there today.
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Thinking Of Refinancing? Now’s A Good Time
November 18th, 2011 categories: For Homeowners, Mortgage Info, Refinancing
The Medill news service last week reported on a surge in mortgage refinances across the country. The reason for this increase is simple: Mortgage interest rates fell once again.
According to the Medill report, which cited figures from the Mortgage Bankers Association, during the week ended Nov. 4 mortgage refinance applications rose by 12.1 percent from the previous week.
These numbers were recorded at a time in which the interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage stood at 4 percent and the rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage loan stood at 3.31 percent, according to Freddie Mac.
Homeowners can save a significant amount of money by refinancing. For instance, homeowners with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan of $165,000 with an interest rate of 5.25 percent would pay $911.14 every month. Those homeowners with the same loan but an interest rate of 4 percent would pay $787.74 a month. Those savings add up over the course of a mortgage loan.
However, homeowners should remember that mortgage refinancing is not free. The Federal Reserve Board estimates that homeowners usually pay from 3 percent to 6 percent of their outstanding principal balance in refinance fees. That’s why it’s important for homeowners to work closely with mortgage loan officers to determine if the savings they’ll receive every month by refinancing will allow them to quickly cover the costs of the refinance.
Also, homeowners should realize that a refinance will take some work on their part. They’ll have to meet certain credit requirements to qualify for the best interest rates. They’ll also have to provide plenty of paperwork to their lenders to close the refinance. This often includes tax returns, paycheck stubs, bank checking and savings accounts, credit card bills and other documents.
But those homeowners who do qualify for the lowest interest rates can generate plenty of savings by refinancing. And because interest rates remain so low, this is the perfect time for them to take action.
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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.
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Why Not Rent That Unsold Condo?
May 27th, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, Chicago Neighborhoods, For Homeowners, Renting in Chicago
It’s not easy selling a condo in Chicago these days. There are just too many vacant units on the market. Not surprisingly, a growing number of condo owners in the city are taking a bold step: They’re renting their units out for short-term stays.
Dennis Rodkin, the writer of Chicago Magazine’s Deal Estate column, tackled this issue last week. He wrote that the idea is gaining popularity among condo owners who are hoping to trim at least some of the costs associated with paying the mortgage on units they no longer want to own.
Rodkin cites a spokesperson from HomeAway, an online vacation-home rental company, who told him that the service had 120 listings in Chicago in April. That’s up 53 percent from the same month one year earlier. More importantly, the spokesperson mentioned that more than half of these vacation-home listings were city condos.
For vacationers, this is good news. Spending a week in a Chicago condo in Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square or just about any other hot city neighborhood makes for a great vacation. It’s a benefit for the owners of these units, too. They may not be able to sell their Chicago condos; but there’s no reason why they can’t at least collect a nice chunk of rent during the prime summer vacation months.
Unfortunately, not everyone is happy about this. Some condo residents worry that the increasing number of rentals will turn their buildings into party zones. Rodkin reports that the Chicago City Council’s Joint Committee on Zoning License is considering a new nightly vacation rental ordinance. If approved, the measure would force condo owners to pay licensing and inspection fees when they rent out their condos. The ordinance would also force them to pay taxes on their rental proceeds.
I understand the concerns of condo owners, but this ordinance does seem more than anything like a way for the city to squeeze even more money out of its residents. If this measure passes, I wonder, will it put a serious crimp in the short-term rental plans of Chicago condo owners?
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