Archive for the 'For Sellers' Category
Price Cuts Spur Big Condo Sales in Chicago
February 25th, 2010 categories: Chicago Real Estate News, For Buyers, For Sellers, Housing Market
One thing still works for buyers struggling to sell condos in Chicago’s still sluggish condominium market: price cuts.
The HousingWire news service reported on Feb. 19 that Chicago real estate developer Belgravia Realty Group managed to sell 50 condominiums in just four weeks recently by cutting prices on units at its 565 Quincy project in the Loop by as much as 30 percent.
This made a big impact in the downtown condo market, according to Appraisal Research Counselors, the Chicago commercial appraisal firm quoted in the story. The company said that sales at 565 W. Quincy accounted for 79 percent of all new-construction sales in downtown Chicago since the first of the year.
565 W. Quincy, located at the intersection of Jefferson St. and Jackson Blvd. in downtown Chicago, provides an important point about the current state of Chicago’s downtown condominium market: Sales may be going up, but developers are slashing asking prices to fuel the jump.
It’s a good lesson for condo owners in the city, too. If you have to sell your condo in today’s residential market, make sure to meet with a skilled REALTOR® before you list your unit. A REALTOR® who knows your neighborhood and its localized real estate market will be able to help you set the right initial asking price for your unit.
Buyers today still have a lot of inventory from which to choose. This is especially true when it comes to condominium units in downtown Chicago. There are simply too many unsold units clogging the market. To sell a unit today, then, you have to do everything you can to set yours apart from your competitors. The best way to do this, still, is by offering the best price for your unit.
If you try pricing your downtown Chicago condo at an asking price that is too high for the current market, the odds are great that your unit will sit for months without attracting any solid offers. Price it right, though, and you greatly increase your chances to move your unit.
Belgravia knows this lesson. It’s one that all condo sellers should learn, too.
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Chicago Condo Sales Show Some Life, But For How Long?
February 17th, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, Economic Recovery, For Buyers, For Homeowners, For Sellers, Housing Market
I believe that the Chicago housing market is in the middle of a turnaround. Some might accuse me of being overly optimistic; after all, I am a REALTOR®. A revived housing market is certainly in my best interests.
But more and more, the local housing numbers are backing up my optimism.
For instance, Crain’s Chicago Business last week reported that the sales of condominiums in downtown Chicago rose in the fourth quarter of 2009. This is especially significant, as city condo sales dropped dramatically as the Chicago real estate slump worsened. To see condo sales rising, even slightly, is as good a reason as any for optimism.
The Crain’s story, of course, wasn’t all good news. It’s true that builders sold 148 condominiums and townhomes in downtown Chicago during the last three months of 2009. And it’s also true that this number is a nice increase from the 56 condo and townhome sales made in downtown Chicago in the third quarter of the year.
But Crain’s does throw in some sobering news: The story quotes researchers from Chicago’s Appraisal Research Counselors who say that the Chicago condo market won’t make a true rebound until the local unemployment numbers fall. The story also says that the number of condo sales won’t rise more dramatically until local buyers gain faith that the prices of downtown condominiums will no longer continue to drop.
Gail Lissner, vice president of Appraisal Research, said it best when she was quoted as saying that Chicago buyers still have to be convinced that the local housing market has finally bottomed out and that housing prices will soon start to appreciate at a faster rate.
Still, it’s hard not to get excited by these latest Chicago housing numbers. I’m still confident, in fact, that next year we’ll look back at 2010 as the start of our city’s housing recovery. I’m not sure when, or if, downtown condo sales will again approach the sales numbers they registered during the days of the housing boom. But I am confident that buyers will begin purchasing these units again. Downtown Chicago is simply too enticing and strong of an area for it not to feature a condo revival.
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Chicago REALTORS® – And Sellers – Looking Forward To A Better 2010
February 11th, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, Economic Recovery, For Buyers, For Homeowners, For Sellers, Housing Market
Chicago Tribune writer Mary Ellen Podmolik did a good job last week in summing up the mood at the 2010 Economic Forecast held by the Chicago Association of REALTORS®: 2009 was not great. This year, while not exactly shaping up to be a banner year, should be better.
The Chicago association holds its economic forecast every year. As you can guess, the last few have been quite gloomy. This year’s, though, had a different air about it: Attendees and speakers seemed to think that the worst days of the local residential real estate market were behind us.
I agree. When I look at the second half of 2009, I see a local housing market in recovery mode. Chicago condominium, townhouse and single-family home sales rebounded quite nicely even as summer turned to fall and fall turned to winter. All signs are that housing sales will continue to rise as the 2010 spring selling season arrives. Prices, however, will not rise.
The economic forecast is not only a good event at which to gauge the mood of my fellow REALTORS®, it’s also a time to look back at the year that was.
At the most recent economic forecast, we learned that 51 percent of Illinois buyers in 2009 were first-time buyers. These buyers had an average age of 29 and boasted a median annual household income of $64,400. Repeat buyers in the state had a median annual household income of $92,800.
Detached single-family homes accounted for 67 percent of the home purchases in Illinois last year. Buyers said that they generally sold their homes for 95 percent of their listing price. That would rank as a solid figure if 58 percent of sellers hadn’t also reduced their listing price at least once before selling their homes.
Podmolik also pointed out a rather grim statistic: In Chicago last year, an astounding 50 percent of single-family home sales and 18 percent of condominium sales were either short sales or foreclosures last year. Those are two numbers that simply must fall in 2010.
I think I speak for everyone when I say “good riddance” to 2009. One last look at the year is all I can take. I have a feeling, though, that when the Chicago REALTORS® hold their 2011 economic forecast, we’ll have much fonder memories of 2010.
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Even Super Bowl QBs Struggling In Today’s Condo Market
February 4th, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, Chicago Real Estate News, Economic Recovery, For Homeowners, For Sellers, Housing Market, Mortgage Info, Real Estate News
I don’t think Rex Grossman will have too many fond memories of Chicago. True, the former Chicago Bears’ starting quarterback led Chicago to the Super Bowl following the 2006 season. But he lost that game. He eventually lost his starting job, too. He was eventually “kicked” out of Chicago – Bears fans had long since turned on the quarterback – and is now a backup quarterback for the Houston Texans.
Now comes the news that Grossman, like so many other Chicagoans, has had to sell his city condominium at a loss. And not just any loss: According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Grossman sold his condo in River North’s Trump International Hotel & Tower for a whopping $700,000 loss.
The Sun-Times reported that Grossman sold his condo for $2 million last week. The paper also reports that he purchased it for $2.68 million in September of 2008. Grossman originally put the unit up for sale at $2.89 million before reducing his asking price to $2.3 million and eventually selling for $2 million.
Grossman’s tale is a good lesson for the owners of Chicago condominiums: Although the market has picked up considerably since 1/1/2010, unless one has lots of equity or absolutely has to sell, now might not be the best time to put your unit on the market. According to a story in the Chicago Tribune, condo prices in Chicago are now at early 2004 levels.
The Tribune cites data from Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller that shows that prices fell 8.5 percent for Chicago condominiums in the 12 months that ended in October.
Many condo owners have no choice but to sell now. Their employers may be transferring them to a new city. Maybe they’ve found a better job on their own in a new location. Or maybe they’re going off to graduate school across the country. Whatever the reason, these folks can’t wait out the market.
Their best bet is to do everything they can to set their condo units apart from their competition. These owners should work closely with their REALTORS® to set up a marketing plan. This may include steps as simple as giving their condo’s interiors a fresh coat of paint or something as advanced as hiring a professional stager to show off their unit in its best possible light.
In today’s Chicago condominium market, sellers need every advantage they can get.
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Chicago Home Prices Down, But Not By Much
December 30th, 2009 categories: Chicago Info/News, Chicago Neighborhoods, Economic Recovery, For Buyers, For Homeowners, For Sellers, Housing Market
The story’s been the same throughout much of 2009 in Chicago: Average city housing prices are lower today than they were a year ago.
This didn’t change in November, according to the latest data released by the Illinois Association of REALTORS®. But in a bit of a silver lining, sales prices didn’t fall by all that much in the month.
The REALTORS® association reported that the median housing price in the city of Chicago for condominiums, single-family homes and townhomes stood at $215,000. That’s down 3.4 percent from the median sales price of $222,500 in the city one year earlier.
This isn’t the best of news for Chicago home sellers. After all, they’re trying to get the best prices for their homes. But the fact that the median sales price was down less than 4 percent is a good sign for the health of the local housing market.
The numbers tell me that housing prices in Chicago are finally reaching a stable point. Let’s face it, local home prices soared too high here during the height of the residential housing boom that ended in mid- to late-2006. These prices needed to fall. Of course, the process has been painful for home sellers and homeowners alike. Sellers are no longer able to name their price and then watch as buyers fight over their property. Owners are watching helplessly as their condos and single-family homes, even those in neighborhoods such as Lincoln Park, Lakeview and Lincoln Square, lose value. In fact, some studies suggest that about 15 million U.S. homeowners owe more on their mortgage loans than what their homes are worth.
But as painful as the process has been, it is an important one. There will come a day soon – hopefully in the coming year – when housing prices are no longer lower today than they were a year or two years ago. When that day arrives, we’ll know that housing prices have finally reached equilibrium.
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