Archive for the 'For Sellers' Category
December Numbers Provide Strong Finish To Chicago Home Sales In 2011
January 25th, 2012 categories: Chicago Real Estate News, Economic Recovery, FSBO's, For Homeowners, For Sellers, Housing Market
Though 2011 wasn’t the strongest year for Chicago existing-home sales — they were actually down 7.2 percent from 2010 — December, at least, closed the year off strong.
According to the latest home sales numbers from the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, December, 2011, existing-home sales in Chicago hit 1,536, up 6.4 percent from the 1,444 homes sold in the same month one year earlier.
The news wasn’t as good when it came to the median sales prices of these homes. According to the association’s numbers, the median home sale price for Chicago stood at $156,000 in December of last year. That’s down 6.2 percent when compared to the same month in 2010. Back then, the median sales price of Chicago homes came in at $166,250.
Bob Floss, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS®, was quoted in the press release accompanying the December numbers as saying that the December rally was a good sign for the future of Chicago housing sales. The numbers give hope that Chicago’s winter and spring home-selling seasons will be strong ones, he said.
Floss, though, expressed concerns about the median sales price of Chicago condominiums and single-family homes. This number shows no sign of rising, and, in fact, continues to fall. Floss pointed to the large number of distressed residential properties on the market: Foreclosures tend to drag down the median sales prices of homes near them.
Until the number of foreclosures falls, don’t expect the median sales price of Chicago residential properties to rise.
The association press release also quotes Loretta Alonzo, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS®. She says that buyers in December simply found too many good housing deals to pass up.
That’s good news, of course, for sellers trying to move their properties. It’s not great news, though, for sellers trying to get top dollar for their homes. Buyers today simply expect to find bargains on the condos and single-family homes that they purchase.
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Expecting A Better Chicago Economy In 2012? Think Again
January 6th, 2012 categories: Chicago Info/News, Chicago Neighborhoods, Chicago News, Chicago Real Estate News, Economic Recovery, For Buyers, For Homeowners, For Sellers
Crain’s Chicago Business gave Chicago residents hoping for a better economic year in 2012 little reason for optimism. According to Crain’s, the Chicago economy will improve in 2012, but at a slower-than-optimal rate.
Crain’s quoted numbers from Moody’s Analytics saying that the Chicago-area economy should grow by about 1.6 percent in the first half of 2012 and by about 2 percent for the full year. These numbers sound positive until you consider that six months ago Moody’s predicted that the Chicago-area economy would grow by about 4 percent in 2012.
Crain’s points to the economic uncertainty caused by unstable financial markets and European debt worries. This, the story says, has made employers overly cautious when making new job hires.
Because of this, Moody’s is predicting that the unemployment rate in the Chicago area will jump to 11.4 percent in the first half of 2012. That’s up from 10.6 percent in the second half of 2011. Six months ago, Moody’s predicted that the Chicago-area unemployment rate would stand at 9.2 percent in the first half of 2012.
This is bad news, too, for the Chicago housing market. Buyers won’t be as willing to invest in a new home if they’re still worried about losing their jobs. And as Moody’s numbers show, Chicagoans have little reason to be optimistic about the safety of their jobs.
Just because a new year has started, it doesn’t mean that Chicago, and the rest of the nation, don’t still face serious challenges. Until unemployment finally falls, expect the Chicago housing market to struggle.
This latest news points out once again how important it is for home sellers to work with a skilled REALTOR® to set the right price for their condominiums or single-family homes. Buyers today are smart; they won’t overpay for a home. Those sellers who do set an unrealistic asking price will see their residence sit on the market for months, ignored by today’s savvy home buyers.
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Housing Foreclosures Rise Again In The Chicago Area
December 22nd, 2011 categories: Chicago Info/News, Economic Recovery, For Homeowners, For Sellers, Foreclosures, Housing Market
The number of housing foreclosures fell throughout the United States. But locally in the Chicago area, housing foreclosures actually rose.
According to a recent feature story in the Chicago Tribune, the number of homes in the foreclosure process rose 20 percent in November in Cook County when compared to one month earlier. The Tribune said that much of this increase stemmed from a jump of 57 percent in the number of homes in the county that were sent to court-ordered auctions.
Citing data from online foreclosure company RealtyTrac, the Tribune reported that foreclosure filings were reported on more than 224,000 properties across the United States in November. That’s a drop of 3 percent from October.
No matter how you look at the numbers there are too many housing foreclosures in Chicago and the United States. This is unfortunate because foreclosure has such a devastating effect on families.
If you’re struggling to pay your mortgage bills each month, call your mortgage lender immediately. The sooner you call your lender, the better your chances of working out a new payment arrangement, a reduction in your mortgage loan’s interest rate or some other way to avoid losing your home through foreclosure.
I understand that this is no easy thing, calling your mortgage lender and explaining that you’re struggling to pay your monthly housing bills. But lenders will often work with you to find some solution to your mortgage woes.
Foreclosures remain the number-one deterrent to a housing market rebound, both in Chicago and across the nation. Foreclosures make it more difficult for sellers to get the prices they want for their homes. Buyers would rather pay $50,000 less for a similar home down the street that’s gone through the foreclosure process.
If you don’t want to become the latest foreclosure statistic, call your lender. Ignoring your mortgage problems won’t help them go away.
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Contingency Offers Making A Comeback In Chicago?
December 16th, 2011 categories: Chicago Real Estate News, For Buyers, For Sellers
Selling a home and buying one at the same time has never been an easy task. Ideally, homeowners want to sell their existing homes, close on a new home and move directly from one residence to the next.
The timing of all this can be difficult. Often, sellers have to take a chance: Do they buy their dream home today even though they’re still trying to sell their Chicago condo? Or do they wait to sell their existing home before buying a new place to live? Both options come with challenges: Homeowners who buy a home before they sell their current residence might end up having to make two mortgage payments a month as they struggle to sell their existing homes, especially in today’s challenging Chicago housing market.
And those buyers who go the other route might find themselves without a place to live once they’ve closed on the sale of their existing home.
The Chicago Tribune, though, recently outlined the growing popularity of an alternative, the contingency sale.
In a contingency offer, homebuyers get a set period of time — the Tribune says it’s usually from 30 to 60 days — to sell their homes before the deal on their new home closes. If buyers don’t sell their properties during this time period, the deal evaporates.
During the contingency period, if another buyer makes a better offer on the new home, the owners of that residence can accept it. In most cases, the first buyers have a short period of time — often one or two days — to remove the contingency on their offer and purchase the home outright. If buyers don’t take this opportunity, the new buyers are free to purchase the home.
Contingency offers come with risks for both sides. Buyers, of course, might lose the home they want because a better offer comes in. Sellers might see their purchase offer evaporate if their buyers find that they can’t sell their existing residences. And when a home has a contingency offer on it, it generally attracts fewer potential buyers.
In brisk real estate markets, most sellers won’t accept contingency offers. In Chicago during the real estate boom, sellers rarely took on such offers. Today, though, sellers are more willing to consider this alternative as single-family homes and condominiums sit on the market for months.
Buyers and sellers, though, need to discuss the pros and cons of contingency offers with their real estate agents before entering into one of these agreements.
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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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