Archive for the 'Real Estate News' Category
2011 far from the best year for Chicago home sales
January 23rd, 2012 categories: Chicago Real Estate News
The year-end numbers are in, and 2011 was officially a better year for Chicago-area home sales than was 2010. But just barely. And home sales in the actual city limits fell in 2011.
That’s the news from a recent Chicago Tribune story (RYAN: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0121-home-sales-20120121,0,2382184.story) on the final 2011 residential sales numbers, which were recently released by the Illinois Association of REALTORS®.
According to the numbers, existing-home sales in the Chicago area rose by 1.3 percent in 2011 when compared to 2010. The news wasn’t as good, though, for the city itself; home sales within the city of Chicago — which hit 17,715 in 2011 — fell 7.2 percent when compared to 2010.
The news was fairly gloomy when it came to housing prices, too. Median housing prices for the city of Chicago fell 13.8 percent in 2011, hitting $175,000. In 2010, the year-end median sales price of existing homes in Chicago stood at $203,000.
This news isn’t surprising to anyone who’s followed the Chicago housing market in 2011. Simply put, this market remains a challenging one for anyone trying to sell a condominium or single-family home. This means, of course, that it’s a good market for those trying to buy homes in the city. After all, mortgage interest rates have hit several all-time lows in the last year, including a new low for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages last week. With prices continuing to fall, it’s easy for buyers to find bargains on homes in even Chicago’s trendiest neighborhoods.
Sellers, though, need to set the right price for their condos or single-family homes if they hope to move their properties. Those who set asking prices that are too high will receive few serious offers.
That’s why I recommend that home sellers in Chicago and its suburbs work closely with a REALTOR® to help sell their residences. Those who don’t, run the risk of setting the wrong asking price for their homes. And that will almost certainly bring with it a long stay on the Multiple Listing Service.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Chicago Tribune Column Reiterates It: Take Time To Find The Right Home Inspector
January 20th, 2012 categories: Chicago Real Estate News
If you’re buying a home, you’ve probably spent long hours searching for the right real estate agent. The odds are good that you’ve done the same when looking for a mortgage lender.
But what about when it’s time to hire a home inspector? This real estate professional is critically important, too. Hiring the right inspector can save you thousands of dollars, and might even prevent you from buying the wrong house. But far too many home buyers simply look for the home inspector that’ll charge them the least amount of money.
It’s a mistake that Chicago Tribune columnists Ilyce Glink and Samuel Tamkin cover in a recent column.
The columnists stress that hiring the right home inspector is an important decision. A home inspector will tour your house after you decide to buy it but before you reach the closing table. Inspectors look for serious problems such as sagging foundations, leaking roofs or aging furnaces. An inspector who does find serious problems can help you negotiate a lower price with home sellers, or can help you cancel a deal if the improvements needed to a home are far too costly.
To find the right inspector, you should interview several candidates. And you should ask the right questions. You should ask inspectors how long they’ve been in the business and whether they’ve had experience inspecting the kind of home you are hoping to buy. As the Tribune column says, you want to make sure that any inspector you hire will be able to spot potential warning signs regarding electricity, drywall and plumbing. You also want to work with an inspector who can find any potential health hazards in the home that you are considering.
Finally, ask your home inspector for references from past customers. And then call those customers. Ask the customers if the inspector found any serious problems in the homes they purchased. Ask, too, if the inspector charged these clients what he said he’d charge upfront. And don’t forget to ask if the inspector missed any important issues that eventually cost homeowners significant dollars.
I know the home-buying process can be a long one. But don’t make the mistake of skimping on the research when you’re searching for a home inspector. Finding the right inspector can spare you big costs and even bigger headaches in the future.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Housing Foreclosures Fall, But Is The Dip A Real One?
January 18th, 2012 categories: Chicago Real Estate News
Housing foreclosures fall, but is the dip a real one?
Housing foreclosures dropped to a four-year low last year. But that doesn’t mean that the number of homeowners in danger of losing their condominiums and single-family homes is tapering off.
Rather, financial institutions and banks last year were holding off on many of the foreclosures on their books thanks to confusion over legal issues, according to a recent feature story by the Associated Press.
According to the story, about 1.9 million homes entered the foreclosure process in 2011. That’s the lowest number of foreclosure proceedings in a year since 2007, according to numbers from online foreclosure company RealtyTrac.com.
RealtyTrac was quick to point out, though, that the lower foreclosure numbers don’t necessarily mean that the housing market is improving. RealtyTrac instead credited much of the foreclosure slowdown to banks working through documentation and legal issues that slowed their pace of clearing the foreclosures on their books.
RealtyTrac officials told the Associated Press that because of this, they expect the number of housing foreclosures to rise again in 2012.
In a bit of good news, though, RealtyTrac officials did tell the Associated Press that they think the number of foreclosures in 2012, while higher than in 2011, will be lower then the peak the country experienced in 2010.
Everyone in the real estate business, and everyone trying to sell homes, is waiting for the foreclosure rate in the country to truly fall. That’s because foreclosures tend to lower the value of all real estate for sale. You can see this in Chicago. Just check out the housing prices in an area dotted with too many housing foreclosures. You’ll see that housing prices in the entire area will have taken a fall.
There’s a reason for this: Smart buyers won’t pay top dollar for a Chicago condo or single-family home if they can spend 10-20% less to buy a similar, but foreclosed, home just a block or two away.
If you are facing a foreclosure crisis of your own, be sure to call your mortgage lender as soon as possible. This isn’t an easy call to make, but a lender might be able to work out a payment plan that allows you to keep your home and preserve your credit score.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Record-Low Interest Rates Make Chicago Condos, Single-Family Homes More Affordable
January 17th, 2012 categories: Chicago Real Estate News
Need a reason to buy a Chicago condominium or single-family home today? Here’s a good one: If you need to take out a mortgage loan to pay for this Chicago residence, it’ll cost you less.
That’s because mortgage interest rates have again fallen to a record low.
According to a story in the Chicago Sun-Times, the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan fell to 3.89 percent last week. That’s an all-time low.
Of course, setting new records is nothing unusual. The previous record low for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan stood at 3.91 percent, a low that the country hit just three weeks earlier.
The news is even better for 15-year fixed-rate mortgage loans. According to the story, the average rate on this kind of loan fell to 3.16 percent last week. That, too, represents a new record. And again, the record it broke isn’t that old. The previous record low was 3.21 percent, as recently as three weeks ago.
These new lows are important for home buyers because they make the process of buying a home more affordable. If you took out a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan with an interest rate of 3.89 percent, your monthly payment would stand at just $1,177.74, according to Bankrate.com.
If you took out that same loan with an interest rate of 6 percent — a rate that would have been considered stellar just a few short years ago — you’d pay $1,498.88 a month, according to Bankrate. That’s a huge savings per month thanks to the lower mortgage interest rates.
Then there’s the fact that sellers today are willing to negotiate on just about everything in an effort to get their homes off the market faster. It all combines to make this a great time to buy a house in the city of Chicago and across the country.
| Discussion: No Comments »
New Freddie Mac Policy Might Provide Relief To Unemployed Homeowners
January 13th, 2012 categories: Chicago Real Estate News
Unemployed homeowners who are struggling to make their mortgage payments each month might gain some relief thanks to a new policy by Freddie Mac. According to a report by CBS’ MoneyWatch, unemployed homeowners with Freddie Mac-backed mortgage loans might not have to make a mortgage payment for as long as a year if they are struggling financially.
Freddie Mac will soon give mortgage servicers the authority to offer as much as one year of mortgage forbearance to unemployed homeowners with Freddie Mac-backed mortgage loans.
The arrangement works like this: Mortgage servicers can allow unemployed homeowners to live in their homes for six months without making mortgage payments. They can then offer unemployed borrowers six more mortgage-payment-free months if Freddie Mac gives its approval.
This change will take place Feb. 1, according to the MoneyWatch story. Under the current system, mortgage loan servicers can offer unemployed homeowners up to three months of no mortgage payments without approval from Freddie Mac or six months of reduced mortgage payments if they first receive permission from Freddie.
The change will undoubtedly be a financial relief to struggling, unemployed homeowners. And fortunately, the news on the unemployment front has actually been good lately.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced that the country added 325,000 jobs in December. At the same time, the nation’s unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent in December. That’s a three-year low. It’s also a sign that companies may boost their hiring in 2012.
If that’s the case, then perhaps the rate of housing foreclosures in Chicago and the rest of the country will fall. And maybe Freddie Mac’s decision to allow homeowners a year’s break from making mortgage payments will buy these homeowners enough time to restore their financial health.
Even with the positive jobs numbers, the country still has a long way to go to fully recover from the Great Recession. But at least today the news isn’t quite so glum. That can only mean good things for the housing market, both locally and nationally.
| Discussion: 3 Comments »
