Archive for the 'Chicago Real Estate News' Category
Multiple Showerheads, Outdoor Kitchens the Latest Victims of the Housing Slump
January 27th, 2010 categories: Chicago Real Estate News
If you watch the home shows on cable channels HGTV, A&E or TLC, you’d think that every bathroom in the United States boasts dual-bowl vanities and showers with multiple shower heads.
But “reality” TV rarely reflects the reality the rest of us see. Thanks to the housing market’s long slowdown, builders are turning away from the frills that we see on the housing shows, and returning to the basics of solid craftsmanship, small but functional homes and energy efficient construction. It remains to be seen if the producers of the TV home shows will ignore this trend or highlight it.
The Associated Press, though, has already caught on. That’s because its reporters were covering the International Builders’ Show held last week in Las Vegas. During the show, the National Association of Home Builders and Better Homes and Gardens released surveys showing that builders were turning away from the luxuries and high-end amenities that largely marked the days of the residential housing boom.
What’s in now? According to the Associated Press, small homes with abundant natural light are at the top of the national trends list. Builders are also focusing on energy efficiency, and they’re providing lots of storage in the new, smaller homes that they’re building.
What they’re not doing is focusing on outdoor kitchens, soaring two-story foyers or the formerly ubiquitous ultra-deluxe bathroom features. Say goodbye to those steam showers.
This should be little surprise. Buyers simply don’t have as much money to spend on luxury items. At the same time, the average asking price of homes has dropped significantly since the housing boom ended in mid-2006. Builders who add too many frills might find themselves priced out of the reach of the vast majority of homebuyers today.
Remember, a larger slice than ever of the national and Chicago housing market is made up of first-time homebuyers. These buyers are looking for granite countertops, but they’re also searching for modest, well-built spaces that don’t cost a fortune to heat or cool. Builders who provide this will be giving themselves an advantage in today’s new housing market.
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How Important are First-Time Buyers in Chicago? Very.
January 25th, 2010 categories: Chicago Real Estate News
As a REALTOR®, I get a bit of a thrill every time I help buyers purchase their first home. Because I specialize in such North Side Chicago neighborhoods as Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Roscoe Village and Bucktown/Wicker Park (among others), I’m fortunate enough to work with first-time buyers quite often. These neighborhoods, with their variety of restaurants, entertainment options and shops, attract young couples and families.
But neither Chicago nor Illinois are unique. First-time homebuyers here make up a huge part of the housing market. In fact, you can credit these first-time buyers with boosting home sales last year.
The 2009 Profile of Illinois Home Buyers and Sellers, published by the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, reported that more than half of all the home buyers in the state last year were first-time buyers.
This isn’t a surprise. The federal government’s $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit helped encourage new buyers to invest in condominiums or single-family homes. At the same time, interest rates were at historic lows (and still are) and housing prices in Chicago were far lower last year, making it easier for first-time buyers to enter the market.
The survey showed that 51 percent of buyers in the state were first-time buyers last year. That’s slightly above the national average, in which 47 percent of all buyers were first-timers.
The survey included some interesting information about first-time buyers, especially if you’re a fan of statistics. The report said that the median age of first-time buyers in Illinois was 29. The median income among first-time buyers was $64,400. The report also said that 47 percent of first-time buyers used FHA financing, while 38 percent used a conventional loan to finance their purchase.
There were some interesting non-first-time-buyer statistics, too. According to the report, 67 percent of all buyers in the state purchased a detached single-family home, while 22 percent bought a condominium/townhome. In the state’s more urban city regions, including Chicago, 49 percent of the homes sold fit into the condo or townhome categories.
I expect first-time buyers to play an important role in the Chicago housing market in 2010, too. After all, Congress last year voted to extend and expand the first-time buyer tax credit. Housing prices will remain affordable and interest rates will remain low. This is a great time, actually, for first-time buyers to find a reasonably priced Chicago condo or single-family home.
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Looking For Cost-Effective Remodeling Projects: Don’t Spend A Fortune
January 20th, 2010 categories: Chicago Real Estate News
It’s a question that sellers often have before they put their homes on the market: What home improvements should I make to best sell my home? The National Association of REALTORS® provides some answers to this question in its annual Remodeling Cost Vs. Value Report.
This report, as its name suggests, studies the many types of home-improvement projects that homeowners can take on. It then analyzes these improvements and spells out which of them pay off the biggest when a home is sold.
It’s a good tool for homeowners to rely on when they’re first considering putting their homes on the market. After all, if converting an extra bedroom to a home office doesn’t pay off, there’s little reason for homeowners to take on this project.
According to the 2009 version of the report, the most cost-effective home repairs are exterior replacement projects that cost less than $14,000.
The report says that adding a wood deck, replacing old doors with new ones and adding new siding to a home all return more than 80 percent of their costs when you sell a home.
Of course, these projects make a home look better, too. And that might pay off in both a quicker sale and a better offer. In today’s challenging residential real estate market, any improvements you make to a residence’s exterior can help your home stand out from the competition.
What home-improvement projects recoup the least amount of homeowners’ investment? To no one’s surprise, home office remodels, which return just 48.1 percent of project costs upon resale, and sunroom additions, returning just 50.7 percent, ranked as the least cost-effective improvements. These two projects annually rank at the bottom of this list.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t add a sunroom if you want one. If you plan on living in your home for several years, you might as well make it a place where you enjoy spending time. Not every decision you make as a homeowner has to be with an eye on resale value.
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Mixed News For Chicago Condo Sellers
January 13th, 2010 categories: Chicago Real Estate News
Trying to sell a condo in Chicago? I have good news and bad news for you.
According to statistics released by ChicagoCondosOnline.com, it’s still a challenge to sell a condo in the city. However, it’s not as challenging as it was in the middle of 2009.
In other words, the Chicago condo market, while still sluggish, is getting healthier.
According to data prepared for ChicagoCondosOnline.com, Chicago condo sales in 2009 were down 32 percent in total dollar volume from 2008. For the entire year, the city saw $3.1 billion worth of condominiums sold.
Chicago condo sales were down 19 percent in units closed, to 10,070, while they were down 13 percent in median sales price, a figure that came in at $270,000 for the year.
These numbers may seem depressing. But they do represent what looks like the beginning of a turnaround in the city condominium market. Earlier in 2009, things were much worse.
For instance, at the end of April, the dollar amount of condos sold in the city was down 59 percent from the same period one year earlier. At the same time, the number of units sold was down 51 percent.
This means that condo sales began to pick up gradually after April.
It’s too early to tell whether sales will continue to improve as 2010 moves along. I certainly hope they do. A vibrant condominium market is one of the keys to the long-term stability of the Chicago economy.
If you’re selling a condo now, though, you’ll have to do everything you can to make it stand apart from the many other units clogging the market. This starts with pricing; make sure you work with a knowledgeable REALTOR® to set the correct price on your unit. Then make sure that your unit shows as well as possible. Give it a fresh coat of paint, if necessary. Store some of your furniture and personal items in a storage unit to make your condo look larger. You may even work with a professional stager to make sure that your unit looks amazing when sellers come to tour it.
It’s still no easy task to sell a condominium in Chicago, even if you’re selling in desirable neighborhoods such as Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Lakeview, Roscoe Village and Ravenswood. Do everything you can to make your unit as appealing to as many potential buyers as possible.
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First-Time Homebuyers Key To Local Housing Market
January 6th, 2010 categories: Chicago Real Estate News
It’s impossible to overstate just how important first-time buyers are to the health of the Chicago and Illinois housing markets. These new buyers, after all, account for a surprisingly large percentage of the home-buying public.
The 2009 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, released late last year, showed that more than half of all home buyers in the state were first-time buyers in 2009.
This is why I thought it was so important that members of Congress extended the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit last year. Many real estate experts have pointed to the tax credit as the primary reason why the number of Chicago home sales has climbed so steadily during the last half of 2009. That $8,000 credit has inspired a growing number of new homebuyers to enter the market. Combine it with the falling housing prices in Chicago and across the nation, and it’s little wonder that first-timers today are eagerly jumping into the residential real estate market.
According to the survey by the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, 51 percent of homebuyers last year were first-time buyers. That compares to 47 percent across the nation.
But even that 47 percent figure is an increase from typical times. Since 2001, first-time buyers typically make up about 40 percent of all buyers across the nation.
To me, the higher percentages prove, again, that the first-time homebuyer tax credit has been a huge boon to the health of the housing market, both locally and nationally. This is why I was excited, too, to see Congress create a new tax credit of $6,500 for all other homebuyers.
The real estate market needs all the help it can get to continue its steady recovery in 2010. The pair of tax credits is just one more tool to help the market continue to gain strength. Remember, a healthy housing market generally results in a healthy economy. And I think, as 2010 begins, that we’re all hoping for more signs of economic rebirth in this country.
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