Archive for July, 2009
ABSORPTION RATE REVISITED
July 31st, 2009 categories: Buying, Market Trends, Selling
Sometimes it is a good idea to revisit an old idea–here is one I think you will find useful if you have your home for sale, or even if you are a buyer in the current market. In January I published a p0st about what an absorption rate is and how you can use it if you are selling your home or if you are a buyer.
With market times for homes lengthening, I like to show my sellers the amount of time it will take for the present listings to sell–it really helps them understand the realities of the market and the necessity to price competitively. With buyers the opposite tack can be taken–sort of a “Look Mr. Seller, it will take this many months to sell your home if nothing else comes on the market. We should think seriously about this offer.”
Do you have a property that you would like to see what the absorption rate is? I would be delighted to show you–just cll me at 312-981-2360 (direct), or 312-607-1306 (cell). E-mail is wonderful too!
Some other posts that you may want to read are: Chicago Association Of Realtors? Why?, 7-09; When Is It Time To Buy? Now!, 7-09; Why Get an Inspector For My Home?, 6-09; A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words, 6-09
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HIGHER MORTGAGE RATES AND WHY
July 30th, 2009 categories: Buying, Market Trends, Selling
A frowny face? Much as it hurts me to turn away from our dancing leprechaun, a spike in mortgage rates may slow our housing recovery. Steve Levitt has an excellent article, published today, that describes the reason for the increase in mortgage rates this week. I was all set to go out looking for a new leprechaun after reading Steve Levitt’s article just two days ago–and now I am wondering exactly where we are. I suppose that is what everyone is doing–it appears that we may be going two steps forward and one step back. My feeling is still strong that NOW is the time to buy–mortgage rates even slightly higher are still quite attractive and the supply of homes is still excellent. Let’s look for the leprechaun again soon! And I promise a new one!
Other articles that you might find interesting are: More Good News For Chicago Housing, 7-09, When Is It Time To Buy, 7-09; Old Sayings, True Sayings, 6-09
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WHAT’S NEW? VIRTUAL STAGING, THAT’S WHAT!
July 29th, 2009 categories: Buying, Lifestyle, Selling
We have talked about staging in the past and even about staging your linen closet. To actually stage your home can be costly. Depending on what you do it can range from just a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. Obviously just changing the furniture arrangement and throwing out the pieces that don’t fit is a lot less costly than changing everything in the home with a combination of the owners’ things and rental or bought accessories and furniture.
Since most people start their search for a new home on line, why not start with virtual staging at a fraction of the cost of actual staging? The purpose of the staging is to attract the attention of a potential buyer as they breeze through the inter-net listings. There is not much more boring than a bunch of empty rooms as you look at homes for sale. The way it works is this–you submit pictures of your empty rooms to the virtual staging company and they furnish the rooms with virtual furniture. Close examination would probably let you know that that couch wasn’t sittable and that is not the point. The point is that the looker has an idea of what the room would look like furnished–many people just don’t visualize well and find the virtual staging helpful. It’s food for thought anyway!
Let me know if you have Chicago real estate questions–direct dial is 312-9981-2360 and my cell phone is 312-607-1306. Email works wonders too!
Other posts you might enjoy are: Design or Disaster? 7-09; More Seller No No Never Nevers, 7-09; Linen Closet Staging, 4-09; Staging–What Is it?, 2-09
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DESIGN OR DISASTER?
July 28th, 2009 categories: Market Trends
OK–you have that lovely new home or you are sick and tired of the way your old home looks, so what to do? We would all love to have a corner of our living room as well pulled together as this picture, now wouldn’t we? A professional designer will make sure that they don’t finish with a disaster instead of a design and here are a few of the things they do.
- Plan–start with a floor plan and templates of your furniture and a color scheme. Clip pages from your favorite home magazines to get ideas for your color scheme and furniture positioning. Think about having a box for each room containing paint chips, pictures, fabric samples, etc. Visit decorating showrooms and furniture stores, some high end furniture brands decorate rooms beautifully. Here in Chicago we have the LUXE showroom in the Merchandise Mart. You know the old saying “Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.” It certainly holds true in decorating your home–planning will help you prevent purchasing a collection of things that will wind up at a garage sale or the Salvation Army. Armed with your boxes of favorites, you will be able to shop sales.
- Go slowly–live with a swatch of paint on the wall, many paints come in trial sizes now. Buy a yard or so of fabric and drape it over the chair you want to re-cover–does it work? You can probably use the fabric for a pillow whether it works or not so long as the fabric is true to your basic color scheme.
- Get some help–You don’t necessarily need a designer to decorate your whole place. Many designers will work with you as a consultant for an hourly fee. And a professional can very likely bring you some ideas that you might not have thought of for placing furniture, using color, etc. If you have a friend with a great eye, seek their opinion.
Those are three ideas that I hope will help you with decorating your home whether iit is a new one or one you have known well for years.
Do you have questions about Chicago real estate? I would love to use my 20 year experience to help you–call me at 312-981-2360 (direct) or 312-607-1306 (cell).
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MORE GOOD NEWS FOR CHICAGO HOUSING
July 27th, 2009 categories: Buying, Market Trends, Selling
Do we need a new leprechaun? Maybe the old one is worn out–I am still glad to see him! Don DeBat is another of my favorite real estate writers. In a recent column in the Chicago Sun Times he gave a number of reasons for his feeling that Chicago was recovering from the recent housing debacle. Some of the highlights are:
- Low mortgage rates
- Developers offering excellent incentives to spark sales
- Nationally price erosion seems to be stabilizing
- City of Chicago sales (both single-family and condominium) were up 11.5 per cent from April, 2009, to May, 2009.
The rest of the article gives several more interesting takes on our local market. One item I hadn’t seen before–the Echo Boomers, the children of the Baby Boomers, who are just starting to form their own households will be an even larger market than the Baby Boomers were. To read the whole article click here.
Would you like to explore the possibilities of Chicago real estate to see what you might find–if so, please call me at 312-981-2360 (direct), or 312-607-1306 (cell). E-mail is great too.
Other articles that might interest you: Chicago Association of Realtors? Why?, 7-09; When Is It Time To Buy–Now?, 7-09; First-Time Home Buyer Credit–Use It Or Lose It, 7-09
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CHICAGO ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS? WHY?
July 24th, 2009 categories: Buying, Market Trends, Rants, Selling
Why should you work with a member of CAR? Here are a few of the reasons I think membership has value to buyers and sellers.
- All members of the Chicago Association of Realtors must abide by the code of ethics. If you work with a non-member agent and feel that you have been treated unfairly, your recourse is a law suit or registering a complaint with the Illinois Office of Banks and Real estate.
- If your Realtor is a member of CAR, they are subject to arbitration and the loss of their privileges. The fear of losing their membership can keep scuzzy Realtors (yes, we do have a few) from doing too many naughty things.
- Membership in the Realtors association gives your Realtor access to all of the listings and the entire pool of buyers (if you are a seller).
- Education–there are many seminars and lots of on-line training for Realtors. Many of us enjoy learning in order to increase the value we give our clients.
- The cost is minimal in the big picture of real estate–if an agent is not a member one of four things may be taking place:
- They may have been asked to leave the board because of a disciplinary action by the board.
- The fees for membership are too high. Perhaps the agent has not been doing enough business to be able to afford membership. An agent gets better with the number of sales they make. Perhaps the agent who cannot afford CAR membership is not able to best represent the client’s interests because of a small volume of sales.
- They don’t understand the value of the Chicago Association of Realtors membership–to me this is pretty basic ignorance.
- The focus of their real estate business does not require CAR membership. Since your home is usually your biggest investment, do you really want someone who does not concentrate on the buying and selling of residential real estate to represent you ?
As you might guess, I am a member of the Chicago Association of Realtors. If I can help you please call me at 312-607-1306 or e-mail me.
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WHEN IS IT TIME TO BUY? NOW!
July 23rd, 2009 categories: Buying, Lifestyle, Market Trends
This is a TERRIFIC TIME TO BUY! First let’s talk about some reasons that would motivate you.
- Are you currently renting? How do you like paying someone else’s mortgage rather than yours? Think of burning hundred dollar bills every time you write your rent check!
- Are you still living at home? It’s probably free or has a very small cost and what is it costing you in freedom and independence? We all have to fly out of the nest sometime–is this the time for you?
- You have outgrown your present home–you need more space for a growing family or less space because you are empty nesters.
- Your neighborhood is no longer right for you–the local school has changed, your job has changed location and your commute time is so long you don’t see much of your family when you DO finally arrive at home.
If any of the above reasons or any other reasons are causing you to think about buying a home now, recognise that it is one of the best times to buy in many, many years. Here are some reasons why!
- Prices are down. In Chicago we have not suffered as much as many other parts of the United States. Prices are still lower than the height of the market in 2005 and 2006.
- Interest rates are low. A lot depends on your credit score and the size of your down payment–this week interest rates on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage are being quoted at 5 per cent and a 15 year fixed rate mortgage is being quoted at 4.5 per cent. And if you are a first-time home buyer, you can get the $8.000 tax credit.
- Selection. Inventory is high and you have a large number of homes to choose from. This is a buyers’ market and prices are more negotiable now than they have been in the past.
- Peace of mind. Just think about it–you can paint your walls chartreuse with shocking pink stripes, you can let your dirty socks and underwear pile up knee deep if you want! Your mom and your landlord no longer control your life.
Personally, I think RIGHT NOW is a perfect time to buy–do you need help starting your search. If you e-mail me I can send you listings by e-mail. Or the phone still works too–312-981-2360 (direct), 312-607-1306 (cell).
Other posts that might be of interest to you are: First-time Homeowner Credit–Use It or Lose It, 7-09; Buy Now! Here’s Why!, 7 -09; Real Estate Rock of Gibraltar Constants, 7-09; Is The Two Flat Tango the Right Dance For You?, 6-09
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MORE SELLER NO NO NEVER NEVERS
July 22nd, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Selling
We have talked about this subject before–what you don’t do if you want your house sold. We have talked about cleaning up, de-cluttering, staging, pricing and now let’s assume you have done all of that. Here are a few more don’t dos.
- Don’t attend showings unless you are a “For Sale By Owner.” Prospective buyers don’t feel comfortable voicing their feelings if the owner is present. Selling is overcoming objections,. If you are in your home while it is being shown, your agent probably won’t get objections and that will slow down the sales process. Best advice–get out of the house.
- Make your home a neutral space–take away the excess family pictures. If you think you can’t live without thirty of your favorites, pick a maximum of ten and put the rest away until your home is sold. Same goes for anything that makes your home extremely personal–your collection of Coca Cola artifacts your beer can collection from 30 years ago. Your prospects will get lost in the “stuff” and not properly appreciate your home.
- Keep your pets under wraps–I recently had a showing in a listing with two cats and the prospect couldn’t stand cats so we had to shanghai the cats immediately–I just wish his agent had told me up front. This point is even more crucial with a dog. Put the beloved creature into doggy day-care at best, a cage at least, if you cannot be home to take the dog out.
- If you are fortunate enough to have a multiple offer on your home, don’t automatically choose the highest price. Terms really need to be considered too–in today’s market a cash offer might well outweigh a higher price with a mortgage contingency in the contract. Closing dates can be part of the decision too–depending on where you need to be on a certain date.
I hope this information helps you understand the process of getting your home sold–give me a call at 312-981-2360 (direct) or cell (312-607-1306) if you would like help getting your home sold.
Recent posts for sellers: Seller Never, Never, Nevers, 7-09; A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words, 6-09; Home Sale Taking Too Long? Try St. Joseph!, 6-09; Old Sayings, True Sayings, 6-09
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COOL AS A CUCUMBER AIR CONDITIONING
July 21st, 2009 categories: Buying, Lifestyle, Selling
After the winter that wouldn’t stop and didn’t until about June fifteenth, we Chicagoans have been blessed with a cool summer (wet but we don’t have to shovel rain). The few times we have had our air conditioning on it was mostly because of the humidity and it prompted me to remember life before air conditioning. It was pretty hot and sweaty in the summer here and you would go see a movie just to get cool for a couple of hours. In the really olden days people were safe sleeping in the parks on sweltering nights and movie air conditioning was a fan blowing over a huge chunk of ice. Now most of us take central air or several through the wall or window units for granted.
In 1902 an engineer named Willis Havilland Carrier invented a temperature and humidity device that would maintain a stable environment in the plant where he worked. The difference in heat and humidity caused the paper in the plant to change so he designed the first air conditioning machine. His formula is still used as a base for calculating by the air conditioning industry today. Mr. Carrier was paid the munificent sum of $10 per week for his work
We take our air conditioners for granted and we really should not. Good maintenance is key–have your unit checked at the beginning of every cooling season just as you have your furnace checked at the beginning of the heating season. Be sure that your coils are cleaned to maintain the highest efficiency and the least fuel cost. Change your filters frequently and consider putting an air filter on the unit if you have allergies in the family. Thank you, Mr. Carrier! I enjoy working and living in comfort due to your efforts!
Other articles you might like: Proper Programmable Thermostat Use, 7-09; Real Estate Rock Of Gibraltar Constants, 7-09; Green Clean? Yes!, 6-09
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CHICAGO MARKET RECOVERING!
July 20th, 2009 categories: Buying, Market Trends
We haven’t seen our jolly little green leprechaun for awhile and last weekend Don DeBat ’s column gave some interesting figures about Chicago’s recovering housing market. In the city of Chicago, May, 2009, home sales (single family and condominium) were up 11.5 per cent compared to April, 2009. My personal experience is that there has been a lot more activity on the part of buyers in the last few weeks. People who had decided not to buy an in-town last year decided to buy an in-town this year. First time buyers have been taking advantage of the tax credit. Investors are looking for short-sales and foreclosures. All in all activity is certainly up and increasing. A cautionary note in the article is sounded by Dr. Geoffrey J. D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) of the University of Illinois. Dr. Hewings believes that a sustained recovery in the housing market will need to be helped by federal stimulus funds, rising employment and a resolution of the Illinois budget mess in Springfield. Many developers are giving excellent discounts, incentive packages and financing. It’s a good idea to shop around for the best incentives and the best mortgage rates in the best buyers’ market in many, many years.
Buyers, I love them! I am happy to e-mail listings to you or talk to you about areas, prices, anything else you might have a question on–312-981-2360 (direct), cell is 312-607-1306.
Other articles you might like: First-Time Home Buyer Credit–Use It Or Lose It!, 7-09; New York Loves Us And So Do A lot Of Other People, 7-09; Buy Now! Here’s Why!, 7-09
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