The Blog Dog .net

Listing your home soon?  Here's a couple of things you should know about 'Price'.

There’s actually a few factors that are embroiled together – Price, condition, location.  Together all three will actually make your home either sell or be rejected by prospective buyers.

Obviously in this market and the elevated inventory for Streamwood Homes you have to be ‘dead on’ with your homes price.  Too high and no one will take your home seriously and it will be passed over.  Too low?  Well that really doesn’t happen too often except in distress sales, foreclosures and the like.  A fair price – what a seller is willing to accept and a buyer is willing to pay.  That’s what we normally strive for!

When an agent puts your home on the market, it has to be sold three times.

The first sale is to my peers, the other REALTORS® and buyers agents who are in the market everyday. They need to be excited about the price or they simply ignore the listing because it's often a waste of their time to show it to buyers who won't pay that price.

The second sale is to the buyer, and they compare your home to the others they're looking at in the marketplace comparing features and benefits that are important to them.

The third sale is to the appraiser at the buyers lender. Even if we're lucky enough to get a higher than market price from a buyer, the appraiser compares your home with past sales in the neighborhood and their appraisal usually hits right at the market price.  It's a system of checks and balances that we have in the market.  

If your home doesn't appraise, what will you do?  Let's put yourself in the buyers shoes for a moment - if you bought a home (or anything for that matter) and the appraisal came in lower than what you paid, what would you do?  How would you feel as a buyer?  Cheated?  Ripped off?  Taken advantage of?  What normally happens is the deal falls through and we begin the whole selling process all over again.  Start again at square one, we’re back on the market!

The attached graph shows the Median List Prices and the Median Sold Prices for Streamwood Homes.  An interesting feature is the difference between the List Prices and the Sales Prices when the market downturn began.  There was a definite 'disconnect' between what sellers wanted for their homes and what buyers were willing to pay!

Streamwood Homes did a very strange thing - they 'flat lined' like a heart attack for over 9 months.  If we were in an emergency room, we'd have a problem!  Literally the market 'was dead' and there's no other explanation for it other than the listing prices stayed the same for those 9 months (yes, I rechecked it, no change in pulse).   As the market progressed to today, we see that the prices are starting to converge upon each other and then take another dip due possibly to the tax credit ending.  Does this mean that buyers and sellers have weathered the 'price chasm' together?

Both buyers and sellers of Streamwood Homes are settling in with the market and taking advantage of the wonderfully low interest rates available.  All I can do is present to you the market as it is 'today'.  Present time, present moment.

Streamwood Townhome Market Update, June 2010

Streamwood Homes - How many Short Sales on the Market?

 

                       
   © 2010 Lyn Sims and The Blog Dog

       

What's the results of the tax credit with Hanover Park Home Buyers?

I've been waiting to write this update now for quite sometime on Hanover Park Home Sales and to be honest, it sure is a let down!  

Yep, anti-climactic end to the Home Buyers Tax Credit.  

Like a sharp object aimed at a balloon, it's a total fizzle (or as Snoop Dogg would say 'a total furrrschnizzle').

The graph illustrates sales for single family and multi-family Hanover Park Homes from January to June 2010.  With all the media hype, I would have expected better numbers.  What I see here is the standard increases that we see every year at this time.  But, one caveat for Hanover Park Homes is that I believe the tax credit was equally valuable to both single family and multi-family buyers.  Here we see a surge for the deadline but again this could also because of the time of year.  I really didn't get a feel that the buyers were 'bustin' down the door to take advantage of the credit.  Ho-hum.

Foreclosures and 'better priced values' are being scooped up the fastest.  Short sales?  Well, they fell short for our area.  From working with my own buyers, short sales offer too many hassles and not enough price rewards for dealing with the banks.

Looking to sell your home and work with an area expert?  

See who sells the most Hanover Park Homes?

Looking to buy a Hanover Park Home and want to work with a buyers agent that's familiar with the area like the back of her hand?

Look for Hanover Park Homes now.
Look for Hanover Park Home Foreclosures now.

Look for Hanover Park Townhomes or Condos now.
Look for Hanover Park Townhome Foreclosures now.

I'd like you to contact me by email as soon as you can Lyn!

 

                       
   © 2010 Lyn Sims and The Blog Dog

       

Streamwood Townhome Market Snapshot - June 2010

The graph illustrates sales for Multi-family Streamwood Townhomes, Condos, Duplexes, Quads from January to June 2010.  With all the media hype about the tax credit, I would have expected better numbers.  What I see here is the standard increases that we see every year at this time.  But, one caveat is that I believe the tax credit was much more valuable to multi-family buyers.  In that segment I saw a surge for the deadline (June 30th) but again this could also because of the time of year. 

Streamwood townhome foreclosures and 'better priced values' have been scooped up the fastest.  Short sales?  Well, they fell terribly 'short' for our area.  From working with my own buyers, short sales offer too many hassles and not enough price rewards for dealing with the banks as a seller.  Dealing with a bank = headaches and massive quantities of Tylenol.

Pricing your home correctly is more important than ever with the decreased activity and only a certain amount of buyers.  Over the last 6 months the 'listing price to sales price' average has been 95% or 5% off list price.  

What tells me that sellers still haven't priced their homes correctly in the beginning is the next set of numbers that I have which is the 'old sales price to sales price' came in at 90%.  This means that the listing prices had to come down 5% more in order to sell in today's market.  (95 - 90 = 5%)

Streamwood Townhome average market time was 138 days.

Looking to sell your home and work with an area expert?  Let's work out a strategy to get your Streamwood Townhome sold!

Looking to buy a Streamwood Townhome and want to work with a buyers agent that's familiar with the area like the back of her hand?


Look for Streamwood Townhome or Condos now.
Look for Streamwood Townhome Foreclosures now.

Look for Streamwood Homes now.
Look for Streamwood Home Foreclosures now.


I'd like you to contact me by email as soon as you can!

 

                       
   © 2010 Lyn Sims and The Blog Dog

       

O'hare and Midway Airports now have restrooms for pooches, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

They're called "animal relief areas" and amount to patches of ground where a pet can do their business before getting on a plane. O'hare has two of them outside terminals 1 and 5 and Midway has one. City Aviation Department spokeswoman Karen Pride told the Sun-Times the areas are covered with grass, wood chips or gravel.

The areas bring the airports into compliance with new federal guidelines for passengers traveling with pets by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

So there, now you know.  

 

                       
   © 2010 Lyn Sims and The Blog Dog

       

Something to think about.

 

                       
   © 2010 Lyn Sims and The Blog Dog

       

Ever wonder how many short sales are REALLY on the market?

I know I have.  We hear in the media day in and day out about the short sale epidemic.  Short sale this, short sale that.  I decided to find out for you what is really going on.  So much hype but what is the real story?  How many?

With Hanover Park Homes that closed within the last 5 months there has been virtually a small percentage (11.5%) of homes going short sale.  But, unfortunately there is a large percentage of foreclosures which my graph will represent.  'Arms Length' transaction is a regular sale between a seller and buyer.

So with Hanover Park Homes we have seen nearly the same amount of foreclosures (43.5%) as regular transactions close (45%).  Very sad indeed but a happy beginning for the new owners.

If you are looking for an experienced agent that knows the local market inside and out?  I'd be happy to discuss your buying or selling possibilities with you!

                     Search Hanover Park Homes                    Search Hanover Park Foreclosures

 

                       
   © 2010 Lyn Sims and The Blog Dog

       

Ever wonder how many short sales are REALLY on the market?

I know I have.  We hear in the media day in and day out about the short sale epidemic.  Short sale this, short sale that.  I decided to find out for you what is really going on.  So much hype but what is the real story?  How many?

With Bloomingdale Homes  that closed within the last 5 months there has been virtually a small percentage (2.5%) of homes going short sale.  But, unfortunately there is a larger percentage of foreclosures which my graph will represent.  An 'Arms Length' transaction is a regular sale between a seller and buyer.

So with Bloomingdale Homes we have seen less than a quarter the foreclosure total (20%) as regular transactions close (77%).  Very sad indeed seeing that number increase but a happy beginning for the new owners.

If you are looking for an experienced agent that knows the local market inside and out?  I'd be happy to discuss your buying or selling possibilities with you!

                                Search Bloomingdale Homes                    Search Bloomingdale Foreclosures

 

                       
   © 2010 Lyn Sims and The Blog Dog