Bensenville, IL

At the September 8th Bensenville City Council meeting the City Council repealed the onerous Home Improvement Ordinance. Bensenville homeowners no longer have to sign away their Fourth Amendment rights as part of an ill fated "Home Improvement" ordinance. The ordinance dangled a very attractive loan to homeowners but had a heck of a requirement: you have to sign off your right to refuse the city inspectors access to your home.

The Fourth Amendment protects homeowners from unwarranted searches. It is our position that you just can't buy that basic constitutional right. While the previous city administration ignored the Realtors call to defeat this ordinance the new administration listened to our arguments and found them persuasive. During the campaign Realtors brought this issue up and asked for the repeal.

While most people understand search and seizure when it comes to police work, most people forget that municipal inspectors are a government police force, they just enforce a code book.

While I researched a little of the history of the government searches I found out that this exact issue was one of the visceral and vital issues to our founding fathers. Every wonder why we have a Fourth Amendment in our bill of rights?

Before the American Revolution the British would use a writ of assistance to search the home of colonists for a variety of reasons. Often the purpose was to discover seditious materials or prohibited or uncustomed goods. These writs were general warrants, in other words they could search everything and seize everything. In 1760 King George II died, and all writs signed by the crown would expire six months after his death.

A group of 50 Boston merchants petitioned the courts to hear their case against general warrants and writs of assistance. Lead by James Otis, the group protested that the law should protect men in their own homes and businesses. Future President John Adams was in that courtroom and heard the men argue their case and he was impressed. In fact, Adams later commented that the American Revolution was sparked that afternoon in that courtroom as those 50 men pleaded to be secure in their homes and private businesses.

Otis lost.

More importantly, Otis was soon elected to the Massachusetts General Assembly where he helped pass legislation requiring warrants and writs to be issued "with cause" by a justice, judge, or justice of the peace." The law passed. However, the colonial governor voided the law as in violation of English common law.

So important was this issue to colonists, it was included in the Virginia Declaration of the Rights of Man, a precursor to the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Each of us has a constitutionally protected right to be secure in our homes and Realtors take this right as sacred.

Each home buyer holds a bundle of rights, rights that have been fought for and defended for many years. Realtors are proud to stand with property owners and help them defend their rights against government intrusion. For the homeowners of Bensenville, Realtors will continue to work with the city. Offering our analysis, our experience, and our talents to the civic dialogue with the aim of preserving our freedom.

In the table below lists all of the single family detached and single family attached homes currently on the market in Bensenville, IL The data lists available homes by price range with average time on market in each range.

Should you have an interest in homes in a selected price range, send me your physical characteristics requirements. I will send complete details on those homes that meet your criteria.

If you are contemplating a change in lifestyle, ie. a more luxurious home or the luxury of the amenities in a senior citizen development, I may be able to save you some money via discounts available to me.

Active Listings

List Price Range # Listings Avg. Days on Mkt Less than $149,999 38 201 $150,000 - $199,999 38 215 $200,000 - $249,999 18 206 $250,000 - $299,999 31 255 $300,000 - $349,999 16 466 $350,000 - $399,999 7 765 $400,000 - $449,999 4 369 $450,000 - $499,999 6 349 $500,000 - $549,999 3 296 $550,000 - $599,999 1 172 $600,000 - $699,999 3 177 $900,000 - $999,999 1 18

Active Listings Summary

# Units Avg. MT Median List Price Avg. List Price Max. List Price Min. List Price Total Volume 166 274 $219,950 $251,051 $985,000 $64,900 $41,674,499

A Multiple Listing search for Bensenville, IL, today shows that even though the number of homes sold has dropped substantially the last couple of years, the prices have not been effected nearly as significantly.

The drop in homes sold is about 64%over the last 3 years as represented in the graph above.

This graph shows the mean price of homes sold in the same time frame. Notice that the price from the last 12 months is only about $11,300 less than the prices three years ago. The prices actually went up about $22,500 in the range from 12-24 months ago. The current prices are down about 3.9% compared to the prices 3 years ago, which is down only about 1.3% per year.

Bensenville home values may be declining slightly, but prices are not falling like a brick as the media wants everyone to believe. If you are going to look at national numbers take this into consideration, over the last 30 years the growth in real estate has been up nearly 6% per year. Get an accurate market valuation of your home from Richard Parr, Realtor.