As a Barrington Realtor - Do I Practice What I Preach?

As a Realtor and as your buyers agent it is my job to not only find you a home that meets your needs but one that will hopefully be good for re-sale. By that I don't necessarily mean from an investment perspective but more from a speed perspective. After all when it is time to sell, for whatever reason, you don't want your house to be the one that sits longer than the average marketing time. So what are the warnings to give to buyers?

• Don't buy the house that backs up to a busy street.
• Don't buy the house that needs a lot of upgrading.
• Don't buy the house that has a non conforming lay-out.
• Don't buy the house in the not so good school district.

Well you get the idea. The only caviat is that if you accept that the value of your new house will be less than the others in your area when you sell, and you are getting a steal of a deal, and are 100% comfortable with the purchase because you just have to have the house, then go ahead and buy it! Knowledge is key here.
So do we Realtors always practice what we preach? Since immigrating to this country 13 years ago our family has bought 3 homes. Two in Illinois and one in Florida. I am pleased to say I score 2 out of 3. Not enough to pass most exams but I was not a Realtor for any of the purchases! So perhaps I can be forgiven?

1. First purchase in Deer Park, good school district, conforming lay-out, upgraded kitchen, and behind the house it was conservation land. Time to sell- 8 days and we were under contract.
2. Second purchase in Florida, good school district, or as good as we could get in Florida; house only 6 years old and still had a new kitchen, conforming lay-out, big big inground covered pool. However I failed because it was close to a major freeway. As a reference point I only had 1 weekend to find a house, and I was out-voted 3 guys to 1 girl. Why because of the pool! Time to sell in a downward spiralling market, 3 months and under contract. Biggest selling feature - that pool! Phew.
3. Third purchase in Barrington. Good school district. conforming lay-out, newly built home and we asked for some extra upgrades. Out of 42 homes on the subdivision only a handfull back up to conservation and we are 1 of them.

Although we are not yet in the market to sell, I feel comfortable knowing that nothing can be built behind us and that as long as we keep the property maintenance going, update when needed, we stand a good chance of selling in less that average market time. One of the first things we did was to fully finish the basement.
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Contact Corinne Guest ABR, e-PRO, GRI, Broker, Royal Advocate Realty Licensed Realtor® in Illinois, 847-381-6328 to list your property for sale or to buy a property in Barrington, Lake Barrington, North Barrington, South Barrington, Barrington Hills, Inverness and Deer Park, as well as Lake Zurich, Hawthorn Woods, Kildeer and Long Grove in Lake County Illinois.

Call me today at 847-381-6328. Contact me by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under my profile.

Copyright © 2009 By Corinne Guest, All Rights Reserved. As a Barrington Realtor - Do I Practice What I Preach?