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If your are thinking of buying or selling a home in Geneva, you are going to get a lot of advice from a lot of different people. Everyone from the ice cream scooper at Grahams to your dentist to your Zumba class instructor at the Geneva Park District has a real estate story to tell.
The real estate market in Geneva is pretty healthy: in 2011 prices and sales stayed consistent with 2010 numbers. But the market hasn't recovered sufficiently to make all worries just disappear. The average market time for a home in Geneva is about 220 days, but many houses remain unsold after months. Some buyers of Geneva homes find their hopes dashed after a home doesn't appraise for contract price or a lender doesn't approve a short sale after months of waiting. So who should you trust to guide you in buying or selling a home in Geneva?
You should trust real estate professionals who are (a) committed to the real estate business and (b) who are committed to your personal interests. Most of your advisers -- even those who you dearly love -- can't meet both criteria. Your best friend's mom could show you a few houses to supplement her full-time job as a nurse. The guy in the kiosk at the mall might quote you some interest rates off his i-phone. Your sister might have a great set of plans for how you're going to live your life when you buy the house she likes best.
You should select and commit to one Geneva Realtor® and one local loan officer who can commit to helping you meet your goals. You need to establish what you want, what you can afford, and what you are willing to do to buy or sell a home in your time frame and on your terms. A Geneva Realtor® will give you valuable information about home values and communities that an out of area agent simply can't get from reading listing sheets in the MLS. If you want to buy or sell a home in Mill Creek or Eagle Brook, don't work with a Naperville agent no matter how successful she is at selling homes in Ashbury Park.
The most responsible agents will advise a client that working with a local agent is best. I have to chuckle when an agent from say, Evanston, shows one of my Geneva listings, but then I see on that agent's website the banner headline that she is the Evanston specialist and local is best! A good strategy for a client selling in one suburb but buying some distance away is to ask their local listing agent to team with a local buyer's agent. Yesterday I agreed to work with an agent from the Baird&Warner Libertyville office to help her client find a home in St. Charles. She'll focus on getting the home sold in Libertyville and I'll help them find a great home in St. Charles.
If you would like more information about buying or selling a home in the Fox Valley communities of Batavia, Elburn, Geneva, St. Charles or Wayne, please send me an email or call me at (630)945-7935.
This post was originally published at FoxValleyRealEstate.net.
Mill Creek in Geneva IL is one of the most popular communities in the western suburbs of Chicago. Mill Creek encompasses over 650 acres and offers over 45% of open space, including over 125 acres of preserved wetlands and 195 acres of Geneva parks.
