Homer Glen, IL

I am working with some great first-time buyers. They are excited to be buying their first home and they're expectations are pretty much on track, although I think they're pricing ideas are a little off (lower than market value). We have already seen a few homes together, and yesterday they wanted to view two Homer Glen homes.

It just so happened that both homes were priced exactly the same and they were the same style home, what we call a Forrester in my area. It is a kind of split level with a unique floor plan where the dining room is a few steps above the living room. Sometimes the living room is a step up from the foyer. Same price, same style.

House #1

The first house looked nice from the outside but once we stepped inside we could see it was dated. Everything in the house was original, including the multi-blue and white shag carpeting in one of the bedrooms. It also had a blue bathroom, meaning the tub and toilet (and possibly the sink - can't remember) were a blue color that was popular in the 60's & 70's (house was built in 1976).

As we walked through the house we could tell it wasn't kept up well and talk about cobwebs! I wouldn't even walk into the basement that far because I would have been the spider web cleaner. Looking up into the rafters made me wonder if there was a spider problem. It was loaded with thick webs that gave each one of us the creeps.

It did have a huge yard but my buyers felt there were too many trees on it which would require more work cutting the grass and cleaning up in the Fall. The best thing about the house was the awesome wrap-around deck that was huge and looked to be in good shape. Lots of work in this house and I felt it was priced a minimum of $35,000 too high, probably more like $40,000 or more. It has been on the market since July ($25,000 higher when it was first listed) and I think it will remain on the market unless the sellers fix it up or reduce price. It seems like it might be an estate sale - I didn't open the fridge to see if anyone lived there but there was a senior exemption for taxes. Furniture was sporadic so I couldn't tell otherwise.

House #2

The 2nd Homer Glen home, same style, same price. Hardwood floors in most rooms vs. carpets (my buyers want hardwood). Updated kitchen with loads of cabinets and counter space. 2 bathrooms were updated but there was also a blue bathroom in this house, but it was done a bit differently and my buyer actually liked it. Looked like at one point the tile around the bathtub was redone - although still in blue to match the tub.

There was a difference in the family rooms in the two homes. The first home must have had a custom family room done when first built as it was more of an L-shape (not typical for this style) and had a wall of cabinets with a small wet bar. The 2nd home had a more typical big square family room which my buyers preferred as it was easier for furniture placement. This home had a slightly sloping yard but it wasn't super steep and had two brick paver patio areas and just a few trees that were nicely landscaped with brick surrounds.

The second home was cleaner and guess what - no hanging and thick spider webs. I swear that first house needed an exterminator. I don't think anyone lived in the 2nd house and also had a senior tax exemption. Do I think the 2nd home was priced correctly? No - I still think even though it was better it was still $25,000 overpriced. It showed as a new listing but was on the market for more than a year. Its starting price was $55,000 higher than the current price. These homes were minutes away from my Homer Glen home and I know what homes are selling for in the area.

What will my buyers do?

Although they seemed to like the 2nd house I'm not sure the sellers are ready to sell at the price we feel is correct, and I think my buyers feel that my thoughts on price are too high. These sellers certainly won't reduce $50,000 at this point in time. It might happen, but it might take another year unless they wise up.

I have a feeling my buyers will continue looking. We might try an offer but I doubt we'll come to terms with these sellers.

Homer Glen Homes Supply & Demand for 2011

As you can see from the chart showing the entire year of 2011 for supply and demand of single family Homer Glen homes, there were way too many homes up for sale compared to homes that went under contract or ended up closing. Every single month showed a huge discrepancy.

Any seller viewing this chart should understand why their agent might be asking for multiple price reductions, a lack of showings and no offers. Look at all the competition!

Another reason I enjoy this full year chart is that it shows us what months were more active during the year. I like to see high months of homes going under contract (blue), but not all of those end up closing. It looks like May had the most closings (green) and as is usual, the end of Fall and the winter months have the least amount of activity.

Look again at the tall red lines compared to the much shorter blue and green lines. Even if we stacked the last two together, it would still show that there are many more homes up for sale than those that actually received accepted offers and closed. I'm hoping we'll see more sales in 2012 and if you're thinking of buying a place in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, give me a call at 708-536-8200 or use the "Email Me" link to the right.

The pie chart below shows an easy-to-read market activity report for single family Homer Glen homes for sale.

There were 15 new and expired listings during this 30 day time period. Many expired listings re-list, either with their current agent or with a new one, so I'm not sure if the 15 new listings were once expired, but I'm sure one or more were truly new listings on the market. Not all expired listings re-list, especially at this time of year. Some sellers prefer to keep their homes off the market during the winter and/or holiday season and will list again next year.

5 homes went through a price change, which is usually a reduction. We're seeing this a lot in this Buyer's Market, and some listings take many price reductions until buyers finally see the value. I'm surprised there are only 5 price changes.

10 homes closed, which is a great figure to see. That should be 10 happy sellers and buyers.

Another good figure is the 13 homes under contract. Just because a property has an accepted offer doesn't mean it will close, but most do so at some point homes with this status will proceed to the "closed" designation.

We're nearing the end of the year and I'm anxious to read our full sales statistics for all of 2011. I will post them as soon as they are available.

The average sale price of homes in Homer Glen year-to-date in the 3rd quarter of 2011 is $292,333. There are currently no Homer Glen homes available under $100,000. There are currently 8 single family homes available under $200,000.

As of today's date, the lowest priced home is in Pebble Creek and is listed at $165,000. It is a short sale and is a raised ranch style with 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms and has a finished lower level. It has been on the market for 65 days and started at $189,900 and has taken many price reductions to get to the current price of $165,000.

Out of the 8 homes available, 2 are regular sales, 2 are foreclosures and 4 are short sales. The longest market time is 919 days and the shortest is 43 days, which just means it is the newest listing of the eight.

If you think Homer Glen is out of your price range, there are homes available priced under the average sale price for the village. If you'd like to see any of these homes give me a call at 708-536-8200 or use the E-mail link to the right.

Homer Glen Homes Supply & Demand for the Past 6 Months

If you're currently selling a Homer Glen home or if you're thinking about it, the chart below will show you the oversupply of inventory for the past 6 months of 2011 (from 3/28/11-8/29/11). The graph shows color coded lines designating:

• Homer Glen homes for sale - red
• Homes under contract - blue
• Sold and closed homes - green

I realize some of the figures might be difficult to read since I had to reduce the chart to fit on the page, so I will decipher some of it. However, just viewing the graph alone it is easy to see the discrepancy of homes up for sale vs. those that are under contract or have sold and closed for each month.

The percentages are as follows:

• The amount of Homer Glen homes up for sale has increased over the past 6 months by 3.1%
• Homes that went under contract dropped double digits by 23.4%
• Sold and closed Homer Glen homes actually increased slightly by 2.5%

Even though closed Homer Glen homes has increased a bit, the big decrease in homes going under contract is worrisome. If homes going under contract continues to fall, closings will follow.

Judy Orr and her husband/team partner James Herter live in Homer Glen and want to be your Homer Glen REALTORS® for life.