Meadowlake in Riverwoods

Meadowlake is a single family neighborhood located in Riverwoods, Illinois. Meadowlake is on Columbine and Chicory Lane east of 45.

Activity in Meadowlake for the past 6 months

-Riverwoods-

Is the market value of your Riverwoods house upside-down? Are you facing financial difficulties? Does it look like you could lose your home to foreclosure?

You’re not alone.

Crain’s Chicago Business recently reported that it takes banks nearly 500 days to process an Illinois foreclosure. This may give you nearly a year-and-a-half to sell your house as a Short Sale. But don’t get too complacent. A Short Sale can take 6 months or longer to process through your bank. Meanwhile, your bank could foreclose on your home in less than a year.

The long and the short

Maybe you haven’t heard about Short Sales. Or maybe you have but also heard that they don’t work.

Untrue.

Short Sales are different from regular sales and must be handled in a different way. But when handled properly, they can close over 90% of the time.

Learn more about Short Sales here.

Short circuit

In the last 12 months, 6 foreclosed homes were sold in the Riverwoods.

6 homes lost by people just like you.

6 homeowners paralyzed by fear.

6 homes that could have been sold as Short Sales.

6 homeowners who could have moved on with their heads held high instead of tucking tail and moving out in the dead of night.

Data provided by the Midwest Real Estate LLC (MRED) multiple listing service and includes properties listed and sold by various participants in the MLS. Data supplied does not reflect all market activity in the area.

Taking the shortcut

Meanwhile, 7 homeowners decided to sell their homes as Short Sales. And succeeded!

If you let the bank to foreclose on your Riverwoods home, penalties could hound you for years to come —

• Your credit score could take a tumble of 250 or more points.
• Your foreclosure circumstance could stay on your credit report for up to 7 years.
• Your lender could go after you for their incurred losses.
• You probably won’t be able to buy a house, a car, or a refrigerator on credit for at least 3 to 7 years.
• You may jeopardize your employment status, particularly when it comes to financial or security positions.

Don’t sell yourself short

On the positive side, doing a Short Sale allows you to —

• Sell your house and start over
• Completely eliminate or substantially reduce your financial liability
• Minimize damage to your credit rating
• Recover from credit damage in months instead of years
• Purchase another house in as little as 2 years
• Protect your employment status, particularly when it comes to jobs involving security clearances or sensitive positions in investment or banking
• Look forward with a clear conscience instead of glancing back with worry and regret.

Avoid foreclosure today by putting your house on the market as a Short Sale tomorrow!

For more about Short Sales, visit ChicagoShortSales.com.

Want to find out if a Short Sale can work for you?
Call me — Judy Chapman — at 847.749.3811

I list and sell Short Sales all over Chicagoland!

If you think you don’t have to worry about selling your Riverwoods home and moving on when the need arises, think again.

Every day means your house is losing value.

That’s right. Every single day.

Face value

Overall, economic and market forces continue to plague the real estate marketplace, and will for some time to come.

One of those market forces has to do foreclosures and short sales.

Short end of the stick

Over the past year, 31% of all single-family detached homes sold in Riverwoods were ‘distressed’ homes ... either foreclosures or short sales.

Digest this for a moment.

1 out of 3 homes sold in Riverwoods during the last 12 months was a ‘distressed’ home.

A ‘distressed’ home is one in which the homeowners experienced some kind of financial crisis. Either they lost their home to the bank. Or they sought permission from the bank to sell their home at a loss.

Data provided by the Midwest Real Estate LLC (MRED) multiple listing service and includes properties listed and sold by various participants in the MLS. Data supplied does not reflect all market activity in the area.

On the market

When 67% of Riverwoods homes are either foreclosure/bank-owned sales or short sales, it’s apparent that banks can influence the market value of your home.

What does this mean to you as a homeowner?

It means that often you don’t determine the purchase price. And neither do buyers. Banks do.

Every day, banks set and reset the market value of your home by determining how much they’re willing to sell their inventory of foreclosed homes for. Or what sale price they’re willing to approve short sale homes for.

A price above rubies

Typically, short sales go at a 10% discount of recent home sales. They have to. Otherwise, why would homebuyers want to wait 3 months, 6 months, or longer for bank approval?

Foreclosed homes typically sell even lower … by as much as 15 to 20% below recent sale prices of non-distressed homes. Or even more, depending on condition.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that foreclosed and short sale homes can’t possibly affect the value of your home. After all, your home is in perfect condition. It’s been lovingly maintained. It’s in move-in condition.

Unfortunately, appraisers don’t always see it that way.

Laughing Crying all the way to the bank

For argument’s sake, let’s say you put your house on the market tomorrow. Let’s say homebuyers see what you see … a perfect house in perfect condition.

Let’s further say that these buyers meet your asking price. Now they have to get a loan. And their bank has to make sure the investment is a good risk.

The bank hires an appraiser to make sure the buyers aren’t paying too much for your house. The appraiser pulls records of recent sales in your neighborhood. Unfortunately, 2 are foreclosures or short sales.

The appraiser should make an adjustment to account for the distressed status of those homes, but doesn't always. When she does, the amount probably won’t fully recognize the discount. That's because the appraiser can’t really know what the true condition of the house was, so she’ll err on the conservative side.

The appraiser must also err on the conservative side because she knows market values could very well get worse.

And bam! Your house isn’t worth as much as you or the buyer thought it was.

Are you stunned? Incensed? Confused? You should be.

But know this.

It happens. In this market climate, it happens all the time. Yes, homeowners can fight the appraiser’s opinion. And sometimes they can win, but not as often as they’d like.

If this happens to you … and you really want to move … you’ll be forced to lower the price so the buyers can qualify for their loan and you can close the deal.

Take it to the bank

So if you think foreclosures and short sales have nothing to do with you or your house, think again. They have everything to do with your ability to sell your house at a price that will allow you to move on. And you can take that to the bank!

Need to sell your home ... but can’t because it’s lost too much value?

Call Judy at 847.749.3811 to find out how you can sell your house as a Short Sale.

I list and sell Short Sales all over Chicagoland!

For more about Short Sales, visit ChicagoShortSales.com.

In the table below lists all of the single family detached and single family attached homes currently on the market in Riverwoods, 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.

Active Listings

List Price Range # Listings Avg. Days on Mkt $250,000 - $299,999 2 95 $300,000 - $349,999 1 1081 $350,000 - $399,999 1 179 $400,000 - $449,999 1 795 $450,000 - $499,999 5 261 $500,000 - $549,999 3 168 $550,000 - $599,999 6 168 $600,000 - $699,999 9 102 $700,000 - $799,999 5 216 $800,000 - $899,999 8 294 $900,000 - $999,999 3 158 $1,000,000 - $1,999,999 11 329 $2,000,000 - $2,999,999 1 1459

Active Listings Summary

# Units Avg. MT Median List Price Avg. List Price Max. List Price Min. List Price Total Volume 56 267 $707,000 $842,950 $2,200,000 $269,500 $47,205,197

Riverwoods has received the title of Tree City USA and the people of Riverwoods want to keep it that way.

This past Wednesday evening I attended a meeting at the Riverwoods Village Hall (a log cabin in the woods) where the new Riverwoods reforestation program was presented. The Village of Riverwoods will give matching funds for removal of invasive plants like buckthorn and garlic mustard as well as matching funds for young trees and seedlings to be planted when the invasives are removed.

To arborists and plant experts spoke about the type of trees that are native to our area. The Village Forester, Chuck Stewart also explained the program and will be on call one morning every other week to answer any tree related questions from Riverwoods residents and will also walk a resident's property for a cost of $50 with the Village paying the additional $50 fee.

I truly believe that no other community in the country is this proactive in maintaining the unique character of the woodlands.

To see more about Riverwoods check out the video on our website, www.Sherryandbill.com, which will give you a tour of the community.