If you think you don’t have to worry about selling your Wheeling 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, 49% of all single-family detached homes sold in Wheeling were ‘distressed’ homes ... either foreclosures or short sales.

Digest this for a moment.

1 out of 2 homes sold in Wheeling 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 49% of Wheeling 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.

Is the market value of your Wheeling 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, 37 foreclosed homes were sold in the Wheeling.

37 homes lost by people just like you.

37 homeowners paralyzed by fear.

37 homes that could have been sold as Short Sales.

37 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, 18 homeowners decided to sell their homes as Short Sales. And succeeded!

If you let the bank to foreclose on your Wheeling 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.

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!

Kingsport Village in Wheeling IL sparkles like a priceless gem. But you don’t need a king’s ransom to buy one of these castles fit for nobility.

The jewel in the crown

Developed by Meister-Neiberg builders during the mid-80s, this popular subdivision is tucked away in a convenient location northeast of Hintz and Schoenbeck Roads.

And what a great location it is! Kingsport Village is just a hop, skip, and jump from shopping along Dundee Road ... only a 5-minute drive to several shopping centers and strip malls near Rand, Palatine, and Arlington Heights Roads ... and just two stoplights north of Palatine Expressway, which gives residents quick access to Highway 53, the 294 Tollway, and Edens Expressway.

Diamonds are forever

The expanded and always busy Indian Trails Public Library is within walking distance.

Adjacent to the library, find Horizon Park, one of the many parks and facilities that make up the Wheeling Park District. The park provides baseball, softball, and soccer fields as well as a basketball court and playground.

Top rated Wheeling High School is also an easy walk from the homes of Kingsport Village.

A price above rubies

Don’t be surprised if your neighbors bring over home-baked cookies for special occasions. It’s that kind of welcoming neighborhood!

Kingsport Village is also the place to be on Halloween. Goblins and witches come from surrounding neighborhoods. But be forewarned: your doorbell won’t stop ringing from late afternoon until early evening. So make sure you have plenty of ‘treats’ on hand so you won’t be a recipient of any tricks.

If you want to ooh and aah over Christmas lights and decorations, take a stroll through the neighbor and enjoy the holiday ambiance.   

Family jewels

Offering several different architectural styles — from colonial to ranch to split — the 200-plus single-family homes will please every lord or lady of the manor.  

As of April 2011, there are 4 houses for sale in Kingsport Village. All are 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath colonial-style models priced from $354,000 to $372,000.

Over the past 12 months, 4 homes have sold with prices ranging from $285,000 to $338,000.

Take a look at the snapshot below for key indicators of how the Wheeling real estate market is doing.

Three statistics are particularly worth looking at more closely.

• Median sale price decrease
• Sale-to-list-price ratio
• Months required to sell current inventory of homes for sale

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.

Median sales price increase

The Median Sale Price represents the halfway point between the highest and lowest sold prices.

While it’s tempting to be pessimistic about the downward movement in the Median Sale Price based on 6 sold homes, don’t.

When there are fewer houses in a sampling, the Median Sale Price can exhibit wide swings from period to period. Keep an eye out for future reports. If the pattern holds, then a trend is in the making.

Median sale-to-list-price ratio

As you can see, the Median Sale Price was substantially lower than the Median List Price by a 93 to 95 percent ratio. This indicates that homesellers were either —

1. overly optimistic about the price they could get or
2. left lots of negotiation room at the top

When a home is priced right, the list price should be no more than 3% above the targeted sale price. Otherwise, homebuyers might assume the homesellers are unrealistic, unwilling to consider a substantial price cut, or both.

Unless a property is so desirable it can’t be ignored, buyers will often bypass it in favor of another house down the block. The overpriced house will sit on the market for months ... losing purchasing power all along the way ... and ultimately selling for a much lower price than it could have within the first few weeks.

Months required to sell current inventory of homes

Since only 6 homes sold each month on average during the last three months, and there are 35 homes currently on the market, mathematically it would take well over a year to sell the full inventory of homes for sale. To put it another way —

If you were to put your house on the market today ...
And everything else being equal ...
You’d have to wait a year and half to sell.

How would you like to cut the selling time to 2 or 3 months?

The homesellers luckily enough to sell their houses did just that. They sold their houses, on average, 71 days from list to sold. Or a little more than 2 months!

How did they do that when so many other homes remain on the market?

The old-fashioned way. By offering more value in terms of quality and price. And by being willing to negotiate.

Sienna in Wheeling

Sienna is a single family home and townhouse community built in the late 1990's by Concord Homes. Sienna features town homes with floor plans ranging from 1,300 to 1,760 square feet of living space. Sienna is located in Wheeling, Illinois on Frontage Road east of Palatine.

Activity in Sienna for the past 6 months

5 homes sold in Sienna in Wheeling from $140,000-$500,000 with an average price of $283,980 within the last 6 months.

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