Judy Orr - SW & near West Chicago suburbs

I have been busy for this time of year since around the end of December. There was a point in time where I thought I couldn't handle all of the buyers that wanted to look for homes, but my husband Jimmy and I handled it, although it was a bit stressful.

The chart below shows the market report for single family Homer Glen homes from December 2011 through February 2012.

I am surprised that there were a couple more sellers that put their homes on the market in December vs. in January. As you can see, many more sellers are ready to sell in 2012.

The next two columns show Averge Original List Price and Median Original List Price. The next column and the chart below show the different number of sold homes in the 3 months, and you can see that figure is going up as we get close to the end of winter in Homer Glen.

The chart above shows the Average Sale Price and the Median Sale Price of homes in Homer Glen and you can see in the chart below that those prices are going down. It will be interesting to see if prices continue to decrease throughout 2012.

You can see average and median days on market from the chart at the top. Why are average days increasing? Because there are still many homes on the market that are not selling, and it's usually because they are priced too high for their location and/or condition.

It is still a great time to buy. We don't know when prices will start getting stable, nor does anyone know when they will start increasing. We do know interest rates are still low right now and some think they will increase. It seems like they increase during the Spring and summer, when more sales occur.

The data above is from MRED MLS.

Real estate recovery - or not?

The following chart shows supply and demand for single family Palos Park homes for the entire year of 2011.

As you can see, there is a huge discrepancy between the red line, respresenting Palos Park homes for sale, vs. the blue and green lines (homes under contract and sold homes). You could stack up the blue and green lines and there would still be a big difference.

This represents true supply and demand, and with this kind of difference between the amount of homes available for sale vs. those that received contracts and actually sold and closed, it is easy to see why we are still in a Buyer's Market. There just aren't enough ready, willing and able buyers to scoop up all the available listings.

What I like about these yearly charts is that you can see what months were most active. I was surprised to see how much activity there was in November and how flat things were from April through July in Palos Park. This shows different activity levels than most other towns in the area.

You can see Palos Park real estate statistics from 2005 by clicking the link. Give me a call at 708-536-8200 if you'd like to see any Palos Park homes or properties in any of the southwest suburbs.

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.

UPDATE: My buyers finally got an accepted contract on house #2. They accepted that $2,500 difference in price from the seller's final offer. Seller held firm and buyers called me to say they'll accept after about a week of thinking it over. I feel my buyers got a good deal on the home and I'm actually surprised the sellers came down as far as they did.

The following chart shows the market report of suppy and demand for all of 2011 for single family Lemont homes.

As you can easily see, like most southwest Chicago suburbs, there is a big discrepancy between the amount of homes available for sale in Lemont vs. those that went under contract or sold and closed. The month with the highest amount of active listings (the red line) was April and the lowest amount of inventory was in December.

The lowest months that homes went under contract were September, December and January. February had the least amount of homes that sold and closed. More Lemont homes went under contract in July and the highest amount of closings occurred in August.

The bottom line is, if you're a seller and your Lemont home has been sitting on the market waiting to sell you probably need to consider lowering your price or doing some updates or repairs to make your home stand out from all the rest currently on the market competing against you. With these kinds of figures it is easy to see why we are calling this a Buyer's Market. Buyers have a lot to choose from!

If you're thinking of buying and/or selling in this popular village give Judy Orr a call at 708-536-8200 or use the Email me link to the right.

Orland Park Homes Supply & Demand Chart for All of 2011

We finally have our year-end statistics and the chart above shows us exactly what a Buyer's Market is. The red lines represent active Orland Park homes for sale. The blue line shows us homes that went under contract for the month. The green line shows homes that sold and closed.

One thing I especially like about this chart is that it shows us what months showed the most activity in each category. August had the largest supply of homes for sale. More homes went under contract in May and the most closings occurred in July from those May contracts. Not much went under contract in December, which is usually the norm.

If you're a seller in Orland Park and you're wondering why your place is sitting on the market without any offers, this chart should hopefully put into perspective the over-supply of homes for sale. Buyers have a veritable smorgasbord of properties to choose from and homes must be priced at or under market value to have a chance.

You might think you're at market value, but if your home doesn't show as well as a similar home priced the same then buyers won't make an offer. Sometimes we agents feel like broken records - reduce your price, over and over. The rule of thumb is for every 4-6 weeks without an offer, a 3-5% price reduction should be taken until you receive one. When we sold our home recently we reduced price every 3 weeks. It depends on your motivation but if you don't adjust, the market will overtake your current price and you will be competing with more valuable homes that have kept up with the market.

Orland Park hasn't been hit as hard as some other villages, but it's still not easy being a seller in today's market. On the other hand, buyers have a huge selection and low interest rates to boot. If you're thinking of buying and/or selling, give Judy Orr a call at 708-536-8200 or use the Email me link to the right. This chart and my comments might seem negative, but I've been super busy and I feel like 2012 is going to be better than 2011.