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Real Estate Market Update - Northwest Suburbs - February 2012

Interest rates are low and housing affordability has been the best in decades and yet I was hoping the market would be ending a little better. FHA buyers will be taking a hit to their pocketbooks in April with higher monthly mortgage insurance costs looming on the horizon. It seems that with each slight lowering of interest rates the banks are elevating the closing costs for buyers to offset that bonus. Makes you wonder who's side they are on? Obviously, their own and not the consumer.

The graphs show that February sales have been up for most towns in our area.

Another good statistic is when the market is steady (or going up) with the number of homes that go under contract each month. Currently we are between 10 to 17%. This is terrific!

The inventory level (absorption rate) has also decreased even through the slower winter months. The current inventory level has been low between 4 to 7 months. This would have been considered a sellers market 'in the good ole' days' of years past.

I have been including the highest sales prices in each category for the month so we can watch for the 2nd tier home sales increase. The market will always recover from the 'bottom up' with the lower sales prices showing the largest number of sales until the 2nd tier breaks free. This will be an indication that the 'move up' buyers have finally been able to take advantage of today's prices and the low interest rates. This will be the next trend in the recovery. So far, not much activity in that upper end.

Average Days on the Market needs no explanation and you can clearly see the extended times are agonizing for sellers. None of our market areas are lower than 3 months. Hopefully we will move out of this now that the winter weather has broken.

I am still optimistic that we are recovering here in our area for 11 months in a row. Month over month we have seen an increase in closings. One of the reasons I show the 'month over month' totals is to show you we truly are having sales increases - it's not just sales hype!

The number of 'pendings' (mentioned above at 10 to 17% of currently listed homes) has also increased but you can't count on all of these making it to a successful close!

Looking for an agent that's really a market expert? Let's get your Northwest Suburban home on the market and priced right to sell!

Is your current agent showing you any of this information?

Do you feel your current agent is 'flying by the seat' of his pants when answering these questions?

Looking for a home in the area? Please give me a call or email me on the right to talk about the possibilities.


Sources: MRED February Stats 2012

Homebuyers will be paying higher fees on mortgages backed by the FHA after the agency announced last week that it is hiking fees in an effort to bolster its reserves and encourage the return of private capital to the housing market.

Since when is increasing fees a 'bolster' to the economy? Personally I feel this is not the time to penalize buyers for trying to buy a home despite the FHA's loses! Here is what is going to happen:

Starting April 1, 2012 the FHA will increase its annual mortgage insurance premium for loans under $625,500, from 1.15 percent of the loan amount to 1.25 percent. Starting June 1, 2012 larger loan premiums will increase 0.35 percent of a percentage point, bringing the total premium costs up to 1.5 percent of the loan amount. FHA also will raise a fee for the upfront mortgage premium by 0.75 of a percentage point, which will now total 1.75 percent of the loan amount.

What will that mean for you the buyer?

At $150,000 - the mortgage payment will increase approximately $18 per month. That's an extra $216 per year.

At $200,000 - the mortgage payment will increase approximately $24 per month. This is an extra $288 per year.

As long as you start the loan process prior to April 1st, you're will be grandfathered so to speak. You do NOT have to close on a house prior to this April 1st deadline.

I think you'd better get going!






Source: REALTOR® Magazine

Schlitz is a name that was at one time very famous in Chicago. I laugh now because the name seems so old and is equated to times long gone. Schlitz was the cheapest 6 pack that a kid could buy illegally! But I digress ....

I was going through an email and I noticed that phrase 'tied house' and didn't know what it was. Obviously I remember Schlitz but I wanted to investigate this. Intrigued on this part of our Chicago history, here's what they were and are now officially being designated as Chicago Landmarks.



"In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, a combination of intense competition among brewing companies and increasing legal restrictions and social pressures (prohibition was coming) on public drinking establishments compelled brewing companies in Chicago to adopt a “tied house” system. Developed in England a century earlier, the tied-house system involved the direct control of taverns not by independent entrepreneurs, but by large brewing companies which sold their products exclusively at their own establishments.

Brewery control of the tavern trade in Chicago began with the purchase of existing saloon buildings, but soon evolved into the acquisition of choice real estate and the design and construction of tavern buildings. At least forty-one of these tied-house buildings are known to survive today in the city. They were built by large Milwaukee-based brewers, most notably Schlitz, and by several local brewers such as the Atlas, Birk Brothers, Fortune Brothers, Gottfried, Peter Hand, Standard, and Stege companies. In many cases, to attract customers, brewing companies employed high-quality architectural designs and popular historical styles of architecture for their tied houses to attract, and perhaps also to convey the legitimacy and decency of the neighborhood tavern in the face of rising social opposition."

Five Schlitz Tied Houses and Schlitz Stable Building

"Chicago designates the former Schlitz Brewery tied house at 1801 W. Division St. as a Chicago Landmark. The West Town building, an excellent example of the German Renaissance Revival style, was commissioned in 1900 by Edward Uihlein of the Milwaukee-based brewery as a tied house for the exclusive sale of its products.

The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. was the most prolific builder of tied houses in Chicago, constructing at least 57 such taverns from the 1890s to the early 1900s. Its logo featuring a distinctive relief of the belted Schlitz beer globe insignia is still visible on the building’s facade in the 1st Ward.

This is the second of a group of nine Schlitz tied houses that are being considered for landmark status."


Resources: Chicago Landmarks Site
Chicago Historic Preservation

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