I am always looking for good articles and topics to generate ideas for my own blog posts. I found this one blog post today that is very good, nothing I would change, and it perfectly reflects my opinion and approach to my real estate business:
June 22 KCM Blog - Five Things by Steve Harney
Thanks for reading!
To view my primary blog where I write (more often) about eco-friendly living, and real estate on Chicago's North Shore go to Sweet Home Chicago.
To find any property for sale in the Chicago area, go to:
Many people have heard that the real estate market is "bad" and so they are sitting on the sidelines and waiting for it to get "better" or to "recover." The real estate market is not inherently good or bad right now, it is different. The dynamics of the market have changed and savvy buyers and sellers are not sitting on the sidelines. They are using readily available information to anticipate where prices are going and they are planning their buying and selling decisions accordingly.
If you want to move to a different place that will better meet your needs (bigger, smaller, new location, etc. ) you may regret waiting until things are "better." First of all it could be several years before prices are anywhere near the prices we saw just a few years ago. Do you really want to put off moving on with your life and being where you want to be? Some people think prices are going to go back to "normal" in a few months or maybe a year. I am afraid that is not going to be the case. In fact I believe that prices will continue to decline as we proceed further onto 2010. And the facts are clear - prices are still going down. Better to sell now than wait until prices go down more.
I have personal experience with this and I know first hand that getting on with your life is much more important than the money. We lived in the far western suburbs of Chicago for a while and came to the decision that we wanted to move back home to the North Shore (this was before I became a Realtor). We just weren't happy where we lived and our employment circumstances had changed so we had no real reason to stay there. While the entire economy wasn't in turmoil at that time, the local real estate market where we lived had excess supply of new homes on the market. Our home was only 5 years old and in terrific shape, but we couldn't compete with all of the new construction in the area. It took us a long time to finally agree with our real estate agent to lower our price, but I am so glad that we did! We lost money on the sale, we bought a smaller house on a smaller lot, but with the benefits of being closer to family and friends, better schools, and a community with a better fit for us made it all worthwhile. My only regret is that we didn't do it sooner. One key difference between my personal story and the current market is that if you sell in this market you also get to take advantage of great prices and low interest rates, no matter where you go. But beware, experts are predicting that interest rates ate going to begin going up. (in fact that is one of the reasons that prices are expected to continue to decline). Thanks for reading!
To find any properties for sale in the Chicago area go to: www.KarpRealEstate.com www.ForeclosuresOnTheNorthShore.com www.teardowns.com
The good news is that the trend I noted for both Highland Park and Northbrook is also true for Deerfield. That is, sales in the past three months appear to be stronger than the prior three months.
Here is how it breaks down...
During the past 6 months 45 homes sold for under $1.2 million in Deerfield. Seventy five percent of those sales (34) were in the past 3 months - so there is a good trend here. With 162 homes currently on the market for under $1.2 million, this means it could take over 14 months for all of these homes to sell (162 divided by the 3-month sales rate of 11.3 homes per month (34/3 = 7.5)). For Highland Park inventory for homes in this price range is around 10 months, and it is even lower in Northbrook. So if the sales rates stay the same, it could take longer for Deerfield to "recover" from the high inventory levels that we are seeing. Over 80% of Deerfield homes currently for sale fall into this price range.
There were a total of 9 luxury homes sold (priced over $1.2 million) in Deerfield in the past 6 months; 5 of those sold in the past 3 months. So the three-month sales rate is 1.5 homes per month. With 43 homes on the market in this price range, there is over 28.5 months of inventory. Highland Park and Northbrook inventory levels are higher with over 30 months of inventory for luxury homes in both areas.
Please keep in mind that all of this "analysis" that I am providing assumes that the sales rates stay the same as they have been for the past three months. We can see from looking at the full 6-month period, that the sales rates are not static. This is just a snapshot in time, and it provides a way to compare what has been going on in each of these suburbs on the north shore. It is not particularly a prediction of what is going to happen.
I hope that you find this info useful. I will continue to look at more of the suburbs on the North Shore as time permits. I'd plan to take a look at the condo stats as well. I am actually working with several buyers right now, and my time with clients (buyers and sellers) takes priority over blogging!!
Thanks for reading!! Your comments, questions, requests are welcome.
Overall sales activity in Northbrook was similar to Highland Park over the past 6 months. Sales activity picked up during the past three months. As in Highland Park the less expensive homes had a stronger showing, with 80 out of 87 sales in the past three month priced at less than $1,200,000 (about 92% of the sales). Seventy percent of the sales in the past three month were under $700,000.
Assuming that the sales rate for the past six months remains that same (I hope not!) there is almost 17 months of inventory in Northbrook right now (316 homes on the market, with 18.7 selling each month, on average). If I use the 3-month sales rate, the inventory level is a little better, with just under 12 months of inventory (316 homes available with 29 selling each month).
Breaking it down by price range and using the 3-month (more optimistic) sales rate, here are the details:
Northbrook homes priced less than $600,000 have 6-7 months of inventory.
Northbrook homes between $600,000 and $1,200,000 have almost 9 months of inventory.
Luxury homes (priced over $1,200,000) have over 32 months of inventory!
Please give me a call if you want more information or if you have any questions.
Thanks for reading.
nsk
Home below is for sale in Glenview/Northbrook development called Willows West. Needs some work. Contact me for details.
In spite of the rain, the Earth Day Festival in Highland Park was well attended. Since the crowds were less then anticipated, they didn't need my assistance as a volunteer. I took advantage of the time (no appointments with clients, no family commitments) to check out the festival myself.
I learned about a new line of paints from Benjamin Moore - they are eco friendly, hypo allergenic, and they also cover better than the regular paints.
I learned about a new solar energy program that will be coming the the North Shore (eventually - timing tbd). The deal is that this company determines what type/size solar panel you need, and then they install it on your roof. You pay monthly to rent it out. Your electricity then comes primarily from the solar panel, and if you need any additional energy, you still get it from ComEd. You don't have to switch it back and forth, it all works together seamlessly - at least that is what they told me.
A local business that provides theraputic massages services is also selling eco-friendly cleaning supplies. They started out using the products for their shop, and now that they've moved into larger quarters they decided to start selling the products themselves.
Kudos to the planners of this fist-time event. I think it was a success!
Karp Real Estate - Residential real estate expertise on Chicago's North Shore. Buy or sell with confidence! Results, results, results.
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