Fireworks expenditures this year in the Chicago area...
For an entire list of events - you can click here
Happily - some fireworks are also on the 4th - if you don't get your dose on the 3rd...
My company fireworks party is a higher budget this year than last year (as we've had a very good year - with many home buyer clients choosing to use our services - because we are always on their side - without the conflicts of interest that the traditional buyer agents can have... & better negotiation and home buyer service and expertise in general....) - and includes mortars & roman candles.
We spend more than Elburn / Island Lake/
Gurnee and Elgin Illinois combined! (which is zero this year in those towns!)
Guests see 6 different cities fireworks displays from our office overlooking the lake - with fireworks reflections across the lake...
Sales of previously occupied homes rose modestly from April to May, the third monthly increase this year, but signs of any housing recovery are fragile at best.
The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that home sales rose 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.77 million last month, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.66 million in April.
Prices, meanwhile, dropped by 16.8 percent from a year ago.
The results missed economists' expectations.
Sales had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 4.81 million units, according to Thomson Reuters.
The median sales price plunged to $173,000 from $207,900 in the same month last year, but up from $166,600 in April.
Hey - and that was when rates were in the 4's.... I imagine the figures will be worse in the future - since rates rose in the past month - but helping keep the momentum going is the 8k tax credit.
Once that goes away in December - there had better be something else helping housing..
I'm crazy busy now though - with first time homebuyer clients.... They come to me when they want someone who guarantees that I'll always be
on their side. There are only about 700 of us (Exclusive Buyer Agents) in the USA...... We never rep. sellers. We are specialists - not generalists - so very good at what we do (home finding, negotiation, getting folks to closing smoothly...) Buyers come to us - when they want the best....
Off to write up three contracts for purchase..... including a deep discounted (as of yesterday) bank owned one... :-)
On June 10th, Johnny Isakson, a Senator for the State of Georgia, introduced legislation that would give ALL buyers a $15k tax credit with NO income limitations. Senator Isakson was cited as follows:
“The first-time homebuyer tax credit has made a difference. First-time home buyers used it and the market stabilized, but we don't have a recession in first-time home buyers. We have a recession in the move-up market,” Isakson said. “One of the biggest problems facing the American people today is an illiquid housing market, a decline in their equity, a decline in their net worth and a depression in the housing market that we are obligated to correct if we possibly can.” --Sen. Isakson--
Information Source:
http://isakson.senate.gov/press/2009/061009housing.htm
I hope this one passes. Feel free to write your congressmen about it...
Due to lack of lender cooperation or delays in approving short sales- the US housing market has lost billions of dollars in property values,caused additional unemployment, strain on local tax revenues and more homes going into foreclosure.
There are billions of dollars' worth of short-sale contracts sitting in lender offices, for properties they end up foreclosing on. Lenders turn down short-sale contracts and sell properties eight months later for 40 percent to 50 percent less. It is the definition of insanity.
Rather than giving money to lending institutions / banks without stipulation - perhaps taxpayer money should be tied to how many short sale offers are accepted. Then perhaps the institutions would spool up personnel in those departments. Perhaps the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) money should be used to hire out-of-work mortgage and financial people to get the short sales ramped up and cleaned up?
Bank owned (REO) properties are killing property values. Good for our buyer clients of course -- (we've been involved in several multiple offer situations lately on deep-discounted bank owned property - with my clients getting the properties at tens of thousands less than the appraisal came in at....
But - we the taxpayers, are handing (banks) money so they can perpetuate the problem. They are taking billions of dollars on one side, and on the other side they are throwing billions of dollars out the window, ruining home prices by not accepting short sale ofers due to understaffing and poor standards.
When the alternative is a bank owned property - where you can get an answer back within 24-48 hours versus 3 months or more - and the price is much less than any lender would accept for the short sale properties nearby - the bank owned properties become preferable to home buyers.
When the dust settles on the Spring Chicago area market - median home prices in most places will be down compared to the previous year, but single-family home sales may be up (though inventory is still high.) Chicago area home buyers are coming out of the woodwork. I haven't been this busy since 2005....
I am seeing a lot of first-time home buyers who have been on the sidelines for a while ready to make a move. 95% of my business is first time home buyers.
Yesterday - I talked to an agent-friend in Florida who said the same thing. During the past few weeks - buyers are coming out of the woodwork...
The Chicago area buyers that study the market are ready to jump at a good deal. Homes that are well kept in nice locations are selling quickly, if priced appropriately. In other cases - banks are dropping their prices quite a bit on their bank-owned properties -- sometimes 30k in one day on homes priced in the 200's. Then - buyers swoop in and multiple offers ensue.
The buyer with the best offer get the deal. In some cases - Chicago area buyers are bidding above the newly dropped list - in order to ensure that they get the place - but they still get a good price on the property.
During the past week - I've been swamped with buyer prospects knocking at our door. We interview them to determine if we'd like to work with them - and it also gives them an opportunity to ask questions of us.
We only work with buyers who are ready to purchase in the next 60 days - who have good credit - and who have enough for at least an FHA Downpayment. It's a great spring market here in the Chicago area! I haven't posted as frequently on Active Rain - since I've been so darn busy!
Have a great spring! Beautiful day outside today and - another closing for a Chicago suburb buyer client who got a great deal on a bank owned property.
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Are you buying a $250,000-$9,000,000 Home in the Chicago area within 90 days? Then you need to meet with us to compare the difference. Call 847-566-7558 or e-mail info@relocationadvisorsgroup.com
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