Photos from Rick Hauser, ABR, CNE, GRI Exclusive Buyer Agent - 100% Buyers
Waterfall near entrance to Countryside Glen subdivision in Hawthorn WoodsLocated in: Hawthorn Woods, IL
Mortgage applications are way up -- suggesting that more buyers are coming into the market. I know that we are pretty busy - with more clients than normal for this time of year. But - buyers are taking longer to decide - on average.
We are Exclusive Buyer Agents - meaning that we are always on the buyer's side - and we never ever represent sellers or list property for sale.
There are about 800 of us in the USA - with about 500 being members of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents I am the Central Region Director (& on the Board of Directors) for the Association.
If you love working with buyers - please contact me if you'd like to know more. It's great being a specialist - and offering a higher level of fiduciary services to buyers - without the traditional conflicts of interest - such as "dual agency"!
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As Exclusive Buyer Agents - we provide expert research and negotiation for home buyers and investors in the Chicago area. Unlike "buyer agents" - we are specialists -- always 100% on the buyer's side.... NEVER EVER REPRESENTING SELLERS! If you are thinking about buying / purchasing a home in the Chicago Illinois area, you will want to ensure that you have an agent that is on YOUR side – looking out for your best interests.
Relocation Advisors Group, Inc. represents BUYERS ONLY in the Chicago metropolitan area so that you have 100% representation - 100% of the time. SEE MORE TYPES OF PROPERTIES - including for-sale-by-owner, short-sale and foreclosure etc. We show ALL listings suiting your needs - from ANY Real Estate company.
If You Become our Client - We Tell You About the Negatives of a Home - Not Just the Positives. You Have an Unbiased Consultant and Advocate and "Personal Real Estate Coach" on Your Side.... Best of All - You are Nothing Out of Pocket to Us For Our Services... Please Call 847-566-7558 or Toll Free at 866-493-2842 or e-mail us at info@relocationadvisorsgroup.com to schedule a complimentary initial consultation.
If you have excellent credit and are thinking about buying a home in the Chicago Illinois area during the next 60-90 days:
As the weather turns wintry, Chicago suburban homeless shelters are preparing for what's expected to be a record-setting demand for services.
For many PADS organizations, the not-for-profit groups that run shelters and other services for homeless people throughout the Chicago area, the 2008 fiscal year was their all-time busiest.
But because of rising unemployment, the foreclosure crisis and other worsening economic factors, PADS representatives predict the current fiscal year, which began this summer, will be worse.
With temperatures dropping in recent weeks, more people are turning to PADS shelters for warmth and safety.
Cedric Lee, is community outreach director of Lake County's PADS Crisis Services - and sees numbers up.
Scott Block, is division director with McHenry County PADS. His agency operates seven shelter sites at area churches, with one open each night of the week, between October and April, and a year-round day center with additional beds for emergencies.
There's room for about 50 people each night - and they've found themselves out of space already this season.
During the 2008 fiscal year, McHenry County PADS served about 400 homeless men, women and children - a record for the group. The agency is on pace to exceed that total in 2009.
Dennis Hewitt, is executive director of PADS of Elgin, which operates a single year-round shelter in that city for residents of Dundee, Elgin and Hanover townships.
Most people who lose their homes first rely on friends or family for shelter. Then people turn to churches and social-service groups to help them get by temporarily. When those wells run dry, people turn to PADS.
DuPage PADS operates three shelters every night, at rotating sites throughout that county. Maximum capacity is 140 people.
The number of people seeking shelter through DuPage PADS in October was 37 percent greater than it was a year earlier, Executive Director Carol Simler said. She attributes the increase to people with low-paying jobs who saw their hours cut and no longer could afford rent.
During the last fiscal year, Lake County PADS served 787 adults and 114 children. This year, Lee expects more than 850 adults and at least 150 children will seek emergency shelter at his group's 14 rotating shelters and one permanent site.
Demand typically peaks in January,
Donations of goods are appreciated. But cash gifts are needed, too, so organizers can buy specific things that people need that may not be among the donated items.
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The Federal Reserve's plan to spend $600 billion buying mortgages is driving down lending rates and boosting home affordability, which combined with decreasing inventories may signal a 2009 recovery for the battered home-building sector, some Wall Street analysts said.
Honestly - this sounds like a boondoggle to me. The govenment can't even manage the postal system - much less anything else. I don't believe they should be hiring folks to manage the program below (and using taxpayers money) to try to buy 20 some homes back from banks who shouldn't have made the loans in the first place.
The latest.....
Lake County officials are finalizing the application for $4.6 million in federal funds, part of a nearly $4 billion national allocation approved by Congress in July as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.
He estimated the initial batch of funds could finance the purchase of about 20 homes
Lake County is proceeding as if it will have access to money to acquire abandoned and foreclosed properties. The properties would be rehabbed and then sold or rented.
An estimated 8,100 foreclosures occurred in Lake County in the last 31/2 years, including 1,900 in the last six months.
Specific properties have not been determined although about $1.7 million, or nearly a third of the allocation, would be targeted for five communities: Mundelein, North Chicago, Round Lake Beach, Waukegan and Zion.
Those communities have been designated as having the greatest need as determined by percentage of foreclosures and homes financed by subprime loans.
The funds can be used only to acquire properties already in foreclosure, and could not be used to prevent a foreclosure.
The county would acquire the properties from banks at a to-be-determined discount from the current appraised value, and then make them available for sale or rent.
The program is intended to clear banks of homes they can't move.
The homes will be made available to low or moderate income families who make 80% of the area's median income.
The buyers could earn up to 120 percent of an area's median income. In Lake County, that amounts to $90,500 for a family of four, meaning some middle income people could benefit.
One quarter of the federal funds must benefit households at or below 50 percent of the area's median income, which would be $37,700 for a family of four in Lake County.
Initially, the county would act as a bank. It would own the property and then try to connect new owners with privately financed loans.
The county's application is due Dec. 1. Lake County Illinois officials hope to learn within 30 days whether the 62-page document was accepted.
The county was informed of the grant in late September. The federal government wants the money committed within 18 months and spent within four years.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
As Exclusive Buyer Agents - we provide expert research and negotiation for home buyers and investors in the Chicago area. Unlike "buyer agents" - we are specialists -- always 100% on the buyer's side.... NEVER EVER REPRESENTING SELLERS! If you are thinking about buying / purchasing a home in the Chicago Illinois area, you will want to ensure that you have an agent that is on YOUR side – looking out for your best interests.
Relocation Advisors Group, Inc. represents BUYERS ONLY in the Chicago metropolitan area so that you have 100% representation - 100% of the time. SEE MORE TYPES OF PROPERTIES - including for-sale-by-owner, short-sale and foreclosure etc. We show ALL listings suiting your needs - from ANY Real Estate company.
If You Become our Client - We Tell You About the Negatives of a Home - Not Just the Positives. You Have an Unbiased Consultant and Advocate and "Personal Real Estate Coach" on Your Side.... Best of All - You are Nothing Out of Pocket to Us For Our Services... Please Call 847-566-7558 or Toll Free at 866-493-2842 or e-mail us at info@relocationadvisorsgroup.com to schedule a complimentary initial consultation.
If you have excellent credit and are thinking about buying a home in the Chicago Illinois area during the next 60-90 days:
FED SEEKS TO AVOID ANOTHER GREAT DEPRESSION
Comment - they FINALLY did what they should have done long ago..... I just wonder why it took them this long to figure out that mortgage rates needed to come down a lot..... Talk about clueless! Yet - the entire economy is still is deep doo doo - because consumers are maxed out on debt - and have more debt than savings. So - there's really nothing there to spend... including very little home equity (or negative) in many cases.
Though the stock market rallied this week - I expect it to decline again next week to some extent...
Excerpt -- Yesterday the Fed announced that it would begin to buy mortgage and other private debt securities -- easily the most dramatic and unprecedented action in the Fed's 95-year history.
Mortgages immediately fell a half-percent to 5.5 percent. An immense volume of loan-rate locks has pushed rates back up a bit today, but the decline is highly likely to resume. For the first time in the last 18 months' credit-market nightmare the authorities have moved in front of the crisis, jumping past broken banks to fund the nation.
The Fed buys and sells short-term T-bills every day, managing monetary policy and short-term rates. However, the only prior Fed direct-purchase intervention to push down long-term rates was during and shortly after World War II, and that operation was limited strictly to Treasurys. This time the Fed will buy a wide spectrum of consumer credit, driving down rates, and will eventually reopen private markets in volume. The Fed's actual purchases will not begin until next week, but it said it would continue to buy "over several quarters." The Fed did not indicate any target for how far it intends to push down mortgage rates.
My comment -- this will help a lot - but it will take time for some buyers to come back in - as the surge of foreclosures is still driving prices down.
Smart buyers will buy in the December / January / Feb timeframe in my opinion - after rates have fallen and inventory is still high.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
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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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