Sherry Spengel | Wheaton IL

A total of 354 homes sold in Glen Ellyn in 2007; about 18% less than in 2006. Everything was going well until September. Normally, we call September the beginning of the “second season” in real estate. This year, the August mortgage issue effected the rest of the year. Both the single family and the condo/townhome markets took a big dip in September.

A total of 480 single family homes sold in 2007; about 8% less than 2006.

It’s easy to get caught up in the doom and gloom media hype regarding real estate these
days. What we need to remember is that the media coverage tends to be national, not
local.

The local Wheaton real estate market, once again, held it’s own compared to the national
market. The numbers aren’t anything to jump up and down about; however, they don’t
seem as bad as other parts of the country.

There were 480 closed single family homes in Wheaton during 2007. The average sale
price was $433,156 with an average market time of 121 days. 2006 saw a total of 522
homes sold with an average sale price of $431,881 and a market time of 88 days.

Bottom line, there were less homes sold in 2007 with a longer market time. The price
difference increased less than $1500. Like I said, nothing to write home about, however it’s also
not nearly as bad as other parts of the country.

2007 Year End Home Sales for Single Family Wheaton Homes

What does this mean of sellers? Sellers need to price their homes competitively. They
need to make sure it shows well for every potential buyer that walks thru the door. They
also need to make sure that their real estate agent is marketing the home in as many
places as possible to reach the most buyers.

As I ran my end of year report for available land in Wheaton, I was shocked to find out that not one vacant piece of property closed in the entire year. 2006 saw 7 sales with an average sale price of $355,000.

There are currently 47 parcels of land available with an average asking price of $475,000.

The bulk of the lots available are in Amberwood Estates. This is a new 33 unit luxury subdivision in the Southwest part of Wheaton. It used to be the property of the Sunny Ridge Family Center. Twenty-one of these parcels are available ranging in price from $440,000 to $499,000.

We have three parcels listed in Amberwood Estates, two already have contracts. Whiteford Homes is the builder and they are listed as single family homes instead of vacant land.

It will be very interesting to see what happens to Wheaton land sales in 2008. With zero properties sold in 2007, things can only look up for 2008!