Archive for the 'sellers' Category

Filed under buyers, sellers

The $8000 Tax Credit Brings out First Time Home Buyers

According to CNNMoney,
More than 1.4 million Americans have already claimed the new tax credit for first-time home buyers, according to a report from the Internal Revenue Service.
This is the kind of action that the Northwest Suburbs needs to kick off a healthy fall selling season. If we can get the the first time buyer homes [...]

Comments Off Laura on Sep 19th 2009

Filed under buyers, sellers

A New Roof Does Not Mean a Higher Price

I met with a seller a couple months ago in a nearby suburb, and ultimately we could not agree on price, so I didn’t take the listing. I will price a sellers home wherever they want, but it has to be within reason or I have to take a pass.
One of the major sticking points we [...]

Comments Off Laura on Sep 9th 2009

Filed under barrington, buyers, palatine, sellers

A Common Home Inspection Problem in the Area

I took out some clients the other day in Deer Park. This is a lovely area north of Palatine and east of Barrington. One of its distinguishing features is its rolling landscape and soft hills.
After seeing a couple duds, we came upon a home my clients really liked. The home had great curb appeal, but [...]

Comments Off Laura on Jul 15th 2009

Filed under buyers, sellers

How Appraisals Protect Buyers

In today’s market, appraisals are pretty strict.  If the contract price of a home can’t be supported by comparable properties in the area, the home won’t appraise out.
In other words, if a seller can get a buyer to over-pay for a home, or if a buyer overpays in the heat of a dual offer, the [...]

Comments Off Laura on Jun 4th 2009

Filed under buyers, market stats, sellers

I Had A Feeling the Market was Picking Up

Real estate can be very subjective. If you ask a busy agent how the market is, they’ll say great. If you ask a slow one, they’ll say terrible. For all of last winter and the early months of spring, however, you couldn’t find a busy agent. So, there was a pretty widespread consensus that the [...]

Comments Off Laura on Apr 28th 2009

Filed under sellers

Showing Your Home: The Basics

I’ve been showing a lot of homes lately, and I am always surprised how many sellers and/or their listing agents miss the basics. Here is a short list of reminders of how you can make your home showing-ready.

Make sure your agent has professional photos of your home taken. A few times a month I preview [...]

Comments Off Laura on Apr 22nd 2009

Filed under buyers, palatine, sellers

Open House Report, Palatine

Saturday open houses are always a little bit of a long shot, but today I had five groups through an open house I held in Palatine.
This is a nice change of pace because open houses have been exceptionally slow this year.  I had several opens in January and February where attendance hovered right around zero.
Today’s [...]

1 Comment Laura on Mar 14th 2009

Filed under barrington, buyers, sellers

Tales of a Buyer’s Market

I just came from the office where I find out that two of my colleagues have just put their homes up for sale.  They both want to move up to larger, more updated homes and feel that this is the best market in which to do it. They waited out the boom years for prices [...]

Comments Off Laura on Feb 17th 2009

Filed under sellers

A Bit of an Uptick in Internet House-Hunting

Check out Robert Darrrow’s post, People are Looking at Houses on the Internet Again, on his local blog YourWindyCityGuide.  He has an interesting report on a recent increase in Realtor.com views of his listings.  I have noticed the same data on my Realtor.com listings.
BarringtonLocal.com’s traffic has increased about 20% this month compared to last month [...]

Comments Off Laura on Jan 22nd 2009

Filed under buyers, sellers

When Does the Spring Market Start?

. . . strangely enough, not in spring.  Traditionally, Realtors think of the spring market as beginning after the Superbowl. The weather, of course, is still cold, but that time period marks the start of increased activity in the market.
After the Superbowl, open house traffic increases because the football season is over.  Moreover, people start [...]

2 Comments Laura on Jan 14th 2009

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