Archive for October, 2008

Filed under buyers, sellers

Ghosts of 2003 Sale Prices are Haunting the Market

Eek! The ghosts of past sale prices are haunting the market. I’ve been working with several buyers lately, so I’ve been visiting dozens of homes a week. When a client is interested in a listing, I do a sort of ‘background check’ on the MLS to find out how long a home has been [...]

Comments Off Laura on Oct 30th 2008

Filed under market stats

September Housing Statistics

Lake County
To get us started: The number of days on the market for homes that sold in September in Lake County was up 67% over the number of days on the market for last September. Wow! No detailed interpretation is needed here; this is bad.
The number of homes sold was down 38% compared [...]

Comments Off Laura on Oct 20th 2008

Filed under buyers

Reality Check

Do you know somebody who is always positive and upbeat? He has a “can-do” attitude about any challenge and is extremely concerned about your “negativity” if you raise doubts or concerns about a particular situation or proposition.
Maybe this person’s ultra-positive attitude defies reason. If they are a Realtor or lender, they always say [...]

Comments Off Laura on Oct 14th 2008

Filed under buyers, sellers

Market Slice, An Investor’s Perspective

I was out showing condos again this morning to an investor. I had mentioned earlier in the week that there are some excellent deals out there. To give you a sense of what I mean, consider this little slice of the market pie.
A condo in Arlington Heights that sold for $171,000 in 2005 [...]

Comments Off Laura on Oct 9th 2008

Filed under random

The Unspoken Ethics of Blogging, or Ugh and Double-Ugh!

As fun as blogging is as a medium, there is a very basic if unspoken ethics out there that serious bloggers are quite earnest about. Consider the following.

Don’t copy. This is the capital crime of the blogosphere. My “favorite” is when people copy and paste from Wikipedia. It is always obvious and easy to [...]

2 Comments Laura on Oct 8th 2008

Filed under buyers, sellers

Open House Report for 10/6/08 and Investment Possibilities

Wow, the market is tough for sellers. I’ve done three open houses over the last two weekends, and I did not have one buyer come through any of them. These were well-advertised opens in nice established neighborhoods (Barrington, Deer Park, and Palatine) with easily visible sign placement.
Two years ago, even last year, each [...]

Comments Off Laura on Oct 6th 2008

Filed under sellers

Dark = Dark and Dingy

It’s getting darker every day now, and the winter is a dark season. If you’re selling your home, it is important to make it light and bright.  People associate dark rooms with dingy, dank and old-fashioned spaces.
The defining trend for new construction of the last 30 years has been open, bright living areas [...]

Comments Off Laura on Oct 4th 2008

Filed under barrington, random

Barrington Alpacas in Pasture

One of the things I love about Barrington is the farms. My favorite farm to drive by right now is the Andean Vista Ranch on Old Barrington Road, just south of Route 22. There is something about alpacas that appeals to me. They look like such gentle, social creatures.

Seeing the alpacas in [...]

1 Comment Laura on Oct 2nd 2008

Filed under sellers

Do Open Houses Sell Houses?

Yes!
That is the short version.
I was recently on a listing presentation in which I was competing against two other experienced agents in the Barrington area. I was beginning to go over open houses when the homeowners said they had been informed by both agents that open houses did not sell houses. One agent had told [...]

Comments Off Laura on Oct 1st 2008