Chicago Illinois Real Estate Blog

Putting a home on the market in this grim real-estate climate might seem like lunacy considering how heavily the market favors buyers. Home prices are down 28% from their national peak in the second quarter of 2006, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, which tracks sales in 20 major housing markets. Still, listing a [...]

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When selecting an elevation for a new home, think beyond the color of siding, brick and trim to how the elevation can boost the home’s appeal in the neighborhood.
Would a red brick façade set your house apart from the crowd? Would a wide front porch create an inviting, old-fashioned façade? How would putty-colored trim enhance [...]

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Although it may be hard to accept, the sellers market is gone. Who knows when it will return.
"The boom is definitely over, there’s no debate about that," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of West Chester, Pa.-based research firm Moody’s Economy.com. "Now the question is more how hard is it going to land, if it lands [...]

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You need to be prepared. Delay on the seller’s part is one reason that deals often fall apart. Before you list your home, have information readily available about your schools, taxes, utilities, any neighborhood covenants and information about liens that have to be released prior to closing.
Market to people who are likely buyers. In addition [...]

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Until recently, home builders have focused on crafting incentive packages that made their properties more desirable to buy than the development down the street, and that’s fine for the first-time buyer.
But what about the customer who needs to sell an existing home?
Pulling out some marketing strategies they haven’t had to employ for a decade or [...]

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Are you trying to time the market to purchase at the bottom? If you aren’t there is a really good chance you know someone who is. The media spits out national housing statistics and it scares most people because they forget real estate is local.
What happens in California has little to do with our real [...]

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Until recently, home builders have focused on crafting incentive packages that made their properties more desirable to buy than the development down the street, and that’s fine for the first-time buyer.
But what about the customer who needs to sell an existing home?
Pulling out some marketing strategies they haven’t had to employ for a decade or [...]

[Read more →]

It’s a party where the host doesn’t expect you to bring anything and you could leave, almost, with a new set of house keys.
Local home builders, eager to attract consumers even remotely considering a move, are doing far more these days than stringing flags and posting “Models Open” signs along the streets near their new [...]

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Throw a party. Sell a house. That’s the theory.
The lavish bashes of yesteryear have returned, as home builders scramble to attract buyers in today’s sluggish housing market.
Super expensive subdivision parties were the norm during the golden age of extravagant promotions from about 1985 to 1995.
One of the most exotic was staged in 1993. The flamboyantly [...]

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