June 2006

Extreme Home Staging

June 29, 2006

Home staging was invented in California and a public relations firm there has now made it truly a staged production. According to the NY Times article, “Model Homes and Model ‘Families’“, the model home in a real estate development in Santa Clarita features a family living in the home. Well, they aren’t actually a family. Click to continue...

Don’t Assume a List Price Represents a Home’s Value

June 28, 2006

Last night I reviewed my market analysis with a man wanting to sell his house. He was quite surprised at the range that I thought his home would sell in. He thought his home would sell for an additional $100,000. He showed me a couple of printouts from Realtor.Com of homes he thought were comparable Click to continue...

Chicago – Cheaper than San Francisco, But More Expensive Than Miami

June 26, 2006

Thinking of moving to Chicago? Concerned about what it costs to live here? According to a survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Chicago is far from being one of the most expensive cities in the world. Today’s Daily Herald’s article, “Moscow surpasses Tokyo as priciest city” shows that Chicago ranked #38 for cost of living Click to continue...

What Will Buyers Remember About Your Home?

June 25, 2006

Yesterday I showed a couple some $500,000+ ranch homes in Palatine, Prospect Heights and Arlington Heights. I won’t forget what we found in the basement of the last home. Posed in chairs with a small table between them were 2 American Indian mannequins in full traditional dress with one of them wearing sunglasses and holding Click to continue...

What if your Buyer isn’t a Cubs Fan?

June 23, 2006

The Walk-Through, the New York Times Real Estate Blog reports in a post by Joyce Cohen titled, “Paint Your House to Match the Mets” that Home Depot is marketing new interior and exterior paint colors representing over 170 sports teams. According to the post, “A Home Depot survey points to the potential of this new Click to continue...

A Home Staging Dilema

June 22, 2006

Last night I started a marketing analysis for a 2 bedroom house in Lake Barrington. The house could either be a great starter home or weekend getaway. It’s a short walk up the road to the Fox River where the property owner has rights to dock a boat. My dilemma is what home staging suggestions Click to continue...

Evanston Houses with Libraries

June 20, 2006

Yesterday I did a market analysis for a wonderful 4 bedroom 2 bathroom expanded bungalow in Evanston. One of the features of the home that all buyers who view the home will remember is the library. It’s 2 stories of beautiful bookcases with an attached rolling ladder to give you access to the upper shelves! Click to continue...

Sales Contracts Can and Do Change

June 18, 2006

Some out of town buyers of mine were scheduled to have their condo in the Edgewater area of Chicago inspected last week, but the seller asked to have the inspection pushed back a week due to some work the gas company was doing. The seller’s attorney requested the change and the buyers agree. I then Click to continue...

Florida, It’s a Great Place to Visit, But Don’t Buy Real Estate There (Now)

June 15, 2006

I just returned from vacation in Florida. My friend, Erin, who lives in Orlando filled me in on the real estate market. A big change has started. Inventories are way up, not just 25% or 75%, but 400% to 500%! She also told me about a few people she knows that are trying to sell, Click to continue...

The Drawbacks of Working With Multiple Agents

June 13, 2006

I received an e-mail yesterday with a few questions about my 3 part series, “Pick an Agent, Then Start Looking at Homes.” Here are the questions and my responses. Does that (that I couldn’t help the buyers who had another agent show them a home) only apply to the same listing? If that couple decided Click to continue...

Not All Mortgage Pre-Approvals Are Created Equal

June 11, 2006

Week before last, one of my listings had multiple offers within the first 4 days. A big factor for the seller in deciding which offer to choose was the strength of the buyers’ financing. Earlier this year, I had a seller get burned when a buyer’s mortgage pre-approval letter turned out to be worthless. The Click to continue...

In Real Estate, It’s Not a Contract Unless It’s In Writing

June 7, 2006

A couple of buyers who made an offer on one of my listings last week had a surprise because their agent didn’t explain a basic rule of real estate to them. In Illinois, oral agreements don’t count. Real estate contracts must be in writing. The couple reached an oral agreement with my seller. After that Click to continue...

Downtown Dwellers Need Not Be Overwhelmed by the Suburbs

June 4, 2006

This morning’s Chicago Tribune has an article titled, “Helping cities lure more ‘ruppies’” about urban planner, Kyle Ezell, who offers lessons on how to live downtown. According to Ezell, “…more Americans would live downtown if they only knew how. It’s an acquired skill, he says, like ballroom dancing or trigonometry.” That got me to thinking. Click to continue...

The Closing From Hell

June 1, 2006

I was at the closing from hell yesterday. It started at 11 a.m. Two hours later the buyers showed up. The night before the closing their attorney informed them that they needed to bring additional money to the closing. Their mortgage fees were double what he had estimated. The buyers had to spend the next Click to continue...