From the monthly archives:

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. [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 to [...]

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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! [...]

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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 [...]

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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, [...]

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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 they [...]

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