From the monthly archives:

April 2009

3 Hidden Costs of Buying Foreclosures

April 29, 2009

I had an interesting question yesterday from a new buyer about the costs of buying a foreclosure. She asked who was responsible for compensating the Realtors when it’s a bank selling the property. Compensation works the same way regardless of who the seller is. If the foreclosure is listed with a broker, the bank pays [...]

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Earned my Certified Negotiation Expert (CNE) Designation

April 26, 2009

I spent last Thursday and Friday earning a Certified Negotiation Expert (CNE) Designation. In my opinion, negotiation skills are critical for Realtors. Home buyers tend to agree.
The 2008 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers reports that 27% of home buyers said that what they wanted most from their Realtor was help [...]

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Embarrassed at Starbucks in Lombard

April 24, 2009

I was pretty embarrassed when I met a couple of first time home buyers at the Starbucks on Roosevelt in Lombard Wednesday night. Just the week before I met two first time home buyers at the Starbucks on Lake in Addison. We had a great conversation over coffee at a corner table.
When I pulled up [...]

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What’s a View of Lake Michigan Worth?

April 20, 2009

The other night I met with former clients in Rogers Park who were considering selling their condo and buying another with some features they wanted. Back in January they refinanced. When they told me the appraised value of their home I was quite surprised since it was much higher than I knew comparable condos were [...]

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Don’t Make Any Assumptions about Fencing for Your New House

April 16, 2009

Dogs are everywhere this week! The first family now has a Portuguese water dog. The north suburb of Wheeling is considering lowering the maximum number of pets allowed in multi-family housing from 4 to 3 after a resident with 5 dogs challenged the law. I met with a lovely couple the other night considering buying [...]

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2 Bedroom Condo Prices Drop Nearly 7% in Lincoln Park

April 13, 2009

The other day I passed some clients’ former 2 bedroom condo in Lincoln Park. They sold it last year and took advantage of this market to move up to a newer 3 bedroom condo in the South Loop. Out of curiosity, I took at peek at where 2 bedrooms condos in their former building are [...]

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Why You Might Want to Buy a Home in Prairie View, IL

April 11, 2009

This week I showed a house in Prairie View, a north suburb most Chicago area residents have never heard of. Prairie View is a small, unincorporated town in between Buffalo Grove, Lincolnshire and Vernon Hills.
A search for Prairie View homes on BairdWarner.com shows 17 properties currently for sale ranging from less than $200K to [...]

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Where to Look for Contemporary Homes in Chicago’s North Suburbs

April 8, 2009

On Sunday a gentleman called me inquiring about contemporary homes in the north suburbs. I immediately suggested he and his wife consider Highland Park. I’ve shown many contemporary houses there. Shown left is a contemporary home a couple of my clients were very interested in. Unfortunately for them, the sellers accepted an offer before my [...]

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Why New Homes For Sale Should Have Inspections

April 6, 2009

Today my buyers of a new duplex condo in Lakeview had their home inspection. Even though they are buying a new home with a 1 year warranty, they wisely chose to have a home inspection before continuing with the purchase.
1. By getting a home inspection during an inspection review period, buyers have the option [...]

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Seller Uses Overkill to Mask Noisy Street Nearby

April 5, 2009

The other day I showed a house in Elgin next to a busy street. My buyers discovered it on the way to their friends’ house nearby.
One of the tricks that sellers and their Realtors use to mask the noise from a nearby busy street is to have a radio playing which I wrote about in [...]

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