The Chicago Tribune reported today that the Mortgage Rescue Fraud Prevention Act was introduced in the Illinois State Legislature yesterday. The bill is an effort to deter “con artists who promise to bail out cash-strapped families, but often end up taking their homes instead.” In addition to con artists, there are also mortgage companies that […]
HouseTracker: Track Housing Inventories & Asking Prices
If you like to track Chicago area real estate trends, check out HousingTracker, a website by Ben Engebreth that shows weekly housing inventories and asking prices. The site includes data for the city of Chicago and collar suburbs. According to the site, inventory dropped from 29,010 homes on the market on 8/14/05 to 23,268 this […]
Help Home Buyers Visualize Your Home as Theirs
Last night I started a market analysis for a couple wanting to sell their very nice 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath house in Arlington Heights. The woman told me that she wants to try to sell the house on her own for a couple of weeks, but then will list with a REALTOR®. I appreciated […]
Do You Have This House in a Larger Size?
50 years ago the average house size in the U.S. was 1,100 square feet. Now it’s over 2,100 square feet according Linda Baker writing on Salon.Com. Families haven’t gotten bigger, but we have. Is there a link? A chart on the alchemic spot blog shows the correlation between median house size and the obesity rate. […]
Where to Look for Chicago Area Homes on the Internet
Over 70% of home buyers use the Internet when looking for a home. Realtor.Com is the most widely used home listing website, but Chicago area home buyers have a much better alternative, BairdWarner.Com. Yes, I’m a Realtor with Baird & Warner, so I’m not totally unbiased, but here’s why it really is a much better […]
