Chicago home prices drop 14.3 percent in 2008

IllinoisRealEstate.com In The News From Medill Money Mavens (medillmoneymavens.com)

BY INYOUNG HWANG - MEDILL NEWS SERVICE (medillnewsservice.com)

“There’s no doubt we’ve seen a softening of prices throughout Chicagoland,” said Brian Nygard, a Chicago-based realtor who runs the website IllinoisRealEstate.com and writes regularly on the site’s blog. “There’s just not as much demand.”

Read Full Article: http://medillmoneymavens.com/2009/02/24/chicago-home-prices-drop-143-percent-in-2008/ (copy & paste)

Selling in Chicago - Closing Costs to Consider

I see this question come up time and time again and wanted to provide a good recap of what to expect.

-$3.50 per $1,000 of sale price for Cook Country Transfer Stamps.
-Approximately $750 for title insurance.
-Approximately $500 for Chicago Real Estate Attorney fee.
-The agreed upon proration of real estate taxes and assessments.
-Any pending special assessments.
-Ancillary can costs $100-$500+/-.
-Real Estate Commission - Listing your property with a Broker (like IllinoisRealEstate.com) that is paid at closing.

A good way to get a very close estimate is to have your real estate attorney could draft a preliminary HUD-1 settlement statement for you based on your anticipated selling price.

Please email me if I can answer any questions or help with listing your Chicago home for sale.

Thanks,

Brian Nygard
Realtor/Owner
IllinoisRealEstate.com
Chicagoland Residential + Commercial Real Estate Services
Cell/Text: (312) 217-8002

Excel for Real Estate Financial Analysis Training

We were asked if we minded posting this to the blog. If you want more information copy and paste the link at the end of the article into your browser. Thanks, Brian Nygard Owner/Realtor IllinoisRealEstate.com

"Kahr Real Estate Group, one of the leading real estate financial training consulting firms in the U.S. will be conducting an open enrollment financial training session in Chicago on 2/28-3/1 (Saturday & Sunday) for real estate modeling in Excel (Excel for Real Estate Analysis).

The course was designed by Josh Kahr, an industry expert and published author, who is also a professor of real estate finance at Columbia University's MS in Real Estate Development program. Professor Kahr trains over 2,500 real estate professionals per year at many of the top investment banks, private equity groups, and prestigious universities in both the United States and major international finance centers such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Dubai and London. Kahr Real Estate Group's extensive client list includes Blackstone, Credit Suisse, Carlyle Group, ING Clarion, University of Chicago and Harvard University, amongst many others.

Excel for Real Estate Analysis is designed for real estate professionals who want to build complex financial models using Excel and is a valuable resource for companies that would like to enhance the quality and efficiency of their analytical team. It is a 2-day intensive workshop divided into lecture, practical exercise, case study and live deal analysis, and devoted entirely how to analyze and break down the financial metrics of a real estate transaction. Attendees will leave the workshop with a strong understanding of advanced Excel features, and how to apply them to build flexible and efficient real estate valuation models.

Kahr Real Estate Group currently offers this course in open enrollment format in Chicago, Boston, New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Dallas, and Miami. For a complete schedule of all our upcoming open enrollment sessions please visit http://www.kahrrealestate.com/training.shtml."

For more information contact:

Peter Lieberman | Consultant
Kahr Real Estate www.kahrrealestate.com
55 Broad Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10004
T 212 566 4085 ext. 123
peter.lieberman@kahrrealestate.com

New construction hit hardest as '08 sales fall 21 percent

Total home sales in Chicago dropped 21 percent in 2008 and new condominium sales reverted to pre-2002 levels, according to an analysis by Lakeshore Analytics of all Chicago residential home sales in the last seven years.

Even traditional preserves of Lakeview, Lincoln Park, and Near North were not spared by the drop in sales in 2008. The only neighborhood to post a significant gain in sales was the Near South Side.

Even as the number of home sales fell in almost every neighborhood, the median price of a condo or townhome also declined in 64 of 77 neighborhoods and the median price of a detached home declined in 69 neighborhoods. Many of the neighborhoods that saw the steepest falls in median prices are also those that sell for the lowest amount.

But the real damage was felt in new construction, as buyers pulled back from the new products offered throughout the city. In 2007, developers sold over 7,500 new condominium or townhome units: in 2008, that plummeted 75 percent to just 2,500. New single family homes were over 1,700 in 2007 and just over 750 in 2008.

The report, called “The Neighborhoods 2009” (http://www.lakeshoreanalytics.com/services) was released early this month and is the most complete analysis of residential real estate transactions in Chicago. It details median sale prices, number of sales, new construction trends, and loan-to-value ratios for all 77 Chicago neighborhoods.

A summary, called “Market Trends 2008” is available as a free download from the Lakeshore Analytics web site.

Chicago Sales Trends 02-15-2009 Charts (pdf)

Jeff Baird
Founder, Lakeshore Analytics
jeff@lakeshoreanalytics.com
www.lakeshoreanalytics.com

First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

Part of the recent Stimulus bill President Obama just signed included an increase in the tax credit for first-time home buyers. The amount of the tax credit is the lesser of 10% of the cost of the home or $8000 (the old limit was $7500). However, the big difference is that unlike the previous credit that needed to be paid back, this one does not. The home must be purchased between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009.

There are some conditions though.
- You must be a first-time home buyer
- The property must be your primary residence
- You are eligible for the entire credit if your adjusted gross income is at or below $75,000 (individually) or $150,000 (filing jointly). If your gross income is between $75,000-95,000 (individually) or $150,000-170,000 (filing jointly), you may not receive the entire credit. Should your adjusted gross income exceed $95,000 (individually) or $170,000 (filing jointly)you are not eligible for this credit.
- You must remain in the home for at least 3 years. If the home is sold within 3 years of the purchase, the entire amount of the credit is recaptured on the sale.

Stop wasting money

A furnace filter purpose is to help keep your furnace clean, not your home. Filter manufacturers do an excellent job marketing filters that clean your air, the only thing they do is restrict the air flow throughout your home and stress out your furnace and a/c. There are some excellent air filters on the market that are separate from your furnace, you can also install a UV lite in your furnace that kills mold spores. After all this spending on air quality remember that the clean air is outside, the answer is to exchange the air in your home. Check out the EPA's website. Just buy the cheap $1.00 filters and at a minimum change every three months but I recommend every month.

Thanks, Tim
www.kerfininspections.com
www.epa.gov

Low mortgage rates hard to get

IllinoisRealEstate.com In The News From The Chicago Journal:

Lenders being more cautious during credit crisis
By Inyoung Hwangand and Claudia-Teresa Pou, Medill News Service

"Applications are one thing," Scott Epstein, the broker and owner of Illinoisrealestate.com, said. "I'd want to see the percent of applicants versus the people that actually get approved."

"Rates will have to stay low for a long time for the housing market to turn around," Epstein agreed."

Read Full Article: http://chicagojournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=42&SubSectionID=120&ArticleID=7009&TM=36873.43

PDF Archive

Housing shows signs of life, but real estate agents still cautious

IN THE NEWS (Medill Reports - Chicago, Northwestern University): A few real estate agents who have seen a surge in demand over the past couple of months, especially in the suburban regions around Chicago, aren’t surprised with the NAR report.

“There was a property in McHenry that was going for $396,000 in 2006. Now it’s going for $240,000,” said Scott Epstein, the owner of Chicago-based IllinoisRealEstate.com, a subsidiary of Realty Resources LLC. “It’s a similar story in Plainfield – a property went from $365,000 in 2005 to $235,000 now.

“But the city of Chicago market has been more stagnant compared to some of the suburban areas,” he said.

Epstein’s comments are in line with the quarterly Zillow.com Home Value Index report, also released Tuesday, which showed a clear difference between home value changes in the city of Chicago compared with area suburbs.

Read Full Article: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=114017