How the Housing Market in Chicagoland Affects Seniors

It has been a familiar route for so many homeowners over the years: build equity in the property where you lived for so many years, then sell it for a handsome profit so you can move into that lovely retirement community you had your eye on for so long.

But what if the family homestead does not sell?

Without deep pockets to otherwise fund the right to take up occupancy in that senior lifestyle home, the average senior homeowner cannot make that move.

A high-profile case in point is The Clare at Water Tower, a seniors-only project that launched in 2008. It has unfortunately been forced to file bankruptcy recently, due to lagging sales. The folks who have already moved into the complex will be able to continue in residence, although they will apparently have many empty units around them while waiting for yet more buyers to step up and move in.
It is partly an issue of being able to sell the family home, but likely it is also a matter of having to let go of all that loss in equity in the family home. Any home can be sold in this market (Chicagoland), as long as it is priced according to what the buyers are willing to pay for it. Nonetheless, it is hard to swallow such large equity losses, when the seniors reflect on what their home was worth some 2, 3, 4, or 5 years ago.
It makes the decision a bit harder, perhaps, but it can be done.

"Accidental Landlord" - an accident waiting to happen?

It has become more commonplace for a private homeowner to unexpectedly find himself (gender neutral for this writer's purpose) playing the role of landlord as a result of the difficult selling environment in real estate. This happens because the property owner needs to move on to a new job, or some such compelling reason. When the home sits empty, unable to find a buyer, the "Plan B" is dusted off and presented to the owner: RENT IT! Get some revenue stream started with the property!

And so this home that perhaps was on the market for SALE, now becomes a home on the market for RENT. There are two sides to a lease arrangement: the landlord's side, and the tenant's side. Each has its own set of challenges, thrills, and every other emotion in between. Most Realtors will tell you that they are handling many more home rental listings over the past 3-5 years than they ever imagined they would. I include myself in that statement. I have represented both landlords and tenants.

I want to keep my posts brief, so this one will put forward one caveat for would-be tenants who are searching for an appropriate rental property. Do whatever you can to feel confident that your landlord is not having mortgage difficulties on the property that you intend to lease. Or at least be prepared to move with perhaps only 30 days notice once you do move into the property. Unwittingly, tenants can sign a year lease, move in, and unceremoniously be forced to vacate in the first month because the owner is in pre-foreclosure and the bank has earned the right to take the property back. This is exactly what happened to tenants in a downtown Evanston condo last year, folks who were referred to me to rescue them and find an immediate replacement rental in a matter of days. Yes, I helped them find a wonderful new rental home. The agent who rented the condo to them had some unpleasant consequences, I was told. My office sales manager has repeatedly warned us agents to be diligent when working with rental clients (or landlords); "Check the status of that property!" We Realtors are charged with taking every precaution to protect our clients' interests, and that includes not getting kicked out of a rental property before the term of the lease ends.

When looking for a rental home, you must do your homework on the owner of property, regarding the mortgage status. There are websites online that promise to report on a landlord's mortgage status, for a subscription fee. On the other hand, you can determine that information for yourself, free of charge, if you are looking in a community that has public website access to county records, such as the Recorder of Deeds and the local Circuit Court. Foreclosure is a legal process, and foreclosure lawsuits can be tracked online here in Cook County.  Or, you can put that task in the hands of your favorite Realtor, who will take care to show you only properties that are not tainted by the threat of foreclosure.

This is just one more outcome of the whole housing/mortgage crisis in America, but at least you can manage it by taking precautions to protect yourself.

A SMALL HOLIDAY GIFT FROM FANNIE AND FREDDIE

Just in time to perhaps give distressed homeowners a chance to enjoy the holiday season, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced that they will not evict any affected foreclosure-victim families from their home (single family and 2-4 unit properties) from December 19 through January 2, 2012. It's not much, but at least the holidays can be spent in familiar home surroundings.

THE LONG SUFFERING SELLER SYNDROME

It has happened again; I watched a very nice single family home sit on the market for 8 months, from early April of this year, during the prime selling season of Spring and Summer. It was not my listing, but I had visited the property since it was very close to my own home. I thought it was overpriced from the first day. A home is worth what the market is willing to pay for it; that's just the way it is. I don't know if that original list price came from the seller or the listing agent, but the end of the story was predictable. That seller carried the cost of ownership for 10 long months, watched the neighboring homes sell over the summer, and went through the stress of multiple price reductions in an effort to attract a buyer. So this listing closed this week, for 17.3% under the original list price. Factor in the real estate taxes the seller had to pay, insurance, etc., it makes me sad, literally sad, for the seller. This was not a short sale, not a distressed sale in any way. Please make certain your list price is the RIGHT price, the price at which it will sell. There is no such thing as "let's give it some room for negotiation" option in this market, readers. There is far too much on the market for the buyers to pick from, to make them want to negotiate with a seller whose price is so far off the mark. Want to sell your home? Pick the Realtor to help you who will present you with a realistic market value of your home, and take that agent's advice.

It's Tuesday. Do You Know Where Your Realtor Is?

Every week of the year, Chicagoland real estate agents are invited to make their listed properties available for viewing to all other agents. It's essential an open house for agents. In my geographic area (Chicago, and north suburbs), this weekly open house is either on a Tuesday morning, or Wednesday morning (depending on which community the property is in, dictated by the local multiple listing service).

We call this the "brokers' tour". This tour serves many purposes, the most obvious is to promote the listing agent's property to other agents. How better to explain the benefits and amenities of a home than to have the area agents come in to see it with their own eyes? The mood is relaxed. Sometimes the listing agent will promise snacks or even a full-blown lunch to draw more agents into their property for a visit. It's a good time to take in the property, ask the listing agent questions, and perhaps catch some conversation with other agent colleagues who are visiting when you are.

Another reason that agents get into their cars and "tour" around to visit other listings is to check out the competition for their own listings, or a listing that will be coming onto the market in the near future. It's imperative that a seller's agent have personal knowledge of what the competing properties are all about.

And finally, it's all about staying current with the local real estate market. I once had a friend comment to me that the weekly brokers' tour must truly be a waste of time. I responded that there was no way I could be a good agent for my clients if I was not aware of what homes are looking like and selling for in my own area. It's like trying to sell jewelry without ever setting foot in the jewelry store, ever. You just can't do it.

So imagine my distress this morning when I could not gain access to my own MLS service in order to research which listings were going to be available for touring today. Phone calls to the tech help desk didn't get a solution to the problem, only access to the "MLS-lite" version that does not even give me the brokers tour search capacity. Sigh. The internet is great when it works!

JUMBO MORTGAGES DO EXIST

Good news for the so-called "jumbo" home loan customers: jumbo loans are back, but only for the well-qualified buyers who has lots of downpayment funds available, as much as 40%. And, of course, the borrower must be able to verify income and have a great credit score. This according to the Realtor Magazine.

Ready to move up to a more expensive property and wondering how you are going to finance the purchase? The answer is here for you. Talk to your favorite loan officer. If you need a recommendation for a loan officer, I can help with that!

Reminder: jumbo loans are loans over $417,000.

Home Buying Power Goes Up Up Up!

According to a report from Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Association), the national average mortgage rates fell this week to a level not seen since 1971, nearly 40 years ago!

The national average 15 year mortgage interest rate is 3.57%.
The national average 30 year mortgage interest rate is 4.17%.

This is such important news for buyers to absorb; the same $250,000 loan at 4.17% interest rate vs. a 6% interest rate of not many years ago, is suddenly more affordable.

Here are the numbers: at 4.17% the monthly payment would be $1218.17.
at 6.00% the monthly payment would be $1,498.88.

That is a savings of $280.71!

How much does that potential home purchase you are mulling over actually COST you today? Low prices, low mortgage interest rates, low COST to the buyer.

If you have been sitting on the fence, trying to make that decision about buying a home, or maybe just refinancing your current mortgage, it's time to check in with your favorite Realtor or mortgage specialist, wouldn't you say?

New Illinois State Law for Homeowner Associations

Although I think it did not make many waves in the general news media, the Illinois state legislature passed an act that provides a road map for homeowner associations that are NOT a condominium. I suppose the reason I took note of it is because I own a townhouse that is not a condo, but it is under the governance of a homeowners association.

Illinois has had a condo law to guide condo associations in their governance for many years, but nothing for situations such as my community of 36 homes.

Please welcome to the world PA 96-1400, otherwise known as "Common Interest Community Association Act." It reads much like the condo act, so for those of us who love rules and regulations (and laws to help us know how to behave), this will not be unfamiliar language, and easy to understand.

Except for homeowner associations that have professional management to inform them of this new law (yes, it is in effect), it is mildly amusing to consider how few associations will even be aware of this new law. This blurb is my feeble attempt to pass it along.

Cheers to you, all you Boards of Directors!

Tenants, Do Your Homework!

I just inherited a client who is living a nightmare, through no fault of his own. His employer has relocated him to my community of coverage from out of state. The client leased a nice condo unit in a popular building. That was three weeks ago. This client is now being forced to move out. Want to guess why?

Yep, the condo owner is in foreclosure, and the unit is scheduled to be auctioned at sheriff's sale very soon.

Yes, I will be showing this client a rental condo or two, in addition to some rental apartments, but it was a moment of agent-client bonding when I sat at the computer with this client and checked the online recorder of deeds file for those condos we plan to visit.

Rental clients are a much larger percentage of our business in my broker's company of late, and the newest "wrinkle" in helping a tenant on the hunt for a new home is verifying the clear title of the condo for rent. And not just a search for foreclosure problems is needed; a condo owner can be putting his tenant at risk if the owner has not been paying the condo assessments as well. In this state (Illinois), the condo association has the ability to seize the condo unit for nonpayment of assessments, and arrange for its own tenant.

Just thought I should pass this along as a "heads up" to my colleagues out there across the country, as well as folks who are searching for a home to rent. Bad things CAN happen to good people (the tenant), but we can minimize the risk by taking a moment to verify a fact or two.

Ever Progressive- Evanston Planning Wind Farms

Sometimes I am just darned proud to call Evanston my home, and this is one of them. The City Fathers announced last week that they have set upon a path of planning for a healthy number of wind catching machines offshore in Lake Michigan (6 miles from shore). Although this is just in the initial discussion stage, already the naysayers have been heard from, complaining that such a facility would block the beautiful lake views of those on dry land. Point-counterpoint: anything that is 6 miles out from shore is hardly discernible from land, and if anything it will appear so small that it's not worth discussing (more or less).

We understand there will be lots of regulatory approval hoops to jump through, but it's exciting to think of this coming down our path, so to speak.

Yes, we take our Earth Day very seriously here in E-Town!

It's All About Trust in This Business of Real Estate

It all started so simply. I had sent out a "just listed" postcard on a rental property last summer. One of those cards went to a neighboring home close to the new listing. The resident of that home passed along the postcard to a coworker who was searching for a rental. That seeker called me to see the property, I showed it to her and her spouse. It was not a fit for them, but I offered to help them find a place they could call their next home. We worked hard together, and they landed in a condo rental that thrilled them. That one modest rental client has now recommended me to three coworkers in only a handful of months' time; two are rental seekers, and the third will be a condo for-sale listing. Each of this second wave of clients has recounted the enthusiasm that the first client couple has for my service to them. The newly referred clients are anticipating that their experience with me will be a repeat of that enthusiastic result. They are trusting me to deliver. That first client couple are trusting me to provide the same level of service to their friends. Kind of humbling.

How Do You Find Me?

Let's face it; there are hundreds, no, thousands of Realtors in my general marketplace. Some are veterans, some are rookies. Some are excellent practitioners, some should quit the business and go do something else!

HIRE ME!

But this is all about me for the moment. I've been a licensed real estate professional since 2003, and have been learning more about the business every day since then. There have been good days, and there have been bad days.



The good days outweigh the bad days when I am busy with the work of helping one or more clients, because I know that I am doing a terrific job for my clients. Those I have helped are invariably grateful, and make a point to say so. Some have taken the time to write a gracious note of thanks to me. Those notes and kind words are so important to me, confirming to me that I HAVE been of good service to those clients.



So my predicament is this: how do other potential clients find me, and know that I can be of great value to them? Research tells us that the vast majority of people start their home search (if they are buying) on the Internet. So let's look at that for a moment. Yes, my presence is online. My broker company provides a basic website for me. I am blogging with 2 active blogs that deal with real estate. I pay a subscription fee to my national real estate organization to place my name and photo along side any listing that I have on the Realtor.com website. Without paying that fee, my listing will be on Realtor.com, but my connection to that listing is invisible. As a result, someone looking at that listing online will perhaps engage another agent to view that property, and my chance of developing a relationship with that person is nil. I recently activated a subscription to yet another online service that can put my name in front of the consumer, based on comments that I can post on various properties for sale that I have personal knowledge about. I'm trying to find YOU, so you can find ME!



Sellers of real estate tend to choose their agent by remembering a previous transaction with a local agent, or perhaps take the recommendation of a friend, or call the agent whose name appears on local yard signs. If a person had a good experience with an agent in the past, then it's a comfortable decision to enlist the aide of that agent once again. To choose an agent from visibility on yard signs is not always a positive result. Neither is simply taking a friend's recommendation.



So here I am, ready to go to work for YOU, and YOU, and YOU! Can we talk about your desire to move in the near future? "Where is your office?" is a question I often am asked. Answer: Winnetka, but that is not relevant to where I work. City of Chicago? Absolutely! I have handled transactions in multiple neighborhoods in Chicago: Rogers Park, Jefferson Park, Norwood Park, Lincoln Square, Roscoe Village, River North, South Loop, Logan Square, to name a few. Suburbs? Sure: Wilmette, Elgin, DeKalb, Lindenhurst, Des Plaines, Skokie, Evanston, and more.



If you have stumbled across this post on this blog, I know that you have "found" me. So now let's take the next step by having a conversation about how I can help you as a real estate pro who genuinely cares about my clients, and who thrives on success. I'll look forward to meeting you!

Home Values Just Keep Getting Better!

Shopping for a new home anytime soon? Aren't you the smart one! The prices keep falling in these parts. I noticed today that a nice condo in Evanston that was selling due to a corporate relocation has yet again dropped in asking price. It started on the market in August 2008, at $205,000. Today it is going for $166,000, nearly a 20% reduction. Similar units in that building (on Central Street in Northwest Evanston) were selling in the $220,000's back in 2006.

Values are very good for buyers right now. The key to buying well is to buy "smart." First things first - talk to a lender to find out exactly where you stand on getting a mortgage if you need one. Yes, there is mortgage money to be loaned, IF you are qualified. Condo loans have become more difficult of late, with most lenders requiring at least 10-20% downpayment from the buyers. Smaller downpayments are available if the building you are fancying is FHA approved; those loans require only 3 1/2% down. And today my in-house mortgage expert sent out a message that my company's mortgage division can now offer 95% financing through a special program on conventional loans.

The second step in buying "smart" is to find and work with an experienced agent who can guide you through the process of home buying, whether it is a condo, a co-op, or a single family house. The expert agent will be able to research pricing history for you, the background of the specific property you fancy (is the seller in pre-foreclosure, for example), any local issues that impact your decision, local grapevine chatter amongst the Realtors in the area that can shed light on your decision making, and more. So how do you find that good agent? Recommendations are King! Don't just react to fancy ads and boasts of the volume of listing any agent has sold in the past. What kind of service does the agent provide? There's the criterion you need to choose a Realtor!

And finally, look to your agent for guidance in selecting a terrific real estate attorney, home inspector, and other local service providers to make the final days of your transaction and moving experience a good one. Homebuying is typically stressful; that's a given. But with the right help, it can also be productive and exciting.

A Foreclosure Close to Home

Foreclosure is a word we hear every day in the news, and we Realtors certainly have to speak the word far more often than we wish we had to these days.

I have shown clients many foreclosed properties this year, and I have seen firsthand the effects of foreclosure on the house itself, and its neighborhood. It isn't pretty.

And foreclosure hit very close to me this summer when a property in my townhome community fell into foreclosure and was finally auctioned off. To describe the process could be lengthy, and it might be boring to read. But I want to simply tell you, the reader, how quickly and how brutally a homeowner's world can come to an end, at the auction.

I attended the auction of the townhome in my community, along with my homeowner association president, on a September morning in Chicago's Loop. (Please click on the link below to read about the company that conducts these auctions, Judicial Sales Corporation.) We rode up the elevator in a lovely office building on Wacker Drive and exited at the correct floor, and were guided into a small meeting room. It was set up with some 40 folding chairs for visitors to the auction. At the front of the room sat the auctioneer, with an assistant or two who acted as runners, carrying file folders back and forth into the private offices of Judicial Sales Corporation. The HOA president and I knew our neighbor's property was to be auctioned at 10 am. We were seated by 10 am and waited for the proceedings to begin.

Every visitor was handed a list of the properties to be auctioned that week. Some 250 properties every single day were scheduled to be auctioned. They were handled in no particular order, so if the visitor was there to observe or to try to buy a specific property, you did not dare leave the room because each property is dealt with in less than 30 seconds. That's right, 30 SECONDS.

The auctioneer picks up a file folder, reads off the court case number, the property address, and the "opening bid." (The bid is actually the dollar amount that the court has awarded the mortgage lender who is left with a property and nobody to pay the mortgage for it. In most of the cases, the lender wins the auction, because nobody else wants to bid on it.) The auctioneer asks "Do I hear any other bids?" She waits about 5 seconds, and then says "going once, going twice, sold." She makes some notations on the file, closes it up, and hands it to her assistant, and it's over with. Done. Somebody just lost his or her home.

The particular frustration that my homeowner association president and I felt that morning was that our neighbor's house did not rise to the top of the file folder pile before the auctioneer looked at her watch, said "Well, it's 10:45 am now, time for a break. We'll start again at 2 pm this afternoon." WHAT???? 2 pm?? Neither of us could be back at 2 pm that day, so we did not actually get to witness the end of our ex neighbor's homeownership. But it was an enlightening experience, none the less. In our neighbor's case, the lender won the auction (body else bid on it), and now it has been listed for sale with a broker who deals rather exclusively in foreclosures.

The ins and outs of foreclosure are deep and complex. I plan to write about it from time to time, but in small chunks so as not to overwhelm OR to bore the reader. But just let me say that foreclosure is a very sad thing, for everyone around the home is touched by it in a negative way. If you are facing problems in paying your mortgage, or know someone who is, please contact that lender right away, or an attorney who specializes in foreclosure situations so that you can save as much of the situation as possible. Going into a foreclosure without a good legal adviser will cause you even more harm. Minimize the damage. Get help, please. I can provide names of attorneys who work in this field, and the cost of their services is minimal compared the loss incurred by the homeowner who tries to navigate the process alone.

http://www.tjsc.com/TJSCHome.htm

CLIENTS ARE SOMETIMES , UM, FURRY

One of the more interesting assignments that I can accept is to help a family move into my area from another state. It's not just about finding the right abode for the family; it's educating the family about the various communities from which to choose, where services are located, and where the closest doggie beach can be found. Luckily for my most recent out-of-state clients, they chose to purchase a home in Evanston, which boasts a very popular doggie beach along Lake Michigan. Meet their best buddy Herschel (in the photo), who lost no time in getting his beach pass so that he could romp and splash with his new friends at the lake. "Two paws up" is Herschel's approval rating of Evanston's doggie beach, according to his mom.