From what appears to be the Titanic of real estate. "Hold On... We're going over!"
And for this photo:
it seems the photographer couldn't be bothered to walk around to the actual front of the property. Or perhaps a feature: Bunker Buster Bomb Proof - perfect for maniacal dictators!
In a post in January of this year, I went out on a limb and made three predictions about Chicago Real Estate for 2008. Of course, right away, one of my predictions came true with uncanny accuracy.
Well, Miss Cleo has got some killer competition with me and my razor sharp intuition.
I predicted that there would be fewer home foreclosures in Chicago in 2008 for a couple of good reasons. I predicted that interest rates would fall a bit. And that government would intervene on behalf of homeowners facing foreclosure due to rising interest rates on adjustable mortgages.
From Wednesday's Sun Times comes word that the Chicago area held up against foreclosures better than many other parts of the country as the number of homes seized by banks fell 3-percent in January from the year ago number, while nationally, they jumped 57%. This is according to a new report from RealtyTrac Inc., a mortgage research firm.
Some Chicago area counties saw sharp increases, however. Kendall county was up 78%; Grundy up 34%; DuPage up 22%. Illinois was up 1.65% from a year earlier and down nearly 21% from December.
Your guides are saddened by the news that local developer, Terrapin Properties LLC, is facing some tough hurdles in the coming weeks as the first major condo developer to lose control of their operations due to the slowdown in the local real estate market. A foreclosure suit against Terrapin over a project in Kenosha, Wisconsin, indicates that the company could be dissolved.
Back in the day, the principals of Terrapin, and your guides, fresh faced and new to the business worked in neighboring storefronts in Old Town on Wells Street. Each of us on either side to Topo Gigio. The guys who eventually founded Terrapin had their own small law office, specializing in real estate transactions. Greg, Dave and Michael were the go-to guys for real estate deals in our office, and often came to Habitat Company office meetings to share advice.
I always envied the guys for making it big while we stayed on in residential sales; helping clients one-at-a-time or occasionally a developer with a small condo conversion. Now we hear that Indymac Bank is pursuing them for $13-million is past-due loan debts, perhaps our wanderlust was misplaced.
In 2007, Terrapin landed on the Chicago Sun Times' list of the top 50 builders in Chicago, with 292 sales in 2006 totaling $103.3-million. Now, enough sales to keep the creditors at bay are hard to come by.
In any case, we wish our old friends the best.
Egads.
Shopping in Chicago is going to get more expensive ~ again ~ under a plan under consideration by the Cook County Board. Already with one of the highest sales tax rates in the nation at 9.25%, County Board President Todd Stroger is still pressing for an increase in the Cook County portion of the sales tax from 0.75% to 2.0%.
This would raise the sales tax in Chicago to a hefty 10.5%.
To hear the County Commissioners squealing, each quarter percent increase would only raise $106.5-million annually, while the budget deficit in Cook County is $283-million. Poor things. Of course, now we have to listen to County President Stroger's bombardment of negative publicity screeching about how the county will be forced to cut essential services.
Cook County has been awash in tax revenues during the first half of this decade, along with federal funds pouring into the county health care system by way of a loophole in Federal funding programs for county health programs. Unfortunately, a double whammy has occurred: the economic slowdown has area residents spending less and the loophole in the Federal program is now closed. But rather than save for an economic rainy day, the size and scope of the county bureaucracy has ballooned into a massive $3.245-billion (yes - billion, with a B) empire.
Though the deal to raise the sales tax by the full 1.25% seems unlikely, commissioner Deborah Sims (D-Chicago) is all for it. "This country was built on taxes," Sims said.
If you're as fed up with the crazy tax hike fever that seems to have gripped Illinois, Chicago and Cook County politicians, please look up your County Commissioner and let him or her know what you think.
I hope our regular readers will forgive my posting paucity this week. I have been busy. This feeds into my rebuttal to Mary Umberger's article in Tuesday's Tribune entitled "Chicago home sales plunge."
Mary quoted the Illinois Association of Realtors report that Chicago "Area" home sales were off 34% compared to January, 2007. I'm afraid that these statistics include the collar-counties, where I believe there is still sluggishness in the market. But as this blog is all about Chicago, let's set about putting the record straight for our local market.
In a post last week, I listed the number of contracts written for the Lakeview neighborhood. Today, let's examine stats for Uptown, Lincoln Park, The Gold Coast (Near North) and the combined numbers for all of Chicago's north side neighborhoods. The chart shows the number of contracts written in those neighborhoods for each week since the beginning of the year. These neighborhoods are dominated by condominiums, and the stats in the graph above are for condominiums only.
From Lincoln Park to Uptown, sales started the year out at a healthy clip. Sales in each neighborhood grew steadily to a nearly frenetic pace peaking during the week of February 19 for most neighborhoods, and the week ending February 26 (the most recent week available) for The Gold Coast and all of Chicago's northern neighborhoods combined.
Quotes of real estate agents feeling the greatest sluggishness invariably were from suburban locations such as Glen Ellyn, McHenry County, and Lake County. I think the Trib would do a service to its readers to verify these figures or examine our markets more carefully.
Remember, the headline for the article was "Chicago Home Sales Plunge" which, in your writer's opinion, is misleading when stats are for a nine-county region including towns as far flung as the Wisconsin border, as far west as DeKalb and south to Joliet and beyond. Shouldn't the headline say "ChicagoLAND home sales plunge?" During negotiations on two separate properties in Chicago this week, agents used this Tribune article as ammunition to argue for a bid price as much as 15% below asking price on listed properties.
And I had to spend hours defending my position that, indeed, prices have not plunged precipitously in Lakeview and Buena Park (Uptown) as this article could have you believe. Successfully, I might add.
Sunday, March 2
The Greystone on Fairfield - open Sunday from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
942 North Fairfield
Chicago, IL, 60622
Condominiums from $275,000
Duplexes from $325,000
www.fairfieldgreystone.info
The Mansions at Leland Hall
3100 - 3106 West Leland
Chicago, IL, 60625
Two bedrooms from $200,000
Three bedrooms from $300,000
www.lelandhall.info
Part 2: Marketing
These steps might be a bit simplistic for a larger property owner, but using these tools and implementing this plan has served property owners with as many as 20 units in their portfolio.
If you own several multi-unit buildings with several dozen or more apartments, you’ll probably want to simply hire an apartment finding service to handle your marketing.
Get a Gmail email account
For marketing, you probably don’t want to expose your personal, or your business email address to the public. Also, after you have a tenant, you might simply decide to only give them your Gmail address, but have a system in place that either (a) forwards it to your regular email or (b) you diligently check it.
Get a Postlets account
Go to http://www.postlets.com/. Here you can generate an attractive web page for your rental with a thorough description and photographs. You’ll be given the HTML code you can drop into other websites you choose to advertise on.
Get a Craigslist account
You can easily market your apartments yourself using Craigslist and not have to spend a penny on advertising. Seriously – nothing else.
Go to http://www.chicago.craigslist.org/ and set up an account. Having an account makes it easier to review ads you have already posted, delete them, and update them.
Showings
When you’re fielding phone calls, the volume of requests can be overwhelming at times. It’s perfectly acceptable to encourage prospective renters to come to view the property when you intend to hang out for a couple of hours. For example, Friday evening for 1 hour, Saturday morning from 10 to Noon, or a similar schedule for the afternoon or on Sunday. Don’t worry if a prospect complains that they can’t make your showings. You’re simply interested in moving as many people through the apartment as possible in the most convenient period of time.
If you are not going to take pets, feel free to be firm when turning down prospects on the phone. Say “Sorry, no thanks.” Or even better “Sorry. This building doesn’t allow pets.” And if they persist, you can be slightly less friendly while pointing out that your ad clearly indicated No Pets and that you resent having your time wasted.
Guide to articles
Part 1: Identifying potential property
Part 2: Marketing
Part 3: Taking an application and lease
Part 4: Move in day
The Tribune published a fantastic article on prepping your home for sale in today's sluggish market.
One plausible idea is to pull $10,000 or less out of your savings account to make your place a stand-out in the eyes of would-be purchasers - - what real estate agents call a "cream puff." This is a home so attractive and well-kept that prospects will usually choose it over similar houses in the neighborhood offered at the same price.
"The cream puff is so alluring, it seduces buyers subliminally. It's a very well-groomed property," says Sid Davis, a seasoned real estate broker and author of "A Survival Guide for Selling a Home."
I cannot stress enough how important this idea of transforming your home into the "creampuff" of the neighborhood. This also reminds me of the old joke about two guys lost in the jungle. It appears that they are being stalked by a tiger. One of the guys stops to lace up his tennis shoes.
"I don't think the tennis shoes are going to help you outrun a tiger!" the one guy says to the other.
"I don't have to outrun the tiger. I just have to outrun you!" is his reply.
With so many competing properties available to buyers, you want to outrun your competition. This means accommodating more showings, making sure your house is cleaner than the others, needs less to fix up than the others, and is at least as competitively prices - if not lower - than the others.
Get these basics right, and you could see your property go under contract in a reasonable period of time - as quick as 30 days in popular Chicago neighborhoods.
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