Chicago Housing Bubble

January Chicago-area home sales - chicagotribune.com

January Chicago-area home sales - chicagotribune.com

Posted using ShareThis

North Center 2009 market results

Here are the 2009 market results for North Center.

Post questions or thoughts in the comments section if you have 'em.

The January condo results are in.

What will 2010 hold for us? It's tougher to say right now than it was at this time last year. There are 2 factors that are artificially propping up the market:

• super-low interest rates
• the $8000 closing cost credit

Not until these 2 things are gone will we know how the year will shake out. Until then, here's what we DO know so far:

Analysis: closings were down over 25% in 2009. That is the reason for the continued translation to lower prices. It should stay this way until we see a SUSTAINED improvement in contracts and closings. "Sustained" is the key word. It will be interesting to see what happens to the market when the Fed buyback of bad loans AND their housing credits both expire. Until then, things look artificially good right now.

Lincoln Square 2009 market results

OK. Back at it. I'm going to be posting 2009 market stats for all the neighborhoods on the northside. Forthcoming:

• Lincoln Park
• Lakeview
• Uptown
• Edgewater
• Lincoln Square
• North Center
• Logan Square
• Albany Park
• Irving Park
• Bucktown/Wicker Park
• South Loop
• West Loop

To start... here are the Lincoln Square results* - including condos, single-family homes, and 2-4 flats.

* You might notice that we hold Lincoln Square to Western on the west border. Don't yell. In my experience, this is how buyers shop. If you want numbers for further west, let me know...

My Realtor can beat up your Realtor

Yo Chicago! got all up in everyone's grill yesterday about Realtors.

Thanks for the support.

P.S. Does Yo Chicago have an exclamation point or not?

Your wish is my command

As requested by "Chris" about the first week of the year stats, here is some additional information about the contracts written for condos on the northside. 

Not much to see here, but I was happy to have done the analysis anyway. So far the only notable statistic is the number of contracts. Oh - and in case you're wondering why the 2010 number is 79 today and 76 yesterday - it's because sometimes contracts that were written on 01/07 don't get inputted into the MLS for a couple days. 

(This is also the reason I wait until about 10th to post the previous month's stats)

And in case you're wondering where the single-family home data is - I did this additional analysis ONLY for condos because the single-family home numbers are just too darn small.

News roundup for Tuesday

Here's today's news roundup. It's not as fun as stats, but it's something:

• Cabrini redevelopment gets bailout from City of Chicago (Crain's)
• What new buyers need to know (Yo Chicago)
• The national average for price reductions is 11% (Trulia)
• Eco-friendly homes on buyers minds (IAR)

More stats coming up.

2010 Chicago real estate (so far)

Are you wondering yet about how the northside market is going to look in 2010? 

Here's the (very) early returns:

Obviously not much to talk about in the SFH box. But condos?

Wow?

Maybe wow. We'll see...

Short sales to finally live up to their name

Short sales are a pain in the ass. Plain and simple. 

Oh I get it - the idea sounds good: "Wow! We can buy this property for less than market value, the seller avoids foreclosure, and the bank stops losing money on the loan! It's a win/win/win!"

And that's true. In theory. There's just one problem: banks can never seem to get their act together in a timely manner about the offer a buyer is making. And in some cases they never answer at all.

This new legislation should help. If banks were required to answer within 10 days on short sale properties, our market in Chicago will be crazy in 2010 as the short sale inventory finally gets eaten up. 

Wait - I think the inventory will get eaten up. But what will that mean to prices? If buyers are more inclined to buy short sales and banks are willing to take lower offers, doesn't that hurt the overall market (for sellers)? Hmmm...

Real estate agent standards got tighter while you were drunk

While you were knee deep in all-you-can-drink Bud Lights and all-you-can-eat-and-throw-up-later chicken fingers (on New Year's Eve), The Illinois Association of Realtors was busy celebrating the signing of the new Illinois Real Estate License Act.

I rarely find myself in a position to get excited about what the Realtor associations are doing, but this time I'm pumped. IAR did a GREAT job working with the Illinois Legislature to TIGHTEN education and entrance standards for Realtors. It will now be much more difficult for that stoner kid that lives in your building to get his real estate license and start selling homes.

Here's how it currently works... there are 2 levels of agent licenses in Illinois:

• Salesperson license
• Broker's license

To become either a Salesperson or a Broker, a person must be 21 years old, be a high school graduate and "be of good moral character".

But the big difference under the current act is that a Salesperson has to complete 45 hours of coursework and a broker must complete 120 hours of coursework. In both cases, you have to pass a state-sponsored test (which is not a total cakewalk).

Under the new law, there will still be 2 levels. They are:

• Broker
• Managing Broker

But now, a person entering the real estate business as a licensee will need to complete almost 3 times as much education! This will weed out the current riff-raff (as all Salespersons will need to complete the additional education) and will keep new riff-raff from entering the business.

Hooray for real estate consumers!