judyo's Blog: Area Information

There's a first time for everything.  I had a pre-approved conventional (10% down) buyer who had the best offer on a forclosed Oak Lawn home out of 8 offers.  She really wanted the home and was quite happy. 

As the financing process progressed, we needed to ask for an extension because the file was in underwriting for a very long time.  My buyer was no longer happy, even when I explained the ever-changing mortgage rules and regulations.  In fact, she blamed everything on the loan officer.

Thank goodness the buyer's attorney struck up a good rapport with the foreclosure seller's attorney since we needed an extension and it was granted without any fees.  Then the bad news hit.

The PMI company did not approve the financing because they had just changed…

Active Rain is currently giving away points (it was posted that 1000 points would be given for every hyper-local content post made - up to 7000 points - 1 post a day for the next 7 days).  I still post on AR (although I stopped paying attention to points a long time ago) and try to post on both REW and AR as much as I can (I have a list of all of my blogs and go down the list for each post to make sure they're evened out).  Sometimes it comes to once a week, sometimes less. 

I Wrote a Post That I Thought Followed the Recommendation

I posted about Orland Park Homes For Sale Under $200,000.  But I was told I should have dug deeper and posted about a more local and specific neighborhood or subdivision.  In my opinion, that was a niche in itself that would…

I'm saying that a lot lately.  It's sad watching the sellers' faces fall as I show them the reality of today's market.  Just yesterday I had to tell a senior woman whose family wants her to sell (because they fear for her safety in the town she lives in) that her house is probably worth around what she paid for it many, many years ago.  I could see the tears forming in her daughter's eyes and had to listen to the outrage of her son (not aimed at me personally, thank goodness).

The home owner had a mix of jubilance (she didn't want to move) and confusion on how the home she so lovingly cared for could be worth so little.  She lives in a town I don't work in much and only took it on because it was a referral from a friend.  This was a town that was always…

Palos Park, IL is one of the highest priced southwest suburbs and is a very desirable place to live.  The average price for a Palos Park home for sale in 2008 was $543,485.  It was started as an artist's community many years ago and offers a rural feel that is still close to downtown Chicago.  In fact, you can jump on the Metra train that has a stop in this prestigious village.

I showed a very unique home yesterday that looked cute in the MLS print-out.  I was excited to see it myself.  The age is unknown but this cute and unique home has been there for quite some time. 

We drove up to the circular driveway and noticed the quaint cape cod style home nestled in a forest-full of trees - something Palos Park is famous for.  Before we went inside, we stepped…

OK, I'm finally calming down after taking a break to watch the end of Judge Judy and eat a Fiber One version of a Pop Tart.  Ahhh, my blood pressure is coming down.  I was driving this afternoon for what seemed like hours, and I suppose it was close to it - well, at least more than an hour.

I sold a foreclosure located much closer to my home than the listing office.  But I had to hand deliver the earnest money and originals of the contract and the addendums.  I did not have time to Fed Ex them because the buyer was too busy since we got the go ahead that our offer would be accepted and was only able to get certified funds today.

I hate to drive

I had never stepped foot in the town I needed to travel to but I did kind of know where it was.  And I knew…

I've had a seller for quite some time that finally got an offer on his Lockport townhouse for sale.  The original offer was within $10,000 of his new, lower list price.  Not bad in today's market.  But I couldn't get him to budge from his asking price.

After much chiding from the buyer's agent, I kept my cool and told him that my seller feels he can get full price, maybe not today, but soon.  The agent came back with an offer only $5,000 off list price.  My seller would still not budge.

My seller used to be a real estate agent

I have dealt with many ex-agents over the years and they know enough to be dangerous.  When I requested him to initial the area on the contract that states he was rejecting the offer, he got angry and told me that isn't…

It's that time to go through statistics for 2008.  Actually, I guess I'm a little late, but with the many towns I work in it takes a while to get all the stats updated.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my hometown of Oak Lawn, Illinois, held up better than I would have thought.  Yes, everything is down, but as far as price, I expected a bigger decrease.

Single Family Oak Lawn homes only decreased in amount of sales by 11.6% and by average sales price 11.9%.  With all the doom and gloom going around I expected the value to have been worse.  I guess I'm reading too much data for areas harder hit like Florida, Las Vegas, California, Phoenix, etc.

Oak Lawn Condos and Townhomes had a larger decrease as far as units sold, down 34.6%, but the average…

In the last few years I've been interviewed by several local newspapers for different articles.  It all started when an article regarding a lost domain name was published in the Wall Street Journal.  That was syndicated all over the nation and was picked up by The Chicago Sun Times and the Daily Southtown.  The Daily Southtown even did a second story with a photo!  I was also featured on a local radio station regarding that story.

Once I got that second Daily Southtown article I started getting interviewed for real estate related stories.  I've saved all of the interviews that I found.  The problem is that they don't always tell you when the story will be published.

I was even on television this year (regarding my blogs on hypermiling) on WYCC on a…