Evanston IL Real Estate

As a “Short Sale” Specialist I  find it  important to discuss how the real estate market is being influenced by the number of “Short Sales” and “Foreclosures” in Evanston. The statistics I am about to report are only accurate to a point. Part of the problem is real estate agents are not disclosing their listings as “Short Sales” in the MLS even though the Real Estate Board has now improved the data entry on  both “Short Sales” and “Bank Owned” properties. With that in mind, here are the third quarter results on”Short Sales” and”Bank Owned” properties in Evanston.

Currently, there are 23 “Short Sales” Listings  and  4 “Bank Owned” Listings in Evanston. This represents 7%-9% of all “Active Listings” in Evanston, IL

During the past nine months, 8 “Short Sales”  and 4 “Bank Owned”  have closed in Evanston, Il. This represents 4% of all closed homes in Evanston.

We are now in the final quarter for 2008 and I think many realtors would say they hope to get through with this year and into next year. Here is where Evanston stands for the first three quarters of 2008.

What pops out in the statistics are the sales volume figures for single family homes and Attached Homes. Single Family sales are slightly off by 14% while Sales figures for Attached homes is off by 40%.

In 2007, 322 single family homes sold in Evanston.  In 2008, Evanston sold  276 single family homes.

In 2007,  581 Attached homes sold in Evanston.  In 2008, 350 Attached homes have sold.
Both Single family and Attached homes sales volume figures are down. Total Sales volume for single family homes is down 16% and 44% for attached homes from the previous year.

One final interesting fact about Evanston is the average sale price is down but is not as bad as other area’s are reporting. The average single family home in 2008 is $628,581 down from $655,251 in 2007. This represents a decline of just 4%.

The average price of an attached home in 2008 is $300,315 down from $321,764 in 2007. This represents a decline of 7%.

I often like to respond to people who have visited my blog and are looking for answers to real estate questions.  Recently, I noticed some ask ” How is a Short Sale Different from a Normal Sale?” Here is my answer to this person:

SHORT SALES TAKE MORE TIME:

The process of buying a short sale takes more time to sell. Typically, a short sale can take between 3-6 months for the bank to approve a short sale.

SOLD “AS- IS” CONDITION:

When buying a short sale you are buying the home in “AS-IS” condition.  It is the responsibility of the buyer to do a home inspection prior to writing an offer because the bank will not allow any sales contigency that would require or reduce the  purchase price in the initial offer.

 TRANSFER OF INITIAL EARNEST MONEY:

The offer must include an initial earnest money and balance of earnest money but typically no money is required from the buyer until the offer has been approved by the bank

FINANCING:

Buying a short sale property requires the buyer to either show proof of funds if a cash offer or be pre-approved for a loan which is subject only to an appraisal. Once the lien holder has approved the short sale the buyer must be prepared to close within 15 days from the date of the approval.

OFFER CAN BE WITHDRAWN AT ANYTIME:

The buyer has the opportunity to withdraw their offer at anytime during the process. This allows the buyer to continue to look for other property on the market while still negotiating an offer with the bank.

THE BANK RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CONTINUE MARKETING THE PROPERTY:

Because it takes so long to negotiate a short sale the bank reserves the right to continue marketing the property until it closes. Typically there are multiple buyers ( primary and back up buyers) in and out of the buying process and the bank wants to net the highest dollar to minimize their loss.

For more information on Short sales please visit my 800 number:

1-888-307-7311

Understanding short sales:  Extension 8

Pre- Foreclosure Specialist: Extension 11

 Today was a nice sunny day and I decided to go “Touring” properties for sale in Evanston. Here is what I say today:

Price Range:

$217,000- For a little over $200,000 you can buy a 5 room, 2 bedroom, 1 bath condo located on the 3rd floor of a Vintage building in South Evanston. This sunny unit had a lot of space and charm with decorative fireplace in the living room, bay windows, formal dining room, heated indoor garage.

$399,000-For just under $400,000 you can buy a 7 room, 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath Georgian. This home had beautiful hardwood floor, new bay window in living room, formal dining room, lovely backyard garden, finished basement with play room, laundry and storage.

$475,000- Just reduced below $500,000 you can buy a 9 room, 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath recently remodeled  (90% New Construction) frame home. Great open floor plan with new kitchen, dining room, great room overlooking back yard. Upstairs has Master bedroom and bath suite.

$559,000- Will buy you a 9 room, 4 bedroom, 3. 5 bath duplex townhouse with no assessments. This home has 4 level of living space. First floor Living room, Kitchen, Family Room, Master Bedroom and Bath on 2nd level with 2 other bedrooms, 3rd level has 4th bedroom, and finished basement.

$700,000- Will buy you a 9 room, 5 bedroom, 3 bath Co-op in a 1927 Vintage Landmark building which is walking distance to the lakefront. Details include vaulted ceilings, arched room entrances, marble fireplace, plaster cornices and delicate grill work. A truely unique property with word class charm.

$789,000- For just under $800,000 you can buy a Victorian (Italianate) home  and coach house. The main house has 7 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths with wrap around front porch, 12 ft ceilings, country style kitchen, cast iron fireplace. The coach house has been gutted and restored and is currently used as an office.

$1,035,000- Will buy you a 10 room, 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath Colonial home on an extra large 65 X 190 lot in NW Evanston.

$2,400,00-   Will buy you a 10 room, 4 bedroom, 5.5 bath Lannon Stone home with one of the best views of the lake. This home was totally re-designed in 2004 with new Kitchen, heating/cooling, windows, electrical and plumbing. Location, Location, Location. is the reason for the price of this home…

Short Sales was the lead article in the Chicago Tribune this Saturday May 31, 2008. The article” Break for Sellers: Banks settle for less” defined short sales as the process where homeowners owe more than the house is worth.It went on to say that the housing crisis is so severe that both lenders and home owners see short sales as an acceptable alternative.

It is good to see an article open to discuss a difficult topic and it is even harder to give accurate information on the subject. For instance, the article interviewed a realtor who feels short sales is “screwing up” a lot of stuff. This realtor went on to say short sales in his market was the healthiest part of the real estate market now along with bank owned property. The article also accused short sales of scewing the market data, bringing home values down, and making neighborhoods look less valuable. I thought about this long and hard and decided to see some data in my own real estate market of Evanston, IL. Right now, Evanston has 360 single family homes for sale. There are 15 homes listed as short sales, and another 3 listed as bank owned properties. These 18 homes represent a total .05 % of the real estate market in Evanston. Clearly, it will take a long time for short sales to take over the real estate market in Evanston, Il.  During the past couple of months 1 short sale has gone under contracct, 1 short sale has closed, and 1 bank owned property has closed in Evanston, IL.  I cannot blame the loss in value to all homes in Evanston, Il to these few  sales.

Further down in the article it stated it can take up to six months for lender approval for a short sale and this alone is removing potential buyers from considering non-short-sale home listings. While it is taking longer for banks to approve short sales it is not taking them away from normal real estate transactions. In Evanston there are 83 homes currently under contract and only 1 of these is a short sale. Clearly there are buyers looking to purchase homes that are not short sales in my market of Evanston, IL.

I think I am going to end this by saying that short sales are a realty and need to be dealt with but it should not be blamed for all of the problems we are now facing in the real estate market.

Recently I was asked this question” Are Above Ground Swimming Pools a Home Improvement Deduction?”

First of all you have to know the difference between real estate and personal property. All things that are permanently attached to the property are considered fixtures. This would include such things as ceiting lights, awning, window shades, doorknobs bathroom fixtures, kitchen cabinets.

Are these  Fixtures?

Neither of these pictures are fixtures. Hopefully the lady can be removed from the wall and so can the above ground swimming pool. So if they are not fixtures then what are they considered.

Personal Property. Typical things sold with a home as personal property are Refrigerator, Range, Washer and Dryer

We just ended the first quarter and it is always interesting to look at the numbers and make assumptions about the relative strength or weakness of my local real estate market of Evanston IL.

As we all hear the national news about tumbling real estate prices, large numbers of homes on the market and rising foreclosures I am always challenged to make sense out this information and see how it applies to my local market in Evanston. The information I will be sharing with you here comes from my local MLS but the interpretations are strictly my own. I am sure others will not agree with me and have there own interpretations and that is ok with me.

ACTIVE

SINGLE FAMILY MARKET

In Evanston there are 275 single family homes on the market for sale. Of those 181 are homes that have been on the market 90 days or more. This means much of the current inventory of homes are homes that were on the market in the last quarter of 2007.

In Evanston there are 21 new single family homes on the market for sale.These are homes that are really new and not recycled old listings. Of those 4 are homes that are short sales and 1 is bank owned.

CONDO MARKET:
In Evanston there are 646 condos on the market for sale. Of those 342 are condo’s that have been on the market for 90 days or more. This means tha much of the current inventory of condo’s are those that were on the market in the last quarter of 2007.

In Evanston there are 33 new condo’s on the market for sale. These are condo’s that are really new and not recycled old listings. Of those 4 are short sales and 0 are bank owned.

SOLD

in Evanston 56 homes have sold with the average market time of 172 days. The Average sale price was $597,000 and the total sales volume to date is $33,441,500. During the same period in 2007, 58 homes sold in Evanston with the average sale price being $710,352 and the total sale volume of $41,200,400. What the numbers tell us is that we are not off on the number of homes sold this year as compared to last year but the average price of homes is dropping and affecting the total sales volume.

CONDO MARKET:

In Evanston 56 condo’s have sold with the average market time of 217 days. The Average sale price was $329,000 and the total sales volume was $18,458,311. During the same period in 2007, 143 condo’s sold with the average sale price $351,421 and the total sales volume being $50,253,266. What the numbers tell us is that the condo market is getting weaker, prices are falling and total sales volume is down. My question here is this because of new construction which is not reflected here in these figures or is really because the condo market is saturated with too much inventory. It is hard to tell at this point of the year.

I recently found some looking to get information about how to do find out property taxes in Evanston. Since Evanston is located in Cook County you have to go first to Cook County Assessors office and begin your search by address to get the Parcel Index Number (PIN number). Once you have the PIN number you go to Cook County Treasurers office and go to payment status on the left top side of the page and enter the PIN number and you will get the most recent tax bill which you can print from the site. I hope this helps you in your search

Evanston Boys Basketball defeated Lockport (56/52) in the Illinois State Basketball semifinals for Class 4 A  Basketball on Saturday..  Evanston lost to Zion  Benton (51/54) on Friday.   Congratulations goes out to the Team for finishing third place  in the tournament and 3rd in the State with a record of 29 wins and 3 losses.

In 2000 35 million people 65 years of age and over were counted in the United States. Out of those 18.4 million were between the age of 65 and 74 years old. This group (65-74) represents 53% of all older adults.

The percent of people 65 years and over living in nursing homes is declining particularly for those people 85 years and over, where only 18 percent were living in nursing homes in 2000. If this trend continues with the baby boomers becoming the next largest group of seniors then we should see an increase in sales for this age market.

If you want more information on this subject or would like to discuss real estate options for you, I have set up a special hot line just for you.

Free Information 24 hours

1-888-307-7311  Ext 17