Evanston IL Real Estate

CARE is an all volunteer organization whose responsible for the Adoption of abused or abandoned Pets brought to the Evanston Animal Shelter. CARE is currently looking for new volunteers over the age of 18. If you are interested please fill out the CARE Volunteer Application.

CARE is also in need of donations and has its annual walk-a-thon called Struts for Stray on May 10, 2008 to help raise money for the animals at the shelter.

EDWARD IS LOOKING FOR “HIS KING” 2 year old “Neutered” Tabby.

This Alpa Male Cat needs another loving Male to Adopt him.

For the next 30 days I have a new campaign to reach out to those people who may be faced with foreclosure. As a pre-foreclosure specialist I know that people who are falling behind in their mortgage have nowhere to turn. They feel emabarrased about their situation and find it uncomfortable to talk with friends or family member and do not know how to get help from experts. As a pre-foreclosure specialist I can tell you the worst thing you can do is to”Keep Yourself a Secret” because the banks have no other recourse but to start the foreclosure process. If you have received a “Notice of Default” from your bank then there is still time to help you. We have a TEAM of specialist that will discuss your option, negotiate with your bank on your behalf no matter what you owe them. For a free consultation please call 1-888-307-7311 Ext 1

Spring Real Estate

Here is a house, dear robin.

the floor and walls are strong.

It’s safe from wind

and snug from rain

and yours for just a song.

I recently read an article in AARP magazine devoted to Foreclosures and Seniors. When we think of foreclosure we think about young people, but the young are not the only people being affected by foreclosures. Currently, I am working with an older couple who has lived in their house for 29 years and were about to lose their home to foreclosure before they met me to help them with a short sale. You might ask how can someone who has lived in the same house for 29 years be in foreclosure? Well, according to AARP more and more seniors are borrowing against the equity in their homes to pay for expenses on health care, college tuition, home upkeep,or just a way to supplement their income due to retirement.  So when seniors borrow all of their equity  in their homes they become victim to the same problems that young people face today.

If you know a senior who might be facing foreclosure, please have them call

FREE INFORMATION 24 Hours

1-888-307-7311 Ext 8 & 11

Do you have a Green Thumb? Evanston has several community gardens where you can put to use your gardening skills. If you want to be involved in a larger  community project then join the Talking Farm

Enjoy the outdoors, meet people, become organic and help feed people.

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.