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The 5th and last mistake to avoid when selling your Chicago Home is to “Not hiring a professional real estate agent” or perhaps hiring the wrong agent.  We are currently in a buyers market so the FSBOs (For Sale By Owners) are at a real disadvantage.  Ninety-five percent of today’s buyers are working with buyer agents, in the purchase of their new home, condo or loft.  In this market only about 2% of successful Chicago Home sales are FSBO.  It may be unwise to hire an agent that doesn’t know the area very well or that doesn’t know the home values in your neighborhood.  Word-of-mouth or referrals from friends and neighbors are usually a good place to start in selecting your agent. Look for someone who has an established track record that knows how to use state of the art technology.  In this environment, experience isn’t expensive, it is priceless.

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The fourth mistake to avoid according to Marion Brooks at NBC in her recent coverage has to do with marketing. www.nbcchicago.com/around_town/real_estate/5-Real-Estate-Mistakes-You-Dont-Want-to-Make.html

The vast majority of marketing occurs on the Internet.  And this is appropriate as recent statistics indicate that more than 80% of buyers start their search on the Internet.   One of the most important aspects of this on-line marketing are photos, so the old adage about “a picture is worth 1,000 words” holds true in our experience at ReMax in Chicago.  We also suggest that photos be uploaded at the same time as the text of a new listing, so that when it goes out to all the people on automated searches they will see the photos.  If the potential buyers don’t see any photos when they first review the listing they may not go back later in hopes of finding photos.  Also a great idea is to put virtual tours and floor plans on line, again so buyers can glean as much information as possible.  The more information and the more photos on line the greater  the likelihood or attracting buyers looking for a particular type of home.  We put as much information, as many photos as may be appropriate for the property, a virtual tour and a floor plan on all of our Chicago Homes For Sale in order to maximize our marketing.

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Mistake number 3 is Not Making Your Home Accessible.  If a property isn’t accessible, when a buyer’s agent makes a request to view the property and can’t gain entrance, that buyer may not come back to look.  Why?  Because there are so many Chicago Homes For Sale that the buyers are sometimes overwhelmed by all the inventory.  Chicago Realtors have a lot to choose from when making appointments, so if it is difficult to gain entrance, that property is likely to get skipped.  The easier it is to get into the property the more showings that property will experience.  If you would like some tips on how to make your Chicago home more accessible to Chicago Realtors just send me an email,  roger@wesellchicago.com.

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The second mistake to avoid is “not considering your home’s condition”.  When selling our homes it is not always easy to see through the eyes of the buyer and hopefully new owner.   What we see and maybe smell everyday becomes normal for us, but not the buyers.  I often tell sellers ” if I can smell it I can not sell it”, so if you have any pet or smoking or other smells in your home, best to get rid of them before attempting to sell.  Some buyers are so turned off by smells that are offensive to them that they would not consider purchasing the home even though it may be perfect in other ways.  The two most common needs are to declutter and depersonalize, this is where a stagger can be very useful.  With the Chicago Homes for Sale market as it is today I do not take on any new listings unless the owners will allow a stagger to go through the property and make suggestions.  Today’s buyers usually have a reaction and maybe a decision about a home in the first 15-30 seconds, so your home must win the beauty contest and of course the pricing contest.  Read more about this at www.nbcchicago.com/around_town/real_estate/5-Real-Estate-Mistakes-You-Dont-Want-to-Make.html

If you would kind more information about selling your home in Chicago or buying a home in Chicago visit http://www.wesellchicago.com and we will be happy to share our expertise about Chicago Homes.

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This is based on an article and an NBC News report as well as on my own experience.  The NBC article by Marion Brooks can be found at www.nbcchicago.com/around_town/real_estate/5-Real-Estate-Mistakes-You-Dont-Want-to-Make.html .  The first mistake to avoid is not pricing right, of course the wrong price brings the wrong buyers.  In this shifting market it is sometimes necessary to adjust the price until you start getting activity.  Because the market is continuing to change it may be wise to pay more attention to the competition than to past sales.  Past sales are history, but your competition is what the buyer’s will see and make decisions about as to what is the best value.  What you paid for your property should not be a deciding factor in how to price your home.  Various sellers and agents are using some incentives to entice buyers such as including a large flat screen TV, my experience suggests that most buyers would rather see a lower price and skip the incentive.  According to our MLS at the time of this writing there are 13,931 condos for sale and there are another 7,381 Chicago Homes For Sale.  There is a lot of competition and if you don’t win the pricing contest you will not sell.  Next article will deal with the beauty contest that must also be won for a sale to happen.

The Loop-U as it is being called is an area from Roosevelt Road on the South and the Chicago River on the North, from the Lake to Wacker Drive on the West.  This area is being referred to as the Loop-U because of the approximate 60,000 students that live and attend various institutions of the higher learning in this area.  There are about 20 institutions of higher learning in the Chicago Loop-U area.  As the real estate horizon changed many of the large office building tenants moved west and some of the larger schools have purchased the recently vacated old buildings and have or are converting them for class use.  As the real estate market in Chicago continued to cool off, this Loop-U area has seen a surplus in rental housing, many of the rental units are available because the owners are unable to sell.  In addition there are a growing number of short sales and foreclosures so it is a great time to pick up a bargain.  There seems to be the beginning of a trend of parents purchasing condos for their children enrolled in schools in the Chicago Loop-U.

On 2/28/2009 we took 12 people out on a Foreclosure Bus Tour to preview condos in the River North, Gold Coast and Old Town areas.   We were able to show  8 different properties in 3 hours to 12 people, very efficient use of our time.  This was done in conjunction with  ChicagoForeclosureTours.com  a part of  americanforeclosuretours.com.  Most buyers were surprised to find condos that are available as short sales or foreclosures, selling for any where between $50,000 to $200,000 less than they sold for 2 years ago.  So yes, there are a lot of real estate bargains out there in this market place.  We at the WeSellChicago.com team are busy planning another Foreclosure Bus Tour, this time focusing on single family homes in Lincoln Park, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Lakeview, Gold Coast and River North.  If you are interested in joining, just email me:  roger@WeSellChicago.com with  “Bus Tour”  in the subject line.

It is estimated that about half of all real estate transactions in the Chicago area will be either a short sale or a foreclosure.  That would be about 75,000 properties as guesses are that there will be about 150,000 homes that change hands in 2009.  So it makes sense to start looking at some of these distressed properties.  As a buyer you need to be patient because we are dealing with a huge organization rather than a individual seller.  Usually they have much red tape to clsar up before they can even give a response to an offer.  Next, it will be in your best interest to be as unemotional as possible.  Most important get pre-approved, sometimes it makes sense to get pre-approved through the bank that is selling the property so you can actually compete with the cash buyers.  There are some great deals out there, so let’s go find them and then buy them.

First time buyers are defined as someone that has not owned a principal residence for the past three years.  It should be noted that you could currently own a vacation home or have owned a primary residence more than three years ago and you would still qualify for this tax credit.  This credit only applies to buyers that close between January 1, 2009 and ends on December 1, 2009, so at this point it is only for one year.  The credit is equal to 10% of the purchase price and is capped at $8,000.  The good news is that you do not have to pay it back as long as you own the home for at least three years.  If you sell before the three years are up you would have to return the credit to the government.  Income limits for a single buyer is an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less and $150,000 for married couples.  Those earning more may be eligible for some reduced credit.  This is a “refundable” tax credit so even if buyers don’t have much tax liability they can still take advantage of this program.  This stimulus bill has been signed by President Obama and is designed to help revive the real estate market.

Bus tours of foreclosure properties seem to be getting popular across the nation.  To some extent this is the result of the ever increasing number of foreclosures coming into the market place.  According to the IAR (Illinois Association of Realtors) there is a new foreclosure every 13 seconds in the United States.  The Center for Responsible Lending has created a foreclosure counter to tick off foreclosure starts as they occur at www.responsiblelending.org. The group also tracks foreclosure totals by states.                      

As recent as 1-2 years ago it was common to hear Chicago real estate agents suggest that we would not see foreclosures in such neighborhoods as Lincoln Park, Gold Coast, River North or the New East Side.  The thinking being that foreclosures only happen in the less affluent areas, not true today.  Just in zip code 60614 which is most of Lincoln Park, there are currently 248 Bank Owned properties, 115 properties scheduled for auction and 629 properties are listed as Pre-foreclosure by RealtyTrac.  This totals almost 1000 properties in financial trouble in just Lincoln Park. 

Part of the response and solution to the increasing number of foreclosures and short sales (many of which progress to foreclosures) is the Bus Tour.  A company known as DownTownChicagoForclosureTours.com has scheduled a bus tour on Feb. 28, 2009 starting at 10 AM and concluding at 1 PM.  Bus departs from the RE/MAX Vision office at 350 W. Ontario, Chicago at 10 AM.  If you would like to join the free bus tour and preview some of the foreclosures/short sale properties just email me: roger@WeSellChicago.com with Bus Tour in the subject line. 

Chicago condo buyers, “The Ultimate Condominium Resource” in now available and it is free if you have your Realtor register you for a complimentary one year subscription.  If you register yourself it is a cost of $300.00 for the year, so call your favorite Realtor.  This new site covers: Building Profiles, Floor Plans, City Maps, Area Profiles and Comparison Charts for neighborhoods as well as buildings.  This site covers more than 12,000 of Chicago’s finest buildings as well as all 77 of Chicago’s census areas.  It offers a ton of valuable information to anyone looking to purchase a condo in Chicago.  http://www.chicagocondosonline.com is the address or email me: roger@wesellchicago.com for a complimentary one year subscription.  If you are an agent and a member of “Midwest Real Estate Data” (MRED) which operates the multiple listing service of northern Illinois, you have free access to ChicagoCondosOnline.com.