“Housing Boom An Ever-More-Distant Memory”: Illinois
The Illinois realtors report on October sales. “October home sales were down 9.7 percent, compared to 14,430 sales in October 2005. Year-to-date home sales (including single-family and condominiums) totaled 145,678 in 2006, down 7.1 percent from 156,746 homes sold from January through October of 2005.”
“The Illinois median home sale price in October was $198,777, off 3.5 percent from $206,000 a year earlier.”
“‘Sidelined buyers should have confidence in the market and take advantage of the low interest rates and ample choices,’ said Robert Zoretich, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS. ‘It’s shaping up to be the third best year for Illinois home sales.’”
The Chicago Tribune. “With the housing boom becoming an ever-more-distant memory, Chicago home sales took another hit in October, and real estate experts are saying wait until spring. Or until next fall. Or maybe longer.”
“The Illinois Association of Realtors said Tuesday that October’s combined single-family and condo sales in the Chicago area were 15.4 percent below last year’s sales. Chicago-area condo prices fell about 5 percent.”
“Pat Callan, a broker in Wheaton, said sellers who have reduced their prices are improving the logjam of properties for sale in DuPage County, where sales of all types of homes declined by nearly 28 percent in October. ‘The higher-end properties aren’t moving,’ Callan said.”
“‘There are still people out there waiting to see prices come down,’ Zoretich said. ‘But buyers are not listening. They’re really not. If people need to sell right away, they need to adjust their prices.’”
“The downtown condo market has slowed from jet-propelled to a mere chug, chug, chug. ‘Right now, sales for newly constructed condos are down about 10 percent from last year,’ says analyst Gail Lissner. She adds that statistic doesn’t really tell the tale because in 2005, the downtown market grappled with selling not only new construction, but also the conversion of 4,000 rental units to condos.”
“‘In 2008, we’re looking at 6,200 [new condos downtown], providing that everything currently announced gets delivered,’ she said. ‘That’s double the volume delivered this year.’”
The Sun Times. “If you own a home or property in Chicago, it’s probably worth more, maybe two or three times more, than it was three years ago, according to the Cook County assessor. And you’ll be taxed accordingly.”
“‘You don’t have any choice, you pay it or you have to move,’ said Leonard Gilbert, whose taxes on his Rogers Park home are jumping from $4,604 to $6,513. ‘I pay more in taxes now than on my mortgage.’”
The Times Herald from Michigan. “Struggling to make sales in a tough housing market, a Novi company interested in Port Huron development auctioned about 100 Livingston County properties last month.”
“William Russell, vice president and general counsel at Michigan Group Realtors in Brighton, said property auctions indicate sellers are ‘grasping at straws’ in their effort to sell properties at decent prices.”
“‘They don’t want to believe the degree the market has fallen,’ he said. Greeneisen said it is most difficult to sell higher-priced homes, especially homes priced at $500,000 or more - because people in the market for those houses can’t sell their current properties.”
“Some developers are using buyers’ interest in new homes to ensure success. Jeff Curtis is the principle developer for a 124-unit development of duplexes on Lakeshore Road set to break ground in the spring. ‘Everything has to be low cost,’ Curtis said. ‘It makes it affordable for people.’”
“‘If you can go buy something new for roughly the same price you can buy an existing home, people tend to buy the new one,’ agent Pat Moore said.”
“Until the housing market turns around, the glut of new subdivisions could make things worse for owners of existing houses. New homes in the area could force sellers to cut their price tags, experts said.”
“The developers’ optimism does little to soothe Mayland Skinner of Fort Gratiot, whose home has been on the market for four months. ‘I don’t have an optimistic feeling for the market,’ said Skinner.”
“Skinner is planning to lower the price on his home from $239,000 to $229,000 and may take it off the market until spring if there’s no buyer by December. The drop in price will put the house below its appraised value. ‘It will sell when the market’s ready,’ he said.”
“‘Sidelined buyers should have confidence in the market and take advantage of the low interest rates and ample choices,’ said Robert Zoretich, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS. ‘It’s shaping up to be the third best year for Illinois home sales.’”
2007 is shaping up to be the fourth-best year for Illinois home sales.
2008 is shaping up to be the fifth-best year for Illinois home sales.
2009 is shaping up to be the sixth-best year for Illinois home sales.
…
“‘Sidelined buyers should have confidence in the market and take advantage of the low interest rates and ample choices,’ said Robert Zoretich
hmmm…don’t think so, Bob. I think I’ll wait until there’s more better ample choices.
There are plenty of lovely victorian style crack house for just under $200,000.
The Chicago-to-Mpls. part of the MidWest has been the bright spot. The rest of the region has done poorly in terms of sales and prices.
Here in Ohio, CY2006 sales totals are running just shy of 2005 sales, with prices also down slightly. This will make 2006 the 2nd best year ever, but only by 2% or so.
http://www.ohiorealtors.org/news/articles/33120061028091410.html
Wow - talk about drinking the kool-aid, this guy is drowning in it. This Robert Zoretich guy should make David Lereah proud.
Exactly Stucco! On the Jonestown style RE cheerleader board I go on out here in Chicago uses that same talking point of it being the third best year. I point out that it doesn’t matter to me (a non-realtor) what the sales volume is when the arrow is pointed down.
Know why there weren’t too many good jokes about the mass suicide @ the Jonestown temple, almost 30 years ago?
The punchline was too long~
LMFAO
It could actually be,
2007 fifth-best, 2008 seventh-best, 2009 ninth-best,
in case 2003 was better than 07, 02 > 08, 01 > 09. No??
Agreed. It all depends on how fast the local bubble unravels in Chi-town.
no one from Chicago calls it Chi-town.
Except for my former roommate (cool black dude from the south side).
But he was joking
“With the housing boom becoming an ever-more-distant memory, Chicago home sales took another hit in October, and real estate experts are saying wait until spring. Or until next fall. Or maybe longer.”
Maybe Chicago-area experts are more honest than Lereah?
I think most MidWesterners are pretty grounded in economic reality - plant closings, job losses, pay freezes and pay cuts, stagnat housing prices. What Chicago (and Mpls) have experienced in the past 5 years is nearly unprecessedent in my adult lifetime (25 years)
I think the 20 & 30 something that have bought over the past 5 years or so have no economic grasp as it relates to this housing issue. At least not the ones I speak to out here in Chicago. They all think 10% appreciation a year is their God given right.
I don’t think any place in Ohio has seen 10% annual appreciation since the days of Volker, and back then it was not exactly ‘appreciation’. Arround here, if house prices exceed inflation on any give year, it goes down in the record books. 25-30 years olds only know of the economic collapse the state has been experiencing since 2000.
“‘There are still people out there waiting to see prices come down,’ Zoretich said. ‘But buyers are not listening. They’re really not. If people need to sell right away, they need to adjust their prices.’”
Buyers are smart to wait. Because there will be lots of sellers facing foreclosure soon who will need to sell right away, and they will adjust their prices — DOWN. That will screw up the comps, leading to better bargains for buyers with the prudence to wait.
I’m think ‘09 will be the year to buy again in Chicago…maybe 2010.
‘But buyers are not listening. They’re really not.
What - or who - are we not listening to?
And isn’t it this statement backwards, as in: Sellers are not listening to buyers? Not listening to what the market will bear?
Stop confusing me Bob Z
What did he say?! What did he say?! Sh#t, I missed it.
“‘You don’t have any choice, you pay it or you have to move,’ said Leonard Gilbert, whose taxes on his Rogers Park home are jumping from $4,604 to $6,513. ‘I pay more in taxes now than on my mortgage.’”
Time for Illinois to adopt their own version of Prop 13?
If states are not smart about this, Prop 13’s and their kin are liable to spread nationwide.
Tax revolts are ugly and have long-term and unintended concequences.
Look, once you’ve decided to tax a property based on it’s market value, it only makes sense that property taxes need to increase greatly when the market rises. Also, that’s the fair thing to do. I have no sympathy with people who’s asset has tripled in value and now don’t want to pay taxes.
Agreed. People are freaking out here. Many of them bought in ‘04 & ‘05 and thought they were riding a gravy train with biscuit wheels. Sure, their PITI was 50% of what they earn but who cares my house never stops aprreciating. “WHAT?! My taxes are drastically going up in accordance with the appraisal of my completely overvalued house?! I can’t afford that!!!”
I totally don’t agree. When you buy a home, you have a set amount for mortgage and taxes. The government should not take more than that ever. Not everyone has unlimited disposible income. It sickens me that taxes are causing people to lose their home to the greedy, greedy government who has not respect for the people’s money!!!
“Until the housing market turns around, the glut of new subdivisions could make things worse for owners of existing houses. New homes in the area could force sellers to cut their price tags, experts said.”
Does tumbleweed grow as far north as Chicago?
We’ll be importing some from China.
No, no! Everything is fine in Chicago. Oprah says so!
http://www.suntimes.com/news/152831,CST-NWS-sneed29.article
Please! Who gives a crap. Not that it matters to her, but I’m sure the price she paid is inflated, as well, I don’t care *where* it is in Chicago. (My birthplace … moved in 1974) And the traffic worker who hinted about giving her a break on future parking violations should get a good talking to. Just bugs that hell out of me that the rich get breaks like that…just like the bribe gifts (goody bags) that they get at their industry functions and events….as if they can’t just go out and buy that crap.
Ok…rant off.
BayQT~
That article was the front page of the Chicago Sun Times today. Please kill me.
I wonder when she’s going to run for mayor.
BayQT~
‘If you own a home or property in Chicago, it’s probably worth more, maybe two or three times more, than it was three years ago, according to the Cook County assessor.’
Maybe it just hadn’t sunk in from the Chicago folks that post here, but I didn’t realize what a run-up they’ve seen.
The Cook County Assessor can be mean. Remember the Blues Brothers?
Some of the outer city neighborhoods may have doubled since 2002-03. I don’t think there’s been much tripling.
I’ve said this before, but you don’t get much of a discount for buying well outside the popular loop/gold coast/lincoln park area anymore. And who the hell wants to live in Rogers Park unless you’re a professor at Loyola.
You get a 10% discount for ducking the gunfire in Humboldt Park and near Cabrini…that’s about it.
I agree there hasn’t been much tripling of values butit’s still insane. I think I’m going to dust off the skills I learned shop class to start making gavels…
http://yochicago.com/today/deals-affordable/developer-suggests-opening-bid-of-125000-at-huron-street-lofts_3257/
Property values haven’t gone up that much (maybe 1 1/2 to 2 times, at most), but if that’s what the Cook County Assessor says, who can really argue? You can appeal, but if everybody goes up, so do the comps. The corruption and cronyism in Cook County is a big reason why we don’t live there.
Check out this spin on the RE market. Once again: why do reporters seem to always interview RE industry people? (BTW, I posted this on another thread, but it may be buried.)
http://www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/business/ab_rethreep112806&partner=yahootix
tl
You have to look for the hidden agenda (as usual). People who report own homes and people like the shills on The CNBC Business Entertainment Tonite Show own houses. Newspaper editors own houses. TV producers own houses. Reporters own houses. Get the picture? They are not going to bite their own hand.
We are in a very bad property boom and bust. One of the biggest ever and one doesn’t have to be a maths genius to realize the numbers just DO NOT add up. Look no further than incomes to prices. That’s it. No further.
That said, even though they know the figures don’t make sense, I don’t think any t.v producer, t.v anchor, newspaper editor or reporter, etc, is going to quote (very much) someone who says that the $1.2 million property, which the reporter bought in 1995 for $280,000, is going to nose dive to $500,000.
I’m looking at the CNBC screen at this very moment and they are reporting beige book stats. The report states employers are finding it hard to fill vacancies. Good news? Not really. Where I live, there are “HELP NEEDED” signs at every supermarket store and every retail store. Does that equate to a great economy where work is abundant and thus everyone who is working can buy a house? No. $10 an hour jobs (or $30 and hour jobs) are not enough to buy $600,000 houses which is the average price in my area. Employers reported they are having to raise wages to attract employees. That means inflation. Interest rates do not drop when there’s inflation. Property does not sell in a high interest rate world. Leaving all that out, wages REALLY have to increase for a worker who wants to buy a $600,000 house and we can forget those fake mortgage application and exotic loans. Those chickens are starting to come home to roost and we are going to see a LOT of litigation.
At the moment, we are in a period of denial. I hate to come back to the UPS driver who occupies the White House, but he’s the poster boy for “denial”. We have initiated a war in Iraq which is lost (don’t let anyone tell you otherwise). Pakistan is telling the world that in order to pacify Afghanistan, we need to negotiate with the Taliban so Afghanistan is also lost. We have a massive (and I DO mean massive) national debt. That means interest rates ain’t going to go down too much because that debt has to be serviced by foreigners and they like to get a return on their money. We have a property boom which is going bust.
What’s the response to these problems? Denial. I never considered Bush was the “Decider” but he sure is the “Denier” and that’s where we live at the moment. In a “denial” age.
Nice post Mike.
“The report states employers are finding it hard to fill vacancies. Good news? Not really.”
It means that inflationary pressures are building, and the Fed is more likely to have to tighten than to ease, especially when the dollar is tanking. Look out below, Gekko!
What I really love is the constant re-statements of the GDP or CPI to suit whatever purpose the FED has at the moment. So the dollar and the DOW break below the trading range and are looking pretty weak…well better just goose the GDP number a bit and come in a little higher. Then when the FED needs some cover to lower rates (or leave them unchanged) they’ll simply cook GDP to the downside. How much longer can this go on I wonder?
No doubt now that the FED is painted into a corner and soon our “friends” like the Chinese won’t want to play this game anymore. BTW, I don’t believe for a second that the Chinese don’t know what they’re doing. IMHO, It’s been the long-range plan of the Russians and the Chinese to destroy the US (both financially and through various proxy-wars and false flag terrorism.)
‘That means interest rates ain’t going to go down too much because that debt has to be serviced by foreigners and they like to get a return on their money.’
Asian creditors to BB:
“In our organization it is more important to know who you can trust.”
“I’m going to take it off the market until spring.” Okay. All you sellers who are having trouble getting their ridiculous prices, repeat after me…….”I’m going to take it off the market until spring…” Ouch! That was really loud! It hurt my ears. Okay. Repeat after me again but this time only 1,000 sellers at a time. “I’m going to take it off the market until next spring.” Much better but let’s make that 3,000 at a time or we’ll be here all week.
Friend told me today that his roomate was going to buy a 400 thousand condo in Bucktown for 360K- and was going to finance it with a 7 year interest only. His dad is apparently giving him 60 thousand as a downpayment… and the kid struggles to make a 750 dollar rent payment every month.
His dad is into Hotel developments….
There are quite a few Dustins and Ashleys here that received a condo from Mommy and Daddy as a sort of “graduation present” after attending Michigan State or Wisconsin or whatever Big Televen school they went to.
I certainly wish that were me (getting a free condo, not being a Big Televen alumnus) but it tends not to teach one a whole lot about managing money.
Those kids will learn a ahrd lesson because their parents most likely bought the place as an “investment” with no money down and and I/O mortgage.
I think that’s pretty close to what happened across the street from me. Although I can’t verify this from the county assessor records, I think Dad HELOC-ed his primary residence to buy Muffy (not her real name) a house.
And let me tell you, Muffy and her roommates have never heard of the words “yardwork.” Or, for that matter, picking up litter that blows onto the property, making needed repairs, et cetera, and so forth.
tl,
So true. So very true. Just as mountain/beach “vacation homes” were all the rage (and just another excuse to speculate) so have “grad condos”. We all have friends that even buy them for their kids just as they’re starting college figuring when doh-doh graduates I’ll just sell it and pay off all that college debt off! Wrong answer moose breath!
I thought they were all named Trixie & Chad. As in Lincoln Park Trixie.
A lot of them still are, but the black Jettas went out of style a couple years ago, thank goodness.
“Friend told me today that his roomate was going to buy a 400 thousand condo in Bucktown for 360K …”.
Correction - Friend’s roommate is buying a $360K condo for $360K. It’s not a $400K condo unless that’s what the current market values it at … and roomie would be paying $400K for it. And guess what, in several months, it could very well be a $320K condo if the market continues to fall and that’s all that someone will pay for it then. I love these people who think they’re getting “instant equity” because some old appraisal of the property says it’s worth more than what they’re paying for it in a declining market.
This kid will be buried in 3 years, his dad had the foresight to turn his $750, probably free heat into $900/mth tax, 300/hoa and whatever chunk of non principal he has to pay a month. The Motorola RAZR ebay market is going to crater.
I swear these people don’t grasp the time-value of money. Sell it for what you can get for it and rent. You will save more money by renting than you will make back selling it in the spring (even IF spring is as magical as they expect it to be).
Common freaking sense just doesn’t seem to apply.
On a side note, I am a happy renter in Florida who just bought an $84 airplane ticket to Chicago and bought a 2002 Mercedes SLK23 AMG for $22,900 from a real estate investor guy who paid $38,500 for it last year. Believe me when I tell you that this was an incredible deal for a car that cost over $65K in 2002. I paid cash with money I saved by renting over the last 12 months… Really.
More deals are coming!
You’re onto something, Bryan. Three cheers for paying cash!
Another example of a quote I heard a while back. “The things you WANT cost less every month. The things you NEED cost more.”
I see lots of people here in Nocal taking their homes off the market, presumably until spring. This is faulty logic. I was actually starting to get used to seeing thousands of homes for sale. The reason I know this is that after taking a trip out of state a while back, coming back I was shocked to see the number of homes up for sale on my return only to realize that there was the same number as before- I had just accustomed to it.
When all these sellers remove their homes from the market only to put it up in the spring, A: there are still record numbers of homes for sale, and few have been sold to relieve the supply. B: If all of these clever sellers had the same idea- what with so many mentioning “waiting until spring”, then this spring should be a repeat of last year, with a flood of homes hitting the market all at once, hence further driving the message home to buyers that there is no reason to rush in. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
IIRC, we have heard bubbly stories from all around the country, but I don’t recall hearing anything about Wyoming.
Sure this bubble is not national.
You missed this?
‘For (Broker) Ron Miller, and many like him, the Jackson Hole real estate market is a cash cow, a golden goose, with an unlimited future.’
‘In Jackson, the market doesn’t really go down,’ said (realtor) Linda Walker. Broker Ryan Olsen agrees. ‘We are immune to the up and down treads that plague many real estate markets,’ he says. ‘Our real estate market is essentially quite ‘bullet proof!’
‘I’ve always been amazed with this market,’ David Viehman says. Viehman compiles an in-depth look at real estate trends in the Jackson Hole area. ‘I’ve been in real estate for 25 years and I still think, ‘This is crazy. Why would anybody pay these kinds of prices?’ To make ‘those’ kinds of profit, would be the pat answer.’
‘This is a real active market now,’ Walker says. ‘With low inventories, buyers are getting off the fence,’ Viehman says. ‘Maybe their spouses are elbowing them and saying ‘we better get on this before it takes off.’ That feeds an urgency.’
‘Available property may be at an all-time low but ‘dirt pimps’ are flocking to real estate courses like ravens to an elk kill. ‘There are almost 700 realtors in Jackson Hole,’ Walker says. ‘That’s a lot. A lot of real estate agents have a main job because they are not selling.’ Miller wonders. “There’s only about 40 of us who do any volume. The rest of them, I don’t know how they’re making a living.’
‘Indications are a growing number of high-end properties in Jackson Hole are no longer vacation or second homes, but purely financial investments that sit empty. It is a trend noticed by one agent, Ray Elser, when he sees a ’spec home’ change hands ‘three, four, and five times before construction is ever completed.’
‘Sure, property taxes soar with each reassessment but banks keep homeowners ahead by refinancing Jacksonites into their neo-wealth status. ‘You don’t have to sell a property to realize gain,’ Miller says. ‘You can get a new appraisal and borrow against the property and then go buy more properties. And when you borrow the money back, a lot of people don’t realize when you go get an equity loan it is not a taxable event. So you’re better off pulling a million dollars out of a property, tax-free, and buying more with that.’
‘Real estate values will continue to increase,’ Elser says. ‘My crystal ball can only see so far,” Viehman says, “it’s a little foggy, but there doesn’t seem to be anything that’s going to change the course.’
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=1402
There are others. Just use the search function on the side bar.
‘Sure, property taxes soar with each reassessment but banks keep homeowners ahead by refinancing Jacksonites into their neo-wealth status. ‘You don’t have to sell a property to realize gain,’ Miller says. ‘You can get a new appraisal and borrow against the property and then go buy more properties. And when you borrow the money back, a lot of people don’t realize when you go get an equity loan it is not a taxable event. So you’re better off pulling a million dollars out of a property, tax-free, and buying more with that.’
Wow. So the celebrity and fractional-jet crowd is on the same Housing ATM treadmill as the rest of America.
Oh man, this is more hot and bubbly here in this article than in the Yelllowstone N.P !
HMMM, Whaddya think, Ben, this bubble must be national, then!
I’ve got lots of friends and family back there. The bubble is alive and well in WY. They’re in the middle of an energy boom which is keeping it alive. There actually is a shortage of housing in some of the boom towns. I’ve heard of hotel rooms renting out for $1000/wk.
And Jackhole Hole doesn’t really count as part of WY. They have their own separate universe up there. Kinda like Aspen isn’t representative of all of Colorado.
SFH median asking price in Sheridan, Wyoming is $250,000. Population 20,000. Jobs…?
Here’s an article about a two-incomed Sheridan family somehow squeezing into new “affordable housing”:
Sheridan affordable housing
Yes, there’s a bubble in Wyoming. And the Jackson Hole quotes Ben mentioned above are just breathtaking!
One of the properties I’m watching just dropped another $100K in price. Glad I didn’t “take advantage of the low interest rates and ample choices” last week.
OT….
From Robert Chapman’s International Forecaster:
Moody’s sees 20% housing declines in some areas of the US in 2007 and that sales prices for median homes will fall 3.6%.
One of the most important elements in the reduced sales of homes now is mortgages that won’t sell. No one talks about it, but bankers are buried in exotic mortgages and those loans are in serious trouble. Homeowners owe close to $10 trillion in mortgage debt and against that mortgage paper, the giant secondary housing market agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have pyramided an additional, separate $6 trillion in mortgage-backed securities, derivatives and bonds. Accounting for additional housing-linked debt, US housing-related paper is above $16 trillion. As a result the oncoming series of homeowner defaults and foreclosures will ignite a shockwave blowing out many banks, financial institutions and foreign lenders who have invested more than $2 trillion in US housing and $375 trillion in the derivatives market. Sixty percent of homebuilders are offering incentives of up to 30% to move homes, usually with exotic mortgages to get the buyers into the houses. Even with those discounts new homes are not moving. Many existing homeowners are doing the same thing with little success. The next two years for housing will be difficult if interest rates on the 30-year fixed rate mortgage stays at 6-1/8% to 6-1/4%. If the Fed takes interest rates down ¼% to ½% real estate will go sideways and the dollar will collapse.
“‘If you can go buy something new for roughly the same price you can buy an existing home, people tend to buy the new one,’ agent Pat Moore said.”
“Until the housing market turns around, the glut of new subdivisions could make things worse for owners of existing houses. New homes in the area could force sellers to cut their price tags, experts said.”
I think quite a few posters here on Ben’s blog have noted this.
Just try to compete with deep pocket who bought land at a discount. I’m not saying they got land cheap, but land is quickly going down to 50% below what it was a year ago. Lumber is down, labor is going to go down…
And yet sellers won’t listen… sigh. So we patiently wait. I bet I can wait longer to buy than most sellers can hold off before they *must sell.* Oh, yes, I am assuming REO’s too…
Neil
I’ve posted this before…but it is a good reminder. Acre+ lots in a posh near in Hill Country area west of Austin TX went for $80sK in 1985. By 1990, they were $20s-30sK.
The local newspaper here (Elmhurst Press) is showing more foreclosure public notices of late. Three in particular in today’s paper were interesting: Elmhurst - $970,000 judgment and $906,000 judgment (these were the same borrower - I think a failed builder) and Oak Brook - $1,026,000 judgment. The two Elmhurst judgments are interesting because I believe these were 2 McMansions built on on of the busiest streets in DuPage County (North Avenue for those familiar). This shows the insanity that was reached here. Builders thought they could put up $900,000+ McMansions on any lot, desireable or undesireable, and people would buy them.
Also, I’ve been following the free info on foreclosure.com for my area and I’m seeing notices of default with builders’ names on them. I think the worst is yet to come here in the Chicago ‘burbs.
I just don’t understand why they are still putting homes right on North Ave, especially were it’s 6 lanes. There’s a developement going up not far from my parents in West Chicago right on North ave starting at $280,000. There’s a developement going up on Rholwing Rd just north of North Ave. Theyre starting @ $400,000. There are power line right over the land they are developing, across the street is all industrial with semis going up up and down Rholwing all day and the nearest mall is a half mile south and is 80% unoccupied.
I have been looking at SFH and TH around the Western suburbs around Chicago…There has been some drops in prices (realtors forget to change the price in the virtual tours…) but only 10k or 20k nothing compare with the increase on prices from 2001 on. My impression is that everybody thinks that they deserve a 10% or 15% annual apprecitation! I have seen a TH bought in 2002 for 200k, asking price in 2006 320K (no improvements, bought from builder in 2002) wtf! so they are entitled to a 120k profit just because. I have seen a lot of properties on sale turning into rentals…some are asking average rents but others are asking really high ones (I guess to cover the equity they took from the place). In my subdivision (THs in Naperville) people got a lot of equity from their places…you actually see more luxury SUVs (including H2s and H1s) in my subdivision than in some of the rich SFH neighborhoods in the area. I have the feeling inventory levels will be really high next spring…houses in Naperville (really desirable school district) are sitting in the market for months, most of the sellers have given up for the winter and are hoping to get “the” buyer next spring.
NAM,
I had a friend who bought a place in Elk Grove in ‘99 for $100,000 sold it in ‘03 for $169,000. Three years later it’s back on the market for $199,000. I saw the online tour. The new owner added pergo floors, new tile in the kitchen, recessed lighting and a new washer and dryer. Yeah, that’s worth $30,000. It wasn’t even worth the $169,000 it sold for in ‘03.
Your right, inventories will go up again next year. I believe it hit 65,000 in July this year at the peak. 75,000 is a lock some time next year and 80,000+ is not out of the question.
Look it up in the dictionary
Robert Zoretich = dumb$hit, moronic advise, RE shill, idiot, dumber than a brick, BBBBBBBBAAAAAAAHHHHHHHd advise for the sheeple, disconnected from reality, head buried in the past, head placed inside of his A$$. ETC. What a moronic statement.