November 2006

For a time in my long career I was helping a lot of first-time home buyers.  Lately it has been mainly move-up buyers but I recently got a call from a hesitant first-time buyer just starting the process of possibly purchasing a home.  It reminded me of the days when new buyers were the largest segment of my home buying clients.

I've always enjoyed working with first-time buyers, whether they were very excited to buy a property or if they were nervous and hesitant.  I never push buyers and want to make sure they're well informed and are comfortable with their decision.

I want to reintroduce an extremely comprehensive area on my website for Home Buyers.  There are so many links and faq's provided that a buyer doesn't need to go anywhere else. 

I was published again in the Southtown Star in the November 12th, 2006, issue in the Real Estate section.  The title of the article was "Be wise when making your next move."  The story was about how you should prepare before moving, especially if you have a property you need to sell first.  Most of the articles I've been interviewed for have been online on the Daily Southtown's site but I couldn't find an online version of this one.

It's a tough decision on what should come first, the sale of your current property or the purchase of the new place.  Personally, I would want to sell my home first or at least prepare some kind of contingency financing, which is what I did when I moved 3 years ago.

Maybe it's because I lost my "dream home" (at the time)

Over the past week or two there has been an influx of activity with my listings and I've had 5 or 6 contracts presented in this short time period.  It's interesting because we've already been experiencing our normal real estate sales downturn that happens in the fall and winter months in the Chicago suburb area.

I have noticed a real estate trend that I haven't seen in a long time.  Some buyers are coming in with very low offers.  I believe the lowest I received was $30,000 or more under list price on an Orland Park home for sale.  Of course, my seller was upset and let me know that he'll hold onto the home over the winter rather than sell it at such a lowball price.

In fact, not one of these buyers has been successful in getting these low offers