How to Tour a Home and Decide to Buy Now

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buying, buying a home, Home and Garden, location, staging

Buyers who are searching for a new home need to refine their skills of seeing past temporary features that they can easily change and see just the bones of the property. Most sellers make a good effort to show off the permanent features by decluttering and staging the home. However, it can happen that a home is staged so beautifully that it distracts the buyer from seeing the bones of the home.

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Which leads to the question of how do you see past the furnishings to decide if the home will work for you? There are five important factors to take into careful consideration:

1. Community – In downtown Chicago, whether you are buying a house, townhome, or condo, you will likely be joining an association. Ask questions about the business of the building, such as the following. How high are the reserves? Is there a special assessment? What do the assessments cover? What are the amenities? Be sure to tour all of the common areas and if you run into a neighbor ask for their opinion about the building as well.
   

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2. Location/view – Pay close attention to the location of your unit within the building. Is it close to the elevator? Will it be easy to move in and out of? Even if you stay a long time there may be an occasion where you need to move something big in or out. Listen for noises. Can you hear your neighbors? Take a good look at the view also. What is nearby? Will there be noise from a train or traffic? Are there any empty or surface lots nearby that might be developed in the near future? The city is always changing, will you be happy with change happening around you?
   

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3. Layout – If you can, look at the floorplan of the unit before you even visit. Imagine where your furniture might be. Does it fit? Are the bedrooms in a good location? What about the bathrooms? Will your guests feel comfortable moving around your home when they visit? Are there any areas that can’t accomodate more than one person? How many can cook in the kitchen or primp in the bathroom mirror?
   

   English: Bathroom Refacing (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

4. Fixtures – Most fixtures can be changed with minimal work and minimal expense. Look carefully at everything that will stay, from the floors, up the walls, to the ceiling. Make note of what needs to be changed, how long you are willing to wait to change it, and how big/expensive the project will be. Is this an acceptable timeline? Will the home be as beautiful as you can imagine when you are done?
   

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5. Furnishing – Although the furnishing won’t stay, it can give you a sense of what the home is like to live in. How is it positioned? Will yours be placed in a similar manner or will it fit in a different style? How large is the furniture? Is it larger than yours or smaller? How much room is there to maneuver around it? Will you have any problems with your furniture? If the home is decorated for the holidays is it done in a way that you might do it too? Is there still enough room to maneuver?

The next time you tour homes ask yourself these questions so you will be prepared to make an offer as soon as you find the right home!

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How to Keep Your Home Smelling Beautiful

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air freshen, Home, scent, smells

When viewing a home for sale buyer’s senses heighten. They imagine how well the furniture placement would work for their living habits, they fuss over the slightest bit of dirt, and they notice if there are any smells. When selling your home it is important to stage it, deep clean it, and keep it smelling fresh. It doesn’t need to smell like baking cookies or vanilla incense, in fact, some of those tricks can make it seem like the seller is trying to mask something.

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Instead opt for a more natural, clean smell. It hardly needs to be a smell at all, imagine taking a deep breath on a crisp fall day. The cool air doesn’t have a distinct smell, but it feels fresh. One of the best ways to achieve this is to simply open the windows. This may not sound like an attractive idea in the dead of winter, but if it’s a little chilly out just open them for a short amount of time.

Garbage cans and sink disposals are possibly the worst culprits when it comes to stinking up a home. The disposal can be easily treated by tossing down a small lemon wedge. If you don’t keep lemons around all of the time just keep a few rinds in the freezer and use one of them when you need to freshen up the disposal. Take out the trash soon after throwing out veggies and fish as these are some of the biggest causes of garbage odor. Before replacing the bag wipe the can down with a cleaning wipe and use a scented bag or toss in a few cotton balls coated in vanilla extract to keep the can smelling fresh.

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Most organic cleaners have a lighter scent than their harsh chemical counterparts. They leave a recently cleaned room with a clean, but not overpowering scent.

Finally, a quick way to add a little scent to your kitchen is by simmering one stick of cinnamon with four cloves and a lemon or orange rind if you would like to add citrus. Only let it simmer for a few minutes or it can get overpowering. After the spices are removed from the heat the scent will linger.

By using multiple, light scents around your home the air will feel fresh and not masked.

Showcase Your Home with Great Photographs

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Photographer, Photography, Real estate, selling home, staging

Having lots of beautiful pictures of your property will entice interested buyers to come see it for themselves. A good photographer will take care to showcase your home as best as possible. Here are a few things to pay attention to on photography day to make sure your house is magazine ready.

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1. Turn on all of the lights in the home. Even if it’s a sunny day the extra light makes a noticeable difference through the lens of a camera.
2. Smooth out all of your fabrics. A couch with rumpled pillows may be comfortable, but freshly fluffed pillows are more inviting.
3. Move all stray objects out of sight (e.g. objects that tend to be stored on countertops, hairbrush, sponge, dish soap). Remember the buyers are purchasing fixtures, not your soap wand, leaving it out just causes a distraction.
4. You photographer should take shots at an angle, from the corner of the room, to include as much of the room as possible—this also gives a sense of space, and there should never be a reflection of a camera flash or person in a mirror. This can be difficult to achieve in small powder rooms, but it is possible! (I once had to take a photo of a bathroom that was practically covered in mirrors. It took some creative maneuvering on my part as the photographer, but I managed to keep me and the flare of the flash out of it.)
5. Make sure all toilet seats are closed!

Seeing pictures, a floorplan, and a virtual tour will help the buyers become familiar with your home before visiting. It also helps weed out buyers who are absolutely not interested in the home, saving you from a number of unnecessary showings.

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Choosing the Right Real Estate Agent for You

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buy home, choose, find agent, real estate agent, realtor, sell home

Your real estate agent will work closely with you throughout the home buying or selling process. A good agent will understand your lifestyle in order to help you either find the right neighborhood and home that fits as many of your wants and needs as possible while keeping with your budget or market your home in a manner that minimizes disruption to your everyday routine. It is important to understand the level of representation you can expect from your agent.

Every agent owes certain fiduciary duties to their clients. These specifically are: loyalty, obedience, disclosure, confidentiality, reasonable care and diligence, and accounting. The following chart explains what each of these duties mean to the buyer or the seller.

	BUYER’S AGENT	SELLER’S AGENT
Loyalty	Must do everything possible to gain an advantage for the buyer.	Must do everything possible to gain an advantage for the seller.
Obedience	Must obey all lawful instruction of the buyer, is not obligated to obey instructions from the seller.	Must obey all lawful instruction of the seller, is not obligated to obey instructions from the buyer.
Disclosure	Must tell the buyer everything they can find out about the seller. Must tell buyer everything they can find out about the property.	Must reveal any known material defects in the property.
Confidentiality	Must keep all information about the buyer confidential, including an ability or willingness to pay more for the property than they are offering.	Must tell the seller everything they can find out about the buyer, including all financial details they can obtain. Must conceal anything about the seller that would help the buyer gain an advantage.
Care	Must prepare themselves through education and study to competently represent the buyer in all matters.	Must prepare themselves through education and study to competently represent the seller in all matters.
Accounting	Must account to buyer for any money or documents entrusted to the agent.	Must account to seller for any money or documents entrusted to the agent.

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Might You Become and Accidental Landlord?

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becoming a landlord, Chicago, chicago landlord tenant ordinance, Landlord, landlord tenant, Property, Real estate, Renting

When you were young did you dream of growing up and owning your own home?

Ninety percent of people said that they still think that homeownershipis part of the American Dream
-NPR

The homeownership rate [in Chicago is]…65.4%
-Chicago Tribune

Did you dream of becoming a landlord and renting out your home?

more than 60 percent of Chicagoans [are] living in rental housing
-City of Chicago

The numbers above show that 10-15% of the Chicago population owns a home, yet is living in a rental unit.

In the recent years we have been seeing an increase of home owners choose to rent out their property, in lieu of selling it, and finding a better suited home to rent, rather than buying one. Many of these people originally had no intention of becoming a landlord, therefore they are often referred to as accidental landlords.

If you are facing the choice of selling your home for a loss or renting it out in hopes that its value will increase to a level with which you are comfortable there are a number of factors to take into account.

The section for Landlords on our website provides a link to the Chicago Landlord/Tenant Ordinance as well as samples of common documents that need to be completed for a lease transaction.

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A Home For Your Craft

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Arts, Chicago, Real estate, Zoning

With a background in the arts, I often come across circles of people who need live/work spaces or dream of owning space in which to create art. Whether it’s welding, cabinetry, dance, or music, artists need to take in a few extra considerations when looking for a home for their craft.

If you take a look at the Chicago Zoning and Land Use Ordinance, found through the city’s website, you will see that one has to dig deep to find the codes that permit art uses. Maybe one day I’ll meet an artist who wants to set his craft aside and carefully study the entire zoning ordinance to figure out where he can set up shop, but for everyone else there is Chicago Artists Resource (CAR).

As an artist you may be familiar with CAR’s website for finding jobs and connecting with like-minded locals, but it also has a fabulous section related to real estate. Within that section is the following chart to swiftly explain what zoning codes to look for when searching for a home for your craft.

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Understanding Today’s Real Estate Market: Predictions Spring 2012, Chicago IL

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Chicago, CoreLogic, foreclosure, Illinois, market, Real estate, RealtyTrac, Reuters, Wall Street Journal

Supply — The quantity of a commodity that producers are willing to provide to the market at a given price.

Demand — The quantity of a commodity that buyers are willing to purchase in the market at a given price.

Trend — The general direction of the market.

(CME Market Education Department, An Introduction to Futures and Options, 2006, Glossary)

Hoping to better understand the world of a commodity trader I recently read a CME company manual called An Introduction to Futures and Options. What I found was one of the best written, most accessible, and, of all things, interesting company manuals that I have ever read. On page 69 was a chart with a very simple example of how a market works. (Same means the same or opposite.):

SUPPLY	DEMAND	PRICE
Up	Down	Falls
Down	Same	Rises
Same	Up	Rises
Same	Down	Falls

We all talk about the real estate market a lot, but sometimes I wonder how often we lose sight of the meaning of the word market. For most people the item they purchase in a real estate transaction is their home. It is held far more closely to the heart than any investment that shows itself as numbers on a screen. However, when it comes to real estate transactions that home needs to be viewed in a different light. To make the best choice and be able to close a transaction quickly the fact that real estate is a market needs to be at the forefront of the contract.

How is the real estate market?

Keeping Current Matters 2/2012 Slide

This is a question that is on most everyone’s mind. And conflicting news reports don’t make the answer very clear. Last Thursday (2/23) the Wall Street Journal reported that, nationally, home sales have been rising and that the inventory level is looking healthy. It’s no secret that inventory levels have been sky high lately. Keeping that in mind, have a look at an NAR article published the next day (2/24). While it admits that we aren’t out of the thick yet, times are still tough, the rising prices in rentals might entice more buyers to become home owners. In reference to the chart above these two articles seem to predict supply is down and demand is rising, according to our chart prices should rise accordingly.

Jump forward to Monday (2/27) when Reuters quoted Economist Michael Strauss as saying we are seeing a turn in a number of housing statistics, his quote is almost the same as Economist Guy Berger’s quote in the WSJ article from last week. However, Reuters continues to report,

But with the foreclosure tide yet to recede and continuing to depress prices, recovery will be a long, drawn-out affair.

On the same day, Keeping Current Matters (KCM) reminded us that almost two weeks ago, on February 15, RealtyTrac posted a report about how many homes have been delayed in the foreclosure process and, thanks to the National Mortgage Settlement, will be pushed through to the REO market. In other words supply might be going up.

Looking at our handy chart again there are two outcomes we can see:

1. Supply and demand rise – prices rise
2. Supply rises but demand does not – prices fall

How do you like that for a prediction!

Never fear, we have more data to review. So far all of these reports have focused on the whole country. But, real estate is local. What’s happening in Austin is not the same as Chicago. On February 8, CoreLogic reported on foreclosures for December 2011, breaking the data down to states and major metropolitan areas. I highly suggest reading the whole report.

Items to note from the CoreLogic report

1. Illinois (5.4%) was number 3 of the five states with the highest foreclosure inventory. Preceded by Florida (11.9%) and New Jersey (6.4%); followed by Nevada (5.3%) and New York (4.6%).
2. There are two charts comparing states and major metropolitan areas. Here is the national, Illinois, and Chicago data of how many mortgages are more than 90 days late in payment (which is when the foreclosure process usually starts), how many mortgages are currently in foreclosure, and how much that inventory has changed over the past year.
   

   Place	>90 days late mtg.	Frclsr Invntry	12mos Invntry Chg
   National	7.3%	3.4%	-0.2%
   Illinois	9.2%	5.4%	0.6%
   Chicago-Joliet-Naperville	10.8%	6.3%	0.8%

3. By having a delinquency rate of over 7% Illinois has among the most serious delinquency rates.

What can we deduce from these more local findings? 

Keeping Current Matters 2/2012 Slide

Unless we see a drastic rise in demand over the coming months, supply will most likely rise again in Chicago and Illinois. If that possible demand will be coming from people who are currently renting then it begs the question of how much money they have been saving.

There are two other market standards that I haven’t touched on. The price for the supply can only be as high as the demand is willing to pay. Also, everyone knows the age-old rule of buy low, sell high, but in real estate remember to take your history into account, as you would consider your portfolio in stocks. If you are planning to sell and buy again you are still in the market. You may sell for less than you paid, but you may still find a deal for a bigger nicer place that will appreciate faster as the market continues to change.

I’ll leave you with an inspiring quote from today’s KCM post. This comes from a man who wanted to move and be closer to his grandson.

I thought I was putting a price on my home. While I hold out– hoping to get a few more dollars, I am actually putting a value on my happiness.

This quote embodies the struggle we feel every day. Real estate is a market, but home is where the heart is. By the way, he lowered his asking price, sold the home in three days and is now on his way to live near his grandson.

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Single Family Home Downtown Chicago: 7B W 15th St

Tags

Chicago, for sale, Gated community, house, Real estate, Single-family detached home

Imagine living in the shadow of the Chicago Skyline in a single family home. Located at 7 B W. 15th St. this 3 bedroom, 3 bath home, with a family room, finished basement and 2 car garage, is located in a gated community of Chicago’s South Loop.

The living level and family room have maple floors. The kitchen is equipped with an island, eat-in area, granite counters, stainless steel
appliances, and access to the outdoor deck for entertaining. Enjoy a cozy fireplace and abundant room for relaxation in the living and dining room.

Located right off of the garage is the family room with access to the fenced-in, paved back yard. A full bath is also located on this floor. The basement level houses the fourth bedroom, convenient and privately tucked away, for overnight guests.

The bedroom level includes a laundry room with a side-by-side washer and dryer and 2 more bathrooms. Each of the bathrooms contain granite counters and Grohe fixtures.  The master bedroom suite has 2 walk-in closets and a bath with double bowl vanity, tub, and separate shower.

The home features a new Rheem 95% efficient furnace, the owners have noticed a reduction in heating bills as a result of this addition. They have also enjoyed breathing cleaner air with the installation of the air filtration system!

The home is walking distance to the Loop, lake, museums, nightlife and restaurants.  The South Loop School is only 2 blocks away. There are several parks in the area, not to mention Grant Park, which spans the lakefront. Cottontail Park, where you will find children playing, adults strolling and pets having a great time, is steps away.

Priced at $925,000, unit 7B W. 15th is ready for the urban dwellers who are looking for this beautiful home.