Best February in 7 years for local home sales (Schaumburg, Park Ridge: 2014, daycare)

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by chicagobear

I am sort of surprised as I would assume it is much more difficult to get a mortgage than before.

It's not that difficult to get a mortgage. But the days of pick a payment are gone (for now), which is good.

[long101]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I would caution that there are some pitfalls out there too.

An awfull lot of REOs / foreclosures in poor condition remain. Some are not being marketed in the most honest of ways -- essentially intermeadiaries have been created to isolate the lenders from ongoing drain of so many unsellable homes.

I bought about 6 months ago, and going through listings there had to be a ratio of 3 to 1 for foreclosuers, they were all over the place. The place I bought had multiple offers, and a few places I wanted to see were taken off MLS before we could get an appointment. Over the summer a few of the realtors I spoke to told me that they have never been busier. Now that sales are up you would think that prices would start to increase a bit as well.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The analysis that I have seen with regard to ask vs sell and d-o-m shows that there is a stronger than usual bifurcation of attractively priced / ready to move-in homes vs those with "negatives".

I have to believe you are correct. There are houses with obvious negatives that have long market time, but anything good that is priced well is flying off the market quickly--at least in our search area. I'm starting to think that we could get around this by buying a house with a fixable problem, and then fixing that problem.

Either way, I really hope there are a lot of people waiting till later in the spring or early in the summer to list their places. If not, we'll be sitting in our cramped rental longer than we want to and trying to find a private kindergarten option.

[knitgirl]

I'm not surprised at all. I'm a mortgage loan processor and I've seen more purchases so far this year than I had in ALL of 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 together. As a matter of fact, I just logged off at 7:30 after sending out 3 purchase applications.

It IS harder to get a mortgage if your credit is iffy. Even if it isn't, people who bought or refi'ed in the early 2000's are shocked at some of the things we need to ask for these days. An example would be documentation of the source of any large deposits in asset accounts that aren't direct deposit payroll. They often consider $1,000 a "large" deposit. For some people, gathering that can be a problem.

[williepotatoes]

But wait a minute, I thought everybody was fleeing Illinois because of corrupt politicians and high taxes? Looks like the political windbags are gonna have to find a new set of statistics to tell us how miserable we are. Or maybe it's just how miserable they are.

[jdiddy]

Lookout Kid, we thought the same thing regarding expanding our search to 'fixer-uppers'. If it's not an overpriced dump on the market for a year holding onto a 2007 price, you will still likely have multiple offers.

[Runuova]

Those new FHA regulations come April 1st inspired us to start looking.

[chet everett]

There is no influx of relocation purchasers, willie, just a lot of people that have "cured" some of their "credit ills" caused by a foreclosure or shortsale from 3+ years ago... Folks that have been forced to rent and see that the mortgage payment / taxes / insurance they pay all make more sense than continuing to dance to the landlord's rent increases...

I generally advocate shopping "fixer uppers" for those that do get a VERY thorough inspection AND have prior experience dealing with repairs / renovations / contractors. If you know what you are getting into and don't let emotions carry you away into the delusion of "while we're at" upgrades that result in a too costly-to-justify over-improved-for-the-neighborhood home a smart fixer-upper will be both a better short term buy AND likely to out appreciate homes that sell for top dollar...

There are a whole lot of buyers that just aren't very saavy -- too many of these folks "shop" for Homepath "deals" or other "marketing gimmicks" that really are no indication of real value. Too many potential buyers think the other people submitting offers in a "multiple bid" situation are some "Donald Trump" of real estate deals when it is much more likely that they are the kind of dolts that end up buying a home with a whole lot of hidden problems that even Mike Holmes would probably throw up his hands and just bulldoze the place instead of throwing good money after bad...

For the vast majority of folks stuck in Illinois becuase that is where they are employed it makes sense to consider the long term implications of dysfunctional politics that follow the same tired script of painting one side or the other as "pure evil" while insiders from all sides continue feed at the trough of idiot tax payer funded riches. If you are uncomfortable with the property tax bill you see on any home today how will you feel WHEN it increases signficantly next year and every year you continue to own the property...

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by knitgirl

I'm not surprised at all. I'm a mortgage loan processor and I've seen more purchases so far this year than I had in ALL of 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 together. As a matter of fact, I just logged off at 7:30 after sending out 3 purchase applications.

It IS harder to get a mortgage if your credit is iffy. Even if it isn't, people who bought or refi'ed in the early 2000's are shocked at some of the things we need to ask for these days. An example would be documentation of the source of any large deposits in asset accounts that aren't direct deposit payroll. They often consider $1,000 a "large" deposit. For some people, gathering that can be a problem.

That's the way it should be IMO.

[jdiddy]

Grandchildren not returning your calls, Chet?