Is Kankakee really that bad???? (Bourbonnais, Bradley: jobs, health care, housing)

[Anita Clark]

"Drover" right in questioning. That person is chastizing themselves with the name. One home mentioned sold a few short years ago-HUD paper auction. Another sold back in 2007. There are no homes there selling, nor no others listed in that immediate neighborhood. There is another foreclosure on Aspen, however.
One of four house owners in Kankakee County will receive a foreclosure notice in the next short years as the market continues to descend there. Right now that County has the highest county foreclosure rate in the State of Illinois. We had two realtors(some on other internet sites call them realturds, I say they are BTW backwards), one you can read about on Outrageous Agents(buyer and seller complaints alike). One sat in her car across the street for open houses, missing opening the door for a couple, as returned early. She had her arm out the window on the cell phone a habitually dumped her ashtray not there, but back in front of our yard as she departed. The other refused to release our listing except at a $ price we did not avail her of. She has shocked decent agents on other sites with that greed-driven behavior. We paid $150 bill for Tribune ad the first agent placed. Both of them brought in low-ball subPRIMATE offers. That county was full of subprime store-front lenders and it was easiest for realtors to wrack up a sale by flattering buyers with those loan temptations, each loan for which the lender paid an average of $1,000 bonus to the realtor. They didn't like that I knew this. A sale is a sale, just that. Realtors report sales. It is not a completed sale unless is CLOSES. Realtors like the one flogging herself with my name, do not count all CLOSED sales-they are self-serving and do not want to educate the public on the total sum complilation of ALL sales including REO sales, by-owner sales. Nor do they promote anything that shows their high failure.
Our 2007 real estate tax bill shows an increase for that broad area of failed housing prices already repressed by the note of the 111 school district, and other. Counting up why, six(6) taxing bodies(including some part-time employees) are on that bill. I know for fact that some of them have voted their own retirement funds(like the part-time members of the County Board-I happened to be at that meeting years ago when they established this fund for themselves). I have recently looking a tax bills from other areas in other states and am stunned by the self-serving greed in such a poor area as Kankakee. This will further push property prices down for those who want to sell.
The only tie I have to that area is that property for sale; I am glad I am gone. And I have many friends in fact there, some of which are excited to visit me where I am now. Good people, not representative of the high drug, gang, shooting, thieving that prevails in some other parts of that County. I did see some when back there early this year and will see them soon again. We did attempt renting, no qualified viewers-didn't have the jobs they said they did, wanted a five year lease for a lower price, seven people and five cars(most likely more),lost job and home, trying to yet sell their home to 'size-down'(some of which had those blessed subprime mortgages), and the proverbial just get into a rental "rent to buy". In more savvy areas this rent to buy is done with a hefty several thousand dollar option from the renter at the commencement of the lease, non-refundable if they don't perform.
I have a plethora(by previous request) of online nationwide, regional, local, specific locale reports on housing, housing market, economic-governmental, quasi-governmental, top profilers(obviously not realtors), top end market reports, reporting retractors(not detractors, note), other fielded at me daily.And I read rapidly scanning many other print sources, talk to others, read blogs-but analyse and draw my own conclusions between all the consortiums and variances. It does not look good for Kankakee County. I will hold that property indefinitely at that throw-away firm $100,000 cash to conventional loan or cash terms for a buyer. Otherwise they can 'go on up to road' and purchase a 'comparable' for $15,000 more up to $39,000 more currently being marketed. There isn't much that I miss.
Time for buyers there to educated on their own-no realtor, no agent will help you there. In bad times, no one can work a selling miracle, but by owners have many more marketing options than any agent allows-it irks those agents-I see this all the time. I don't care. Try reading, for starters, even just some blogs on CraigsList,Chicago. Get a taste for behaviors of parties involved in sales transactions. Do keep in mind that agents are not bound in behavior by law. They are bound only by their pledge of 'ethics' to each other, even just peculiar behavior known by some offices aside from any other affiliations you may think they have.

[GivMeABreak]

Anita,
There are so many contradictions to your last reply that I wouldn't know where to start ! And, I don't think it is worth my time or anyone elses time to read them. However, 3 things that I would like to cover.

First, Agents are governed by two kinds of law: common law (the rules of a society established by tradition and court decisions) and statutory law (the laws, rules and regulations enacted by legislatures and other governing bodies)

Common law duties of an agent were replaced by statutory duties set forth in Article 15 of the Real Estate License Act of 2000. If some agent has broken any of these laws, then do something about it. Agents like that, give us all a bad name.

Secondly, you claim that 1 of 4 homes in Kankakee County will be foreclosed on in the coming year. Great ! My business will be booming !
Or, is that possible, my business is in Kankakee County and it has nothing to do with welfare, drugs, prostitution or eating, Can this be possible? So, you are talkng of at least 15,000 foreclosures ! I don't think so.

And, third: If you simply cannot believe me about sales in our neighborhood (your old neighborhood), I'll be glad to pass proof of those sales on to you. With your permission, I'll just drop them by in your front door of that house of yours in which YOU can't sell. Good day ! and....
GIVE ME A BREAK ! ! !

[Anita Clark]

READ realtor-"foreclosure notice in next few years", not "coming year" as you wrote. Don't get near my property-you are ill intended, intentionally misinterpretive, vindictively misusing truth and facts, and ill-equipped to handle this one.

What another says is an automatic "contradiction" to you, the self-serving one. "Agents are governed"; hardly, when their behavior is not bound by laws-THINK, DISCERN the difference between law and blah-blah duty to your own board and co-workers. That "business" is already way overloaded with listings -sell them(cut the same and the overuse of like-litanies of EXCUSES-NOT WORKING positively for the right REASONS-to sell). Continue to NOT do anything to promote and uphold property values. DO line your pockets with that hefty 7%(savvy realtors in savvy areas charge the Buyer in this current market 3-3 1/2 %, not the Seller-of course you desire more).
Voice your confusion to the one who wrote about "prostitution", not me - THINK straight.Why la la la la la-it's a cherry bowl out there and drug, welfare reputation previously written about on this site by many don't affect attracting buyers INTO the County(agent apathy can't face up to a stagnant, flat, descending market) nor the severly repressed property values? You, like others, won't work on ridding of those nemeses in that area(lack of those nemeses SHOWS-it would disrupt your 'income' and 'cost' you time,money). Shame on selfish, non-societal improvement-minded. No 'duties' there. Furthermore, you'll never display wilingness to think outside that box.
Your 'proofs' don't even breach the the total compilation of By-Owner nor all of the bank held/paper auction/ HUD/ REO selling and sold-just your one mls(with winning snow and green pictures of same properties).You forgot a few, duh. Your feelings of being threatend by one selling their own property are obvious when you state, "YOU can't sell". You didn't convince all the Sellers that they are supposed to be scardy-cats taking full rights to selling the properties they own, when in reality it is easy(yes, even with all the conditions possibly presenting). You hold no 'magic', let alone priority.
Over-inflated,again? "Duties" are not "laws"; The agents Board is self-serving unto itself. It has and will promote with substance only sales-faced hype-not the reality of the market nor conditions nor the area. Of course it's club ranks include paid membership by choice sales agents which they support wholly and totally. Shame on.
Use of "need" a realtor in advertising doesn't convince some people that you are needed; you are not. In a bad market,all selling-acting as a paid agent, on one's own by right, banks direct, etc. have a hard time. You obviously and blatanly(your written communication style) have no respect for the Owner as Seller. And the 'disturbances' you have childishly run on some By Owners have not made them perform in accords with your 'control'. You can't do better-keep stabling those listings and not letting Sellers out of agreements they no longer want to be in. And have some office manager scream(yes) at the Seller that they are afraid that Seller will list with someone else(sheer greed and temper). I see many properties sustaining listing by one agent after another.
In a good market anyone can sell-I saw the by owners over two years ago sell in an average of three weeks and before the high commission-priced agent listings in an area. So many former neighbors and area residents have told me how much they dislike or hate agents of any kind representing them as property owners. The agents image stinks.
Anyone can be a realtor; all it takes is a GED, a car, take the class, pass the easy test, take the oath, wear a pin and slap a sign on the car, and tell everyone they are "professional"(as in self-proclaimed). Someone back there asked me recently about the college degree required to sell real estate. They had a hearty laugh after I told them no college is required.
The title company and lender, and perhaps a lawyer(which some agents in that area have openly discouraged sellers and buyers from using), do the important and the hard work in a closing; the agent attends the closing(if it doesn't fall apart in this market) to quickly pick up their office's check and have that whopping 7% cashed. "Professional" gimmee greed like your's has added to the ruination of this nations economy.Shame on.
Keep recycling those properties and lining your pocket book.
I don't care(and that has irked some agents) how long my property takes to sell; not in a fictitious race.
In effect you were fired.

SICK, INEPT response, you are SPAMMED.

[Anita Clark]

Rebecca, we know that you run a real estate operation in Albrightsville, PA. Easily found elsewhere off this site, also. As Craig's List puts it in discussion forums, are you a Troll-(comical,incendiary, or other unsavory interlooper( site hopper)? I think so. Tell the Kankakee property owners here why you are bored and have the need to behave this way, you who are with Coldwell Banker in PA. What an image, another realtor makes the business look even worse. ink

[GivMeABreak]

Got me pegged, don't you? Also, Please, know your facts before you display them here on a blog. Embarrassing.

[Jons99]

We just bought a lot in the city of Kankakee, in the Indian Meadows development, can't wait to get the house started, what a beautiful area!!!

[nickz]

A lot of my friends live right across the street in
Highle Estates. Thats a nice place to build a house. Plus
you guys will get to go to Herscher High School.
I go there, its a really nice learning institution. Ofcourse, Ive
gone to Herscher my entire life...we live here lol.

Your kids will go to Limestone Grade School then in
highschool be transferred over to Herscher.

Hope you like it out here!

[Shy Town]

I presently live in Chicago Illinois in the Beverly Hills area. I must say for people to talk about their home town the way you guys do is shocking! I was born and raised in Chicago Il. I use to live in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the city. Now I'm in my adult hood and now I live in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the city.There's one thing we all learned growing up in my child hood neighborhood, you never down where you live. You take pride in where ever you are. Yes we knew that we live in a mess but we new we weren't mess. You couldn't pay us to down our neighborhood. Now that neighborhood I can't even efford to live in now. Some of my friends I went to school with have return and invest in the area, I have a business there also. It's a good idea not to complain but to change what you don't like. What's surprising about the comments to me were so sad that you could up lift the neighboring surburbs and tear your own down so easily,WOW! I would have never known these horrible thing were going on there. I visited there three years ago and I thought this was a beautiful place to live I fell in love with it instantly, and I was considering buying a home out there. Thanks for spoiling that dream of friendly neighbors and community. You can't assume people to see the good in your town or want to invest in the economy there if you don't think that it's worth it. Good luck with everything you may see wrong, I see beauty and possibilities. I am still considering buying there. I hope that everyone there doesn't feel this way! Believe I've seen worse!

[jimazz]

does anyone remember the Roundhouse Bar in Kankankee at the corner of Merchant & Schyler downtown? What was the name of the hotel there? It's been gone many years but that's where I met my wife, back in '76.

[GivMeABreak]

The Roundhouse was on the first floor of the "Kankakee Hotel".

I don't know if it ever went by any other name, but it was refered to as the Kankakee Hotel while the Roundhouse was there. It's hard to even imagine that it was there looking at that block today.