Downtown Naperville - Lots of homes for sale...? (Chicago: days on market, transplants)

[Kluch]

So yesterday afternoon our family visited downtown Naperville with some friends for one of our friends birthdays. It was the first time I had ever spent time in that area and we thought it was pretty nice (lots of fun restaurants, shops, etc). As we drove around the surrounding neighborhoods the thing my wife and I found interesting is the number of homes that were up for sale just blocks from the quaint downtown area. I know Naperville is a (relatively) highly sought after area so I guess I just found it interesting how many homes we saw up for sale (including beautiful luxury homes just a few blocks from the downtown area). We could only attribute this to the rising costs of living in IL. Is that the case? People being force to move just b/c the cost of living (ie. taxes) is constantly rising here?

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by Kluch

So yesterday afternoon our family visited downtown Naperville with some friends for one of our friends birthdays. It was the first time I had ever spent time in that area and we thought it was pretty nice (lots of fun restaurants, shops, etc). As we drove around the surrounding neighborhoods the thing my wife and I found interesting is the number of homes that were up for sale just blocks from the quaint downtown area. I know Naperville is a (relatively) highly sought after area so I guess I just found it interesting how many homes we saw up for sale (including beautiful luxury homes just a few blocks from the downtown area). We could only attribute this to the rising costs of living in IL. Is that the case? People being force to move just b/c the cost of living (ie. taxes) is constantly rising here?

Hard to say what one's motive's are to sell, but a higher end buyer is also willing to move in. Could be a coincidence. There's plenty of teardown activity occurring just outside the downtown as well. There's a corner in a neighborhood SE of downtown that either has 5 or 6 new homes that have gone up or are currently under construction in the last year or so. I would think they're built on speculation, except for the fact that the completed ones appear to be occupied already, which seems to suggest that's probably not the case for all of them.

[RJA29]

To get any reliable comparisons with other areas, you would need to look at hard data.

It is possible that there is a stronger job market than normal, and that now homes have positive value compared with the last 10 years, people want to move. But, without facts, it is simply just conjecture. Homes for sale also means the possibility of homes being purchased. Might you phrase the question as "I noticed that there are a lot of homes being purchased in downtown Naperville, is this because the local economy is so strong that people want to move in?"

I suspect you could find the data on the RE aggregation sites, like this: https://www.zillow.com/naperville-il-60540/home-values/

Cross reference those data with this: //www.city-data.com/zips/60540.html and you might start to get a better picture of what is driving putting these homes up for sale.

Of course - the question remains, is this any different from other areas in the county, the state, and the country?

[ToriaT]

It could be moving or it could be a newly remodeled house or one that replaced a tear down.

[JacksonPanther]

I'm going to say something with completely no facts to back it up, just conjecture.

As long as I can remember, Naperville has had a robust market in the downtown and historic district. I attribute this to the type of people that move to Naperville and can afford those prices. They are not from Naperville or even Chicago. They moved to the area after college and made the typical "Northside Chicago to suburbs" transition after marriage and kids. They have no particular ties to the area, so after last graduation they look around at their now empty 5 bedroom home and decide to head to other pastures, either back downtown as empty nesters, or away from Illinois completely.

So every year there's a new set of empty nesters heading out, and a new set of young, wealthy families coming in. And I'm not interested in arguing if a family that can afford a million dollar plus home is truly wealthy.

[Creo]

I recently toured the Millennium Carillon, heard a gentleman make the same comment about many "for sale" signs, and heard the college-aged tour guide state that her parents and many of her friends' parents are looking to get out of their larger homes since their children are grow or about to finish college.

[CCrest182]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

I'm going to say something with completely no facts to back it up, just conjecture.

As long as I can remember, Naperville has had a robust market in the downtown and historic district. I attribute this to the type of people that move to Naperville and can afford those prices. They are not from Naperville or even Chicago. They moved to the area after college and made the typical "Northside Chicago to suburbs" transition after marriage and kids. They have no particular ties to the area, so after last graduation they look around at their now empty 5 bedroom home and decide to head to other pastures, either back downtown as empty nesters, or away from Illinois completely.

So every year there's a new set of empty nesters heading out, and a new set of young, wealthy families coming in. And I'm not interested in arguing if a family that can afford a million dollar plus home is truly wealthy.

I would say this is a fairly accurate description of Naperville; possibly the most transplant oriented suburb in all of the Chicago area. Especially the frat guy types who move to Wrigleyville and then move out to the suburbs when they're ready to settle down.

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by CCrest182

I would say this is a fairly accurate description of Naperville; possibly the most transplant oriented suburb in all of the Chicago area. Especially the frat guy types who move to Wrigleyville and then move out to the suburbs when they're ready to settle down.

There's a multitude of suburbs that fit that description.

I think Naperville gets that stigma because it's the largest, and it's had a reputation as a town with lots of corporate transfers for about 3 decades. I think a fair amount of transplants may move to Naperville directly from another state with a family already in tow, almost moreseo than some that spend their 20s on the Northside. I somewhat fall in the former group - never was a "fratboy", but we wouldn't have considered Naperville if my wife didn't grow up nearby in the first place.

[deeman7]

I think its just a coincidence.

[mwj119]

It's not Naperville specific.

Chicagoland has an ASTRONOMICAL amount of listings vs. population/buyers. Days on market is longer. The delta between listing price and sale price is huge. The luxury market is ice cold. These problems only get worse as you move away from Chicago. Blame it on property taxes, or population stagnance/decrease, or southern migration.. Pick your poison, but we all know it's an accumulation of many factors.

The only segment that is doing exceedingly well, outside of Chicgao itself, are non-luxury homes priced at fair market value, near the local commercial/town center with public transportation, in close proximity to downtown.