Buying a Chicago home? Get a full home searchSelling your Chicago home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation Did you know that Zillow’s CEO recently sold his home for 40% less than what it was valued at with Zillow’s own Zestimate? People ask me all the time if they can trust Zillow and the truth is you really can’t in this type of situation. For starters, they don’t measure demand. Whether you’re in a hot or slow market, the same algorithm is used to calculate your home’s value. Secondly, they don’t factor in location. A home right next to the highway and a home sitting on the lake will have the same algorithm to determine their value. Finally, they do no adjustments in terms of upgrades. If a home that’s fully renovated has the same square footage as a dump, they will be valued the same. “ Zestimates don’t take demand or location into account. ” Those are three of the main factors that affect value in real estate and Zillow isn’t taking any of them into consideration with their Zestimate. Your home’s uniqueness is worth more than you think. So, by all means, use Zillow and their Zestimate for a quick, ballpark estimate, but realize it can be off by as much as 40%. Do yourself a favor and call an appraiser or one of our agents, and we’d be more than happy to come out and give you an idea of what your home is truly worth. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out. I look forward to hearing from you.

Buying a Chicago home? Get a full home searchSelling your Chicago home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation Today I’d like to answer a question that I get from sellers quite often: what do I do when I receive an offer from a buyer that is contingent upon the sale of their home? In these kinds of situations, I tell my sellers that we first have to determine what type of contingency this offer is because there are two main types of contingencies. The first is when the buyer still needs to sell their home, and the second is when the buyer already has their home under contract and just needs to close on it. “ There are two types of contingencies. ” If you’re in a hot market, I’d recommend that you decline the first type of contingency. However, if the buyer has their home under contract already and just needs to close on it, I’d advise you to take the offer, negotiate the price, and lock your home under contract. If you have any other questions about contingencies or what to do when you receive a contingent offer from a buyer, please give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

Buying a Chicago home? Get a full home searchSelling your Chicago home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation I was recently asked how to get your offer on a home accepted in a hot market. There are quite a few markets in Chicagoland right now that are very hot, and all the homes are flying off the shelf right now. I wanted to offer my three tips for getting that offer accepted in this type of market. First, you don't want to lowball the seller. Submit realistic values, because in this type of market you'll just get rejected. Secondly, you want to have a strong pre-approval letter, or better yet, a full approval letter, subject to appraisal, which makes you a cash buyer. We'd be happy to connect you with a loan officer who can do that beforehand. “ Submit realistic values. ” Finally, if you want to go the extra mile to compete in this market, you can write a personal letter, including a personal story about why you are the best buyer for the home you're putting in an offer on. Most sellers have a personal attachment to their house because they spent a lot of time in it and made a lot of memories. They want to pass that house on to someone who will take care of that house like they did. We've had a lot of situations in the past when a personal letter went a long way to getting an offer accepted. Thanks for tuning in. As always, if you have any questions, send me an email. I'd be happy to help!

Buying a Chicago home? Get a full home searchSelling your Chicago home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation Have you ever wondered what makes Elmhurst such a great city? Dustin is right in the middle of downtown Elmhurst to ask some of the local residents what they love about the city and what their favorite things to do are. Helen has lived in Elmhurst for 14 years and some of her favorite local eateries include Sushi Nest, Francesca’s, and Buffalo Wild Wings. She also praised the school district. “The school district is great,” Helen said. “We have had two graduates and we have two in high school there now.” Jeff is another Elmhurst resident who has lived in the city for 30 years. He’s a retired firefighter, and Francesca’s is his favorite restaurant in town. “ Elmhurst has a nice community feel. ” Heather and Elliot just moved here from Calgary. They chose Elmhurst out of a number of suburbs because of the atmosphere. “It was accessible, a short commute for my husband, and it had a nice community feel to it,” Heather said. Pat has lived in Elmhurst all her life. She chose to raise her children here because of the great school district that she says gave her children the best opportunity for the future. “I like the people that live here,” Pat said. “It’s a diverse community, people are friendly, and they care about the others in the community.” It’s clear to see why Elmhurst is one of Chicagoland’s best suburbs. If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to reach out to us by giving us a call or sending us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Buying a Chicago home? Get a full home searchSelling your Chicago home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation I had a question from a viewer recently who didn’t have much time to prepare their home for photography when getting ready to list. What should you do? There are a million things to do when preparing your home for photographs, but there are two main things to make sure you take care of. The first is decluttering. You want to make your home is as clean as possible and remove all things that don’t belong in the photos and have them put away. Secondly, you want to do minor repairs. This typically means paint and carpet. Those two things are typically considered cost-effective repairs. You’ll gain way more than you spend on them. Many other repairs will add value, but you will probably spend more on them than you will get back. “ These simple repairs will get you a good return on investment. ” It boils down to those two things: decluttering and minor repairs. If you have further questions, we can help you out. Our interior decorator can give you tips on this topic and more. Just reach out to us today!

Buying a Chicago home? Get a full home searchSelling your Chicago home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation Looking back on the numbers in March and April, the Chicagoland market has slightly improved. Our average days on market is down to 48 days and the average sales price has increased to $268,500. It’s modest improvement, but improvement nevertheless. When compared to the national data, you’ll see that most markets are experiencing a shortage of inventory. That’s good news for sellers, but not for buyers.  “ We’ve seen modest improvement, but improvement nevertheless. ” I just got back from a conference in South Florida where people were concerned about the Miami area market because most of the properties there tend to sit longer and pricing has been compressed down a bit. It seems some markets in the nation are overheated, but that’s not the case in Chicagoland. If you have any questions or want to get some information that’s specific to your particular neighborhood, give me a call or send me an email and I’d be happy to help.

Buying a Chicago home? Get a full home searchSelling your Chicago home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation If you’re trying to sell your home in a competitive seller’s market, it’s likely you’ll receive multiple offers. You will probably even receive offers that are more than your home is actually worth. When this happens, the home usually doesn’t appraise and therefore can’t be sold for that price. To remedy the situation and get top dollar for your home, you have a few different options. The first thing you might want to consider is accepting a cash offer that’s a bit lower. A higher offer with financing probably won’t appraise, so accepting a guaranteed cash offer is a smart move. If you have no cash offers, another option you have is to make a deal with the highest offer. Tell the buyer that if the home doesn’t appraise, they will be responsible for the shortfall between the appraised value and the purchase price, in cash. A lot of times in a competitive market, buyers are receptive to this solution. “ Multiple offer situations can be tricky. ” When you run into a situation where your home isn’t appraising where you’d like it to, you don’t have to cancel the contract. You can go back and negotiate the deal. If the buyer really likes the property and there is a shortage of inventory, they will pay a premium for your home. Those 3 strategies help us out a lot when selling homes and we hope they help you too. If you have any questions about your specific situation, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to speaking with you.

Buying a Chicago home? Get a full home searchSelling your Chicago home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation When you sell your home, there will be about 20 different expense items on your closing sheet, but there are four main categories that they can be grouped in that will affect your bottom line: Mortgage Payoffs: This is typically the biggest expense when buying a home.Agent Commission: This varies from brokerage to brokerage, and it will also depend on how much marketing you request from them. Our premium marketing package comes along with a 6% commission.Unpaid Taxes: In Chicagoland, your tax bill will typically be paid in two separate installments. The Title, Closing Settlement, and Legal Fees: This will cost you approximately $2,500 to $3,500. “ Deducting these four categories from your sale prices gives you the net gain. ” When you deduct these four categories from your sale price, you will know your net gain. If you’d like a closer look at what’s going to happen in your home sale, please don’t hesitate to give me a call.

Buying a Chicago home? Get a full home searchSelling your Chicago home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation Today, I’ll respond to a specific question asked by one of our viewers. Is downsizing the right financial move for me? “ Sometimes, downsizing can be a good thing. ” Most people think downsizing isn’t a great financial decision, but I’ll offer an alternate perspective. For example, with previous clients, I sometimes notice they have too much space for their belongings and lifestyles. It could be an empty nest or it’s just too large of a property. Sometimes, downsizing can be a good thing. Here’s why: Less is more. Typically, if you have less space, you accumulate fewer things. Likewise, you have less belongings to manage. Use equity to buy the smaller house. If you already own a bigger home with a mortgage, you can use equity to buy a smaller property free of a mortgage. Pay off your mortgage faster. If you move into a home with a mortgage payment of $500 or less, you can add $500 to your monthly payment to pay the loan off quicker. I hope that offers a different perspective on downsizing. If you’re thinking about buying or selling a Chicago home, give me a call or send me an email today!

Buying a Chicago home? Get a full home searchSelling your Chicago home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation Today we have two very cool things to show you. One of them is a listing that we have available in Elmhurst (1111 Old York Rd.). The other thing that we want you to see is our new 3D modeling technology. But first, let’s take a moment to examine the home. It’s a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom home that was built in 2005 with a fully finished basement. The appliances in the kitchen are all fully updated, and there is plenty of granite counter space to entertain a multitude of friends and family. There is also a home office just off of the family room that could be used for work or be converted into a den or guest bedroom. The huge rooms and vaulted ceilings will make you feel right at home, and there is never a lack of natural light in the home!  The best part about this home is that you don’t even need to schedule a showing. Why is this? Because we have gone through and made an interactive 3D model of the entire property. You can ‘walk’ through this entire home with just a few clicks of your mouse. You can get a feel for the bedrooms, explore the bathrooms, and even see what kind of knobs are installed on the kitchen cabinets. This is as close as you can get to physically walking through the property! “ View this home without moving an inch ” Even if you’re not interested in buying this home, we can offer to 3D model your listing if you decide to sell with us. We have had a lot of positive feedback from both buyers and sellers while using this technology, and it definitely draws attention to a home when it’s marketed properly online.  Feel free to contact us if you’re interested in this listing, or if you want to learn more about how we managed to create the 3D walkthrough of this home. We would love to hear from you!