River Forest Real Estate Market

The real estate market in River Forest looks to be improving. 

Although at the high and low end of the market the median sales price has had a serious drop, the middle market properties look to be down only slightly.

 

 

The monthly supply of inventory looks to be improving which should eventually push prices up.

 

 

 

Market time is way up for the high end homes which seemed to be the soft spot in the market.

 

Chicago Bears Bullish on Real Estate?

The Bears season is now over, and the Chicago Bears' fortunes ebbed and flowed throughout it. They started off slow.  Then in mid-season quickly gained steam only to lose a few key players and fall flat at the end of the season.  

            Ebbing and flowing is a great way to describe the real estate market in recent years, which has taken homeowners on quite a ride.  All kinds of athletes – including current and former Bears – have not been immune from that ride.  Former Bears have taken major losses on their home sales, and several past Bears (David Terrell, R.W. McQuarters, Leon Joe) even have had their homes become subjects of foreclosure proceedings.

            With such recent real estate pain, are many current Bears actually homeowners in the Chicago area?  Perhaps surprising is that the answer is yes.  No fewer than 11 current Bears – plus head coach Lovie Smith – own houses in the Chicago area.  Let’s do a head-first, Walter Payton-style dive into where today’s Bears hang their helmets—er, hats.

 

The Northern Suburbs Are the Place to Be

            Historically, most Bears have chosen to settle in the northern suburbs, in order to be close to the Bears’ Halas Hall indoor and outdoor practice facility in Lake Forest.  Some past Bears have chosen to live downtown, but most prefer the leafy environs of Lake County, with a few of the better-paid players selecting North Shore communities along Lake Michigan.  Many homeowning Bears players have selected fairly unremarkable suburbs (think Vernon Hills, Grayslake, Libertyville, Lindenhurst and Lake Villa) and have bought modest homes – some of which are even town homes.  In many cases, the modest housing is borne of the fact that these players have another, more permanent home elsewhere in the U.S.

            Interestingly, not a single current Bear lives in downtown Chicago.  This is a departure from the past, when several former Bears (Marty Booker, R.W. McQuarters, David Terrell) opted to reside downtown.

 

The Well-Heeled

            The current Bears player who has paid the most for a house is linebacker Brian Urlacher.  He shelled out $2.312 million in early 2004 for his 6,829-square-foot house in tiny Mettawa (the same small suburb where until recently, former Bears offensive tackle John Tait had owned a home as well).  Urlacher’s mansion, which was built in 1987, sits on a whopping 9.39 acres.

            After Urlacher, the Bear who has paid the most for a house is linebacker Lance Briggs.  He purchased a newly built, five-bedroom, 5,158-square-foot house in Northfield for $2.3 million in 2008.  (Briggs continues to own a small town house in Northbrook that he purchased in 2006 for $371,500.)

            Bears wide receiver and punt return specialist Devin Hester also has paid more than $2 million for his house – and, he’s also the current Bear who happens to have the most extensive Chicago-area real estate portfolio.  The master punt returner spent $2.2 million in October 2008 for a mansion in Riverwoods.  That’s on top of a house he purchased in Gurnee for $436,000 in late 2006 and a house in Lake in the Hills that he bought in early 2007 for $205,000.  Hester continues to own all three homes.

            Bears defensive end Julius Peppers is the Bears homeowner whose seller far and away was the most famous.  Peppers paid $1.8 million in early 2010 to buy his 12-room, 5,923-square-foot home in Highland Park from retired Chicago Bulls guard B.J. Armstrong.  B.J. owned that house for more than 15 years, but barely made a profit on it; he had purchased it in 1994 for $1.599 million.

            Other current Bears who have purchased area dwellings for $1 million or more include cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman, who paid $1,249,500 in 2007 to buy his house in Green Oaks (which most recently has been listed for $1.225 million) and placekicker Robbie Gould, who paid $1.2 million in early 2009 for $1.2 million.  Tackle/long snapper Patrick Mannelly just misses, having paid $961,000 in 2008 to buy a house in Libertyville.  Ditto for Bears center/guard Roberto Garza, who paid $865,000 in 2006 for his house in Waukegan, and for running back Matt Forte, who paid $830,000 in 2008 for his house in Vernon Hills.

 

Modesty Is a Virtue

            Some Bears players live in far more ordinary residences.  Such is the case for cornerback Corey Graham and wide receiver Johnny Knox.  Graham paid $349,000 in 2008 to buy his four-bedroom, house in Lindenhurst’s Grant’s Grove neighborhood, while Knox forked over $332,957 for his three-bedroom townhome in Gurnee.

            One of the highest-profile Bears, quarterback Jay Cutler, does not own in the Chicago area at this time.  However, for the last two seasons, Cutler has been renting a fairly modest, 2,188-square-foot home in Lake Forest.

 

Da Coach

            Bears head coach Lovie Smith has owned his Chicago-area house longer than any homeowning Bear with the exception of Urlacher.  Lovie paid $1.625 million in late 2004 to buy his 4,851-square-foot house in Lake Forest.  Interestingly, Lovie is not the only current or former Bears head coach to be a Lake Forest homeowner; former head coach Dick Jauron, who now is the Cleveland Browns’ defensive coordinator, has owned his 3,204-square-foot town home in Lake Forest’s Conway Farms neighborhood since buying it in 2006 for $766,000.

 

Real Estate Agents with Connections to the Bears

            This is a fairly tricky subject, since any discussion of agents may suggest an endorsement by us of any of these agents (and none has authorized this discussion).  So, we will leave agents’ agencies (and contact information) out.  Instead, we’ll simply note that two former Bears themselves, Emery Moorehead and Ahmad Merritt, have gone into real estate are licensed agents.  Moorehead and Merritt both occasionally represent current and former Bears.  Also, the wife of the recently traded, former Bears tight end Greg Olsen also has represented several players in recent years.

 

Post by Bob Goldsborough

Condo Market in Lincoln Park

This market analysis of condos and townhomes in Lincoln Park - Chicago includes all bedrooms, all baths and all price ranges. 

 

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 The median sales price of condos in Lincoln Park is down 3.9% from Nov. 2010 to Nov. 2011.  

 

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The number of units for sale has gone down 18%. Units under contract has gone up 50% and unit sold has gone up 14.6%

 

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 The monthly supply of inventory is down 49.8% from Nov 2010 - Nov 2011.

 

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The sales absorption number look good with the percentage of inventory under contract up 84.7% and the percentage of inventory sold up 41.1%.

Overall I would say the numbers point to a recovering market for attached single family homes in Lincoln Park (condos and townhomes) although how strong a recovery will be affected by further economic recovery, mortgage interest rates, and consumer confidence.

Oak Park Homes - Market Report

Oak Park Home Trends Nov 2010 -Nov 2011

 

I have some great in depth reports for you on the Oak Park real estate market.  These reports

are specifically for single family homes in Oak Park.  

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 The median price of homes sold in Oak Park is down 11% from November 2010-2011.

 

 

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On average in November 2011 deals are closed at 93.4% of list price. 

 

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Monthly inventory supply is down 33.4% which will put upward pressure on home prices unless it changes drastically over the next couple of months. It could be that more home owners decided to take their homes off the market for the winter than last year or that more home owners have just given up selling.

 

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The percentage of inventory of units sold is up dramatically as are the % of units under contract.  Both positive signs for Oak Park homes.

Oak Park Real Estate Market Update

The Oak Park real estate market for Occtober 2011 is showing some positive signs of recovery.  Please click here for a full Oak Park real estate report.

When comparing the last 12 months to the previous 12 months here is what we see:

For Single Family Homes:

New Listings: -21.2% (there are fewer homes coming on the market - lower inventory could start driving up prices)

Median Sales Price: $370,000 0% change - has remained unchanged in the last 12 months compared to previous 12 months.

Homes Closed: -4.2% - this is not that good but it could just reflect that there are fewer homes on the market.

- If you would like additional information on the Real Estate Market in Oak Park please add a comment below or call me at 708-763-8674.

Market Stabilization or More Foreclosures and Doom?

Every day there seems to be conflicting news reports about which way the market is headed.  Today is no exception.  On the one hand you have Stephen Kim, a Barclays predicting a housing rebound in 2012 and on the other you have Center for Responsible Lending saying that we are not even half way through the devastation.  

Who is right? It is tough to say.  It seems that no one can say with confidence when the job market will recover and consumer confidence will rise.  That will be the key to the housing recovery.  

In the meantime what I can do is help my clients get the best deals possible based on the current market conditions. If  you are interested in exploring forclosures for sale please visit us today or call 708-434-1165. 

More Forclosures in Near Term

According to a report just released by LPS There are more forecloses in the pipeline right now but the long term outlook looks to be improving with fewer. Delinquencies are down 28% from their peak in January 2010 but the pipeline of foreclosure in process are at historic highs.

That being said Illinois is not doing as well as other states with those home owners that are non-current on their mortgage having an increase yr/yr of 2%. 

You learn more about the foreclosure process and search for foreclosures on our website. 

Chicago Real Estate Search

In deciding to launch ChicagoRealEstateScene.com we were specifically looking for a platform that would enable our users to get the best experience possible.  

For those of our clients looking to search for a home in Chicago our search platform allows you to search by true Chicago neighborhoods.  Many real estate websites use mls "realtor codes" for their neighborhood search which do not map well (if at all) to the actual neighborhood boundaries used by residents and agents. 

ChicagoRealEstateScene.com will also allow you to easily modify your own automated searches and get daily updates based on search criteria. Each day you will receive an email with a link to new listings and listings that have changed in price. This will save you the time and effort of sorting through 10 different websites trying to figure out what has changed.

Searching via map is nice but we have found that not all users like the experience.  Our mapping solution allows one to easily switch between a map and "list" view of properties for sale. Additionally our map search loads quickly and is intuitive so that you will not be wasting time waiting or trying to figure out where things are.

Beyond servicing our buyer clients with new and to date home listings we will be providing very useful content such as market updates for the areas where we service most of our buyers currently.  If you would like to receive a market report for your specific neighborhood and property type (single family or townhome or 2 bedroom condo for instance) please do not hesitate to make the request through the "Contact Us" tab above.

Additionally you will find original content centered around the various local areas that we serve as well as interesting pieces that you will not anywhere else on historic, unique and celebrity homes in the Chicago area.

 

Chicago Real Estate Scene

Welcome to the Chicago real estate scene where we will explore everything and anything that is Chicago real estate and more!