illinois: Naperville Condo & Townhomes - 2006 the year in review - 01/20/07 10:51 PM
Quite a year for the Condo/Townhome market in Naperville. The average sale price took quite a leap (about 14%) while the total number of transactions declined about 16% to 869 units sold (compared to the previous years 1034 units)
A large contributing factor to the average price is the advent of the million … (6 comments)
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illinois: Naperville Homes by the numbers - 2006 - It's a wrap! - 01/20/07 10:08 PM
2006 was an interesting year for residential real estate in Naperville as overall sales declined from 2005 by about 21.5% Single family detached Naperville home sales fell from 2232 total units in 2005 to 1705 total units in 2006 a decline of 23.6%
Of course the total transaction decline created an uncomfortable feeling … (2 comments)
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illinois: Not just another suburb - A place in history - 01/12/07 11:08 PM
History at it's heart - The Naper Settlement
Right in central Naperville is a piece of land preserved as it might have been in the 1800's. A cultural museum called the Naper Settlement
Located on Aurora Avenue, just steps from Naperville's thriving downtown and renowned riverwalk... the Naper Settlement preserves a long and … (39 comments)
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illinois: He's not as thought as you drunk he was.... - 01/02/07 10:43 PM
Our first home purchase - "The Life of the Unrepresented Buyer"
1985 We looked at a couple of condos alongside the El tracks in Chicago... nice places, great complexes close to everything... we were assured that we would "get used to the train" the screeching, the rumbling, the shaking... At $48,000 it seemed like a … (56 comments)
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illinois: Oswego Real Estate By The Numbers - 12/14/06 10:46 PM
The Village of Oswego was a sleepy little farming community along the Fox River not so long ago. These days housing developments are the crop growing from those farms. The downtown area is small and quaint, but is starting to wake to it's own natural charm of being a river city. As … (7 comments)
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illinois: Sign in? I don't even know you! - 12/05/06 12:15 AM
Realtor.com is an advertising site. The properties are used to draw you in so that they can build ads around the listings... this makes the site painfully slow. Realtor.com is an opt-in site missing a lot of data... it is notoriously out of date and doesn't let you know if a property … (10 comments)
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illinois: Naperville's Thriving Condominium & Townhome Market - 12/04/06 11:00 PM
The charts below show the strength of Naperville's attached housing market. Not just on the lower end but Naperville's Luxury Condo & Townhome market too. As is typical in a softer marketplace... the total # of units are down, while the average price has risen considerably. During 2006 There were three … (4 comments)
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illinois: Naperville's Luxury and Custom Home Market - 12/03/06 12:06 AM
I mentioned in a previous post that Naperville's Luxury Home Market has actually increased in volume over the last year... bucking all current trends. With sales up over 28% for the year, there are still a lot of fantastic homes to be had at advantageous terms. Great opportunities are there for … (8 comments)
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illinois: Bad market? Depends who you ask... - 12/02/06 11:29 PM
Overall prices appear to have increased by about 8% over the same period last year (see charts below) while overall unit sales have declined a fairly dramatic 20%. An interesting twist though is that the Naperville Luxury Home market (Homes priced at $1,000,000 and over) has taken a significant jump in sales of … (4 comments)
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illinois: CNET "tiny apps" - 10/10/06 10:18 PM
I recently blathered on about a couple of small applications that I love, today I received the new cnet.com newsletter and they are talking about little tiny applications that are great. I've been using tweakui forever, but always forget to tell people about it... Many people love infranview, I like using it … (2 comments)
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illinois: Two things I install on my PC first... even before Anti-Virus - 10/04/06 07:52 PM
A couple of nifty little programs that I love!
I'm sure that many of you use this program, but there is absolutely no other utility that I install before Roboform . As a password manager, data protector and easy log in machine... there is just nothing that compares and it should be … (11 comments)
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illinois: Woo Hoo! Real Estate street spam! - 10/02/06 04:09 PM
You've probably seen them, they've replaced a lot of the "we buy houses" signs... I see them all over the place in Naperville and Aurora. Occasionally, the sign maker/owner gets fancy and has the sign professionally printed:
So, does anybody have the scoop? A search of Real Estate Investor Seeks Apprentice on … (9 comments)
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illinois: Plug in and power up! - 09/30/06 10:49 PM
A nice tool to carry with you in the car.
Not having normal electrical plugs in my Landcruiser (I think there is one in the back) I purchased (some time ago) the Fellowes Mini Power Adapter. Which I found here for 19.95 and on eBay for 16.95 + shipping. You put it … (8 comments)
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illinois: The dysfunctional moo... happy like a pig in slop - 09/30/06 04:55 PM
OK, so maybe I still haven't recovered from the baring of my soul when I posted "Impulse Control Problems" or maybe this is just another control problem as we plumb the depths of darkness that is me and my thirst for perfect technology...
So it's not enough to spend $600 on a … (9 comments)
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illinois: What's a million bucks among friends? - 09/27/06 11:38 PM
Declining market you say?
I’ve had fun all year watching the sales in excess of $1,000,000 luxury homes in Naperville through the MLS.
It's the one thing everybody always wants to know about... "what's going on with all those big houses?" I like to be ready with some basic information that … (2 comments)
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illinois: C.Y.A the easy way... - 09/27/06 12:10 AM
Unlike some of you I am not an organizational master…
I can get organized, but I just don’t stay that way. Hence it’s important for me to have an arsenal of tools which help to alleviate some of my shortcomings.
Sometimes I over compensate… but that goes back to the impulse … (3 comments)
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illinois: Personal marketing pieces that I've used in the past... (part 3... last one for a bit) - 09/26/06 10:10 PM
Alrighty then...So I've been happily sharing some of my bovine inspired marketing materials over the past week... I saved this one for last because it caused some controversy in the office.,.. a couple of agents in my office thought that the udders might be crossing the line... :) so of course I … (11 comments)
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illinois: That's the FAX Jack! - 09/26/06 09:52 PM
Do you have an online FAX service that you like? I’ve been happily using ExtremeFAX for the last year, it’s very reasonably priced at less than $7.00 a month and outgoing FAXes are part of the package. My basic package allows me to send/receive 300 pages per month for $6.77. I haven’t gone … (6 comments)
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illinois: High Octane center of operations... - 09/26/06 02:33 PM
OK, so I do the bulk of my computing from my home office, where I have a big desk, big monitor and a really comfortable chair..... and a most excellent Jura Capresso coffee maker. I do some of my work from my office too, but in the morning Erin is there, … (7 comments)
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illinois: Details, Details..... - 09/25/06 09:59 PM
How do you handle closings in your market?
In my area we use Attorneys in almost all cases.
What that means is that the agents put the deal together, we negotiate, fill out the contracts, get them signed etc... and then send them over to both of the Lawyers (Buyers and Sellers) who … (16 comments)
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illinois: WooHoo - geekfest! New phone takes the cake! - 09/25/06 08:20 PM
This is a quick snapshot in poor lighting with my new HTC TyTn Windows based phone and swiss army knife (well, it does do almost everything) If you'l remember I discussed my poor impulse controls last week and that made it inevitable that I would act... *sigh*
The phone has two cameras, one … (8 comments)
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illinois: Personal Marketing examples part 2 - 09/23/06 02:40 PM
More... just having fun... OK, so... day 2... here are a couple more direct mail (Jumbo) postcards that I've done in the past.
See... I do on occasion use real Angus cattle...
So... maybe the three "cow" garage was a little "over the top"...
It's funny that people think … (14 comments)
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illinois: Low offers..... - 09/23/06 12:20 AM
How do you feel about really low offers?
I welcome them. I try to prepare my sellers for low offers, I let them know that it doesn't matter where you start... it's where you finish, I also tell them not to be insulted... the buyer could have picked someone elses property … (14 comments)
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illinois: Here are a couple personal marketing pieces that I've used in the past... - 09/22/06 11:55 PM
These were both Jumbo postcard mailings that I sent out to my farm area... I also sent them to my sphere... It's a great way to get some attention and start some dialog... but mostly it's an "awareness campaign" designed to get people to think about me. (hopefully in a positive … (10 comments)
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illinois: Personal marketing - making a name for yourself - 09/22/06 05:52 PM
I was asked in another thread why I use spotted cows (holsteins) instead of Black Angus steers....
I had my original logo done in 1991 by a now defunct company called Jungle Solutions. At the time very few people were doing any kind of personal branding, but it was something that I … (32 comments)
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illinois: Farm your neighborhood? - 09/22/06 08:29 AM
When I got into the business, my broker told me to go knock on doors and call people in the neighborhood where I lived. So, being new and desperate... I did. There are about 400 single family homes in that neighborhood and over the years, I've sold over 200 of them … (9 comments)
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illinois: e-mail..e-mail...e-mail...everywhere... - 09/21/06 10:48 PM
Some of you people will be way ahead of me on this... most will not.
Over the years I've used Pegasus, Gold Mine, many versions of Outlook (Outlook express too) and Eudora, to get the e-mail via POP (post office protocol) from the server hosting my yourbestmooove.com domain. Because I am the … (9 comments)
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illinois: Photo Psy"cow"logy & The MLS - 09/21/06 07:45 PM
I was talking to another agent about our MLS system and the way agents use pictures in the system.
I told Ron that when I search through the MLS and there is only a picture of the front of the house, I think " it may be a bad agent... or it may … (20 comments)
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illinois: Wide angle shots - - 09/21/06 04:21 PM
What a difference a lens makes...
In the early summer I purchased the Kodak V570 wide angle lens camera (this was so that my Nikon & Sony cameras would have some company.. as many of you know I suffer from too-little-toy-aphobia...) and I love it! They now sell in the mid $200's … (26 comments)
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illinois: The Riverwalk is a huge attraction! - 09/19/06 07:11 PM
This is a post with some pictures because it is difficult to describe the beauty of Naperville's Riverwalk. Built almost entirely with donated funds and time, the Riverwalk is the crown jewel of Naperville's thriving downtown area.
Folks just love to have dinner at one of the many outstanding restaurants and then enjoy … (4 comments)
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illinois: Not just your regular Über Burb! - 09/19/06 09:11 AM
For a long time, Naperville was known as the rapidly growing suburb west of Chicago. As the growth has slowed (running out of room) many of Naperville's other attributes are somtimes misssed by those that haven't been here.
There's more to those high rankings than just great schools, excellent libraries, high income and safety....
Naperville also … (3 comments)
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illinois: What kind of signs do you use? - 09/18/06 04:50 PM
I've been using picture signs since 1995 (always need to carry a small can of goof off for the things that are drawn on my face) It seems to create some awareness as I am frequently approached by people asking me if I am who I am... :)
The picture is my … (17 comments)
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illinois: Casual in 1995 - 09/18/06 01:07 PM
I started in the business in February of 1989... I was fortunate enough to pick a really great company to work for.. the broker/owner (Charlie Doss) is a top quality guy and runs his company in a very professional manner. I was also fortunate to have a great manager (Dave Chally) in … (11 comments)
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illinois: Naperville may get Free WiFi - 07/22/06 09:00 AM
The city of Naperville IL may be contracting (for free) with MetroFi to supply the whole city with free (ad supported" WiFi access throughout town. This follows on the heels of the neighboring town of Aurora IL doing this. I am anxious to see how this works...
The benefit to the city … (5 comments)
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illinois: Motivated Sellers? - 07/20/06 06:09 PM
I love that term... "Motivated Sellers"... we are seeing a little more of that these days...
As if the rest of them aren't motivated... maybe all of the other seller's letting strangers tromp through their homes are just doing it for the thrill. Seems to me that there must be some level of motivation … (5 comments)
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illinois: Best Place to Live? Of Course! - 07/17/06 07:34 PM
Naperville is used to the honors... "best place to raise children" one of the best places to retire, one of the best walking cities, Best library system, etc...
But Money Magazine is getting close to the truth.... in 2003 Money Magazine said that Naperville was the best place to live in the … (6 comments)
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illinois: Carillon Club mooooving right along - 07/17/06 12:33 AM
The new DR Horton (Cambridge Homes) over 55 community is coming along nicely. Dirt is being moved in preperation for the vacating of 248th (Carillon will be gated) and the opening of the new road to the west. A sales trailer is on the spot and the new movie theater is … (1 comments)
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