Sorry for the tiny, somewhat weak rant here but...
We just had a little conversation in my brokerage the other day about the bottom of the market. It is also a common theme we hear from some "would be" home buyers... "I'll wait until next year, or, two years from now and get the same condo for half the price!"
Unfortuantely, it doesn't work this way. If there is a bottom of the market then builders will stop building and converting units... rent out their existing units or sell for a slight discount over the other sold units. Existing units in nice neighborhoods in nice locations with the best views and finishes will become more valuable as construction slows.
There is such a thing as buying at the top of the market. That may have happened to some over the last two years, but a home is a home. You bought it to live in it, not for the sport of the investment. You may build equity and rent it out if you have to move... or just stay put. Or, if forced to move fast without improving the home, some may lose a couple bucks (but this has been the case at almost any point in market history).
But in Chicago, good luck waiting for the bottom in the likes of Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Gold Coast, River North, Bucktown, Ravenswood and many other desirable neighborhoods.
You may get a re-sale, upper bracket home for less than people paid in 2005...this is a luxury buy anyway. But don't count on this for $300-$700K condos and single family homes in the aforementioned neighborhoods. They will retain their value because people have dozens of reasons to live here.
So buyers... don't expect sellers to do back flips for you if they live in one of the great Chicago neighborhoods. Don't expect that bottom to magically appear if you want to live in Lakeview on a tree lined street with parks five minutes in one direction and nightlife five minutes in the other. Oh, and work a 20 minute "L" ride away...
Keep trying to "game" the market ...and watching everyone else buy homes, build equity and move up to the next purchase.
Price ain't going nowhere for you. And I don't feel sorry for spec buyers either. I work with people who want to really live in this city and can't stand throwing away their money by renting crappy places. There's a lot of us out there.
Chicago ranks in the top three of a young, educated demographic swarming to any area in the country. I think only Sanfrancisco and Atlanta are in front of us. These are owners. So, the most desirable spots can only go up, while, there will be many collar neighborhoods around transportation that will benefit. Also, watch for three bedrooms and up becoming much more desirable as these young professionals stay and raise families in this desirable city.
As the title suggests, there are not just Chicago neighborhoods, but four sides to every Chicago neighborhood. Man, people love their BLOCKS in this town, and sometimes name them too! Andersonville is no exception.
I have lived in Andersonville and the Ravenswood neighborhoods a couple times... currently own a home in NORTH Ravenswood. However, the whole direction thing hit me some time ago when I walked down North Ravenswood Avenue in Chicago. Therie were these sighs alond the parkway btween the street and the Metra tracks... West Andersonville Gardens. Here's a look:
I like a good walk, and these days a walk with my boy comprises most of my social life.
West Andersonville Gardens pictured here stretches from the 5100 north block of Ravenswood (at West Winnemac) to about the 5900 N block (at West Rosehill in front of The Fireside).
Well, the actual "gardens" probably do not make it all the way to The Fireside, but this stretch of road is a great way to kill some time and admire "going green thumb" in the city for real. And, I don't know... end up having a few beers along the way.
In fact, there are lot of great spots and stops along the West Andersonville Garden walk. Check out my fave The Ravenswood Pub. Many of my friends and I use to go to this place all the time back in the day for drinks, smokes, classic juke box... and a game of pool. Now, it's a great mix of old school VFW and modern bar amenities. Great specials and events. The bar owners are some really great people... people... so check this place out.
Maybe brunch at Paulines is your thing... or a glass of wine at dusk at Joie de Vine
Sundays in the biz can be brutal... here's a quick example of what goes on. And what it takes to be mentally and logistically on the ball. I really believe this career has made me realize, each and every year, how much can be done. The tough part is "turning it off", which many professionals deal with.
A lot of events, research, marketing, and planning go into pulling off a busy weekend. Clients have commented how they are surprised how agents synch things up. In Chicago, most agents, or their team member, is present for a showing. Trust me, this is much better... the client will get the whole story and be able to make an informed decision. But, it's not always easy to pull off.
Outside of showing appointments with a client, there is meeting and hiring contractors and cleaning crews for listing preparation, writing advertising, hosting our development open houses, showing my own listings, and researching properties for clients... this can all be done in one day. The challenge of being "out there" actually makes one very resourceful. If you can first be a problem solver for yourself, you can be one for clients:
A real Sunday...
Sunday in the biz
Sunday... 9:30am to 11:30am with a client looking at three bedrooms in the Lincoln Square, Northcenter and Ravenswood areas. We're going back for second showings at couple probables and one off-market condo we have not seen. I'm a particular expert in this market... three bedroom condos, duplex units and townhomes on the north and northwest sides of Chicago.
12:00 noon to 1:00PM... Drive to Bucktown, prep for an open house at a five bedroom, three and one-half bath single family home at 1845 Winchester. While there, I wrote up a listing agreement for a client's condo and organized the paper-work. It was a good afternoon and I spoke with a couple groups that were definately new construction home buyers in the $1.5M range that this house is in. I met another couple looking for a three bedroom condo in Bucktown for $450-$550K. We discussed some options and I look forward to working with them.
After the open house, I met great clients of mine for a walk-through of their single family home they are closing on in Lincoln Park. This has been a pain-in-the-ass negotiation and a good walk through was necessary to check the condition of the home. Looked good, outside of a minor refrigerator issue. The single family home was listed at $1,099,000. Watch for the closed price tomorrow!
After the walk-through, my clients and I met to go over their listing. I have to project manage the preparation prior to putting the place on market. Got them covered and up to date.
At 7:00PM, met back with my client (from the morning) to write an offer on one of the three bedrooms we saw earlier in the day. We talked strategy on and off throughout the afternoon and prepared the offer at my home.
12:00 midnight... writing this blog post. I'm sure something happened today in the world, but I only know what was going on in Northcenter, Lincoln Square, Bucktown, Lincoln Park and Ravenswood... not in that order.
Chicago has a ton of new conversion and new construction condo developments. And they all ain't made alike.
I have several inspections this week of new and re-sale condos that my clients have purchased. One of the main reasons they decided on the homes is the good, solid feel the condos gave them. Its kind of an intangible, "This place just feels good". But that's no accident. You usually get that feeling from condos that were well constructed and have great layouts in general. When you look at 10 places and one just seems better from the moment you step in... it usually is better!
Yo Chicago contributer Tom Corbett offers up some things to look for when shopping condos. These indicators may help you decide one development or re-sale condo over another when you've narrowed things down.
I usually get a good feeling one way or another about a development pretty quickly. We like to say, "Don't let the flash of new appliances and counter tops fool you, determine if this place is solid and lays out well". We as in some fellow agents an me. Read Tom's article linked above for a list of indicators the pros look for.
My pet peave has been bad wood around doors and trim... it's the first thing I look for and advise my clients we may have an issue. Above is one of our developments in Lakeview... no crappy material here!!
So my new condo building "developer turn-over" meeting turns into a raging party Thursday evening (if I didn't answer your call or email... now you know). Turns out, everyone in our intimate six unit Ravenswood hamlet can GET IT DONE when you light up the bar-b-que and pass around the Peroni and Mondavi. I know, I know, Mondavi... it was a house warming gift. Even mom and dad (us truly) can still get it done.
During one of the rapid rounds of conversation, my next door neighbor asked me soemthing like "what you think about real estate now that things are going sideways". He meant, "things are bad, what are you going to do to feed your kid?"
Funny thing is, he asked this at a party (er... meeting) of six recent real estate consumers. Real estate changes my friends, but doesn't go away. In fact, it's as dynamic as you get.
I promptly let him know this is a career. Good Realtors, if you will, are not timing the market... jumping into real estate when the market's "hot" and getting out for a 9 to 5 when it's "not". Career Realtors know there are people that NEED to buy and sell a home every day, every week, every year. I mean this country is founded on property ownership to an extent (took Europe a long time to catch up... and they are still catching up). And those NEED circumstances are universal... never going away.
I know this because of the 16 hour days I work (weekends too) from January until October with a little get-a-way here and there. Just ask my kid. On second thought, don't ask my kid. He probably thinks I'm the handy-man stopping by the house once- in-a-while.
What am I getting at? Work with someone my broker calls a Career Realtor. The only timing we know is its TIME to get it DONE when you're in NEED of a home.
Ravenswood is a North Side neighborhood in Chicago experiencing it's share of growth and appreciation. Six miles from downtown, Ravenswood offers many amenities you would like... public transportation, tree lined streets, parks, retail/restaurants, and a good mix of housing stock.
The historical boundaries are North Clark Street to the east, the Chicago River to the west, Foster Avenue to the north, and Irving Park Road to the south. Those new to Chicago generally do not have much knowledge of this area ...even though it's home to million dollar plus homes and half million dollar condos.
As an owner of a duplex condo in Ravenswood, I like to know how much gets you what on the street... and why. Not only as an agent, but as a guy looking for the next place for my family. We bought our current place to improve both our neighborhood and our living space for our needs. Ravenswood happends to be our first choice of Chicago areas to live in and I can see moving up to a single family home in a few years here too.
My invesitgations as a nosey neighbor have led me to several "off market" single family homes for sale in the $1M to $1.5M range. Two are my block and being sold "by owner". One owner is a real estate broker and the other... well, I have not met him/her yet.
So I got to thinking..., how many million dollar homes are available to buy in Ravenswood at the moment? A quick look at the MLS shows that between North Ashland to North Damen and West Montrose to West Foster there are eight active listings on the market from $1M to $1.5M. These do not count the unrepresented sellers or cancelled listings that may come back on shortly.
In the past year, only three homes on the MLS have sold for over a million, and currently, there are four homes one million and up under contract. However, there are surely more in the bunch that sold in development, privately or just were not recorded on the MLS (for instance, niether my last personal home sale or purchase are recorded on the MLS). It's good to have knowledge of a few of the "unrecorded sales" to go into battle with when negotiating a single family home.
The $1M to $1.5M range will typically get you an oversized lot, 4.5 beds, 3.5 baths and a 2.5 car garage. The homes range from new construction on smaller lots to homes that need a little work on double lots. There are no homes currently priced over $1.5M for sale... but there is one under contract with an asking price of $1,568,000.00. In the past year, the highest priced home closed at $1,450,000.00.
"Who's line is it anyway?" is a terrific comedy improvisational television game show that features "players" making up lines and actions depending on one theme. Say you throw out "new home buyers in Chicago" and the players make up a hilarious scene of bumbling through the home buying process. Maybe Al Capone is your Realtor... you get it? Hilarious.
But when it comes to common areas, limited common areas and your condo unit's repairs and maintenance you don't want to hear; whose line is it anyway? As an owner, you want to know who has the responsibility, what are the resolutions, who are the players when it comes to issues concerning your condo building.
I recently listed and sold a re-sale condo in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood. When gathering information from the owner about the building and her condo, she disclosed the management company indicated there was a balcony violation and they were taking care of the issue. The violation was stated in the meeting minutes as well.
However, it was not determined what the cost was and how the association and owners were to pay for it. In fact, no one knew clearly how this was "taken care of". My client, the unit owner, was not directed by the association Board or building management that she was responsible to pay any special assessment, nor had this issue been voted on by the association Board at the last Board meeting.
Unfortunately, no one seemed to take the lead in this case and my client (plus me and our attorney) were sent scrambling to provide the correct information to the potential purchaser of the condo. This delay in information concerning the repairs, and who would be responsible, jeopardized the sale of the condo. We eventually received an estimate of repairs at the eleventh hour, and my client graciously provided a credit for the estimated amount at the closing table.
Why did this have to happen? Several reasons: First, the Board upon learning of the violation from the condo management company did not clearly order the management to take action and give them a deadline for resolution. Secondly, the management company, although a professional and legally bound agent to the association Board, was less than proactive in directing the Board in a resolution to the violation. They are the pros... they should get all over it in the interest of the condo association. Third, the individual unit owners with balconies accepted that the Board and management company took care of the issue. Problem was they assumed this for six months!
To avoid these issues of mismanagement, you have to be involved in your building and know who the players are.
1. The Board is the most important piece. As an owner, if you serve on the Board or not, you must insist on regular Board meetings and attend them when possible.
2. If you have a management company, they must be proactive with advice on running the building effectively. They are the pros and there are good managers out there. Call me for recommendations.
3. The Board must meet in a manner proper to the by-laws and make the tough decisions. Certain decisions are the domain of the elected Board and some will require a certain percentage majority of entire ownership vote.
In the case of my last listing, both the Board and the management should have been more proactive in their efforts to resolve the balcony violations. Secondly, depending on the total cost of the repairs it was up to the Board, and possibly the individual unit owners, to vote on how to pay for the balcony repairs. The balconies are a Limited Common Element. They are covered by the common insurance of the building. Repairs to the balconies do not necessarily solely fall on the individual unit owners that have private rights to the Limited Common Element balconies. The Board and unit owners could vote to subsidize the repairs with reserve funds, assess a special assessment to all unit owners or decide the individual unit owners that have rights to the balconies should pay the full amount.
The Board, management and unit owners can't point fingers and ask, "whose line is it anyway?" They must resolve this problem in accordance to the by-laws of the condo association. If you don't know who is responsible for what, retain a condo association attorney to advise on such matters.
Three bedroom condos with all the features you want? Must see Ravenswood and Bowmanville
In a city like Chicago, as in most city I suppose, there is only so much you can get in certain neighborhoods. Renting a one bedroom and want to buy a three bedroom? Here is a common scenario I run into when meeting upwardly mobile, but first time buyers, in Chicago.
Recently, I have been working with several clients looking to move up into a three bedroom home. These particular clients have lived in the Lakeview and Lincoln Park neighborhoods for the past several years. Now, they would like a place in the city where they may start a family, or, at least a home they know they won't out grow in less than five years time.
Does this sound familiar? "We'd like a three bedroom, two bath condo with at least one parking space. It must have good outdoor space, be close to a train down town and dog friendly. We'd like a place for a formal dining table and we don't want to do any work on the place. Our budget is up to $400,000."
Ravenswood and Bowmanville, within the designated Lincoln Square boundaries, are a must see if this is the type of place you want. I write about this area often due to high the quality of life, proximity to the Damen and the Montrose Brownline stops, the Ravenswood Metra station, parks, and proximity to the Lincoln Square and Andersonville enetertainment and retail districts. Plus, Ravenswood itself has seen many successful coffee shops, restauraunts and bars along Damen, Wilson and Sunnyside and Lawrence streets. Perfect Cup for coffee, Over Easy for brunch, Sabor a Cuba, Caro Mio and Spacca Napoli for dinner... these without even walking a few more minutes to Clark St, or Lincoln Avenue for many, many more choices.
But specifically, this area offers the best option for three bedroom condos for just under or over $400,000. Just this weekend I viewed two listings new on the market: one at the 4800 block of North Paulina and one at the 2000 block of West Farragut. These were large three bedroom condos with everything you could want. Located very close to the Metra train stop and under 3/4 of a mile from two Brown Line stops. Basically, I was impressed with the location and condition of the homes. Very usable floor plans, parking, exterior storage, and large common living spaces. Master suites and nice decks...both on quiet residential streets in small buildings. These condos were priced at $399,000 and will sell quickly close to that price (depending who is negotiating for you!).
There are also new construction three bedroom units available closer to the Lincoln Square hub for the very low $400s. These are larger buidings (24 to 32 units) but do include garage parking. There are three particular developments at the 4900 block of North Western, the 2200 block of West Lawrence, and the 5057 N block of Lincoln Ave. that may be purchased pre-construction and will deliver eith later this year or early 2008. Getting in now means buying the best placed units and negotiating the best upgrade packages... once a certain number are sold and the building proves hot, the deals go bye bye!
Just a few observations from this past couple weeks. If looking three bedroom homes in the best neighborhoods for $400K, Ravenswood, Bowmanville (and even Lincoln Square for a little more), are true considerations.
The Chicago Transit Authority has announced it will "flood" (Tribune's words) the North Side with buses to accommodate the reduction in commuter train capacity. The CTA will have to dramatically scale back capacity by a third as a part of the ongoing rail renovation, expansion and accessibility plan.
Great. I've discussed by sensory disgust with buses in the past... so the prospect of more of them on the roads during rush hour times is a kick in the you know what.
Can you imagine two, three, four buses stopping to pick up passengers on the same corner... one after another? Yes, that was a shiver down your spine.
Read this story and others discussing the decrease in train capacity at the Chicago Tribune. If you have not already done so, please register at their site to receive the content. Good real estate and commuter coverage.
Call or email me now to go look at homes near the Metra stops around Chicago... or for a good bicycle shop.
In totally unrelated news, Kerry Wood injured himself getting out of a hot tub in spring training. I can't take this.
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d the Ravenswood neighborhoods a couple times... currently own a home in NORTH Ravenswood. However, the whole direction thing hit me some time ago when I walked down North Ravenswood Avenue in Chicago. Therie were these sighs alond the parkway btween the street and the Metra tracks... West Andersonville Gardens. Here's a look:
Sundays in the biz can be brutal... here's a quick example of what goes on. And what it takes to be mentally and logistically on the ball. I really believe 
I have several inspections this week of new and re-sale condos that my clients have purchased. One of the main reasons they decided on the homes is the good, solid feel the condos gave them. Its kind of an intangible, "This place just feels good". But that's no accident. You usually get that feeling from condos that were well constructed and have great layouts in general. When you look at 10 places and one just seems better from the moment you step in... it usually is better!
Read about MY need from 
The Balcony: Condo Association or Owners? 
;)
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