As 2011 comes to an end, if you are in real estate, I am sure you have been bombarded with business planning classes & webinars.  If you have taken the time and done a business plan you probably have some numbers written down like you need 40 appointments, 37 listings, 200 phone calls you have to make.  I believe its important to have numbers and goals for your business.  However, I think most business plans fail to look at an agent's existing business and find the leaks.  So before you invest $100s or $1000s in the latest and greatest item thats going to get you 21 listings in Janurary.  Take an honest look at your business and find out what you are not doing or doing poorly.  Fix the leaks before trying to increase the flow. 

Happy Hollidays to All,

John

After hearing all the fuss about Edina Realty's decision to pull all their listings from third party syndication sites, I decided to take a listing Google the address and see what the likely hood that a listing agent would get a lead or inquiry from an online property listings. 

Here is what I found. 

I performed a Google Search on the Address 715 Yeoman St. in Waukegan IL.  I searched for: 715 Yeoman St, Waukegan, IL.  

The first page results were the following:

1.  Google Maps Listing of the Property Address. 

2.  Redfin's website.

3.  Trulia's Property Listing

4.  Zillow's Property Listing

5.  My Personal Website JohnZiemba.com

6.  KW.com, Keller Williams Realty International's Property Listing Website

7.  Estately.com

8.  Movoto.com

9.  Realtor.com

10.  Sawbuck.com

11.  Yahoo Real Estate

So with these results what would be the likely hood someone would be able to contact the listing agent about the particular listings.  With Google Maps, nothing happening there. 

The second result Redfin is a local brokerage getting data from our MLS IDX feeds.  In addition, results #7 Estately, #8 Movoto & #10 Sawbuck are also using MLS IDX feeds meaning they are brokerages. 

The listing display on the #3 result of Trulia makes it possible that someone could contact the listing agent about this property. 

Both the #4 result Zillow & #11 Yahoo Real Estate (which is powered by Zillow), I don't see how anyone could ever contact the listing agent about those.  I would also point out the price is wrong on Yahoo Real Estate.  Keller Williams Realty International will not allow our listings to have any other agent advertised on the listing, this means if you were to do this with another brokerage listings the results may be different. 

The #5 results would come to me personally (I am not the listing agent on the property) & the #6 result would go to the listing agent. 

The leaves Realtor.com as the only result not spoken for yet.  Our office has a package so that all our listings are enhanced.  Any lead or inquiry would go directly to the listing agent.  However with Realtor.com's recent announcement that they will be placing another agent's info on non-enhanced listings would most likely mean that someone else would get the inquiry. 

In all honesty, looking at if from this perspective the downside may not be nearly as bad as some would think.  The only real opportunity for getting a lead would be from the Trulia exposure. 

One might argue that a consumer would go to one of these websites and since they did not see a listing might choose to buy another property.  I would argue that once an consumer contacts an agent, their property search would most likely be controlled from the agent sending the consumer listings directly from the MLS database or through an IDX website.     

I know some of the airlines have recently done this by not advertising their airfares on the airfare portal sites.  I am not sure exactly how it's working for them but I do know Southwest Airlines has made their website a destination and some would argue that Edina Realty has done the same in their area. 

What are your thoughts?

As always thanks for reading, 

John

John Ziemba

Realtor

Keller Williams Team Realty

847-217-0480

St. Zachary is a Catholic Parish and School located in Des Plaines IL.  The address for Saint Zachary's 567 W. Algonquin Rd in Des Plaines.  The Parish is located just North and Adjacent to Friendship Jr. High School.  The school is on the corner of Algonquin Rd & Elizabeth Lane.  The phone number for St. Zachary's is (847) 956-7020.  St. Zach's students are able to ride the same public bus as the students who go to Friendship Jr. High.  Friendship Jr. High services students in parts of Des Plaines and parts of Mt. Prospect.    For more information you can visit their offical website at www.saintzachary.org.  Every year St. Zach's has an Augustfest event which is a fundraiser carnival event and casio nights are also held at the parish. 

Schaumburg Tansfer Tax:  $1 per $1000 of sales price  

Who Typically Pays:   Seller  

Like many municipalites the Village of Schaumburg has imposed a real estate transfer tax.  Schaumburg charges $1 per $1000 of purchase price.  For example on a $300,000 home the transfer tax would be $300.  In Schaumburg this is commonly a fee paid by the seller. 

It should be noted that on certain types of transaction the buyer may end up paying the transfer tax.  Please check with your attorney or real estate agent to make sure if you are a buyer you are not expected to pay. 

For more information you may contact Village of Schaumburg via phone at 847-923-4539.

Your attorney should give you a form that is filled out and you may need to go to the Village to pick up the transfer the Village Hall is located at: 101 Schaumburg Court, Schaumburg, IL 60193-1899 and here is there general phone number 847.895.4500 and fax 847.895.7806.

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Any questions please do not hesitate to contact me for help.

John Ziemba

847-217-0480

Learn more about Schaumburg Real Estate or start your search for Homes of Sale in Schaumburg IL

Recently there has been a lot of talk and articles written that it is cheaper to buy rather than rent.  I decided to due an anlysis to find out if this still holds true in Schaumburg, IL.  I searched the MLS and found 5 properties that were condo or townhome properties that were labeled for rent or sale.  

For my assumptions I assumed financing with an FHA Mortgage that requires 3.5% down.  I assumed the mortgage rate would be 4.75% on a 30 year fixed mortage.  Current market conditions may make the actual interest rate lower and some of the properties may not qualify for an FHA mortgage but these figures were used to compare all properties as equal as possible. 

The monthly obligations accounts for the mortgage principal and interest, monthly association fees, real estate taxes and a mortgage insurance premimum required on all FHA mortgages of 1.15%.

Here are how the numbers compare: 

Looking strictly at the numbers there is clearly no trend to draw a conclusion. 

A couple of variables to look at when choosing a specific property are the real estate taxes and assocation fees.  The real estate taxes can vary from property to property.  Also the property may have lost the homeowner's exemption which acts as a discount on the property tax bill.  All the properties listed above belong to a homeowner's association which charges a monthly fee for taking care of the common area.  In addition, to real estate taxes, assocation fees will be different from association to association.  Some may even cover utilites like the water, natural gas and garbage removal.

So if you are considering purchasing a home in Schaumburg, I think you need to take a look at all your options and understand the difference in cost between renting and owning.  I always believe the best time to buy a home is when it makes sense for YOU to do it.  If I can be of any help, please do not hesitate to contact me.

You can start searching for homes for sale in Schaumburg IL now

or

Start looking for homes for rent in Schaumburg

Thanks for taking the time and reading this post,

John

Moving to the Chicagoland area? Need information about schools? Looking for crime stats?

Find out all the stff you want to know become and Chicagoland Market Insider

and visit http://www.whitetiere.com/mimarket/zip/60173/

Find Out The Market Stats for the Area	Learn Real Estate Insider Tips
Find Out Crime Stats	Get Information About Schools
What Did Your Neighbor's House Sell For?	Find Out The Difference In Asking VS Selling Price
Learn About How Much Inventory Is Available	Understand The % Make Up Of Properties
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Information provided by John Ziemba Keller Williams Team Realty 847-217-0480

Schaumburg is served by 2 elementary school districts.  School District 54 primary serves the residents of Schaumburg. District 15 Serves the very Northern parts of Schaumburg near Algonquin Rd. 

View the latest school information, reports and ratings. Click the picture below. You will find all the information about school district 54. Here is a link for information about Schaumburg School District 15.



Moving to Schaumburg? Learn about the community visit any one of the links below to get access to our Market Insider reports.

Find Out The Market Stats for Area	Learn Real Estate Insider Tips
Find Out Crime Stats	Get Information About Schools
What Did Your Neighbor's House Sell For?	Find Out The Difference In Asking VS Selling Price
Compare Two Communities
Learn About How Much Inventory Is Available	Understand The % Make Up Of Properties.
Find the Local Amenities, Restaurants, Shopping, Entertainment & Recreation

How hot is the Multi-Family housing market?  I guess it depends on who you ask.  Taking a look at the Northwest Suburban Chicagoland area, there are some mixed signs. 

According to the Midwest Real Estate Data MLS system there have been 22 Closed sales on listings with more than 5 units.  Prices have ranged from $171,100 to $1,050,000.  (Note:  There was 1 sale for an unfinished 60 unit condo building which I have left out of this analysis because it is not in character with the rest of the properties.)

Of the 22 sale 11 were sold as a short sale or bank owned foreclosure.  Typically multi-family units have been shielded from large price swings.  In this area, we are seeing large price swings on buildings with high occupancy and poor fundamentals.  While rents have remained strong in the area, actual inventory has grown as far as individual available for rent.  With many individual property owners unwilling or unable to sell their properties, they have decided to enter them into the rental market.

 In addition, many of the properties that are in trouble today were bought with bad fundamentals in areas that simply didn't make sense.  Many would be condo converters purchased properties as inflated prices with hopes to be able to convert and sell the condos and make a profit.  When the market shifted they were left with negative performing properties that required significant monthly cash calls.  Most arm chair condo flippers were not able to weather this storm. 

The clearest example for this is the property at 10033 Linda in Des Plaines.  In 2003, the building sold for $585,000 in August of 2010 the property sold for $171,000.  It should be noted that the complex that this property is in has been struggling with many issues including a several hundred thousand dollar gas bill.

The average price per unit is $63,320, the average price per building $391,426 and the median price per building is between $306,000-330,000 (there were an even number of properties).

On the market now:

Currently there are 73 units on the market (3+ years of inventory at last 12 months sales rate) ranging in price from $329,000 to $1,250,000.  The average price unit of active listings is $86,094, average price per building $540,157 and the median price being $499,000.  The biggest take away may be the 26% price difference from the average unit sold to the average unit asking price. 

Looking to buy?

For an established full occupied building one might expect to find a slightly higher than a 7% cap rate.  For a condo bust project you may be able to find quite a deal now.

Let's sit down and talk about the opportunities,

I'm John Ziemba, Nice to Meet You

847-217-0480

Northwest Suburban Area Defined: As shown in the map below the Northwest Suburban Chicagoland area is defined at the cities, Inverness, Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, Elk Grove Village, Arlington Heights, Mt. Prospect, Des Plaines, Park Ridge, Rosemont, Niles, Prospect Heights and Wheeling.  All data provided by Midwest Real Estate Data and accurate as of the post date.   

In the last two weeks, I have found some great opportunities using Craigslist.  I have been using it to attract buyers to my website for several months and have been getting a decent amount of registrations.  This week I posted 20 ads similar to this:

From these type of ads I generate 9 buyer leads.  I posted these ads all on Monday morning.  While these results are good, I ran some other ads for renters and I could not ignore the overwhelming results from them.  Over the last 2 weeks I posted a handful of the following ads and have generated over 150 leads from an ad similar to this.

  I put a live link in this ad and linked it to JotForm, a free service (until you get a certain level), that is easy to use.

 Now I understand depending on where you are at, rentals make not make business sense.  In my area Suburban Chicagoland, each rental would bring in about $500 (Low Margin, High Volume).  But let's think bigger picture, I would think that the people who may be renting now, might be buyers within several years.  Now the challenge is to figure out how to handle and convert the high volume of leads that I have had coming in (over 20 a day). 

Ps. If you put your phone number on the ad, you will get phone calls.  I couldn't handle the volume coming in so I took it off.

Good Luck to all of you,

John

John Ziemba

Realtor

Keller Williams Team Realty & KW Commercial

847-217-0480

Realtor at JohnZiemba dot com