1.     Do not put children, even teenagers, in charge of preparing, moving, or keeping track of pets.

2.     Remember that even though you have lived in a home for a few years, for a young child it is nearly a lifetime!

3.     Avoid moving during school.  Ideally, move 1-3 months before a new school year begins.

4.     Involve your children to communicate your expectations, goals, wants and needs.

And this is just the start of what you’ll find at www.Chicagoland2to4Flats.info!!!

It’s now possible to get property listed in the MLS for a low flat fee or perhaps even sell it on your own through Craig’s List. But, without the help of a full-service agent, you would, in essence, be hiring yourself as your own agent. Here are some stories of people who did sell property for themselves:

     I.        An owner in Roscoe Village listed on his own for 40K less than we would have.

(The moral of the story: not surprisingly, given his fire-sale price, he sold it immediately).

    II.        There is an attorney who dabbles in development and then sells her own property, but she writes terrible listings, is too busy to accept all requests for showings, and, when she does a showing, it turns out that she’s a terrible showing agent.

(The moral of the story: we hope she’s a better attorney than a real estate agent!!!)

   III.        A condo owner was promised, for a small flat fee, an MLS listing and marketing support. The trouble was two-fold: the firm he worked with by phone couldn’t tell that his property was, in present condition, terribly staged, and the listing sheet he helped write was such a mish-mash that you would think the goal was to reduce the number of showings.

(The moral of the story: Not surprisingly, he suffered terribly long market time before finally throwing in the towel and hiring a good agent.)

And this is just the start of what you’ll find at www.Chicagoland2to4Flats.info!!!

It’s now possible to get property listed in the MLS for a low flat fee or perhaps even sell it on your own through Craig’s List. But, without the help of a full-service agent, you would, in essence, be hiring yourself as your own agent. And, for you to do that job well, we think you must be able to succeed at ten things:

1.  You must be able to properly price your property—and that can be hard to do without access to the CLOSED sale records of the MLS.

2.  You must be able to prepare professional listing materials. You may be surprised how hard it is to write good listing sheets and brochures aimed at the right audience.

3.  You must know a good Virtual Tour artist. We think the average Virtual Tour fails to sparkle, and a below-average tour could actually hurt your property’s value.

4.  You must be able to stage the property well. Putting a property on market ‘as is’ often means a LOWER price, and good staging advice from friends is hard to get.

5.  You must know the in’s and out’s of online marketing. For example, Realtor.com and Tribune.com don’t just offer one level—we know how to work their enhanced level.

6.  You must have day, evening, and weekend showing availability. How many showing requests can you afford to turn down because you are at work or are busy?

7.  You must be a GOOD showing agent. We don’t just open the door and let the buyer in. We know how to position your property against the competition and show it well.

8.  You must be able to track the market. We will set up a Market Watch for you that provides total insight to new listings, price cuts, and properties sold.

9.  You must know how to ‘broker’ the deal. Especially in a Buyer’s market or when the buyer knows you are representing yourself, you should expect many low-ball offers.

10.  You must excel at contract-to-close. We can’t promise a 100% close rate, but we think sellers who fail at ‘contract to close’ may experience, at best, 75% success.

Some stories of people who did sell property for themselves will follow.

And this is just the start of what you’ll find at www.Chicagoland2to4Flats.info!!!

When you put a home on the market, it’s important to practice some common-sense security tips:

1.  For your own safety, never set an appointment with anyone to see your home unless they have given you their name and number and you have called back to verify that number. An easy way to do this is to say. “Let me check with my husband/wife for the best time and I will call you back.” Use this method even if you are not married.

2.  Never let potential buyers know your schedule. Don’t ever tell them when you won’t be at home, when your spouse won’t be home, when you pick up the kids, when you work, when you will be on vacation, etc.

3.  Never give a caller information about your home’s security such as deadlock bolts, security systems, and so forth.

4. Always have a back-up plan when you allow strangers into your home, especially if you have children. Have a neighbor look out for you until the lookers have gone.

5. Never let a stranger into your home without seeing some identification. If the person says he/she is a real estate agent, ask for a card, then call his/her office to verify the information if you don’t recognize the person.

6. Keep a log of everyone who has looked at your house. Get their name, telephone number, address, car description, tag number, and any additional information that could be helpful in the event of a future burglary. All of these people would be suspects.

7. If you make a flyer to advertise your home, don’t include any information that might breech security.

8. Remove from sight all valuables, including guns, jewelry, silverware, and collections. Recently, there was an incident in South Florida where a couple was going around with a real estate agent and stealing things from houses they visited. The couple actually stole over $150,000 worth of valuables. If possible, screen all potential buyers via a thorough pre-qualification process before you let anyone into your home.

9. Never leave strangers alone, and watch their every move while they’re in your home. One of the latest scams, according to Real Estate Today magazine, involves prescription drugs. A nice-looking, clean-cut couple will make an appointment to view your house. Once inside, one of them will ask to use the bathroom and will search for prescription drugs while inside. There is a huge market for such drugs. So make certain your prescription drugs are well-hidden before anyone looks at your home.

And this is just the start of what you’ll find at www.Chicagoland2to4Flats.info!!!

Everyone, Happy Holidays and a Good New Year!

10.  Number the boxes and keep a list of what’s in them and which room the box goes into.  Pack by room – do not combine items from different rooms into one box.

11.  Reinforce the bottom of boxes with heavier items for added strength.

And this is just the start of what you’ll find at www.Chicagoland2to4Flats.info!!!

8.     Place china in plastic bags and stack plates upright on their sides, not flat.

9.     Label boxes that contain fragile items with large red lettering.

And this is just the start of what you’ll find at www.Chicagoland2to4Flats.info!!!

5.     Pack boxes to 50 pounds or less.

6.     Pack heavy items into their own smaller boxes and put lighter items into larger boxes.  Do not pack all your books in one box!

7.     Don’t move flammable, corrosive, explosive items such as paint, gasoline, ammunition.

And this is just the start of what you’ll find at www.Chicagoland2to4Flats.info!!!

1.     Save all receipts!  Some of your moving expenses are tax deductible.

2.     Figure out how much your time, energy and mental health are worth – then consider hiring movers, house cleaners, carpet cleaners, so on.  Moving is stressful enough without adding other tasks and projects.

3.     Don’t be afraid to say “no” to social gatherings and meetings prior to and during your move.  You can get caught up with your social life after you have settled into your new home.

4.     Look to the future as you decide what items to sell, give away, donate, throw, or recycle.  By being future-oriented and moving only those items that fit into your future (plus a few items of sentimental value) you will lighten your load.

And this is just the start of what you’ll find at www.Chicagoland2to4Flats.info!!!

“Arm-Chair” Investors are those who do NOT want to live in the property they buy (a more precise term for this would be “NON-owner occupied”). The question we ask here is: Where have ‘arm-chair’ investors like that been concentrating their investments?

Our work with arm-chair investors has led us to believe that SEVEN Chicago neighborhoods are particularly popular for those buying non-owner occupied, cash-flow property. For instance, Bill Bein, Chicagoland2to4Flats.info’s founder, owns property in Grand Crossing (a south side neighborhood)—and he has now helped many different buyers buy in all of these areas.

• The west side neighborhoods are: Humboldt Park (census tract 23), East Garfield Park (census tracts 27), West Garfield Park (census tracts 26) and North Lawndale (census tract 29)
• The south side neighborhoods are: Woodlawn (census tract 42), South Shore (census tract 43) and Greater Grand Crossing (census tract 69).

We will look at each of them in previous and future posts.  In this post we look at the second one: East Garfield Park

• East and West Garfield Park (census tracts 27 and 26) have a joint article on the city’s official site at http://www.chicagoneighborhoods.cc/neighborhoods/garfield.html

A major cultural asset nearby is the Park District’s Garfield Park and Garfield Park Conservatory, which is set up for both adults and children who want to spend some time with wonderful plants.

The Encyclopedia of Chicago, compiled by the Chicago Historical Society, has an article on it:

“… East Garfield Park was annexed to Chicago in 1869, but a quarter century elapsed before it was thickly populated. …”
See more at http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/404.html

An escrow account is a neutral depository held by your lender for funds that will be used to pay expenses incurred by the property, such as taxes, assessments, property insurance, or mortgage insurance premiums which fall due in the future. 

You will pay one-twelfth of the annual amount of these bills each month with your regular mortgage payment.  When the bills fall due, the lender pays them from the special account.  At closing, it may be necessary to pay enough into the account to cover these amounts for several months so that funds will be available to pay the bills as they fall due. 

And this is just the start of what you’ll find at www.Chicagoland2to4Flats.info!!!