Begin your Chicago Loop home search here.
Loop
Housing Type: Condo
As was the trend last month we are still seeing a nearly balanced market among the condos in the Loop. This is a great opportunity for buyers and sellers. When the market is balanced homes don't tend to take too long to sell and buyers and sellers are generally in agreement as to what the fair value of a home is. However, there may always be some discrepancies, as illustrated by the extra long average market times we are seeing this month. There were three listings that took an extreme amount of time to sell, thereby skewing the average market times. If you look at the average market time for the other closings it's really at 37 days across all of these price ranges. The three properties that threw off this average were a home in the $600-700k range that took 1,638 days to sell, in the $700-800k range that took 355 days to sell, and in the $1-2m range that took 1,284 days to sell.
Naturally, the question at hand is why, if most homes are averaging 37 days to sell, did these take years in some cases? Here's what we can learn from the listing history of each. The one that took 1,638 days to sell was first listed in 2008 for $649,900, after 705 days the listing was cancelled and it did not come back to the market until 2012, when it was listed for the same price with the same agent. The listing was cancelled and put back on the market a few times until 2014 when it was relisted as new. The price remained the same, as did the agent. In 2015 it was, again, cancelled and relisted. This time in the history we can see 16 pictures that were included with the listing. The pictures are very tight, possibly taken with a cell phone, certainly not taken with a wide angle lens. This makes it hard for buyers to get a good sense of the space. In 2016 it was cancelled and listed as new again, this time at a price of $609,000 and the listing had 25 pictures, which is the max. It's important to max out the pictures in a listing, so when buyers sort by images the listing will be at the top of the list. Finally, the home went under contract 33 days later!
The one that took 355 days to sell was originally listed for $835,000. After 2 months the price was lowered to $817,000. Almost 5 months after that the price was lowered again to $792,000 and bright, professional photographs were taken of the property and building amenities.The price was lowered 3 months later to $779,000. Three months after that the listing expired and was relisted with a different agent nearly 1 month later. Again, it was listed for $779,000 and in 13 days it sold.
The home that took 1,284 days to sell was one of the last condos in Legacy at Millennium Park to sell. Being new construction it is in a different boat than the other two. This home was first marketed pre-construction in 2007 for $1,239,900. In 2009 the price was changed to $1,287,901 and in 1213 it was lowered to $1,202,000, at that price the listing was marketing 1, 2, 3, & 4 bedroom units, so that was likely a starting price. In 2014 the price moved up to $1,210,000 and again to $1,220,000; it looks like all the 1 bedroom units had been sold. Subsequent listings touted the building as 85% sold, then 90% sold, before the price was lowered to it's close out pricing of $1,175,000 and the listing finally showed beautiful pictures of a model unit.
The best lessons that can be taken from these listings is the importance of setting the right price and marketing for visibility. Professionals can take beautiful pictures that capture the best features of a home and maxing out the amount of pictures when marketing a listing can assure that the most buyers will see it. Pricing can also make a home more visible to buyers. See the chart at the bottom of this post to see how.
The median sales price for all of the condos in the Loop was $348,500.
Price Range: $400,000-$800,000
Price Range: $800,000+
Loop
Housing Type: Townhome
The same two townhomes are still available with market times of 101 days and 227 days so far.
Price Range: $400,000-$800,000
Begin your Chicago Loop home search here.
*In this blog series we focus on one of twenty neighborhoods in Chicago, each day, and provide charts to give you a brief update on the activity that neighborhood has seen over the past month in a variety of price ranges for Single Family Homes, Townhouses, and Condos, as available.
When looking at these charts please keep in mind that not every housing type is available in every neighborhood (the Loop doesn't have houses) and some homes compete within even smaller subsections than these, meaning we can dig even further in this data. Please let me know if you would like a personal assessment of your target market.
For information about real estate in Chicago or resources in your area please contact us and sign up for our free market report!
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