Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Three Important Questions Sellers Ask Their Agents


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Selling your Chicago home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation

Today I want to discuss the three questions sellers ask when hiring a real estate agent. When I meet with sellers, there are usually three questions that come up the most. They are:

1. How much is my home worth?  
Fair market value is determined by who’s looking and who’s competing. Since that changes moment by moment, so does the value of your home. There’s no exact science for it.

2. How long is it going to take you to sell my home?
Price and motivation dictate when a home sells. Whenever a seller is highly motivated, the price is usually in line with fair market value, even sometimes below it.


Price and motivation dictate when a home sells.


3. What are you going to do to get my home sold?
I always tell sellers there are two different types of brokers. You should know that 95% of agents are passive. They will put your home on the MLS, stick a sign in the yard, and wait for business to come to them. An agent like myself, who is in the top 5%, is an active agent. An active agent is going to actively and aggressively market your home while talking to at least 42 different buyers each day who are looking for a home.

If you have any questions for me, don’t hesitate to give me a call. I would love to hear from you!

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

5 Reasons to Expect a Strong Spring Market in Chicago

Looking to buy a Chicago home? Get a full Home Search
Selling your Chicago home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation

I’m here with David Bowen from iMortgage. Today, we’ll discuss five reasons you can expect a very strong spring market this spring in the surrounding Chicago area.


  1. Strong job growth: This is probably the most important factor for the upcoming spring market. The job report just came out and unemployment is below 5%, which is great news! When people have jobs, they buy homes! There has also been job growth in the residential construction market, which means more homes are being built.

  1. Rising home sales: Over the course of the last 30 to 60 days, we’ve seen sales increase by 8%. Last year, 5.26 million homes sold in the United States. This year, 5.3 to 5.4 million homes are expected to sell.

  1. Steady price gains: Values are going up and new construction is becoming more steady, especially downtown. That is an excellent indicator that prices will remain strong.

  1. Low interest rates: Interest rates are all below 4% for any product. Rates are expected to rise, but they should not go up this spring. They are going to be very careful about raising interest rates over time.

  1. Rising monthly rent payments:  It is extremely expensive to rent right now, and it may actually be more affordable to buy a home.

There you go, five reasons why our real estate market is going to be very strong this spring. If you have any questions for David, send him an email at dave.bowen@imortgage.com or give him a call at (630)427-8420. As always, if you have any questions for me, give me a call or send me an email. We would be happy to help you!