Real Estate info- buying, selling and everything in between: Illinois

Short Sales...and Pork with Passion

Short Sales first...

To say they are challenging may be a slight understatement...

No matter how many of these we do I still get an immense feeling of satisfaction when we get an approval letter from a bank or better yet... from 2 banks.

Many questions, tactics, approaches surround short sales.  And in spite of new regulations they seem to move thru the system sporadically. That said, I love em.  There is little else (in my opinion) in this industry that brings this sort of gratification from assisting others. 

Helping a distressed homeowner get out from underneath a situation (divorce, job loss, etc...) and keep them from facing foreclosure is extraordinarily emotional and bringing a positive result to the table is the best outcome in an otherwise negative situation.  The current transaction we wrapped up today  basically consumed most of the last 7 days of my life...plus a large chunk of the last 3 months.   It was in the hands of the foreclosure attorneys-- and it closed with literally hours to spare on the date set for the foreclosure sale.  Mind you -- they are not all this dramatic but they are all emotional and liberating.  To date (10.5.10)we have managed to keep over 1 million in property off the foreclosure books in O'Fallon IL alone.  If things continue, that number should reach 2 million by the end of the year...OK much of this depends on the banks.. but one can hope.

The numbers are still staggering and will continue to rise.

"Today, nearly 1 out of every 6 homeowners in America is behind on mortgage payments. These are tough and frustrating times. Now more than ever, it's important to identify your options. Foreclosure can be avoided, your credit can be saved, and your financial future can be salvaged"

Actually that quote may be a bit understated and with the new wave of mortgage rate resets on the horizon they will surely not decrease anytime in the immediate future.

For more info on this click here

As promised and on a far lighter note, last weekend was the annual "Pork with Passion" event in downtown O'Fallon.  A bit of video follows.

While the Real Estate Market has cooled a bit as of late (there have been 15 closings in O’Fallon in September 2010 compared to 29 for this same period last year) there was plenty going on in O’Fallon this weekend. St. Clare had their Annual Oktoberfest along with a 5K run:

The Strange Folk Festival made a return to O’Fallon over the weekend; despite the wet weather the event was well attended.

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As mentioned above the closings have dropped off considerably in just 30 days however a true picture will have to wait until the end of the month when the final numbers come in.  The good news is that things are still in fact selling with 41 homes currently under contract.  The average list price for those homes is $199,981.  This number is a bit high as one of these homes was listed for $790,000. Removing that one from the equation brings the average down to $185,139. 

O'Fallon IL Home of the week: 123 Slazenger!

A quick hit for what's going on in O'Fallon as far as the Real Estate Market is concerned and a Gnome sighting.

At a glance for September (so far) 2010 O'Fallon IL.

 Number of homes currently for sale:  249

Number of homes currently under contract: 63

Number of homes that have closed: 9 (Sept 1-20^th)

  Average sales price    : $164,481

  Average Market time:  124 Days

Full report to follow soon.

The gnome has returned...

If you are in town this weekend be sure and visit the Strange Folk Festival.  It runs September 25th & 26th at the community park(downtown) from 10:00am-6:00pm.

Missed the RE/MAX Preferred electronic recycling drivelast month?

Mayor Gary L. Graham is pleased to announce that a Electronics, Computers, Appliances and Surplus Equipment Recycling Event will be held in O'Fallon on Saturday, October 9, 2010 from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. at Carriel Junior High School, 451 North Seven Hills Road.  The event is hosted by the City of O'Fallon and the O'Fallon-Shiloh Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with WITS, Inc. 

For those of you who will be gone... there is this tiny little race on 10-10-10 that I know many of you are training for...feel free to drop items off at our office 1668 Windham Way in O'Fallon the week prior. We will get them delivered for you.  On that same note...to all you runners who are Chicago bound good luck on your last 20+ miler in the next few weeks.  It has been a pleasure running (no pun intended) into many of you over the summer training season. Let's hope for cooler weather on the 10^th! Hope to see you there.

Back to recycling, details are below for Oct 9th:

During the event, there will be no fee to recycle small electronics (computers, monitors, printers,VCR's, stereos, etc.) and a $5 fee will be charged for each large electronic item or appliance (working TV's 24" & larger, washers, dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators, air conditioners, etc.).  Items that will not be accepted include paint, tires, chemicals, non-working TV's, console TV's and household furniture.  

Items:

·                     Computers, monitors, printers, cables, keyboards, mice, etc.

·                     Office equipment, business equipment and machinery including most furniture and operations equipment

·                     Networking equipment, server telecommunications, phones, cell phones, clocks, etc.

·                     VCRs, stereos and audio/video equipment including cable/satellite

·                     24" and larger WORKING TV's ($5 fee)

·                     Home electronics, blenders, toasters, irons, etc.

·                     Washers, dryers, dishwashers, furnaces, etc. ($5 fee)

·                     Medical equipment and all types of diagnostic equipment

·                     Electrical, cabling, communication machinery and equipment

·                     Industrial machinery and equipment including power and gas equipment

·                     Lawn equipment, tools, old mowers, tillers, etc.

·                     Air conditioners, refrigerators, humidifiers and other Freon-containing devices ($5 fee)

·                     Old motors, transformers and other electrical equipment

·                     Car and household batteries and lead items

·                     CD's, VHS, DVD, Cassette, DAT and all types of data tapes

Unacceptable Items:  Paint, tires, chemicals, non-working TV's and console TV's, and household furniture.

WITS, Inc. is a non-profit organization established in 2002 that recycles/refurbishes electronics, computers and surplus equipment for local/national businesses and residents by fixing or replacing what may be broken and putting it back into the community for educational use.  This keeps the used equipment out of the landfills and provides those in need with the technology to accomplish their educational goals.  Any items or parts that WITS, Inc. cannot reuse are recycled appropriately at their facility.  They have a 0% landfill policy.  For more information on WITS, Inc., see their web site at www.witsinc.org.   

What goes up...must come down.  As numbers tumbled nationwide the (sharpest drop in history at 27%) after the tax credit original expiration of June 30, 2010 something odd was going on in O'Fallon IL.  While it is true that numbers did go down slightly from June to July - they went back up (+15%) in August...actually it was the best August since 2006. 

So while there are areas that continue to slide, O'Fallon IL seems to be holding on and in fact increasing despite the economic climate and depressed housing market.  On a broader, but still local view, things have increased for the entire county over last month (despite what the local paper would have you believe). In July there were 480 closings in St. Clair County, and in August that number climbed to 500. Not staggering numbers however, that is roughly 2.8 million in housing inventory off the market.

On to the Market Update!

O'Fallon IL Real Estate Market Update for August 2010:

In August 2010 47 homes closed in O'Fallon IL.  As mentioned above this is the best August in 4 years.

Average sales price for these homes was $213,607 and average market time was 151 days.

August was in fact the second best month so far in 2010 only beaten out by June (with the much talked about tax credit in place) by 2 homes.   

Year to date numbers also look very promising as we are 29 homes ahead over this same time last year.

Price range is the one consistent again this month with 83% of all closed homes falling below the $300,000 mark.

With 49 homes currently under contract things look promising at least for the immediate future. Stay Tuned...

First a bit of disclosure...

I stopped taking a paper years ago.  I view them about the same way I see phone books... a giant and expensive waste of paper.  However I do in fact still voraciously read various trade publications along with our local paper online.  The big news of late has been that home sales have plummeted 27% from June to July. So effective is social media that I received this news almost a dozen times before a client brought it to my attention in a printed format.

Our local paper managed to regurgitate the same story yesterday (read the article here) basically plummeting sales due to the expiration of the tax credit.  And while monthly numbers (June-July) are in fact down, year to date numbers are up. If you dig a bit a slightly different story starts to emerge.  Please keep in mind these numbers are for this area only... of course there are markets hit hard and they will continue to drop.

St Clair County saw 246 homes close in June 2010 and 172 in July.  Telling numbers, however in 12+ years of selling houses I think maybe once a buyer/client asked me to show them all of St. Clair County. Those are called referrals.   More often than not it is much more hyper-local.  So let's look at 2 of our biggest markets and the impact of the tax credit.

The two cities we will highlight make up more than 50% of total home sales in this county for June.

Belleville IL:

In June of 2009 there were 79 closings.  This number is important as there was no frantic rush to get things closed with a June 30 deadline.

June 2010: 79 closings.  Notice something? Exact same amount with the deadline in place.

O'Fallon IL:

June 2009 had 48 closings  - again  no deadline in place.

June 2010 had 49 closings with the deadline.  Tax credit  = +1 over June last year.

So a grand total of 1 more closing in 2 of our biggest markets in the 30 days leading up to the deadline. 

Odd this did not make it into the paper...

Since this is primarily an O'Fallon IL focused Real Estate site I will expand a bit further.

Now that the credit has expired and July numbers are in (August to follow shortly) we can see a bit of a drop.

July 2009 had 44 closings.  July of 2010 had 41.  Down 3 but not what I would call plummeting.

Now...

August is not over but already O'Fallon is ahead of last year.

August 1-25^th 2009 24 homes closed

August 1^st-25^th 2010 35 homes closed

Encouraging numbers as we head into the 4^th  quarter of 2010.

Another interesting note....not a single active REALTOR  was interviewed, Executive Officers for both of our local boards were quoted but I am fairly sure they are not currently selling homes. 

Countdown to a paperless office - 5 DAYS!

For those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting Randy Grim you know what an extraordinary person he is.  If you have not been lucky enough to meet him and get involved then please check out the Stray Rescue Website.

This weekend is a celebration of sorts, a semi - grand opening/ open house at their new location and the "Liberation Revolution Festival" if you need a new furry friend, this is the time and place to be. 

THANK YOU O'FALLON!

The first load of used electronics is now on its way to being recycled.  Thank you to everyone who dropped off their old equipment...am pretty sure I saw a Commodore 64 in the pile. 

We will start collecting for our next drop starting October 1^st.  Click here for more info.

Our next event will be a canned food drive for the O'Fallon Food Pantry.  You can drop off items at the RE/MAX Balloon September 11^th 5:30-7:30pm at the Parcs at Arbor Green or at the display.  Hope to see you there!

First of all THANK YOU to all of you who came out to support Children's Miracle Network.  Proceeds from every Blizzard sold on August 5^th went to help Local Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. In 2009 over $4.6 Million was raised on Miracle Treat Day alone!

After the spike in June with the rush to get things closed prior to the tax credit deadline (it has been extended) things seem to have settled down.  Based on the numbers for July it would appear at least locally that the extension had little effect.  However estimates nationwide put the number of homeowners who would have missed the credit in the 180,000 range.  It will be this Fall before we get a "true" image of the market but expect sales to continue to soften a bit as we go into the 3^rd and 4^th quarter. Numbers for closed homes July 1 2010- July 31 2010:

Closed: 39

Re-sale: 37 Average Sales Price $194,799 Average Days On Market 149

New Construction: 2 Average Sales price $288,178 Average Days on Market 116

July numbers, while still strong, have slipped a bit from June as mentioned above. This is most likely due to the original expiration date set forth for June 30^th.  That said...only one more home closed in June of 2010 than June of 2009 so the true impact remains to be seen.

Price range continues to remain critical in O'Fallon.  In July 90% of the homes closed were below $300,000.  Average price for the $100,000-$199,999 range was $160,784 and for the $200,000-$299,999 was $241,638 no real surprises here.

Looking at numbers for July 2005- July 2010 again shows no great surprise with about an 11% decrease from July 2009-July 2010.

Year to date numbers are stronger over last year, actually 2010 YTD is up 8.5% over the same span for 2009.

More reason for optimism,  as of August 6th there are 63 homes under contract in O'Fallon.

Once again we wish to thank you for helping to support CMN if you did not get a Blizzard yesterday, don't panic they make them everyday;) and if you wish to donate you may do so by clicking here.

August 5th 2010...it’s HOT go get a Blizzard from DQ and help us out. Proceeds from every Blizzard purchased at a participating Dairy Queen store will help children at your local Children's Miracle Network hospital. Diet? What diet? It’s a GREAT cause so go for it! Local DQ restaurants participating

DQ GRILL & CHILL RESTAURANT 412 S MADISON ST LEBANON, IL 62254-1609

DAIRY QUEEN BRAZIER 2411 OLD COUNTRY INN DR CASEYVILLE, IL 62232-2304

DAIRY QUEEN BRAZIER 804 N STATE ST FREEBURG, IL 62243-4004

DAIRY QUEEN BRAZIER 3260 NAMEOKI RD GRANITE CITY, IL 62040-5014