JAN. 24, 2012 -- The RE/MAX Plaza brokerage chain recently grew to three offices after its broker/owner, Rob Schaid, purchased the existing RE/MAX office in the Lake County community of Wauconda, Ill. RE/MAX Plaza now operates offices in McHenry and Richmond, Ill., both in McHenry County, as well as the Wauconda location.
The Wauconda office, formerly known as RE/MAX American Dream, will remain in its present location, 1120 N. Rand Road in Wauconda.
Schaid said that the move allows RE/MAX Plaza to expand its service into Lake County, and because the office is so close to the Wisconsin border, the purchase gives RE/MAX Plaza better access to the Wisconsin residential market. The move also boosts the brokerage’s staff, adding seven real estate agents to the RE/MAX Plaza team.
"The Wauconda office has a lot of growth potential," Schaid said. "Adding it gives us a real opportunity to continue expanding our business."
Pattie Taylor, the former broker/owner of RE/MAX American Dream, will remain with RE/MAX Plaza as its new executive vice president. She will provide RE/MAX Plaza with valuable leadership; Taylor owned and operated her own brokerage for 12 years.
Taylor agrees that combining with the RE/MAX Plaza organization made sense.
"By joining forces with RE/MAX Plaza, we’ll be increasing our professional workforce by 33 percent and offering our valued clients even better exposure across Lake and McHenry counties," Taylor said. "Our agents will be provided with the systems and tools to help them compete in the changing marketplace."
Schaid said he is excited to have the chance to work with an industry veteran such as Taylor.
"Pattie is one of the most capable managers in the community and a top-producing agent," he said. "I am very proud to have somebody as well respected as Pattie join our team. This is not the kind of thing that happens every day, and we are all very excited about Pattie and her staff joining us."
Adding a new office will contribute to the growth of RE/MAX Plaza, said Schaid. The brokerage will continue to offer its agents extensive training, which he identified as the key to the success of his organization.
Agents at RE/MAX Plaza take training that helps them adapt to a changing real estate market. Today, for instance, many are learning how to most effectively close short sales and how to best market foreclosure properties, two booming areas of residential business.
Schaid, who has worked in the real estate business since 1999, says he looks forward to incorporating the agents at the Wauconda office into his existing brokerage. It’s a process that Schaid expects to go smoothly. He is also eager to serve new markets through the acquisition of the company’s third office.
"I really enjoy helping real estate agents and seeing them grow their careers," he said. "Facilitating our agents’ success and helping customers achieve their objectives is what makes this business so enjoyable for me. With this move, I know we'll be helping even more people."
RE/MAX has been the leader in the northern Illinois real estate market since 1989. The RE/MAX Northern Illinois network consists of 2,100 sales associates and 110 individually owned and operated RE/MAX offices that provide a full range of brokerage services throughout the northern one-third of Illinois. Its www.illinoisproperty.com and www.remax.com websites are leaders in consumer visits among real estate franchise brands. Its mobile search, m.illinoisproperty.com, allows users to conduct real estate searches on any mobile device with Internet access. The northern Illinois network is part of RE/MAX LLC, a global real estate organization with 89,000 sales associates in 87 nations.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
RE/MAX Plaza Expands By Adding Wauconda Brokerage
RE/MAX Chairman: Look for Continued Housing Market Recovery in 2012
JAN. 23, 2012 -- The end of 2011 brought good news on the nation's economic front, with unemployment in December falling to its lowest level in three years and the economy adding 200,000 jobs during the same month.
Dave Liniger, chairman and co-founder of RE/MAX, said that the country's improving economic fortunes bode well for the residential real estate market in 2012. Based on the recovering economy, the leader of RE/MAX recently predicted a continued rebound in the nation's housing market this year.
"Interest rates will remain at or near historic lows, and home prices will stabilize and start to rise by the end of the year," said Liniger. "There is no question, the housing recovery will be slow and steady, but for many cities the turn-around is already happening."
The numbers in Illinois seem to bear this out. As the year ended, housing sales in the state began to rise. According to the latest numbers from the Illinois Association of REALTORS® (IAR), 8,828 homes sold statewide in December of last year. That's up 14 percent from the same month one year earlier.
In the City of Chicago, December 2011 home sales hit 1,536, according to IAR. That is up 6.4 percent from December of 2010.
Moody's Analytics brought even more good news for the coming year. The economic analysis company predicted that existing home sales across the nation will rise 12 percent in 2012 after rising 2 percent last year. The company also predicted that the number of new home sales will rise 74 percent in 2012.
At the same time, historically low interest rates on 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages make borrowing money to finance a house or condominium a more affordable prospect.
"Informed and savvy consumers and investors recognize there is great opportunity in this market, and they are leading the way to recovery," Liniger said.
Liniger, during his 2012 forecast, offered several predictions regarding the 2012 housing market, including:
1. Continued low interest rates;
2. Home prices stabilizing and starting to rise;
3. Increasing numbers of home sales;
4. Rising inventories, mostly due to increased foreclosures;
5. Distressed properties will make up about half of all sales;
6. An improved short-sale process to help avoid foreclosure;
7. Homeownership rates will continue to fall;
8. Foreign and domestic investors will buy 25 percent of homes;
9. Increasing reliance on real estate agents;
10. Increased use of mobile and social technologies.
Liniger co-founded RE/MAX in 1973. He is now focusing on developing and promoting solutions to the housing crisis. Liniger is an advocate of foreclosure alternatives such as short sales. He has also been advising Washington policymakers and national lenders on a streamlined short-sale process that would help U.S. families avoid the trauma of foreclosure.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Top City Agent, Hasani Steele, Joins RE/MAX Premier Properties on Chicago’s Gold Coast
Monday, January 16, 2012
Attractive Prices and Mild Weather Help Generate Brisk December Housing Sales Across Chicago Area
ELGIN, Ill., Jan. 13, 2012 -- Aided by attractive prices, low interest rates and mild autumn weather that made late-season home shopping more pleasant than usual, the residential segment of the metropolitan Chicago real estate market closed 2011 with a solid month of sales. Home sales in the seven-county area totaled 6,010 units in December, 15.3 percent higher than in the same month of 2010 and 10 percent more than during the prior 30 days, according to an analysis by RE/MAX.
December home sales in the seven-county metro area, based on statistics compiled by Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC, were higher than in any of the prior three months and ranked fifth among all months in 2011. In comparison, December sales in 2010 ranked eighth for the year, while 2009 December sales came in seventh.
Sales in all seven counties were higher last month than in December 2010, with increases ranging from 34 percent in McHenry to 11 percent in Cook. Sales activity rose 5 percent in Chicago.
Even as transaction volume increased, home prices continued to slip. The median price of all homes sold in December was $145,000, down from $150,000 in November and $168,000 in December 2010.
The decline in median price, which was felt in all seven counties, was to some extent a function of an increase in the percentage of total sales represented by distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales). In December, distressed sales represented 45.8 percent of all sales, up from 43.1 percent in November. The median price for distressed sales in December was $87,500.
“The increase in distressed sales was largely driven by a surge in short sales, which totaled 1,031, the largest number of short sales completed during any month of 2011. That total was 51 percent higher than in December 2010, while sales of foreclosed properties came in 12 percent higher than they were a year earlier,” said Laura Ortoleva, a spokesperson for the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network.
Homes sold in December spent an average of 174 days on the market, up modestly from 163 days in December 2010.
Detached Homes
December sales of detached homes in the seven-county area totaled 3,870 units, 15 percent more than during the same period in 2010 and 9 percent more than the November 2011 total.
The median sales price was $162,000, down 11 percent from December 2010 and 2 percent lower than in November 2011. The average market time for a detached home sold last month was 162 days, unchanged from the prior month but six days higher than the prior December.
Compared to December 2010, all seven counties saw an increase in the number of detached sales completed along with a decrease in the median price. McHenry County (up 31 percent) and Will County (up 29 percent) recorded the steepest increases in transactions. Cook County had the most modest gain, just 8 percent, due in good part to the results in Chicago, where sales of detached homes rose only 5 percent.
Results for the other counties were: DuPage up 15 percent, Kane up 21 percent, Kendall up 21 percent and Lake up 27 percent.
Attached Homes
Sales of attached homes increased by 15 percent in December when compared to the same month in 2010 and were 12 percent higher than in November. Sales totaled 2,140, with a median price of $115,000, 4 percent lower than the prior month and 21 percent lower than December 2010. The average time spent on the market by attached homes sold in December was 197 days, up from 184 days in November and 175 days a year earlier.
Six of the seven counties saw an increase in attached sales compared to December 2010, led by McHenry and Will counties with gains of 52 percent and 46 percent respectively. Other results: Cook up 14 percent, DuPage up 15 percent, Kane up 11 percent, Kendall up 34 percent and Lake down 8 percent. In Chicago, sales increased 5 percent.
Monday, December 19, 2011
November Home Sales in Metro Chicago Real Estate Market Delivered Encouraging Signs of Stability, RE/MAX Reports
ELGIN, Ill., Dec. 16, 2011 -- Home sales activity in the metropolitan Chicago real estate market during November delivered another indication that a gradual increase in the number of homes changing hands is beginning to help stabilize home prices, according to an analysis by RE/MAX of sales statistics gathered by Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC.
November home sales in the seven-county metro area totaled 5,408 units, 19 percent more than a year ago. Compared to sales in the prior month, November transactions were down 6 percent, a favorable result when considering that the average decline in sales from October to November during the prior 5 years was 13 percent.
The median home sales price in the Chicago area for November was $150,000, 14 percent lower than in November 2010. However, the median was unchanged from the prior month, and in six of the seven counties in the metro area, the median sale price rose in November when compared to the prior month. Those six counties were DuPage (up 7 percent), Kane (up 4 percent), Kendall (up 8 percent), Lake (up 1 percent), McHenry (up 6 percent) and Will (up 1 percent).
Homes sold in November spent an average of 170 days on the market, one day more than in the same month last year. Distressed properties, including foreclosures and short sales, accounted for 43 percent of all November sales compared to 44 percent in October.
Cook County homes sales totaled 3,109 in November. They represented 57 percent of total metro-area sales for the month and were 19 percent higher than in November 2010. The other six counties all recorded sales increases on the same basis: DuPage up12 percent, Kane up 19 percent, Kendall up 29 percent, Lake up 16 percent, McHenry up 31 percent and Will up 20 percent.
Detached Homes
Sales of detached homes in the seven-county area totaled 3,532 units and were 16 percent higher in November than in the same month last year. Compared to October sales, the November total fell 5 percent.
The median sales price was $165,000, down 11 percent from November 2010 and 2.4 percent lower than in October 2011. The average market time for a detached home increased by one day to 162 days.
Compared to activity a year earlier, the largest percentage increases in home sales were in Kendall County (up 34 percent), McHenry County (up 25 percent) and Lake County (up 21 percent), as well as in the City of Chicago, where sales also rose 21 percent. Results for the other counties were: Cook up 15 percent, DuPage up 9 percent, Kane up 18 percent and Will up 15 percent.
Cook was the only one of the seven counties where sales activity for detached homes increased from October to November. Sales in the county totaled 1,779 units, up 2.5 percent from the prior month, a gain triggered by much stronger sales in Chicago. November sales of detached homes rose 20 percent in the city to 664 units, and the median price increased 4 percent to $134,950.
Attached Homes
Sales of attached homes were up sharply in November when compared to the same month last year. Sales totaled 1,876 units, a 24 percent increase. The median price of $120,000 was down 22 percent from the prior year but unchanged from the prior month. Average market time for units sold in November was 184 days, three days more than in November 2010.
“As the 22 percent decline in the median price suggests, attached home values have suffered during the last year, but there’s a chance we are getting the worst of that situation behind us,” said Laura Ortoleva, a spokesperson for the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network. “The median price of attached homes sold in November was unchanged from October. At the same time, the average sales price actually rose 7 percent from the prior month, the first time that has happened in November since 2007.”
All seven counties saw gains in attached sales compared to November 2010, led by McHenry and Will counties with gains of 77 percent and 41 percent respectively. Other results: Cook up 25 percent, DuPage up 18 percent, Kane up 25 percent, Kendall up 17 percent and Lake up 1 percent.
RE/MAX has been the leader in the northern Illinois real estate market since 1989. The RE/MAX Northern Illinois network consists of 2,200 sales associates and 105 individually owned and operated RE/MAX offices that provide a full range of brokerage services throughout the northern one-third of Illinois. Its www.illinoisproperty.com and www.remax.com websites are leaders in consumer visits among real estate franchise brands. Its mobile search, m.illinoisproperty.com, allows users to conduct real estate searches on any mobile device with Internet access. The northern Illinois network is part of RE/MAX LLC, a global real estate organization with 89,000 sales associates in 86 nations.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
RE/MAX Agents Anticipate Modest Improvement for Metro Chicago Real Estate Market in 2012
ELGIN, Ill., Dec. 15, 2011 -- What’s ahead for the housing segment of the metropolitan Chicago real estate market in 2012? RE/MAX recently asked a representative sampling of its experienced agents for their assessment of where the market stands today and what the New Year may hold. A sizable majority of those agents expects that the first half of 2012 is likely to see a slow steadying of home prices and a continuation of the recent trend toward increased home sales.
First-time home buyers and investors should again be key sources of demand for housing in 2012, just as they have been in 2011, the survey revealed. Because both those groups of buyers tend to focus on lower priced homes, the RE/MAX agents expect to see continued growth in sales activity and possibly shorter sales times for homes in that segment of the market, while upper-bracket properties may take longer to sell and face greater pricing pressure.
“We’ve seen a definite improvement in recent months,” said Mark Zipperer, broker/owner of RE/MAX Edge in the Lake View neighborhood of Chicago. “The public has a clearer understanding of how much more affordable homes have become, and at the same time, there is less concern about a further downward correction.”
The improved affordability of homes has been a key factor in bringing first-time buyers into the market, reported Julie Anderson of RE/MAX 10 on Chicago’s Southwest Side. Another plus she sees for the market moving into 2012, is that “local banks have become more aggressive about mortgage lending after sitting on the sidelines much of the time over the prior two or three years.”
Across the metro area, sales activity has been on the upswing for both detached homes and attached units since the middle of 2011, and the agents expect more of the same in 2012. Home sales in Cook County were 13.9 percent higher from July through October of 2011 than for the similar period in 2010. In Chicago, the increase was a more modest 9 percent, while in the seven-county metro area outside Chicago, sales increased a robust 24.5 percent.
As those figures suggest, the tenor of the housing market varied considerably by area. RE/MAX agents in Chicago, for example, said that sales volumes have risen only modestly in recent months but that prices for single-family homes have shown improved stability, with some neighborhoods seeing small gains.
Matt Boemmel of RE/MAX Exclusive Properties in Chicago said prices of detached homes in areas such as Graceland West and St. Ben’s on the Mid-North Side have made gains recently thanks to a limited inventory of available properties. If the inventory doesn’t expand substantially, that trend should continue in 2012, he believes.
“There’s a better understanding now of what opportunities the housing market offers,” said Boemmel. “One thing I’m seeing more of is people trading neighborhoods. The home they sell and the one they buy are priced similarly, but they are getting more of what they want, which might be greater square footage or a better location.”
The survey also revealed that agents expect a greater improvement in the market for single-family homes during 2012 than for attached units, a category that includes townhouses and condominium apartments.
One major reason, according to several agents, is that many attached homes are part of homeowner associations that have not made themselves eligible for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) financing, and other associations refuse to allow any or a significant number of their units to be rented.
That is not so much the case along Chicago’s lakefront, according to Zipperer. The many large, professionally managed condo buildings found there typically are FHA approved and are more flexible about rentals. As a result, they have been attracting both investors and those who plan to live in the unit they purchase.
“Even for those who want to occupy the unit, the fact that it would be easy to rent gives them extra confidence,” said Zipperer. In the current economic environment where losing a job can mean many months of searching for the next position, having the option of renting your condo is a nice safety net.
The suburbs present a mixed picture when looking ahead to 2012. For example, Kathy Brothers of RE/MAX Town and Country in Aurora, Ill., sees continued price declines a likely scenario in the Fox Valley because the inventory of homes for sale during the spring season should be quite large.
In contrast, Paul Wells, broker/owner of RE/MAX of Barrington in Barrington, Ill., expects home prices to gradually stabilize for homes in the middle and lower price brackets in the markets he serves, which include the Barrington area and surrounding communities in Lake, Cook and McHenry counties. But for upper-bracket properties, he anticipates further price declines.
In central Will County, David Cobb of RE/MAX All Properties in New Lenox, Ill., said he believes home prices are about as low as they will go, but “I don’t expect a bounce back in the year ahead.”
Along the North Shore, Allyson Hoffman of RE/MAX Villager in Glenview, Ill., said she is hopeful that sales prices of single-family homes will rebound more rapidly this year than last after softening during the slower winter months.
The survey also asked RE/MAX agents what actions they thought would do the most to help the Chicago-area housing market recover its balance.
“As a group, our agents pointed to three areas in which they thought actions would be helpful: 25 percent cited the importance of a stronger employment market and an overall improvement in public confidence; 40 percent pointed to a need for slightly more relaxed lending standards for both home purchasers and those seeking to refinance existing loans; and 35 percent stressed the need for banks to handle short sales and foreclosures more efficiently,” said Laura Ortoleva, a spokesperson for the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network.
Friday, November 18, 2011
October Home Sales Activity in Metro Chicago Real Estate Market Jumped 22.3 Percent, RE/MAX Reports
ELGIN, Ill., Nov. 16, 2011 -- October home sales activity in the metropolitan Chicago real estate market continued the upward trend evident during the third quarter of 2011, according to an analysis by RE/MAX of home sales statistics collected by Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC. The number of homes changing hands in October increased 22.3 percent when compared to October 2010. That followed a 19.3 percent gain in the third quarter.
Home prices continued to fall in October, with the median price of a home in the seven-county metro area at $150,000, 15.7 percent lower than during the previous October. The year-to-year decline in the third quarter was 7.8 percent.
“The drop in home prices during October, as well as in the third quarter, is attributable, at least in part, to an increase in sales of distressed properties (short sales and foreclosures),” said Laura Ortoleva, a spokesperson for the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network. “Distressed properties represented 43.6 percent of all sales in the metro area during October, up from 37.5 percent a year earlier.”
The increase in distressed sales continued a trend first seen in September when 40.1 percent of closings were distressed properties, up from 36.3 percent in August.
October home sales activity was 4.6 percent lower than in September. Over the prior five years, October averaged 5.3 percent fewer sales than September.
Attached Homes
Sales of attached homes (primarily condominium apartments and townhouses) rose a robust 26.7 percent in October from the same month last year. The median sales price of attached homes was 23 percent lower in October than it had been a year earlier.
However, attached home sales varied widely by area within the metro region during October. In DuPage County, sales were up 60 percent. They rose 74 percent in Kendall County and 44 percent in Will County. In contrast, the City of Chicago, which accounted for 40 percent of all attached home sales last month, saw transactions rise 17 percent.
Similarly, the median sales price for an attached home declined as much as 35 percent (in McHenry County) and is little as 7.6 percent (in Will County). Here are the October median sales prices for attached homes in all seven counties: Cook-- $130,000; DuPage --$117,500; Kane -- $106,250; Kendall -- $90,000; Lake -- $120,000; McHenry -- $82,050; Will -- $120,000.
The average market time for attached homes that sold during October in the metro area was 179 days, down from 182 days a year earlier.
Detached Homes
The market for detached homes continued to exhibit greater stability than the attached home market, but both moved in similar directions. Sales activity for detached homes was up 20 percent in October, with 3,697 homes changing hands. The median price was $169,000, a decline of 11 percent from the year-earlier period.
Sales activity increased in all seven counties. Will and Kendall counties experienced the largest gains, with sales up 54 percent and 47 percent, respectively. Cook County had the most modest increase, 10 percent, with the City of Chicago recording a 7 percent decline in sales.
The median home price in the city was the most stable, dipping just 0.4 percent from the prior October to $130,000. The sharpest declines in median price were in Lake County (down 24 percent) and Kane County (down 20 percent).
The October median prices for detached homes in the seven counties are as follows: Cook-- $155,450; DuPage --$240,000; Kane -- $147,250; Kendall -- $184,642; Lake -- $175,000; McHenry -- $164,950; Will -- $170,055.
For detached homes sold in October, the average time spent on the market before going under contract was 163 days, up from 156 days in October of last year.
RE/MAX has been the leader in the northern Illinois real estate market since 1989. The RE/MAX Northern Illinois network consists of 2,200 sales associates and 105 individually owned and operated RE/MAX offices that provide a full range of brokerage services throughout the northern one-third of Illinois. Its www.illinoisproperty.com and www.remax.com websites are leaders in consumer visits among real estate franchise brands. Its mobile search, m.illinoisproperty.com, allows users to conduct real estate searches on any mobile device with Internet access. The northern Illinois network is part of RE/MAX LLC, a global real estate organization with 89,000 sales associates in 85 nations.
