Real Estate in Barrington & The Northwest Suburbs

Lake Barrington Shores - Winning The Popularity Contest in 2012

This might seem like a funny title for a year end market report, but's it meant to help sellers understand that they have competition in Lake Barrington Shores in today's buyers market. At the end we'll look at some suggestions to help you win that popularity contest and sell 2012.

My opinion is that 2011 was not really much better a year than 2010. In conversations with both consumers and fellow agents it seems a lot of folks are still waiting for a rubber ball bounce back. It isn't going to happen! Gains will be slow, very slow, and I am not sure when we are going to see the start.

 Let's get back to Lake Barrington Shores.

I did a little research over the weekend into which brokerages were selling the most units in Lake Barrington Shores. It was not at all what I expected. No clear winner. I am happy to say I manage a couple every year, but honestly would like a few more. I get so many visitors to my web site looking for Lake Barrington Shores, I scratch my head and ponder why they don't buy. So what did sell in 2011?

Total units sold were 30.  That's 2.5 a month. How many current listings? 57. How do the sales compare to previous years?

The good news from this chart is that marketing times appear to have peaked and are now leveling off. The bad news for sellers last year, well I guess the graph speaks volumes. Frankly last year was pretty awful. Only 30 sales compared to all previous years in a down market where sales were always more than 40 a year. So what happened?

Now back to that popularity contest. What can you do to jump start your sale this year? 

• Whether listing new or currently listed. Is your price competitive. Get a new analysis of your price!
• Beat your competition. Undercut them. Become the best buy in LBS.
• Upgrades. From the mouths of my buyers. They don't want old kitchens or bathrooms!
• De-Clutter. Too much furniture in too little space makes your home seem small.
• Paint. Purple, pink, aqua, get it gone, neutralize.
• Vacant? Consider staging, well staged homes enable buyers to visualize themselves living there.

Before we look at the last quarter of 2011 to see what's selling in Wynstone North Barrington, you might be interested in the first three quarters of 2011, so here are the reports.

First Quarter 2011 ................. Second Quarter 2011 ........................ Third Quarter 2011

To summarize the content of these reports: In the first quarter, 7 homes sold, 45 homes available; 2nd quarter 4 sales, 47 available homes; 3rd quarter 8 sales, 43 homes available. Now it's time to see the total sales for 2011, and we'll also take a look at the popular price range in Wynstone, foreclosures, short sales and other data.

Wynstone North Barrington Sales 2011

As you can see the last quarter of the year only had 3 sales with an average marketing time of 333 days. The good news is there are 6 listings currently under contract, so 2012 should be a comparable start to the year. Overall in 2011, there were 22 homes in Wynstone sold. With about 45 to 50 homes available at any given time that's just under half.

How many Wynstone homes sold were foreclosures and short sales?

5 sales were foreclosures. 4 sales were short sales. The highest foreclosure was 8 Kensington Drive at $1,125,000 and the highest short sale was 58 Hillburn Lane at $1,401,360. This shows that distressed homes are available in the higher price brackets.

What Price Range Sold Best in Wynstone in 2011?

There were 5 sales in the $900,000 to $1 Million price band. The other prices bands had about 2 or 3 each. Overall the higher priced homes in Wynstone, those above $1,500,000 are still struggling to attract buyers.

What's For Sale? What's The Current Average Marketing  Time in Wynstone?

At time of writing we have one clubhouse home for sale at $574,000. There are 7 available homes for rent ranging form $3375 to $8000 a month, 4 vacant lots from $85,000 to $549,000. Stopping to take a look at that $85,000 lot! It's a lot sized 0.79 acres and is a foreclosure. The remaining 36 homes are single family with prices from $475,000 to $2,600,000.

Current average marketing time of the homes listed-not rentals and not vacant lots - is 618 days. I checked to see contributing factors, maybe the higher priced homes bringing this number up? That is not the case. There are some lower priced homes with long marketing times.

I've said it before, Pricing, pricing, pricing. Nuff said.

My year end review of real estate sales for 2011 is under way, you can read about single family homes; this post is a quick similar summary of Palatine condo and town homes sales. In other words attached properties that rarely have land, mostly common areas. You know there is always an exception to a rule.  

First lets take a look at sales in 2011 compared to 2010.

• Sold in 2010 = 396
• Sold in 2011 = 453

That's an increase of  14%. Single family homes had an increase of 16% so it's very comparable. Lets look at sales in the previous 3 years as a comparison.

• 2009 = 501
• 2008 = 429
• 2007 = 650

No doubt about it, Palatine attached home sales are still down but maybe there is a sign of recovery. We have to factor in short sales and foreclosures as they always make up a large part of the lower end of a market.

What about average prices in Palatine's attached home sales? Here's a chart that goes back to 2007, the first year after the big declines. You can see the average sales price and the average marketing time in Palatine over the last 5 years.

The average sales price has taken a big hit, but as I mentioned earlier short sales and bank owned homes contribute to a steeper decline as they sell under market value.

Marketing times are still going up, that's not a good sign for condo and town home owners who want to sell but at 6 months it is not awful. There are many local markets that have a 10 to 12 month average market time.

Stay tuned for Palatine real estate market reports throughout the year.

Palatine real estate is local. The only thing relevant to Palatine real estate is Palatine. What happens in Schaumburg, Cook County, Illionois or the USA is irrelevant. Reading the major media headlines is dangerous when it comes to real estate. They focus so much on what's going on in the whole country. Palatine real estate could be better, could be worse, one thing is for sure, it will not be the same.

So here goes with my Palatine year end review. This report is all about single family homes. Referencing above, single family homes are different to condos so I must do another report for those with town-homes. After all you don't get any land with those so values are bound to be less.

First lets take a look at sales in 2011 compared to 2010.

• Single family homes sold in 2010 = 263
• Single family homes sold in 2011 = 306

That's an increase of  16%. The question is are we on an inclining trend?  The only way to establish that is to go back a few more years so here we go:

• 2009 = 303
• 2008 = 268
• 2007 = 298

Well 2011 was a good year but it's not necessarily an inclining trend, just a better year than 2010. Only future years well tell us if it's getting better. So what about:

• 2006 = 414
• 2005 = 503

It's fairly obvious when the bubble started deflating.

What about average prices in Palatine's single family home sales? Here's a chart that goes back to 2007, the first year after the big declines. You can see the average sales price and the average marketing time in Palatine over the last 5 years.

I would like to see both of the lines on this chart flattening out a little more, but I guess we'll just have to be patient. It appears to be happening, just slowly.

Look out for my next report on Palatine's  condo and town-homes sales.

Was 2011 good for Barrington real estate? Will 2012 be better? Well I don't have a crystal ball so I cannot answer the last question so lets look at 2011. It's interesting to look at the year as a whole to find average marketing times, average sales prices, and what our inventory status is.

I am only reporting single family homes here, adding attached homes like condos and town homes would skew these numbers too much, so they'll be available shortly in their own report.

I have looked at sales during the whole year but also compared them with the last 6 months and last 3 months to see if the trend is the same throughout the year. The numbers tell me it's pretty steady with little variation.

You can see that the average sales per month in Barrington doesn't vary much, the last 3 months of the year showing only a slight slow down. Maybe that's the mild winter we have had to date, keeping buyers in the market.

We still have well over a years worth of inventory, but had I taken out the upper quarter of the data, i.e. the homes over $2  Million this would likely decline to about 9 to 10 months. It's the high priced homes that are still sitting and with long market times it can paint a bleaker picture overall.

Our average marketing times are a better measure for sellers to go by, especially if their home hovers around the average sale price with in 2011 was just under $580,000. If you have a high priced home, buyers are scarce and you need to be patient.

Overall 2011 was firmly on the side of a buyers market here in Barrington Illinois.

My thoughts are this is unlikely to change much in 2012. Hopefully with the very low mortgage rates we have right now, the first time buyers will continue to buy and this will create the domino effect of moving sellers up to our market.

I am seeing a positive sign. December is usually a slow month for my Barrington web site traffic. This past December bought over 2000 visitors to my site, with about 25% being repeat visitors. So interest is high and I for one am encouraged by that.  

More market reports will be published here, or visit my Barrington real estate blog and subscribe to them all.

Twice in this past week I have been exposed to some jaw dropping criticizm. It wasn't that the criticism itself hurt, I am thick skinned enough to ignore it. It's the mere fact that other Lake Zurich Realtors think they know better and proceed to ram that down another Realtors throat. Here are the two instances.

Market Reports

The way I write my market reports is my way. I decide what to put in and what not. I try to make it easy for my readers to understand. It's not an exact science, it's just simply extracting data from my MLS and presenting it the way I want. Just because another Realtor thinks differently does not make mine wrong. So I will continue to write my Lake Zurich market reports my way, with my graphs.

Property Descriptions

One of the things all Lake Zurich listing agents do is write a summary of the property being listed. I have always thought the best way to describe a property is in a story book fashion. You know, like in kids books you see a picture and there is a description underneath. Each picture is a mini story and collectively you see and read the whole book.

Our MLS has a limit on characters, so once a story idea is formed the listing agent will try to focus on extracting from the story.

One of my agents, Eileen Mattison, writes wonderful property descriptions, I am seriously jealous of her ability to extract and present the best points of a home. She paints great pictures in words. So when she gets "told" to change it and literally presented with the alternative text to use, I feel that's just downright disrespectful. Gosh did they ever consider that the listing agent and seller discussed and agreed what to use?

Regardless, we all do things differently. That does not make one right and one wrong. There are so many features to a large home, we'll all focus on the points we think are best, or the seller wants highlighted. If you feel like criticizing, please don't; please keep it to yourself, for some Lake Zurich Realtors, this can be very hurtful.      

Long Grove is a village considered as a relocation destination by buyers looking for luxury homes, golf course properties, and gated communities. It caters to the higher priced housing with most homes being situated on acre lots or larger. New management employees will often consider Long Grove alongside Kildeer, Hawthorn Woods and Barrington.

How's the real estate market in Long Grove compared to last year? I know we are not done yet but it seems as good a time as any time take a look at 2011 to date. The remainder of this year will likely not make a huge difference...although never say never!

Long Grove does have new construction as well as homes that are young. This gives relocation buyers the opportunity to buy homes that need little work upon moving in and this is wonderful as no doubt you'll already have a list of important things that need taking care of and don't need anything more on your to do list.

Long Grove's home sales 2011 compared to 2010

From this chart we see a good percentage increase in sales. It's actually up 21% on 2010 and we still have December left. With 13 Long Grove homes under contract I would think we'll see a few more close before the year is done. So if you are relocating away from the area and need to sell your Long Grove home, things are not as bleak as they have been in years past. For buyers, don't worry, inventory levels are still high so there are plenty of homes to choose from in Long Grove. 

What About Average Marketing Times in Long Grove Illinois

Preparing a chart for a month by month analysis makes no sense when sales are a few per month. So instead I'll just compare year to year to give you a bettter idea.

The average marketing time for homes sales in Long Grove 2011 was  360 days.

By comparison in 2011, up to when I checked the sales this morning, the average time was 324 days.

This shows a reduction in average marketing time of about 1 month.

The average sale price in 2010 was $627,017 and homes sold at 90% of the final list price.

For 2011 to date the average sales price was $614,556 and homes sold at 90% of the final list price.

This shows a slight decline in average sales price but sales to list ratio remains at a steady number. This report prepared by Corinne Guest,  is deemed reliable and is based on the data I extract from the MLS at time of preparation. For more market reports visit my websites at anytime.

See which relocation company employees we are proud to assist with finding a new home. Start your home search in the Northwest Suburbs of Illinois including Long Grove

Why Fox River Grove Corinne? Well for those who don't know this small town in Northern Illinois it's situated on Route 14 northwest of the Barrington area. It's next door to Lake Barrington and some of the homes are in the Barrington school district boundaries. It's often selected by buyers as an alternative to Barrington because homes are less expensive in Fox River Grove.

I checked and found I have not done a real estate market report for Fox River Grove, so high time I started. Being a small area with just over 5000 residents,  there are not hundreds of sales every year but I am pleased to see that in the last 12 months 59 homes have sold.

Fox River Grove home sales and marketing times.

The yellow line is showing the average marketing times to sell homes in Fox River Grove each year. I cannot access data for 2005 or 2006 but you can see from 2007 to 2008 we dipped down and then in 2009 saw a dramatic increase in days. 2010 was much better with 2011 rising slightly.

So what about volume of sales. Look at the blue line. Our high was 2005 with 92 sales that year, 2007 was pretty good with 75 sales then it sank. Going back this many years helps us all to see if things are getting better and it does seem as if we are climbing out from the bottom.

Last piece of data for this report. If the average marketing time is 159 days, how much inventory do we have in Fox River Grove's real estate market, is it a buyers, sellers or balanced market. Well if 6 months is a balanced market, which I think is a fair estimate, then we are still in a buyers market. Based on number of sales last year to number of current listings we have over 14 months of inventory in Fox River Grove. Of course homes sell and new ones are listed so it's a revolving market and we never have no homes available.

I hope this overview has been useful for Fox River Grove residents. If you are considering selling in 2012 ask for a home estimate, it's the best place to start so you can crunch your numbers.

Kildeer's real estate market is small.To date this year we have closed 42 sales. 37 of the sales were detached homes, the other 5 were vacant lot sales.

So what I wanted to do was have a look at the sales over the year to see if there is any apparent change in market times, and are they declining. Why would I do this? Simply because it's almost December and although our winter with snow will be in full swing for the next 3 months, many home owners that need to sell will list their homes for sale from January 2nd onwards and I assume might like to know.

Chart Showing Kildeer Real Estate Marketing Times and List To Sales Ratio

As with most charts and graphs there are always some eyebrow raising anomalies. If you look at the chart above you'll see in October the Average Market time for Kildeers real estate sales was nearly 1000 days. In fact there was only one sale that month and the property took 944 days to sell. Wow, now that takes patience! I took a look at the property to see why. Usually it's because the house backs to a busy road, or it's a non conforming house, but not so. pricing was an issue as it sold at 75% of the original asking price.

I don't think I can tell you the average marketing times for Kildeer is following a trend, clearly it's not. If you want a number, it's 310 days average over the year to date.

The list to sales price ratio though is better falling between 88% and 95% for the most part. Again the average number over the year to date is 93%. Based on the original list price it's lower at 84%, so price cuts needed to sell.

I hope this gives you a little insight into Kildeer real estate market for this year and what to expect if you are ready to sell your Kildeer home.

I recently wrote a post about there being more to Lake Barrington than Lake Barrington Shores. So hot on the heels of that it seems the perfect time to look at the Lake Barrington real estate market excluding Lake Barrington Shores. (I write quarterly reports about the LBS market  if you want that data.)

Lake Barrington is a small village and as 1317 of the 2039 housing units are in LBS, it stands to reason that Lake Barrington real estate does not account for many sales on a year by year basis. Based on the statistics I pull from our MLS there are currently only 23 single family homes for sale in Lake Barrington. Another 3 homes are under contract and in the last 12 months Nov 11 2010 to Nov 11 2011 there have been 25 sales. So it looks as if we are on track to sell about the same amount this year as last.

With limited sales per year for an area it's better that I compare by year rather than by month, otherwise the data can be too random to make any sense. Lets look at two data points, probably that many Lake Barrington real estate owners would like to know.

1. What's the average marketing time?
2. What's the list to sales price ratio, again average.

I wish I had better news on the average marketing times. 11 months is a long time to wait for a sale if you are in the market to sell a Lake Barrington home.

What can you do to beat these odds?

Pricing is always important in a buyers market but there are other things that might help. Jazz up your curb appeal especially over the winter months. Be honest, take a walk around your home with a critical eye.  There might some some simple fixes you can do to help. Granted it might cost a few hundred or a one to two thousand to resolve things like dated wall paper, or an old bathroom, but it might secure you a faster sale so you can move on to your next home. A great time to get started if you want to sell in 2012, is right now. Let me know if I can help identify your homes weak points. Buyers today can afford to be picky.

Call Corinne 847-363-3686 or email