Real Estate in Barrington & The Northwest Suburbs: Illinois: Barrington

South Barrington Real Estate - 2011 Year End Review

January 18th 2012 already! This month is flying by so I must get the remaining market reports done for 2012. Today we'll review South Barrington real estate sales during the last year. In case you are a first time reader or not a local, South Barrington real estate is known for it's luxury homes in the zip code 60010. South Barrington real estate has suffered alongside the rest of the zip code. Values have fallen, sales have slowed and while not a majority of the market, we have not been immune to short sales and foreclosures.

South Barrington Real Estate Market Report-Absorption Rate

This chart has a few tales to tell. The difference in South Barrington real estate sales between the two halves of the year is astounding. In the first 6 months there were only 9 sales. The second half had 37. Thankfully the last 6 months had a more balanced sales activity. In 2012 we have 10 South Barrington homes under contract so sales in the first half of this year should be better.

Our absorption rate shows we are still in a buyers market with about 9 months of supply. A small increase in list to sales ratio was seen but we really need to pull this up a little to 95%. If listing your South Barrington home in 2012, your average days on market hovers around 200 days. Ask me to make suggestions on how to beat that number. Corinne: 847-363-3686

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.

I recently read a comment online from a consumer on another web site that got me thinking about how contracts and earnest money work differently in every state. Today I am talking about Illinois and the reason I want to get this in writing is because the writer thought there was unethical behavior-which in fact there was not. Let's answer the first question.

When Is Your Contract Secure. I am of course talking about your contract to buy a home. In the business we refer to them as Purchase Offers. Why? Well because to begin with that is what they are. So here is the process:

1. You find a home you want to buy.
2. Your Realtor writes up a purchase offer and you sign it.
3. Your Realtor presents your offer to the listing agent.
4. Listing agent presents and discusses offer with seller.
5. Seller either rejects, accepts or counters the offer.
6. Any negotiation concludes and terms are reached. Changes are made on the offer to reflect changes.
7. Purchase offer goes back to listing agent.
8. Seller signs document.

If your Barrington home is for sale, it's likely part of a subdivision. With the exception of homes in the center of the village of Barrington, it's an important piece of information about your home for sale. Which Barrington subdivision is it in?

While not all buyers know which subdivision/s they would like to live in this does not apply to every buyer. Local buyers may know the area well enough to have not only a target village but a target subdivision. They may go online and search for homes using the subdivision as part of their search criteria. So what happens if they search by subdivision, your subdivision, and your home does not come up in the results?

Simply they don't see your home for sale. 

Taking this one step farther a buyer might contact a Realtor and ask to be sent a list of homes in a specific subdivision. I can search my MLS adding all their criteria including the subdivision name. Our system relies on the data input by the listing brokerage/agent. If the subdivision is not input, your home would not be returned in the results, and therefore not included in that list I just sent out.

Estates at Lake Barrington - A Subdivision Entrance

Our MLS input forms have mandatory information needed, like address, price and a lot of other data. Subdivision name is there but it's an optional field. Your subdivision is freely available information. Even if you are not sure, or it's not obvious, the tax records generally have the information. All Realtors using our MLS system have access to the tax records, it's linked directly by PIN - Property Identification Number.

I highly encourage you to check with your listings agent to find the Barrington subdivision your home is in and publish it as part of our MLS data. You never know, it could grab your buyer!

Winter in Barrington can give you that warming feeling. The first snow of the season is usually a dusting, just like we got overnight. While for many it signals the start of a cold and tough driving season, it also makes you think of real fireplaces, hot chocolate, building snowmen with the kids and of course Christmas.

If you like taking photos like I do, a white covering makes our area very pretty and hides the dying grass and shrubs, coating them with crisp clean winter white. Winter is my favorite season, even though I'll have to shovel the path and snow blow the drive later on.

If you are about to sell your home you'll likely be calling on Barrington Realtors to list your home and expose it to the largest part of the real estate market - the other Realtors. The reason for this is quite simple. We as Realtors are the ones with the majority of the buyers.

To list your home for sale requires what we refer to as a listing agreement. A better term is an exclusive right to sell your home utilizing our MLS as a vehicle to expose to other Barrington Realtors. It is a written contract laying out what the Realtor is expected to do and in what timeframe.

Today we are talking about that time-frame, what it can be, what it should be, what effect the time-frame may have on the marketing of your home. An agreement can be anything from 1 day to 1 year. After a year you can agree to extend the agreement but it must be in writing. If another year passes, another written extension can be agreed and so on.

Barrington Realtors prefer longer agreements.

Why? Any Realtor that lists a home for sale does so on a commission only basis. No income from the broker, no help with marketing costs, no salary for any time spent during the sale process. Payday is a few days after closing day once the broker pays the agent. With an average market time in Barrington over 6 months, it's a fair assessment to assume it might take this long to sell, even more. A sale rewards the Realtor for the work, and reimburses for any costs incurred.

The longer the agreement, the better chance a Barrington Realtorhas of  selling and closing the sale and getting paid.

Sellers prefer shorter agreements.

Why? Some sellers don't like the idea of being tied to long term agreements. In the event the partnership does not work well, there are disagreements with no resolutions, the seller feels they are not receiving the service they expected, it stands to reason they would want to be able to get out of the agreement.

So how long should Barrington Realtors & Sellers Agree to stay with each other?

Well there is no rule, it's up to both parties to reach an agreement. If a seller wants a 3 month agreement but the Barrington Realtor wants a 6 month minimum, one of you will compromise. Don't be surprised though if you stick to your guns to find the Realtor will not take your listing. We have to do a risk assessment, if the risk if not selling is high, the brokerage may decline the listing based on office policy or the Realtor may decline.

What's Fair to both parties? I would say the seller should give the listing agent enough time to get the sale and the Barrington Realtor should be fairly sure they can get the sale in the time-frame they agree to based on price, condition and market reports. Interview a few Barrington Realtors before you sign an agreement, find out what they are going to do to market your property.

Question? If a seller wanted to be able to cancel an agreement at any time for any reason, would they be prepared to buy that ability by paying an upfront fee to help cover the administration and marketing costs incurred? ( Not legal for short sales.)  

As usual at this time of year our weather is like a yo-yo. We've seen a lot of rain in the last few days, it's been cloudy all last week, and now the cold is back with temperatures dropping into the 30's for the week ahead. Snow, dare I say it, will be here very soon. Now that winter is around the corner, winterizing your Barrington homes doesn't take long if you are living in your house.

The majority of homes here in the Barrington area have large lots and acreage. So let's take a look at what you can do outside to help you through the winter months:

Air conditioning units. Wrap the A/C condenser. This is done to prevent the constant water that gets through the top, freezing and melting which can cause damage. That said do not over wrap. We still need it to have air flow even though it's not in use. We buy a small tarp and cover the top and half the sides.

Ride on mowers. Remove the battery and bring it inside. Store it in the basement or laundry room, somewhere that you can keep it out of the way but off the floor - that would just drain it's power. When spring comes your mower will start right up.

Exterior water bibs. Undo your hoses, let them drain before it freezes and store in the garage. This stops water freezing inside and splitting the hose. If you have frost proof bibs no worry, if not consider buying bib protectors. This stops water inside the bib freezing and working it's way back into the house as it freezes and causes damage.

Got a long driveway? I have already put my snow markers in the ground. This helps us know where the driveway is to plow when we get a large fall of snow. We blow our own drive, others have service, either way it will protect your grass area from getting ravaged. Do it soon, as soon as the ground freezes you'll have a hard time getting them down far enough to stay in for the season. If you do blow your own snow, give it a quick sweep to remove any stones or other debris, to preserve your blower.

Ice Melt. About once a year we seem to get an ice event, you know, those days when you walk out and wish you knew how to skate! Get some ice melt from your local hardware store ready for that day.

Here's a funny story. When we lived in Deer Park, we had a house on a small hill at the end of the cul de sac. A local police cruiser was crawling the neighborhood and came down, yes down, the cul de sac. Of course it was that ice day we just talked about and he got stuck. Our ice melt was never going to be enough to get the poor chap up out of the cul de sac. We took him some hot coffee while he called for the township salt truck to come and salt the road. Prior to that even my husband had decided to slide down our drive to go to work....big mistake, he ended up in the shrubbery at the bottom in the circle inside the road. Between them they had a good laugh. he went on his merry way behind the salt truck and we used our ice melt to get hubby back up the drive, having decided he was better off working from home that day.

Snow! Our average snow fall is about 6 to 7 inches. As an average that means we get flurries, an inch here and there and them like last year we can get a 2 foot dumping of the stuff. If the snow on your roof melts then your attic insulation is not doing a very good job. Check your depth now or wait for a snow fall to see what happens. Be mindful of the sun though, even in the winter cold it will melt the snow from above.

FYI-Insulating in your attic is one of the easiest places to improve comfort and energy efficiency. Why, well warm air rises so if we trap it, it'll keep us warm. For more insulation information: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=diy.diy_attic_insulation

Where to go to get supplies?I know you are all busy Christmas shopping. Don't put this off for too much longer though, it's weather dependent. We've got a Home Depot in Lake Zurich, Ace Hardware in Fox River Grove for those of us in Lake Barrington and my store, and Menards at the top of Route 53 on Lake Cook Road, so all Barrington areas are covered. Here are the phone numbers.

Home Depot Lake Zurich: (847) 726-0707

Menards Long Grove: (847) 963-0558

Ace Hardware Fox River Grove: (847) 639-4431

 I hope these tips have been useful, I have done our drive, need to do the hoses, and then it's time to do the outside decorations. Perhaps should have done that yesterday while it was warmer!  

Open houses in Barringtonin the years preceding the explosion of the internet, were a very common thing. In todays real estate business they have certainly declined in popularity, let's face it the chance of someone driving around, stumbling upon an open house, visiting and buying the house are slim to none. I am not saying it doesn't happen but the odds are very low. Buyers today use the internet to do their research, which is a good thing.

So why are Barrington open houses a liability Corinne?

A Barrington listing Realtor, or not so good, a Realtor from the same office will hold your house open to the public for 2 to 4 hours. One person. The Realtors job is to sell the house right? Maybe not! It's a true statement that the reason other Realtors will hold the house open is not to sell your house but to snag a buyer. Or more than one buyer. But here are some of those liability issues:

• Realtor's have been murdered at open houses. Grim as that sounds we are opening ourselves to that possibility.
• Burglars can case a house for possible theft of high ticket items and check out security.
• More than one visitor at a time makes it difficult to watch everyone-items may go missing.
• Breakage, it's not deliberate but kids can break expensive items, even adults can be clumsy.
• Food and drink if spilled can cause expensive damage to carpets and hardwood floors.

The internet is as good a tool as any I know to weed out the "lookie loo"s from the "worthy buyers". It the worthy buyers you want to visit. The ones that have proved they can financially afford your home, have a good reason to buy not just a whim and have pre-qualified your house online by looking at photos and tours and deciding it needs to be seen. Those buyers will either have a Realtor, call a Realtor, or call the listing agent.

If you don't know me there's one thing for sure, I shoot straight and this is one of those posts. I believe honesty is always the best policy, even though sometimes it might sting.

Just remember this post is written by Corinne Guest, therefore it is my opinion and others may disagree, but I have the right to publish my opinions, and if it helps some of you make a decision about open houses, then for that I am thankful.

In my daily life as a Barrington real estate broker, I meet with all sorts of responses about my working with an independent real estate brokerage in Barrington. Whether it's raised eyebrows, looks of confusion or about 6 times a year a request from another broker to meet for lunch so they can recruit me, reactions are diverse. So I thought it's about time I explained in print why I like working as an independent and how it benefits me.

First it's important to explain that Royal Advocate Realty in Barrington the owners of RealEstateInBarrington.com, RealEstateLakeZurich.com and RelocationHouseHunters.com is my company. Having started out in real estate as an agent with a local independent company then moving to a large franchise name it was clear to me I did not like their business models, so what's a girl to do? Simple, get my brokers license and start my own company. That was in 2008 and I have never looked back.

I think it's a fair comment that if you want to run your own company, you'll have a blast doing it and I am. It's not for everyone. It works for me because I have always done my own thing.  The challenge of starting an LLC, designing logos, finding premises, deciding how I want to run my company for me is not a challenge at all, it's exciting and fun. Of course we are three and a half years old now and going strong. Those raised eyebrows that indicated I was plain mad to start a Barrington real estate brokerage in a declining market can be unraised! We did it, we being my husband and I.

So why do I like running my own independent Barrington real estate brokerage?

Simply the freedom to make my own choices. To run my business the way I want. As long as I abide by the law of real estate in Illinois, I am free to run my business my way. I can make a rule and break a rule. I have all the flexibility in the world. I see this as  a major advantage for my clients, my goal being to make sure everything I do for my clients has a benefit for them first and foremost.

So what's in the future of Royal Advocate Realty?

Sorry cannot tell you all my secrets, there are others watching and I want to be the first. So for now lets just say I will continue promoting our online presence. Our Barrington web site has pretty much conquered the competition, big and small, now it's time to do the same with Lake Zurich and our relocation site. No matter who you are I believe if you have a skill you must make best use of it. Ignoring my real estate skills, mine is increasing our online presence. This helps bring us new clients, it helps our clients get exposure for their Barrington homes, and it provides an ever growing resource for our visitors.

One thing is for sure, we are not going anywhere. Our business is rock solid, we make prudent business decisions to keep it that way. If you are in the market to buy or sell a Barrington home soon, give our website a twirl and let us know what you think.

For now, because it is the day before Thanksgiving, I wish everyone in my US family a Happy Thanksgiving, we are proud to have adopted your tradition and give thanks for your business, friendship and love.  

Welcome, if you found this post then the chances are you will be relocating to South Barrington sometime in the not too distant future, or South Barrington is one area you are considering for your new home. As relocation specialists we are glad you found us. It doesn't matter whether you are coming thousands of miles, or from another suburban city closeby, packing up and moving is no easy task and our goal is to make the process less stressful.

You might wonder why we love helping relocating families. If you read our bio hopefully all will become clear! If not I think it's a simple as using real life experiences to help my clients have a better experience. I make no bones about it, I consider myself far more experienced that other South Barrington Realtors. Why? Because I have the unique hands on experience of moving myself both nationally and internationally and more than once. I know it's far more than just a property move. There are families involved, kids, pets, new jobs, schools to be organized, and so much more.

South Barrington is a choice many luxury home buyers make. It's close to I-90 so if you need to commute to downtown Chicago you'll be on the expressway within minutes. There are also lots of major hospitals near to I-90, for Doctors and Physicians this makes the travel to work relatively easy. Sherman Hospital in Elgin, St Alexius Hospital in Hoffman Estates and Advocate Hospitals are all easily reached from South Barrington.

Homes are typically on 1 to 2 acre lots. You'll find waterfront properties in South Barrington, an Active Adult Community, several gated communities and undoubtedly the most luxurious homes in the Barrington market, aside from a few in Barrington Hills. We've got all the South Barrington real estate listings by price range for you to browse. You can look at the newest listings, even find out what homes recently sold. If a relocation to South Barrington is in your future, sign up for our Relocation Success Program and become a priority client, no strings attached, nothing to sign, we would just love to work with you.