Real Estate in Barrington & The Northwest Suburbs

Relocating to Illinois – Coming Home

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:47:24 -0500

If you are Relocating to Illinois, you've already got a friend.

If you are relocating to Illinois you may not be coming here to work, you may be coming home. Whether it's because you love the area, have family here or just feel you were more happy when living here, we often help families like you who are relocating to Illinois. Coming home is a beautiful experience. Even if Illinois was not your birth place, if you consider it home, then it's where your heart is.

When our family moved to Florida back in 2003 we thought it was a permanent move, how wrong we were, after 9 months we hit the road and were relocating to Illinois, the place we set out from not so long ago. There were things about Florida we liked and things we didn't. In the end we felt Illinois was our home even though we were born and raised in England. When we told people we were relocating to Illinois, we were met with some very confused looking faces!

We drove up from the south and crossed the border into Illinois, with snow on the ground and getting colder as the miles passed, I was one very happy person. My smile was palpable. When we made it back to Barrington, I was home. Florida can always be a vacation destination and we made some friends but the home pull was very strong.

Relocating to Illinois - You're Not Alone

If you are set to come home, you're not alone. Just because you have no employer to help with your relocation to Illinois doesn't mean it's going to be a tough road to travel. We are here to help. In fact when we moved to Florida and then back we had no assistance whatsoever from the company my husband worked for. He had the option of working in either state and it was our decision to move so we achieved it all by ourselves and paid for the entire process there and back. You can do it too, but having someone with the same experience as you will be a valuable tool.

Whether you are relocating to Illinois for family, friends, work or just because, we are here to help with your real estate needs. We are here to help and support you through the upheaval. We are here to share stories when you have arrived. Call us if you're relocating to Illinois, we serve the northwest suburbs of Chicago and Barrington and Inverness areas. You can start your home search using with our search tool.

Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

On ARG's Announcement to Pull Their Listings from Syndication

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:00:09 -0500

A well written post from J Philip Faranda, a fellow real estate brokerage owner about ARG's announcement to stop the syndication of their listings. This is a very bold move from a relatively small company in San Diego, but they are not the first. Unlike J Philip I do not pay to buy that advertising space besides our companies listings, seriously I could not afford to do that, nor would I want leads from listings that sold over a year ago for which a syndication company happily accepts my hard earned money. However I do see why J Philip does it.

As for following the lead of Abbott Realty Group, well our small company may well follow suit. We have the online presence to still promote our listings as well if not better than this syndication sites. Our listings will continue to be shared with all Northern Illinois Brokerages and their Realtors and that data will always be accurate.

Via J. Philip Faranda (J. Philip R.E. LLC) Westchester County NY:

Inman news is reporting a Youtube announcement from ARG (Abbott Realty Group) that they are not permitting their listings to be viewed on 3rd party syndicators such as Zillow, Trulia and even Realtor.com. The link is already behind Inman's paywall so I have embedded the video below. This comes in the wake of a similar announcement from midwest Giant Edina Realty's decision to do the very same thing this past November. Jim Abbott, broker and president of ARG, gives what I consider a very well reasoned explanation for his company's decision. You may not agree, but his explanation is compelling.

As much as I'd like to be the enlightened, philosophical, transparency embracing dude I strive to be, the small business owner in me is quietly applauding Mr Abbott's guts. Here's why: You might expect on Zillow or Trulia that if you click on the smiling face next to the advert for more information that you'll be put in touch with the listing agent, but you would be wrong much of the time. I spend 5 figures annually to keep myself as the contact on my listings on these sites, because they are in the business to sell zip codes to agents posting themselves as the local experts. In other words, that smiling face might be some guy who never saw the house in his life but wrote a check to be the contact for the zip code. Any consumer who has ever made inquiries on Zillow and Trulia knows this.

Some listing agents view this as extortion, because they provide the websites the content, but then have to pay for the privelege of being the recipient of the consumer inquiry on their own listing.

The argument for syndication (and the natural rebuttal to Mr Abbott) has always been the same thing: exposure. When a broker is hired to market a property, it is our fiduciary duty to maximize exposure of the home, and these websites get mammoth traffic. It is also a matter of raw competition: "I'll put your listing on Zillow and Trulia" is the 2012 version of "I'll buy an ad in the supermarket homes magazine," which was the better mousetrap when I was first licensed in 1996. Here's the problem with that: The data is often inaccurate and not up to date, and I'm not so sure we are doing our clients any favors when we allow inquiries on their homes to go to some guy at another firm who never set foot in their living room. "Hire me and I'll make sure the guy who bought the zip code gets the calls" doesn't sound too compelling to me.

This is where the syndicators play both ends against the middle: they sell their high traffic and exposure, then have a highly caffeineted sales team contact agents and promise them buyer leads if they pay $XX a month. This puts the agent next to anyone's listings in that zip code who haven't paid themselves. I virtually pay an annuity every month to box out Joe Meatball from getting the calls on my listings, and I get a perk for being the contact guy on Bertha Hairnet's listings. Fair? Hardly, it is the cost of doing business.

When a home is multiple listed, it goes to literally hundreds of websites automatically thanks to the IDX (Internet Data Exchange) feed to search sites of cooperating brokerages, association searches (Like MLSLI.com on Long Island) and national aggregators. The IDX feed is the real time data from MLS. If the information is wrong, it is the fault of the broker, so they have to be on their toes. The trend appears to be that the providers of the content, the listing brokers, are taking back control of their data to ensure accuracy and certainty that they field the consumer inquiries. This takes the property off some popular websites, but if more firms do this those websites may also lose their popularity. That could make them re-think some of their policies.

ARG -and Edina- have made their counterpunch. ARG, with about 25 agents and 41 listing on their website is about the same size as my firm. This took some thought and backbone.

______________________________________________________________________________

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Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

Relocating to Chicago Illinois

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:28:42 -0500

We realize that relocating to Chicago is not easy. Why? Because we've "been there done that" on many occasions. As a child, as an adult, as a parent and as a pet owner, we've experienced everything you are about to embark on. Having lived in England, Singapore, Illinois and Florida, we have been exposed to different cultures and understand all your moving concerns. Hiring a self proclaimed expert is one thing, hiring the expert that has beaten the paths before you will be the best choice you could ever make. Read more about our relocating to Chicago experience.

The first thing we need to establish is are you relocating to Chicago Illinois or are you generalizing? You see Chicago is a big city and then there are the suburbs. All in all it's one pretty large place. Driving from the top to bottom of the suburbs is about 100 miles in a straight line.

Our specialty is the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. This is a large area where there are many well known companies situated along the I-90 and I-294 corridors. For example Motorola in Schaumburg, Zebra Technologies in Vernon Hills, Sears in Hoffman Estates. Each of our suburbs has it's own city name so you may not be relocating to Chicago, you might be relocating to the suburbs. We are here to help.

Relocating to Chicago - The Process

There’s a lot to do when moving, especially if you are unfamiliar with the area. The process of relocating to Chicago or the suburbs starts with home, your current home. Only when that is taken care of can you start thinking about the new home. We are here to ease the transition.

The internet makes looking for new homes so much simpler, so you can start from the comfort of your home on your time, but know we are here to answer all your questions. When you arrive in town we'll meet you at the airport, or come and chat with you in your hotel with a coffee, it's important you feel comfortable working with us, so let's get to know each other first. Then we can move forward with finding you a new home.

Once we have found your new home, we'll be there from start to finish and beyond. Remember relocating to Chicago is more than just buying a home, it's a process and there are more things to be done. So whatever we can do to help, we will. Taking the dog for a walk, entertaining the kids, unpacking to find some forks, or fetching lunch on move in day, we'll be there.

Relocating to Chicago - Start With Online Property Searching

If you have the time our web site has every property available. You can save favorites and come back at any time. Or if time is a premium and relocating to Chicago needs to be placed firmly in our hands, let us search for you. We'll send you daily updates and can switch and change as you refine your needs.

Relocating to Chicago or the Suburbs - Your journey has begun.

Start searching. Call us: Corinne. 847-363-3686. Email Corinne Let us do your relocating to Chicago home search

Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

Inverness Illinois Property - Market In Review 2011

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:24:39 -0500

Inverness Illinois Property - My Final Market Report for 2011

We are three weeks into 2012 and my Inverness Illinois Property report is my last to wrap up the year for 2011. As I have compiled the data it has shown some interesting facts. If you have the time and desire to read all my reports they can all be found in my market report category. Now back to Inverness Illinois property data.

Inverness has both single family homes and attached homes so I'll break the report down so we can get a true feeling for what's going on. I'll lump the zip codes together though. Inverness Illinois property shares zip codes with Barrington and Palatine.

Inverness Illinois Property-Single Family Homes

Simply this shows me we have too much inventory and therefore sellers are having to take a lower percentage of their list price. Many other areas in Barrington are inching back up towards the expected 95%, Inverness not so hot.

We've got a lot of inventory and sales certainly slowed down in the second half of the year. Market times are long for the active listings, although those that sold faired pretty well at under 6 months.

Inverness Illinois Property - Townhomes

Attached homes are selling at a marginally better percentage than single family homes but the market times not so good. Some of our attached homes in Inverness have been listed for a long time.

I think it's fair to tell you that Inverness town homes have not been singled out, town homes in most of the Barrington areas are taking longer to sell than single family homes.

Things to watch for in2012 are Inverness Illinois property selling faster and at a higher percentage of asking. That will be the sign of better things to come. If you are considering selling in 2012, you've got to be aggressive with your presentation and that is a multi faceted task. I would love to discuss it with you, call anytime: Corinne 847-363-3686

Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

Lake Barrington Real Estate - Property Sales Outside Of The Shores

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:56:07 -0500

Lake Barrington Real Estate - Property Sales 2011

Lake Barrington Shores makes up a large amount of the housing in Lake Barrington, but there is more. Lake Barrington real estate includes about 900 single family homes most of which are located on 1 to 2 acre lots.

Before we look at sales of Lake Barrington real estate in 2011 it's interesting to look at new construction here. A few years ago two new larger subdivisions were created, Tallgrass and The Enclave of Heritage Estates. Another small one Walnut Grove also started. All three came to a grinding halt when the market fell and have yet to show any signs of life.

New construction permits were in double digits until 2002, then they dropped to a slower rate of about 4 or 5 a year. 2008 and 2009 had one apiece and 2010 saw two new homes built. So while there is space in Lake Barrington real estate for new homes, it appears not to be on anyone's immediate agenda.

Now back to the activity in Lake Barrington real estate in 2011

Total sales of single family homes in 2011 amounted to 24 homes with sales prices from $304,000 to $875,000. Sales for Lake Barrington real estate were on average 93% of the asking price. That's good for sellers, but I have to say price reductions were still needed to get that sale. Sales price to the original list price was low at 84%. I hope this coming year will see a little more stability in Lake Barrington real estate, I too am a property owner here. I also hope sellers will list at the right price range for their home at the very start.

Lake Barrington real estate contracts for sale took on average 318 days in 2011.

Four bedroom homes were the most popular, followed by five bedroom homes, then 3 bedroom homes. Lake Barrington real estate has a lot of subdivisions that are under 20 years in age. So although new construction is not yet available, buyers can consider homes in Savannah, Heritage Estates, Kelsey Farms, Estates at Lake Barrington, Brookside and others to find homes in great condition with little need for upgrades.

Lake Barrington real estate offers many 21 single family homes and 56 town homes and condos for sale. View many at our property search.

Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

Deer Park IL Homes - How Long Will It Take To Sell My House?

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:34:13 -0500

Deer Park IL Homes - Choose From Single Family or Town Homes.

When I lived in Deer Park between 1997 and 2003 there were only single family Deer Park IL homes for sale. That's now changed as there are two small subdivisions of town homes, both close to the Deer Park shopping mall. Because they are two different types of housing the answer to the question, how long will it take to sell my house, can only be answered by seperating the two types and looking at market data for each.

Single Family Deer Park IL Homes - 2011 Market Data

In 2011 there were 18 homes sold in Deer Park. That does not seem to be very many. Of course there may well have been some sales in Deer Park not accounted for in the report because some Realtor's seem to think putting the address down as Barrington is better. I disagree and not just because it will skew my report. Many buyers want Deer Park because it is such a nice place to live. Of course I would say that, I loved living in Deer Park. We moved to Florida in 2003, came back in 2004 and could not find a suitable home to buy from all the Deer Park IL homes for sale.

Back to the market report. In 2011 the average market time for single family homes was 224 days. The list to sales price ratio was 93% average. Average list price was $564,308 and average sales price $523,190.

Deer Park Town Homes - Market Data 2011

There were 7 sales of town homes last year. The average marketing time was 144 days. The average list price was $420,400 and sales price $392,143 representing a list to sales price ratio of 93%.

Interesting to see that all Deer Park IL Homes sold at 93% of asking price. Town homes sold in less than six months which is certainly good news for sellers. Single family homes are taking longer and I expect that tend to continue for a while. Be prepared to wait 6 to 9 months to sell your Deer Park home in 2012.

There are currently 21 Deer Park IL Homes for sale, although I bet some have Barrington as the address and are not showing up.

I look forward to selling more Deer Park IL Homes this coming year. I certainly showed plenty to my buyers last year and even sold a short sale there in early spring. You can view current Deer Park IL Homes and Town Homes listed.

Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

Tower Lakes near Barrington - Market Review 2011

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:04:53 -0500

Graphs Showing Sales of Tower Lakes Homes in 2011

Sales of homes in Tower Lakes do not account for many in the 60010 zip code so an intense comparison would not be very useful. So I thought we would simply look at the average sales prices over the last three years and specifically by bedroom count to make it a fair comparison.

They say pictures are often much easier to understand and I think the following graph which shows Tower Lakes homes sold and the percentage in price drop tells everything we really need to know. So compare color by color for a year comparison.

The first chart shows we never have many 2 bedroom Tower Lakes homes sell, there aren't very many in the village. 3 bedroom and 4 bedroom are the bulk of the real estate.

Clearly there was a pretty steep drop in prices between 2009 and 2010 but 2010 to 2011 is not nearly so bad.

Tower Lakes Homes -Average Marketing Times

The average marketing time for Tower Lakes homes now is 244 days. That's based on sales over the last 12 months. Three bedroom homes took longer with an average of 307 days, compared to 196 for four bedroom homes.

Tower Lakes homes fall in the Barrington School district 220 and offer a lifestyle type of community, with it's lake front properties. Prices start at $200,00 and go up to $1 Million. Start your search for Tower Lakes real estate listings.

Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

Hawthorn Woods Real Estate - 2011 Good Year, Bad year?

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:25:28 -0500

A Review of Hawthorn Woods Real Estate Market in 2011

If I said that 103 homes sold in Hawthorn Woods in 2011 and that the volume of sales amounted to over $46 million would you consider that to be good, bad or indifferent? We can only look at the previous few years to use as a benchmark to judge whether Hawthorn Woods real estate transactions were better. Rather than produce a chart for Hawthorn Woods real estate sales last year I thought I would just post the numbers.

2011 - Homes sold 103...Average sale $453,509
2010 - Homes sold 66...Average sale $459,860
2009 - Homes sold 68...Average sale $502,746
2008 - Homes sold 83...Average sale $612,969

This shows that Hawthorn Woods real estate was declining in 2008, 2009, 2010 but then we knew that anyway. Everyone is looking for signs that their home values are going to rise. Sales of homes in 2011 showed a big jump over previous years. I don't know about you but that just feels good. The average sales price of homes in Hawthorn Woods us still declining but last year certainly showed a slow down.

Hawthorn Woods real estate average marketing times.

Here is one of my Hawthorn Woods real estate sales from 2011. This home was on the market for 348 days and that length of time can often put buyers off, thinking that it must have something wrong with it. The issue from the sellers perspective, because I represented the buyers, was that the pricing was wrong. The ratio of original asking and selling price was 75%.

Price is not always the issue, it can be location, proximity to busy roads, lack of maintenance, old kitchens, and a whole list of other reasons why marketing time become extended. Where are we today with those Hawthorn Woods real estate average marketing times. Lets do the same 4 year comparison.

2011 - 206 days
2010 - 232 days
2009 - 280 days
2008 - 196 days

I like the look of those numbers too, well more specifically that they are headed in the right direction....down. In fact they are very similar to the Barrington area. If you have a home on the market for an extended period of time it's time to do a few things. First get a new analysis of your price. If that's on target then something else is off target. Selling Hawthorn Woods real estate is not as easy as it used to be and it does take longer than in a sellers market but the principles of marketing are still the same. Presentation and exposure to the right buyers.

If considering selling your piece of Hawthorn Woods real estate this coming year, I am here to help. Contact me today.

Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

South Barrington Real Estate - How's The Market?

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:23:32 -0500

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

Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

2125 Burr Oak Lane, Lindenhurst, IL, 60046 - Rent for just $1250 a Month

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:31:28 -0500

For Lease in Lindenhurst

Overview
Maps
Photos
Description

$1,250 Single Family Home Main Features 3 Bedrooms
1 Bathroom
1 Unit
Interior: 1,532 sqft
Lot: 0.23 acre(s)
Location

2125 Burr Oak Lane
Lindenhurst, IL 60046
USA

To get updates on open home dates and other property events, please click the "Like" button below:

Corinne Guest

Royal Advocate Realty
(847) 363-3686
info@corinneguest.com
http://realestateinbarrington.com

Listed by: Royal Advocate Realty

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5 Bedroom Colonial Home on Acreage
Unincorporated Barrington Horse Property
31677 Tallgrass Ct Lakemoor, Short Sale Town home under $100,000
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Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

Kildeer Real Estate - A Written Report on The 2011 Market

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:35:21 -0500

Kildeer Real Estate - It's All Single Family Homes

The Kildeer real estate market is not a big one, so producing an array of charts and graphs every month would have zero meaning. Much better for me to write about the Kildeer real estate market for the whole year in 2011 and focusing on what sellers really want to know. Here are some facts on the market for the entire year of 2011.

There where 42 home sales in 2011.
Average list price was $611,950
Average sales price was $568,948 which represents 93% of asking price.
Most activity was in the 4 bedroom home sales which accounted for 30 of the 42 sales.
Average marketing time was 339 days.

We all hope that the time for selling your home will come down and nudging the list to sales price ratio up to 95% would be good too but these stats should prepare you if you are going to sell your Kildeer real estate in the near future.

Kildeer is a small town in Lake County, occupying less than 4 square miles, with just over 4000 residents and just about 1100 homes. It's known as a luxury home market but as you can see from these numbers the majority of sales are of 4 bedroom homes around the $600,000 mark.

You will not find any condos or town homes in the make up of Kildeer real estate, it's nearly all family homes on 1 acre lots. So if a countryside feel is what you would like, Kildeer might be the right choice for you. The styles of homes are Colonial, Georgian, some contemporary, and much of the newer homes are larger brick and stone properties.

If you are selling Kildeer real estate you will be competing with Hawthorn Woods and Long Grove locally as both have similar types and prices as well as Deer Park and Barrington. Use our search tool to see what's for sale in Kildeer.

Kildeer real estate search

Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

Lake Zurich Real Estate - Flat Lining in 2011.

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:02:41 -0500

Lake Zurich Real Estate - Sales of Single Family Homes

A review of the Lake Zurich real estate market for 2011 reveals some leveling off. When I said flat lining I did not mean dying, I was refering to the ups and downs of sales over the last 5 years and where Lake Zurich real estate was in 2011.

For this report I am not comparing to previous years, after all we all know the markets have been depressed, so why rub salt in an open wound. Instead I wanted to look at sales over a 12 month, 6 month and 3 month period to see if it was getting bettor or worse. This chart reveals what to me appears a stabilizing market.

Take a look at the following chart and especially:

Average homes sold per month.
Monthly Supply of Lake Zurich Real Estate.
Average Market Days
Average list prices and sales prices.

Every marker shows stability. The average amount of Lake Zurich homes sold across the year is pretty much 15 a month. We have give or take 8 months supply of homes. The average list to sales price ratio is very close to exactly 95% all the time.

Lake Zurich Real Estate Market Times

Throughout the year our average marketing time has fallen. Although home sellers might not be happy at the flat line of average sales in Lake Zurich, the mere fact that homes are selling in less time can point to the expectations of an increase in prices over time. Don't get too excited though. I may be saying Lake Zurich real estate prices might increase, but to expect an instant change in the market is too optimistic. As I have said in many of my year end reports, positive gains will start at some time, but they will be slow, very slow and steady.

If selling your Lake Zurich real estate is on the calendar for 2012, continue to consider pricing, presentation and your new goals. Call me and we can start working on achieving those goals: 847-363-3686

Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

Lake Barrington Shores - Winning The Popularity Contest in 2012

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:27:14 -0500

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.

I understand you cannot always do it all. So do what you can and be prepared to compromise on price for the rest.

Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

What's Selling in Wynstone North Barrington - A Year End Review 2011

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:30:04 -0500

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.

Corinne Guest

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Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers

Our Cat Whitey - Time To Say Goodbye.

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:42:06 -0500

January 6th 2012. 16 years after the arrival into the world of a cat named Whitey, it was time to say goodbye.

Whitey was a pretty large white and gray cat that we adopted from a shelter 13 years ago. We were told his owner was an elderly gentleman who could not care for him. Being the softy I am he came home with us. Whitey was a little detached and I wondered if he would stay at the shelter forever, no, I was not about to let that happen. At the time we had one other cat, she was about 6 months old. Her name is Whispa and she is here with us today, a spritely aged 13.

In fact Whitey settled into the family a lot faster than I ever thought, he and Whispa became firm friends, rough and tumbling all the time.

I was not sure I loved his name, he had such a chiseled handsome face I felt he needed a better one, so I decided he was going to be Dasha. Of course he was having none of that, so we abandoned the change and Whitey he stayed.

He was great friends with the dog-Gambit. They regularly shared the dogs bed. A few years later a black kitten - Joey - was added to the trio and he too wanted in on the bed sharing thing. I am desperately trying to find the photo I have of all three of them asleep. Big dog, big cat and a tiny 10 week old kitten squished between them. Joey would present himself to Whitey for a head bath every day.

Whitey's life was never boring. He was a great hunter. Not often letting our cats out he was adept at escaping. 1 minute later he would be back with a gift. He moved with us to Florida and had a blast running after the lizards. He once caught a snake in our front yard in Barrington. He also ran through a tray of green paint and promptly traipsed it through-out the house. We will remember him for many things one being his super soft thick coat. My husband and son often referred to him as "Plushious"

Five years ago we expanded the 4 to 6. Two new twin kittens were adopted. Whitey did not mind at all, he was the Patriarch and took them under his wing.

Three years ago Whitey started losing weight and we found out his Thyroid was overactive. It took a while to get his weight loss under control but finally with daily meds we managed that. On one of the trips last year the vet noticed a lump on his face. A few weeks later a tooth fell out. Another visit to the vet revealed that while we had hoped the lump was an abscess, it was not draining. It seemed that Whitey might well have Squamous Cell Carcinona. I read a little on the subject and it's not that uncommon on the mouths of cats, especially in white cats. While we did not know for sure, the lump grew, the wound never healed and his eye and nose weeped all the time.

I knew his time would come. It was a constant battle keeping him clean but a twice daily chore that only took two minutes was easy to keep him comfortable. Because his wound never healed, and the bone started to degenerate we started having problems with eating. Whitey was losing weight too fast. I had asked the vet about pain and was given some ideas on indications from Whitey. Yet he never showed them. That cat could purr. I guess a big cat would have a big purr, and he still purred like crazy. But eating was becoming more infrequent and more stressful. Favorite foods were no longer wanted. He was getting much of his food caught in that big void in his mouth and he hated it. He would dig his dewclaws into the mouth to get the food out.

It was time. Time to set him at rest. It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make. Was it too early, had I left it too long? Was he in pain? His quality of like was declining fast. So on January 6th 2012, I laid him to rest and he is at peace. I have no doubt he is going to be tugging at my heart strings for a while to come.

I thank the staff at VCA Noyes Animal Hospital in Lake Barrington for their compassion.

Corinne Guest

Google Me

Realtor & Managing Broker
Royal Advocate Realty, Barrington

Call today 847-363-3686 for real estate and relocation service.

Real Estate in Barrington and The Northwest Suburbs

A Discussion For Home Sellers