Monday, October 3, 2011

$1.07M is the asking price for this Blagojevich Home

Check out the Blagojevich home for sale. Patti is the listing agent.

It is remarked as being "BUILT LIKE A FORTRESS" and I bet it is! I hope I get the opportunity to visit the home while its on the market.

Do you think they might have AnOpenHome before it sells? I sure hope so! I will be watching for sure!

I saw some readers remarking "they're asking too much". I don't think so...

Homes in Ravenswood sell for more! Sure we're in a declining market (see the market reports here) but looking at the comparables, these fantastic homes are selling in 30-60 days at 85% to 100% of the asking price!

Need proof? I uploaded some quick comps here (and I stopped at the past 6 months...) but you should see similar homes on the market today. I think Patti and Rod are being realistic and I think they should start shopping real soon! Just like most buyers out there today, it's a market to really capture a deal if you can!

They purchased the home for $500K in 1999. Mr. Blagojevich faces over $400K+ in fines. Or do you think this is a break-even for the family? Either way, it, I think the lucky buyer will enjoy their new home!

PS. I hope you my new Facebook Fan Page!

Thank you!






Robert Jarvis, MBA
Phone: 773-572-2362
Email: RobertJarvis@AnOpenHome.com

Who is Robert Jarvis? Stalk me at my other sites!




Create your own custom property search at http://www.mlsfinder.com/il_mred/robertjarvis

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Post for Contract Trainer

The purpose of this post is to show one model of a "simple widget" available from MRED (Midwest Real Estate Data).

Not all websites allow "scripts" (example Facebook and Blogger)

1. Provide the client, customer or contact with valuable information (sales data, procedures, topic resources, or an opinion)

2. Thank the reader for taking the time to read your post or page. Let them know you value their time.

3. Call to action for FEEDBACK or offer more FREE INFORMATION by verifying their contact information with a FORM (or WIDGET)

Click here to submit your comment and feedback - Please verify your contact information



PS. I hope you my new Facebook Fan Page!

Thank you!






Robert Jarvis, MBA
Phone: 773-572-2362
Email: RobertJarvis@AnOpenHome.com

Who is Robert Jarvis? Stalk me at my other sites!




Create your own custom property search at http://www.mlsfinder.com/il_mred/robertjarvis

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

You get ONE FREE PASS, then we’re moving on….


There are several active buyers looking to buy a condo in Chicago, and there are over 9,000 condo owners looking to sell a condo in Chicago from the South Loop to Rogers Park and everywhere in between. There are over 2,000 condos for rent in Chicago from the South Loop to Rogers Park.

Some buyers think they need to see every single listing. Other buyers know what they want. It’s my job to help buyers understand what a buyer needs and wants.

Seller motivation is one of the items most buyers want. If you’re motivated to sell a Condo or Townhome in Chicago, consider the facts.

It takes on average, according to the National Association of Realtors®, ten good showings to receive one good offer. If you want two offers, that means you need twenty good showings.

Price it so that you can attract 20 active buyers.

Again, it takes ten good showings to receive one good offer. If you want ten good showings, make your property available all ten times. Never cancel a reasonable showing request.

If your Chicago Area Real Estate Agent requires that he/she is present for every single showing, do they have a team of agents sitting around waiting to show your property?

Does that Real Estate Agent have access to a never ending supply of gasoline to drive and meet every agent to show your property?

Get an extra key and place it in a lock box.

Making a solid showing schedule for a buyer of 7 to 8 condo’s takes approximately two hours plus the additional time of receiving call backs and emails and reschedules.

If the response is “We are not available to show the property on Tuesday, but we are available on Thursday at 4 PM or Friday at 10 AM.” My response is almost always, “Thank you, I’ll let you know. And by the way, do you have a lock box?”

If the other agent follows up with me two days later to reschedule, I let the agent know how many of the properties were of interest to the buyer, and if the buyer still needs a “comparison”, I’ll schedule additional showings on MY BUYERS SCHEDULE, not the other agents’ schedule. YOU GET ONE FREE PASS, where I will try to reschedule a showing.

If the other agent still can not make the buyers schedule, I let the buyer know that this seller is not motivated, which was one of the NEEDS, so looking at this Chicago Condo might not be the best use of time.

Do you see where this heading? NEVER DECLINE A SHOWING. Can you sell your condo when your agent can’t show it? Not if it takes ten months to get ten showings… in a declining market… where you’re chasing that market downward… hoping to get lucky with that one interested buyer to buy your condo in Chicago.

If you would like to sell a condo in Chicago, contact me and I will share with you all the ins and outs of getting the highest dollar in the shortest time.


PS. I hope you my new Facebook Fan Page!

Thank you!






Robert Jarvis, MBA
Phone: 773-572-2362
Email: RobertJarvis@AnOpenHome.com

Who is Robert Jarvis? Stalk me at my other sites!




Create your own custom property search at http://www.mlsfinder.com/il_mred/robertjarvis

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Evergreen Park Home Sales - Not all markets are created equal!

National Association of Realtors reports that “short sale” properties sold at a small percentage less than traditional resale’s, while “foreclosed” homes sold at much greater discounts.

Below is some data for Evergreen Park, IL to study if you’re looking to buy or sell a home in Evergreen Park, IL. In this first chart, homes sold in Evergreen Park during the past six months are broken down into three categories (by size) and then the categories are broken down again into BOTTOM 1/3, MIDDLE 1/3, and TOP 1/3.






What does this chart mean?

The bottom 1/3 to have FEW positives (several negatives: small structure, need lots of work, small lot, poor location, etc.).

The middle 1/3 to have SOME positives (larger lot, larger size, some updating, taste specific décor and remodeling, etc.).

The top 1/3 to have LOTS of positives (truly ‘move-in ready’, updated furnishings and fixtures, will appeal to most number of buyers)

Fun Fact about homes for sale in Evergreen Park, IL as of July 2011:
41 Contingent Properties, 163 Active Properties, and 72 Sold Properties = 12 months supply of inventory in Evergreen Park!






Many homeowners looking to sell their home play the “my house is better than this one” or “that house is smaller than mine” game. This is called a CMA [Competitive Market Analysis] approach or “looking at comparable properties in your neighborhood".

This process is vulnerable to inaccuracies and usually doesn’t take into account all the data available.

There are two ways my team of Real Estate Professionals research home values all throughout the Chicagoland area. We use both the “index model” [same as Standard & Poor's Case Shiller Report] and the “square footage” data in combination with the CMA approach. In this report, we will discuss only the “square footage” data analysis.

Here we took ALL the homes sold in Evergreen Park for the past six months and created a spreadsheet that can be downloaded FREE here: http://www.slideshare.net/rtjarvisjr/evergreen-park-6-month-sales-data-as-of-july-2011

Note: We prefer to use median values because outliers to the data will be negated whereas in the average calculation, the outliers will skew the true data.

The median [or middle] home sold for $125K or $99.68 per square foot. This number includes the distressed properties [short sales and foreclosures] as well the traditional resale properties.

If we remove the short sale and foreclosed properties, the chart would like this:






See how the properties sold in Evergreen Park, reflect a square footage cost of $118.79 per square foot and a median sold price of $157K. Does this mean that you can expect $120/square foot for your home? NO. It just sets the boundaries. Your home must be perfect and in the TOP 1/3 to capture that value.

Now, let’s look at financially distressed properties [short sales and foreclosures in Evergreen Park] closed over the past six months:







Interestingly enough, Short Sales sold at a median price of $73K and Foreclosed Properties sold at a median price of $87K [opposite of what the National Association of Realtors reports], but I have theories for this in another interesting post.

These figures equate to $60 to $75 per square foot. That is just over ½ the presumed cost to buy a home in Evergreen Park.

Given the fact that 36 homes sold were distressed over the past six months, and 37 homes sold traditionally in Evergreen Park, chances are that buyers ARE considering distressed homes in Evergreen Park when buying a home in Evergreen Park.

Fact: Breakdown of home sales in Evergreen Park Financing codes: 14 Conventional Financing, 28 FHA Financing (+1 VA Financing) and 28 Cash Buyers.







Twice the number of conventional buyers are buying home with either all cash, or low cash. Or 19% of the buyers have are relying on conventional financing. The remaining 80% are buying with low/no money down [40% - the house must pass FHA or VA financing regulations] or cash [40% - investors are buying these homes for pennies to the dollar].

If 60% of the homes sold in Evergreen Park are financed, and the remaining 40% are cash, which group of buyers should you be marketing your home for sale?

During negotiations on the buyers’ side, would you use this data to get a deal from the listing agent on the property? Do you think the sellers have access to this data? Or are they driving by and looking at photos of sold properties expecting to get the wrong value from the sale of their house? 80 expired and 97 canceled listing concludes that part of the story. Contact me, an Evergreen Park Real Estate Professional for your buying or selling needs.





History of Evergreen Park
Over 100 years ago, Evergreen Park declared its independence. With a population of approximately 500 people, 40 residents [of 51 residents who showed up] voted for incorporation and the four squared miles of area became the Village of Evergreen Park on December 20, 1893. Source: http://www.evergreenpark-ill.com/

The village is surrounded by the City of Chicago on the NORTH, the SOUTH and the EAST of its border. To the WEST of Evergreen Park is the Village of Oak Lawn. The Village of Evergreen Park is approximately 17 miles from Chicago Loop neighborhood.

“The Village acquired its name from the park located at 97th Street and Homan Avenue (#4), originally intended to be the center of town. This part of the village was laid out to resemble Paris, with its wagon wheel appearance, but development in other directions has since caused it to be a residential section. The center of Evergreen Park is now 95th Street and Kedzie Avenue.”
Parks in Evergreen Park include: Norris Field (1), Mini Park (2), Southeast Park (3), Evergreen Park (4), Evergreen Aqua Park (5), Northwest Park (6).





Evergreen Park is also known as the "Village of Churches" given by the many established religious congregations serving the community, and to some locals, they describe their neighborhood by their church.

Churches in Evergreen Park include: Ebenezer Lutheran Church (A), Bethel Bible Church (B), United By Faith Lutheran Church (C), Immanuel United Church of Christ (D), Most Holy Redeemer Church (E), Evergreen Park Christian Church (F), Evergreen Park Presbyterian Church (G), Maranatha Chapel (H), Saint Bernadette Church (I).






PS. I hope you my new Facebook Fan Page!

Thank you!






Robert Jarvis, MBA
Phone: 773-572-2362
Email: RobertJarvis@AnOpenHome.com

Who is Robert Jarvis? Stalk me at my other sites!




Create your own custom property search at http://www.mlsfinder.com/il_mred/robertjarvis

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

525 Hawthorne Place new Laundry Technologies

Hawthorne Place Condominiums recently updated [added] new laundry facilities. The original laundry facilities located on the 2nd floor just outside the exercise facilities and pool and sundeck amenities is currently operational.

The new facilities are located on the first floor near the indoor parking garage entrance of the 525 Hawthorne Place just outside the onsite drycleaners and service elevator.

Both facilities utilize laundry cards that resemble debit cards to start the washers and dryers. The original system requires the residents of Hawthorne Place to visit the laundry room and add value to the card via a bill acceptor.

The new facility allows the residents to also add cash at a similar cash station, but also utilizes the newest technologies to add value via the web using your debit card. In addition to the ease of adding value, the new machines will electronically contact the resident when the machine has completed its cycle.

While I am partial to this technology given my prior experience in the laundry industry, for a residential establishment, this wireless communication from the machine to the resident is quite impressive.

Traditionally I would not recommend an encouragement to users to leave a laundry facility and wait for a text message that a cycle is complete. From a revenue standpoint [similar to that of a restaurant with table turnover], the faster a machine [or table] is turned over for the next customer, the more opportunity there is to make money.

In a residential community like 525 Hawthorne Place Condominiums, the addition of 14 new washers and 14 new dryers available for 232 unit owners statistically makes sense to limit the wait time needed for an available machine.

How important is this new technology to you when you are looking to buy a condo in Chicago?



PS. I hope you my new Facebook Fan Page!

Thank you!






Robert Jarvis, MBA
Phone: 773-572-2362
Email: RobertJarvis@AnOpenHome.com

Who is Robert Jarvis? Stalk me at my other sites!




Create your own custom property search at http://www.mlsfinder.com/il_mred/robertjarvis

Saturday, June 18, 2011

2857 W. 101ST PLACE

OPEN HOUSE DATE:  SUNDAY, JUNE 19 from 11AM to 1PM


Pictures:  (Select Images to View Complete Image Collection on the MLS)


Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket


Photobucket         Photobucket


CLICK HERE TO SEE PROPERTY DETAILS AND OPEN HOME DATES AND TIMES



Taxes:  Tax Year 2009 - Payable in 2010:  $3,407.26 (total for both PIN's)     |     Assessments:  None


Parking:   3 Car Side Apron Driveway, with combined Patio Space, Additional Street Parking Allowed


Description:  This 1 story detached ranch, 60 year old home sits in Evergreen Park's highly desirable South-East corner on two lots (50' X 125' = 6,250 Sq. Ft.).  Water Heater replaced in 2003, Furnace replaced in 2007, Central Air Conditioning added in 2007,  New French Doors in back of home installed in 2005, open up to outdoor patio space, New windows and Front door installed in 2008, Bruce Hardwood Flooring installed in 2005.  This home is ready for your personal touches.


Special Features / Amenities:  Outdoor Patio Space (11 X 13), Storage Shed (10 X 10) includes ample counter / cabinet / shelving space and boasts a 10 X 7 attached deck.  Storage galore in this home from the heated 10 X 11 crawl space under the dining room addition and floored attic space, with a bonus cedar lined shoe closet!  Both bedrooms have cedar lined closets too!


Three blocks away from country club, four blocks from Beverly Park, West Beverly, Mount Greenwood, walking distance to elementary school, middle school, high school and a university; Close to shopping and public transportation and the highly desirable



W E S T   L O O P   O F F I C E 

NEW!  We've MOVED!  Keller Williams Chicago Properties office is now located at 1516 W. Taylor Street | Chicago

Each office is independently owned and operated


CLICK HERE TO SEE MY FEATURED PROPERTIES ON MLSFINDER



Thank you!






Robert Jarvis, MBA
Phone: 773-572-2362
Email: RobertJarvis@AnOpenHome.com

Who is Robert Jarvis? Stalk me at my other sites!




Create your own custom property search at www.MLSfinder.com