If the housing market is improving, don’t tell that to downtown new condo developers. According to Appraisal Research Counselors sales fell 40% in the first quarter of 2012 from a year ago. They were also down 27% from the fourth quarter of 2011. From Crain’s: Developers sold just 113 downtown condos in the first three months […]
Some of you that have been trying to buy bank owned properties have said that you’ve seen an uptick in interested buyers compared with a few years ago. The Tribune reports on the new “foreclosure gold rush.” Pulling up to a distressed home for sale in Oak Lawn last month, Carl Courtright saw that two other potential […]
We’ve chattered about several properties that have taken months or even years to come back on the market once they are bank owned. This is considered to be part of the “shadow inventory.” Crain’s has details from CoreLogic on the Chicago-area foreclosure rate in February which was nearly double the national rate. The foreclosure rate on Chicago-area […]
I was struck by the title of a link to an article on Crain’s today which said: “Upscale condo owners: What downturn?” But when I clicked on the article, I found it mainly focused on Trump Tower and how more than half of the owners who have resold in that building have actually seen appreciation. […]
The Sun-Times had a weekend cover story about how great the housing market is for buyers, especially first time home buyers. For home buyers, it remains a dream market, and Realtors say they’ve seen a pick-up in activity as buyers look to take advantage of low interest rates and still-sinking prices.Twenty-five-year-old Sandra Becerra closed in […]
As we were discussing in another thread yesterday, Crain’s is out with an article describing a select group of homeowners who bought a condo or other property in the city in their younger years, got married, had kids and now, because of housing declines, can not sell and move to the suburbs. These are NOT […]
The February 2012 Chicago sales data is out. Sales rebounded but couldn’t even reach 2010 levels, which, you’ll recall, were juiced by one of the first time homebuyers tax credits (remember those?). In the city of Chicago, February 2012 home sales (single family and condominiums) totaled 1,079, up 2.2 percent from 1,056 homes sold in […]
Realty Trac is reporting that Cook County foreclosures soared 51% in February compared to February of a year ago. “In Cook County last month, 3,106 mortgage holders were notified that their properties had fallen into default and foreclosure proceedings had begun. Another 1,894 properties were scheduled for court-supervised auction while 2,045 became bank-owned. That level […]