Market Conditions: September Home Sales Third Hottest in Last 10 Years
Without further ado, here are the September home sales numbers.
From the Illinois Association of Realtors:
The city of Chicago saw a 3.2 percent year-over-year home sales decrease in September 2016 with 2,336 sales, down from 2,414 in September 2015. The median price of a home in the city of Chicago in September 2016 was $261,500, up 4.6 percent compared to September 2015 when it was $250,000.
September sales for the last 10 years:
- 2007: 2172 sales
- 2008: 1816 sales
- 2009: 1918 sales
- 2010: 1403 sales
- 2011: 1498 sales
- 2012: 1845 sales
- 2013: 2395 sales
- 2014: 2242 sales
- 2015: 2414 sales
- 2016: 2336 sales
Median prices for the last 10 years:
- 2007: $267,750
- 2008: $268,600
- 2009: $225,000
- 2010: $180,000
- 2011: $190,000
- 2012: $188,900
- 2013: $230,000
- 2014: $249,000
- 2015: $250,000
- 2016: $261,500
“We continue to see a vibrant Chicago real estate market with homes moving quickly and with steady median price gains,” said Matt Silver, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and partner at Urban Real Estate. “It is taking 42 days to sell a home, indicating buyers are eager to purchase when they find the right property.”
Statewide, the number of days on the market was 58, down from 65 days a year ago.
“Annual sales growth in September was flat in Illinois and Chicago,” said Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois. “Prices, though, continued to increase and this trend is expected to prevail for the next three months. Both the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index pointed to positive directions at the national level as a result of a positive outlook on the labor market. Unfortunately, job growth in Illinois has been way below the national level, dampening housing sales.”
Have home sales have been “dampened” in Chicago? Or was he only referring to the downstate market?
Even though the headline number shows a decrease, you have to take a wider perspective.
Last year was the hottest September in 10 years and this year was the 3rd hottest. That includes 2007 which was the year that they were building of thousands of condos all over the city.
Remember that market? Flippers and “investors” buying 2, 3 or 4 condos each.
Right now, there aren’t thousands of new condos being built and the sales are still hotter.
Imagine if there was more inventory?
September sales were most likely properties under contract in June, July and August.
Was the market hotter then?
Or will this red hot pace hold up into the winter months?
Illinois home prices increase in September; Sales slow slightly [Illinois Association of Realtors, Press Release, October 20, 2016]
“It is taking 42 days to sell a home”. That sounds about right and here all this time according to you the sky was falling for anyone not under contract week one or two on the market. Solid market, but not blazing hot. Lots of crappy properties in that inventory too, trying to take advantage of limited competition.
It takes forever to close because the industry is so archaic and no one wants to change it to benefit the buyers/sellers more than the people who make money off the way things are.
If there is some global disaster, plague or zombie apocalypse, I will be immensely pleased of mortgage lenders, RE attorneys and realtors do not survive it.
“It takes forever to close”
But that 42 days isn’t in reference to time to close; it’s from the most recent “new” listing date until under contract.
Were it 42 days from listing to sale, that would mean that almost everything was going under contract almost immediately after listing.
I chuckled at the picture of 2430 N Lakeview, which was featured in a Crains article this week about co-op units that have not sold for YEARS, juxtaposed with these stats talking about relatively low numbers of days on the market in current conditions.
That article and the commenters were signaling that co-op living has limited appeal to younger buyers resulting in very long market times and / or necessary price cuts for those units.
People don’t want to deal with the lengthly application process and younger buyers don’t desire a mechanism to limit the buyer pool to certain races or backgrounds. Progress!
The listings in that building are beautiful, politics aside.
Icarus. You can thank lawyers and regulators. The reason it takes so long to close is because you are buying an asset secured by hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. You can close a real estate transaction fairly quickly if you are paying CASH.
In addition, government has created a patch work of boneheaded regulations that if you don’t comply with you could see all of the money you lent lost whether non-compliance was intentional or not. Of course, we haven’t even gotten into the massive amount of fraud perpetrated from consumers to attorneys to realtors and every one involved at every stop in the process.
Put another way, if you were lending your own money to complete strangers to buy a home and it could take you years to foreclose on said strangers for non-payment and to top it off you have some knucklehead bureaucrat looking over your shoulder just waiting to pounce to accuse you of predatory lending or discrimination it would take you 30-45 days to close a transaction too.
When I first got into this business, I too wondered why it so inefficient and bassaakward, but now seeing what goes on behind the scenes, it is amazing that these deals get done in 30-45 days and not six months.
“If there is some global disaster, plague or zombie apocalypse, I will be immensely pleased of mortgage lenders, RE attorneys and realtors do not survive it.”
That’s an unfair assessment of the situation. mortgage lenders are the parties the give you the money to buy the house. It’s the mortgage servicers that are the scum of the earth. RE attorneys make sure everything is in order and the realtors exist because if every home was FSBO, few homes would ever sell. FSBO usually means overpriced crap.
“FSBO usually means overpriced crap.”
NO LOWBALLERS, I KNOW WHAT I HAVE HERE!
When I first got into this business, I too wondered why it so inefficient and bassaakward, but now seeing what goes on behind the scenes, it is amazing that these deals get done in 30-45 days and not six months.”
Russ I know what you are saying and I can see your point. I hope you can see mine and agree that there is room for improvement without cost to integrity of the sytem.
Icarus: I presume you’ve used a RE attorney to buy/sell a residential property in the Chicago area (most people use one in Chicago, even on residential deals, and I seem to recall you selling a condo, after some prolonged market time). Did it not go well? Did it cost you more than $500-600?
“FSBO usually means overpriced crap.”
Often, yes. But in a hot market, paying a nominal fee to some service just to get a property listed on the MLS, then dealing with showing the place yourself for a few days and/or putting a lock box on your door, seems like the way to go. We didn’t do that when we sold our house back in the late winter/early spring, mainly because I didn’t want to have our place sit on the market for too long (which looks bad, and I didn’t want to have to keep the place in perfect order for weeks on end). So we opted for a top flight broker from a top flight office in our area. Granted, our buyer came from within our broker’s office (she did say that she was hyping our place to others in her office, which did work, as we had a full price offer, in one day, twice, for a cash deal, quick closing), but otherwise, she was a complete joke. A month ago, a guy in my office listed his house without engaging a broker. He only had one showing the first weekend, and he asked me, a bit stressed, whether he had screwed up in taking that approach. But after his second weekend of showings, he got a full price offer, all cash deal, quick closing. I think he paid $2k to list, and $10k to the buyer’s broker. But saved himself about $30k. Still kicking myself.
“Solid market, but not blazing hot. Lots of crappy properties in that inventory too, trying to take advantage of limited competition.”
What?
42 days is super low. That is for the ENTIRE city including the non-GZ areas. That includes the South Shore and Englewood!
The market is on fire. It has been all year.
“The market is on fire. It has been all year.”
I credit Realtors(tm) for all their hard work selling all those properties. Those commercials with Elizabeth Banks are quite the return on the investment.
Believe it or not, a number of Mexicans are moving out of Pilsen and Little Village and into West Englewood since nearly every block is stricken with empty lots, foreclosures, and abandoned homes. These are starter homes for working class people that are moving their families out of small apartments. They are definitely urban pioneers and I wish them the best of luck on their investment. In 30-40 years may they reap the rewards of gentrification when they hit retirement!
30-40 years? You haven’t been paying attention. Look at what happened to the demographics of south central in LA.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/25/us/shifting-demographics-in-south-los-angeles.html?_r=0
Changed in LA happened over 20 years and that started 26 years ago. Change happens even faster these days. I’d expect 10-15 years.
And change is happening everywhere. It’s not long before the Palatine Denny’s turns into a La Michoacan…
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-palatine-school-referendum-met-20161010-story.html
“Since 1996, the northwest suburban district [Palatine] has changed from 25 to 60 percent minority, with nearly half of all students low-income. The percentage of students learning English has doubled, to 22 percent.”
I’m not sure I know what it means for the market to be “on fire”. Homes that are priced low sell quickly and when inventory is low also. And you can have inventory low on average but right now single family home inventory is very high through most of the green zone and it’s not selling very fast in those areas. And I did an analysis a while back and while 32% of new listings sold in the first 2 weeks 68% didn’t and that 68% took a LOT longer to sell. And then sellers hear that the market is hot so they want to price stupid high.
What it really comes down to is how do you define “the market”?
Sabrina are you in sales? Because your tendency toward hyperbole sure seems at home there.
anonny, I’ve been through the buy sell process 4 times now. there are always snafus, most minor, some major. The thing about an RE attorney charging a flat fee is that they get that fee whether they do 1 hour or 100 hours of work. Which do you think their business model prompts them to do? I’ve had too many RE attorneys roll over and play dead to avoid doing a little more work in my interest.
Icarus,
I know what you’re saying about the attorney getting a flat fee and not wanting to do anything. It’s not that they don’t want to do anything, its just that they don’t have the time or resources to do so. Most buyers and sellers just use the attorney referred to them by their realtor. That attorney probably has a small staff of paralegals who do all the work and the lawyer just runs from closing to closing, trying to make money on volume.
Here’s the secret: You don’t have to use the realtor’s attorney. You can use any lawyer you want. In our circles there are lots of attorneys. I’m sure a phone call or two and you can find someone you like. My friends and family and clients use me for all their real estate closings. I don’t even take realtor referrals.
I’m surprised attorneys even take on buyers so cheaply given all the work I’ve seen our go-to attorney do for them. It’s easily 10+ hours of work and they only charge like $600. They make more on sellers though because of the title insurance fees.
I will say that 9 times out of 10 when our clients do not use our referrals their attorneys suck. For one they don’t keep us in the loop and we find out about problems too late in the game when we could have stepped in and fixed it much earlier. And if they go with a family friend or relative God help them. Too many of these don’t do enough real estate to understand the protocols. I’ve had these attorneys call me the night before a closing asking me how to do a tax proration. And then there is the uncle that is clearly trying to impress his nephew with how tough he is and blows the deal by digging in his heels over a minor issue.
We refer the attorneys that we do because we have seen them do dozens, if not hundreds, of deals and have confidence in them and they copy us on every single communication.
I’ve heard that some attorneys also receive a kick back from the title company for the work, in addition to the $400-$600 fee they charge, which would make the work much more lucrative. Has anyone else heard of/witnessed this?
This is what I was referring to above on the sell side, though it’s not a kickback. They actually do the title work on behalf of the title company and get paid for doing so.
Icarus, to be honest, I think the system is about as efficient as it is going to get. Despite what people want to believe, it is a very complex transaction. There are a ton of moving parts, pitfalls, and other issues. Consumers never really see the behind the scenes stuff so I think too many people just have unrealistic expectations going in.
“This is what I was referring to above on the sell side, though it’s not a kickback. They actually do the title work on behalf of the title company and get paid for doing so”
This makes more sense.
I always felt like compared to the realtor the real estate attorney was a freaking bargain
“It’s not that they don’t want to do anything, its just that they don’t have the time or resources to do so.”
I’m pretty sure it’s that they don’t want to do anything *out of the ordinary* at the fee they agreed to. Which, if you ask me, is one of the reasons that people hate lawyers.
Russ, let me give you an example from my own experience. When I sold my condo, Whomever-Decides-These-Things picked a date for the closing. It was Columbus Day, a day banks and financial institutions typically aren’t opened. I even pointed this out to my realtor and attorney. Eventually someone noticed and changed the date, but both parties had to sign a paper agreeing to more the apparently arbitrarily selected closing date one day.
You are telling me we couldn’t improve efficiency by having someone look at a FUCKING CALENDAR?
and yes I realize this is a one off, but little things like this bog down the process because again, the people who deal with this shit aren’t empowered to change it and the people who can change it don’t give a crap because it ain’t their problem.
“Look at what happened to the demographics of south central in LA.”
Look at what happened to the demographics of Cook county:
“From the 1990 U.S. Census to the 2000 U.S. Census, the percentage of Mexican Americans in all of Cook County, Illinois increased by 69%, and the percentage of Mexicans in the City of Chicago in particular increased by 50% in the same time period. As a result, Chicago’s number of Mexicans surpassed the number in the cities of Houston and San Antonio, Texas.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexicans_in_Chicago#Demographics
Bart: So Dean Martin would show up at the last minute and do everything in just one take?
Homer: That’s right.
Bart: But Wikipedia said he was passionate about rehearsal !!
Homer (angrily): Don’t you worry about Wikipedia. We’ll change it when we get home. We’ll change a LOT of things.
“Russ, let me give you an example from my own experience. When I sold my condo, Whomever-Decides-These-Things picked a date for the closing. It was Columbus Day, a day banks and financial institutions typically aren’t opened. I even pointed this out to my realtor and attorney”
Was the closing date not in the contract at the time you signed it? If the closing date was selected after the contract was signed, were you not involved in the selection of the closing date (it would have been up to you and the buyer based upon financing, moving logistics, completing inspection repairs, etc., not the brokers, and certainly not the lawyers)? And, did the contract not contain the standard “if it falls on a weekend or holiday, it’s the next business day” language?
Blowing a deadline, overlooking something problematic in the title work or on the survey, not alerting a buyer to something disconcerting in an association’s minutes, not alerting a seller to something fishy about a buyer’s financing and/or sale contingencies…then, okay, sure, your big time residential real estate lawyer has failed you, and certainly hasn’t earned his or her exorbitant $600 for handling the deal.
“And you can have inventory low on average but right now single family home inventory is very high through most of the green zone and it’s not selling very fast in those areas. And I did an analysis a while back and while 32% of new listings sold in the first 2 weeks 68% didn’t and that 68% took a LOT longer to sell. And then sellers hear that the market is hot so they want to price stupid high.”
Single family homes in the GZ?
What’s the average price of that?
Could easily be over $1 million so I’m not surprised that it’s taking longer to sell at that price point. There are very few single family homes priced under $700,000 now even in West Town. And those that are are teardowns.
Sadly, most normal buyers are priced out of single family homedom in the GreenZone which is why they buy townhouses or duplex downs instead.
But you are right- it depends on what price point you’re looking at and even things like 3 bedroom condos versus 2 bedroom condos. But the data says we’re under 50 days citywide in average market times now. That is extremely low. That means there are a lot of properties going under contract the first week on the market.
“Believe it or not, a number of Mexicans are moving out of Pilsen and Little Village and into West Englewood since nearly every block is stricken with empty lots, foreclosures, and abandoned homes. These are starter homes for working class people that are moving their families out of small apartments.”
The Tribune has documented the housing moves of immigrant communities in Chicago in the past in a series of excellent articles. I think it was a Polish or Ukrainian family but the same applies to the Mexicans.
They started in the ethnic city neighborhood. Then the parents moved to Berwyn after they had been here 10 to 20 years. Their kids moved out to like Naperville/Aurora/Bartlett. So by the third generation, none of them were living in the city anymore. This is why all the Polish grocery stores started opening up in Naperville in the last 15 years.
But good for those that are trying to gentrify West Englewood. That has been the history of Chicago with groups moving in and out and newbies coming back in.
Is West Englewood where they built the Whole Foods?
if by title work you mean fill out a form, then yes, there is title work. it’s a kickback in all but name and it’s not long before congress regulates that out of existence too.
I thought they actually do the full title search.
“if by title work you mean fill out a form, then yes, there is title work. it’s a kickback in all but name and it’s not long before congress regulates that out of existence too.”
I don’t think it will be Congress that does away with title work as it’s currently known. If it happens (and that’s a big if, given how the major title players will resist until they can be the ones to roll it out), it’s going to be the result of title getting rolled into some type of crypto-currency (bit coin/block chain, etc.).
“if by title work you mean fill out a form, then yes, there is title work. it’s a kickback in all but name and it’s not long before congress regulates that out of existence too.”
I don’t know what is done but it seems like a high fee. And I gotta think the title company must do a lot of scrutiny bc it seems like it’d be a pain in the ass to go after a bunch of re attorneys for screwing up a title search.
Do sellers’ attorneys disclose the payment they get from title company to sellers? (other than as a fairly cryptic line item on the closing forms) Are sellers obligated to use the title company suggested by attorney?
“Third Hottest in Last 10 Years”
third hottest in a decade is like umc, not hot hot like the uber wealthy.
I’m sure the idiots in our government will find more ways to regulate anyone that touches anyone else’s money with more additions to the absurd DOL Fiducary rule
So enjoy that extra title insurance premium while you can lawyers, your day is coming
“most normal buyers are priced out of single family homedom in the GreenZone which is why they buy townhouses or duplex downs instead.”
Wait–“normal” buyers can afford $650k for a GZ townhouse?
$200k+ HHI is “normal” now?
Huh.
I guess you like that Milly Santiago, who is “poor” on $100k+/year, with a pension, and a state pension too, and kids who are out of college.
In order for me to become a ‘title agent’ for a title company, I filled out a 1 page application and gave them my malpractice insurance information. That’s it. Then on my first ‘title search’ they email me a big packet of information and ask me to fill out a three page form. The form asks simple questions like “who is the mortgagor” and if the taxes are paid. or if there any special tax districts.
They give me no training, no direction, no competency tests, no certification, nothing at all. I could be a day out of law school doing my first title search ever. They don’t care. Because there is no way they are relying on anything I report to them to issue coverage that could potentially result in losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Their own staff attorneys do all the work.
Title companies in other states do the same thing except it’s a straight up kickback whereas in IL there’s the legal fiction that the lawyer does title work. But since most other states don’t use attorneys in transactions, the kickback goes to the realtor or mortgage broker who steers business in the title company’s direction. There was an article in the trib on sunday (copy the link into google if there is paywall) http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/ct-re-1023-kenneth-harney-column-20161020-column.html about this same issue.
Yes, the fee is disclosed on the settlement and lawyers are supposed to disclose it in their retainer agreement, which I do. I do technically do the title work, but I can’t control whether or not the title company uses my work to issue title.
“Is West Englewood where they built the Whole Foods?”
Nope. 63d and Halsted is smack in the middle of regular Englewood. Racine is the dividing line.
Looking at the school demographics, there isn’t (yet?) much evidence of that move. Based on the geography of the area, I’d guess that it’s mostly happening west of Ashland, in the 50s (aka, close to Back of the Yards)
“They give me no training, no direction, no competency tests, no certification, nothing at all.”
So, it’s a lot like being a lawyer.
Except that they give you money, instead of you paying $100k (now: $200k) for the privilege.
“third hottest in a decade is like umc”
Not even +1-SD!
It’s actually *poor*, just like Alderman Milly Santiago.
(yes, I know it doesn’t work like that)
“Alderman Milly Santiago”
Is anyone beside alders in support of the alder position? There is nothing close to a defensible principled position on their side.
I hate the cubs so much anyway.
“lawyers are supposed to disclose it in their retainer agreement, which I do”
Are sellers obliged to go through attorney’s title co? Is there any way for them to avoid this and pay less?
If a seller had a particular title company in mind that charged less I think they could force the issue with their attorney – or get a different attorney.
I want to emphasize something that Homedelete said above “most other states don’t use attorneys in transactions”. For instance, Texas does not use attorneys in their transactions and yet, somehow, the deal gets done. When we sold my parents’ house in Dallas I was mystified about how this was going to work given all the work I see the attorneys do in Illinois but obviously it does work. The Texas process was not visible to me so I can’t compare them but I found that interesting. I guess the real estate agents and title companies do more of the work there?
“Are sellers obliged to go through attorney’s title co? Is there any way for them to avoid this and pay less?”
It’s up to the parties (buyer and seller) what title company is used. The better view is that it should be the buyer’s choice (they’re the ones to whom the policy will be issued). But in the commercial context, I’ve dealt with plenty of seller’s counsel (from smaller shops) who basically act as if the deal won’t get signed unless the parties use the seller’s choice of title companies (i.e., the seller’s counsel’s choice). We like to use the same company, from the same office (for deals throughout the country), as we (usually) get good responsiveness/creativity because of the amount of business we send their way. The moment seller’s counsel insists on his or her shop handling title, I know what sort of character I’m dealing with.
“Is anyone beside alders in support of the alder position?”
Alder’s family members, who would get to go to the World Series.
“. The moment seller’s counsel insists on his or her shop handling title, I know what sort of character I’m dealing with.”. a
yes, an attorney who wants to earn more than $500 for his 12 hours of work from the beginning to the end of the sale. sellers attorneys do far more work – prepare deeds and docs, clear title issues, comply with village requirements, obtain payoff figures, etc than the buyers attorney.
most title companies charges are similar. except, everybody wants chicago title because it’s the ‘gold standard’ for title companies, but their fees are ridiculously expensive compared to first american or any other reputable company.
“Alder’s family members, who would get to go to the World Series.”
what about the ones who would not get to go?
“what about the ones who would not get to go?”
C’mon, developers always need zoning changes! And, anyway, what’s a campaign fund for, if not to buy your nieces’ boyfriends tix to the world series.
Gary, in those states the title/escrow does all of the work that an attorney would do here. The closer explains all the closing docs instead of the attorney. This stuff is boiler plate anyway, so not sure why attorney is needed to do this on buy side other than making people feel like something is official or they are protected.
Where I really see the benefits of attorneys is when something goes wrong. When I’ve financed purchases in states w/o attorneys, things are fine most of the time. However, in a few instances where there have been disagreements, they don’t seem to go as smoothly as when attorneys are involved. YMMV though.
You can Google map “West Englewood”. It apparently runs from 63rd Street to Marquette Road and from Ashland to Damen. That’s interesting info about the area and I’d like to know more.
“Wait–“normal” buyers can afford $650k for a GZ townhouse?”
Normal GreenZone buyers.
The GreenZone isn’t Peoria, you know. You’re not getting a $150,000 house like in Hoffman Estates. So yes, even the upper middle class buyers of the GreenZone can’t afford homes there anymore.
That’s why inventory is over 9 months and growing. Prices are too high now. There simply aren’t enough rich people to buy all those properties.
Are you a fan of the Prairie style?
Check out this house in Flossmoor. What a gem!
Built in 1912 by a Frank Lloyd Wright protégé. Just $479,000.
Gorgeous.
http://www.bairdwarner.com/property/51976755/1825-Sylvan-Court-FLOSSMOOR-IL-60422
“I guess the real estate agents and title companies do more of the work there?” We own a few properties in Michigan. During a closing, I had a question and the title company’s in-house lawyer researched the issue and responded. Perhaps they have in-house lawyers doing the work that the outside lawyers do in Chicago.
Milkster–
If you want to explore Engelwood, I suggest you rent a car next time you’re in town and check it out. It is not a place where an aspiring landlord, much less homeowner, is going to have an easy time of it. Beautiful homes with good bones and incredible interiors, but a lot of neglect makes them hard to rehab.
Read a story a few weeks ago about a white couple who moved into Engelwood and bought a house for $20k or something like that. They put in another $120k in rehab to get a beautiful home on the cheap. But they can’t get stuff delivered to them easily and it’s very much an under served area even with the new Whole Foods. Life in Engelwood is nothing like they prepared themselves for.
The poverty is very much ingrained in Engelwood and it’s not going to be easy to lift up the residents with the disappearance of the steel mill and factory jobs. People get drawn into the gang/drug lifestyle because of a variety of social ills no one has the answers for.
As an aside, a friend of mine lives in her family home near 63rd and Normal. She got all kinds of excited when she saw a Mexican family moving into a home at the end of her street. On the flip side, a neighbor of hers just moved out to a southern suburb and the home is now vacant. Remains to be seen if someone will pay the $40k the bank wants for the home.
“Are you a fan of the Prairie style?
Check out this house in Flossmoor. What a gem!
Built in 1912 by a Frank Lloyd Wright protégé. Just $479,000.
Gorgeous.”
are you kidding me? 24% low income students?
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/illinois/districts/homewood-flossmoor-chsd-233/homewood-flossmoor-high-school-6783/student-body
Love your message, Anonemoose. Thank you for the 411.
My good friend told me about this cafe in Englewood.
I couldn’t believe what he was saying so I had to look it up:
https://www.yelp.com/biz/kusanya-cafe-chicago
PS, Check out the clientele in Photo #53!!
yeah Sabrina that house is a stunner except for this
Estimated Taxes:
$16,200
That’s why its so cheap
that and flossmoor may as well be in Indiana
@ anonny on October 26th, 2016 at 2:36 pm
NO I had no input into the closing date and it was not decided at the time of contract, and there was no verbage about weekends or holidays because who the fuck cares if the buyer/seller are made to sign one more document AMIRITE!
IIRC was told the title company or the lender got to decide, though I distinctly recall pointing out when the date was revealed that it was Columbus Day.
As for the title work, who pays for that?” not the title company. It gets tacked on to the Seller/Buyer costs.
And I know Title research is usually necessary, especially for older homes, but how about all the ones we’ve seen here that resell every 18 months. Do we really need to pay the same price for some attorney who probably only researches back to the last sale anyway?
Just posted my October update. Lowest October in 5 years. Sales really flagging. Could be low inventory or lower levels of distressed properties. http://www.chicagonow.com/getting-real/2016/11/chicago-real-estate-market-update-lowest-october-sales-in-5-years/
Oh…and I don’t think this was the Cubs effect since these were closings, which usually enter into contract at least a month prior.