Cindy Strahota is an agent with experience as an appraiser here in St. Charles so she’s a great, authoritative voice when discussing market stats and pricing. I’m sending you her way to have her discuss the impact of the last tax credit and, more specifically, where we are now that it’s over. Here you go.

I took a while to review the Chicago results they released this afternoon. Overall we are, along with Atlanta, one of two markets showing slowed activity. If we pay attention to the two indicators we concern ourselves with on a real estate site we need to look at the Real Estate/Construction and the Banking and Finance sections:

Credit is becoming more available, or at least more in demand as we see some curve up in refinance applications and business lending while the cost of lending decreased. Even with those conditions seemingly favorable, there’s not really any building going on that’s non-spec or without a contract in the private sector.

I think that’s to be expected and is wise. We’re still pretty depressed as far as new mortgages are concerned. We can’t really expect this to change with unemployment still high (although it is down over last year) and consumer confidence still suffering.

Nevertheless, even looking at something that seems initially dismal, there is some cautious optimism peeking through. The conclusion is that we’re seeing a slowing due to insecurity about the second half of 2010.

Well, that’s a mouthful. Let’s have a little more fun later on this week!

As always, keep in mind this is national and real estate is a local business. If you’re in the Fox Valley you should contact a local market expert to get a better sense of timelines. Also, keep in mind that St. Charles is not Oswego, find someone who understands you and your market.

To give a little of the back story, there have been talks about mandating fire suppression systems in all new construction for some time and in 2008 the International Code Council (ICC) spoke out in favor of  and ultimately passed updates to the International Residential Code (IRC). What does that mean to you?  With fire suppression recommendations as a part of the IRC, it will tend to inform municipalities’ decisions on building codes. That doesn’t mean it will be law, but the the likelihood that it will be adopted locally is higher. We can see that Saint Charles is adopting a compromise of this.

There’s been quite a bit of disagreement, The ICC, some unions and several fire safety groups being on the side of fire suppression systems being mandated with the National Association of Realtors, contractors, unions and Home Building Associations nationwide feeling that it is legislation that make homes less affordable. The position of the latter set of groups is that homes have become increasingly safe in constructions and materials and mandating this is counterproductive – it will increase the cost of new construction at a very bad time for both builders and consumers.  It’s also become a rallying cry about government intervention in the market and the individual lives of consumers. You have to ask if you want everything to be legally required or as an option available.

Just to be sure you ‘re fully informed, I’m attaching links to the conclusions of the NAR’s research as well as the National Fire Sprinkler Associations’ talking points on support of the bill and the text of the 2010 Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act.

For much more in Real Estate info, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/kellerwilliams and for Local info if you’re in Northern Illinois, go to http://kw-fvr.com.

This Month in Review has Ron and invited guest Justin, talking to us about August statistics.

1. August numbers up  homes sold 29 % from this time last year
2. 14% homes under contract  goes to  Montgomery.  2nd goes to Plainfield
3. 10.1% under contract for all of Fox Valley is much better than this time last year at 6.3%
4. Montgomery leads the inventory levels at 8.3 months of housing inventory, which is well below the average of 12.9 months
5. Aurora led the sales of pre-foreclosed and foreclosed homes at 47%.

Even though it may be distressing to see so many homes being taken back by the banks, there is good to come of it.

1. many of these homes are being bought up and will hopefully speed up the recovery of the housing market
2. this does produce an opportunity for buyers.   great prices and low interest rates hopefully equals the buying opportunity of a lifetime

Real estate is local!

Please continue to come back  here for further updates of the Fox Valley Real estate news!

Ron Donavon does a great job talking about the summer Home Sale statistics.   In brief he tells in the Fox Valley Area;

• home for  sales are 16.3% down for this time last year
• we had a few towns like North Aurora, Plainfield,Montgomery, etc.  will an of absorbtion rate of less than 10 months, while we still had the route 47 corridor is still way over 10 months(over 10 months of inventory means still in buyer’s market
• an alert to remember that summer is some of hottest selling months and we will have to wait and see what are winter months bring us before we can confidently say we are rebounding.

now there is much more stats and commentary from Ron Donavon but you will have to watch the video and get it straight from his mouth.

More information about this event in general can be found at the Keller Williams Blog here!

This is an exciting day,  and should be lots of fun.  Just look for the Keller Williams Agents around town, you cant miss us we will be dressed in RED!

If you have any questions about the Day please call our office at 630-377-6200.

Home owner fair

Wow, Options, options, options!   In these trying times where all we hear is doom and gloom,  it is nice to choices out there for folks that may be struggling.

This April 19th from 1-4pm  come to Keller Williams Fox Valley Realty. where are having a Home Owner fair where you can visit may information booths, that will hopefully help you make you next big decision.  some of the booths that you can visit are, Short Sale/foreclosure, Rental, Commercial, Loan Modification, Home Price Protection, First time Home buyers, Financial, contract for Deed, Moving assistance and checking your home value!

this Home Owner Fair is designed to be there to answer your questions and or concerns.

we look forward to seeing you at the Home owner Fair

Now lets discuss the hope that exists out there!

Experts say that we still need to drop 24% in home prices to reach traditional levels. Whether or not this is true or even accurate is not the point, this is the perception, and we must deal with this now! This perception is part of the reason why the market is declining the way it is. With home prices still declining why would a buyer want to buy a home  when the home will be worth less as soon as they close on it. So about the only solution us buyers have, is to make extremely low offers, which as we all know frustrates sellers. That is until today!

Today there is now another solution, A Home Price Protection by Equity Lock. This provides Homeowners a way of protecting themselves against market declines (such as we have today.) It works this way, if you purchase a home for $200,000 and the market declines 5% when you sell your home, Equity lock will pay you $10,000 at closing**. This can be offered to almost all markets in the area.

Bottom line, this is an amazing solution for both buyers and sellers. Buyers do not have to predict the exact bottom of the housing market(which is impossible) and sellers don’t have worry about receiving nothing but low ball offers(hopefully).  In this market everyone should feel like they are getting the best deal available to them and I think this is definitely a step towards accomplishing that exact thing. If you would like more information on this, please  go to the website of Equity Lock or contact your trusted Keller Williams Consultant!

* information paraphrased from a usatoday article “why home values may take decades to recover

** numbers are for demonstration purposes only, please go to equity lock for a deeper explanation