RECENT BLOG POSTS
1
Comments
The Stimulus Bill becomes a law today and among 787 billion dollars, there is something everyone involved in the real estate business should be glad about: a bonus for first time home buyers! It is big enough to cover a 10% downpayment on a modest condo or a townhouse. Once President Obama signs ...
02/17/2009
0
Comments
There is silver lining everywhere – even in the gloomy job report released today. US economy lost 598,000 jobs in January. Still Wall Street opened higher. Here is one of the news headlines: "Stocks open higher as worse-than-expected jobs report raises hopes that stimulus will pass quickly". So t...
02/06/2009
January 27, 2009 November 2008 Home Price Index shows record price declines in major metropolitan areas. Chicago real estate market seems to be right in the middle of the list with 12.5% price decline over the last 12 months. The 20-city S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index is constructed to accurat...
01/29/2009
1
Comments
Earlier this week, GMAC which is known for financing GM cars and trucks, received a 6 billion cash injection from the federal government. GMAC has also a real estate division - GMAC Home Services which runs a franchise of real estate offices, while GMAC Mortgage is one of country’s largest mortga...
01/02/2009
2
Comments
We all can use some good news. The recent announcement from Freddy Mac that fixed rates on 30-year mortgages averaged 5.19% for the week ending Dec. 18. is definitely a reason to cheer. Rates have not been that low since 1971 when government started to survey 30-year mortgage rates. Combined with...
12/18/2008
3
Comments
Everyone knows how dramatically prices of homes have been falling in the last 2 years. Some estimates indicate that an average American home lost 25-30% of its peak value. The recent wave of foreclosures makes price declines even more acute. For home sellers, having a bank foreclosed property in ...
12/10/2008
0
Comments
Do you feel overwhelmed by big numbers? How about 1 trillion dollar depreciation? Experts estimate that the total loss of residential home equity in the last 2 years was around 1 trillion dollars. An average U.S. home lost almost 100,000 of its value. So, are you $100,000 poorer than 2 years ago?...
11/30/2008
In case you were wondering if homes in the northwest suburbs are still selling, the answer is YES :-) . Surprisingly, the prices are holding steady, around 10% below last year's figures. For instance - in Arlington Heights 30 houses have been sold last month, at an average price of $450,908. Tha...
11/10/2008
5
Comments
There is change in the air. And our country needs it like never before in the recent history. Today tens of millions of Americans are going to polls to express their hope and determination to turn the country around. As Realtors, we and our clients were the first to suffer from the current slowdo...
11/04/2008
Given all the negative news, we have been hearing in the recent days, as a surprise comes the information, that the national sales of existing homes were up 5.5% in September (seasonally adjusted) if compared to August. The biggest gains come from the West where home sales were up 16.8%. However,...
10/28/2008