Tom McCarey

Hi Siggi,

The current market is extremely frustrating.

Even when right-priced homes sit on the market with little or no activity. In the current market it is imperative that you enlist with a real estate professional who is taking full advantage of the full complement of tools to aggressively market your home.

Good for you that you have a property website. A 21st century agent will provide you with a website specific to your home (my most recent listing is http://parkingincluded.com); coop listing on the mls which seeds to myriad realtor sites via IDX agreement, preferred status at realtor.com and tribune.com, constant and rejuventated expression of the listing with professional materials at sites such as craigslist, trulia, vast, backpage, edgio, zillow, etc. Aside from online materials the right agent will deliver professional hardcopy marketing materials predicated upon professionally shot pictures, appropriate textual description, and aesthetic appearance.

Where appropriate the right broker will advertise the property with signage at the property with website reference and, when relevant, host open houses for two or three weeks after you list to seek to trigger momentum. And finally, the right agent will be conversant with the overall market and fully represent your property during showings and open houses.

At the end of the day it is not about a "hard sell" - but you absolutely need to have an advocate on your side who will sell your home. As one respondent pointed out, don't expect a miracle overnight. But in the right hands at the right price (something that a true professional will help you determine) you will get traction toward the transacting of your home.

Feel free to make your way toward me via my profile. I have met a number of very happy clients through this forum and would love to include you in this group.

All the best!

Tom McCarey
The Real Estate Lounge Chicago with @ properties
Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist - Yesterday, 12:07

Terry,
Here's the deal - new or newer construction condos in North Center have frame trussing into which developers blow in insulation. What this does is mitigate sound transmission between floors. What matters is whether the building is comprised of brick exterior or split faced block. Brick is superior to block. Bear in mind this mitigates but does not deaden sound transmission. One way around this is to seek the installation of cork underlay between the subfloor and hardwood flooring. Another consideration is whether the developer has installed "j" or "z" channels that somewhat subdue sound a bit more. Concrete underlay is not a common feature in three to six or eight unit condo buildings. This not so common concrete serves to reduce sound more than simple blown in insulation. Having said all of this - if you are after silence and you will feel perpetually on edge if you don't have absolute silence you may do well to reconsider the condo purchase. I also heartily endorse that you seek an experienced real estate professional to guide you through this process.

All the best,

Tom McCarey
The Real Estate Lounge Chicago - Thu Oct 2 2008, 01:07

Hubie,

It's hard to give you a straight answer given the odd contour of the current market. Here's the deal - access to credit has become extremely difficult, thereby impacting the potential sale of your home because prospective buyers likely will not have access to funding. Meanwhile the specific location of your home - on Belmont near Halsted - provides a faulty aesthetic that may not bode well for resale in an environment like this where there is a) a profound amount of product availability and b) a tendency on the part of most buyers in the current environment to expect that they will find the "perfect" place.

Having said all of this I think your thread has indicated that recent transactions have trended, in your building, to generate single digit upticks. The question then becomes - what is the timeline wherein these transactions have occurred? Relevance tends to be predicated on a shorter timeline.
Phew, so having said all of this your next step is to find a strong real estate professional with an extensive and assertive marketing program that will propel your listing into frontal awareness of the consuming public. Feel free to contact me via my profile if you would like my take a) as to the real market value of your residence and b) the manner in which I market the properties that I list and sell.

Best of luck moving forward toward the sale of your home.

Tom McCarey
The Real Estate Lounge Chicago with @ properties - Tue Sep 30 2008, 21:39

Tricia,

Wow, you sure have inspired a gamut of ill-informed and specious responses, especially from folks not dwelling anywhere near the 606 zip. I am not sure why anybody who doesn't live in our fair city would feel either compelled to or capable of providing any valid insights regarding what is going on here.

If you are looking in 60640 you have a handful of neighborhood segments, so the first question is to determine if you seek a) Andersonville, b) what is called Andersonville Terrace, c) Bowmanville, d) Ravenswood, or e) Uptown? Perhaps even more important than this is to express what your price range is. Face it, every buyer is looking for a great deal. But wanting a great deal and buying at good value may be two distinct things.

For the most part things are being priced right in Chicago's northside marketplace. Even so, it's not as if there is a mad dash to buy. There are several exact reasons for this degree of inactivity. Money is more difficult to obtain. Jumbo loans, since Chicago is not a so-called "high cost" market, are even more difficult to get (especially at a compelling rate). There is a profound dis-ease on the part of consumers to engage in the market. Many, like you, don't want to overpay. Others don't know if they will be employed in six months.

Having digested this combination of anecdotal and factual information, the next caveat to mull over is the general state of the Chicago market. Unlike numerous other markets, Chicago never put the pedal to the metal as far as capricious year-to-year increases. As such, we never inflated the balloon that one respondent attempted to graphically imply will burst soon. That's not to say that there are not balloons and that these balloons won't go pop. But it is to say that the Chicago market is not a balloon market.

If you live in Chicago now you should be cognizant that your neighbors tend to be level-headed and pragmatic. That is one of the reasons that we so overwhelmingly support Obama. As such most of my clients tend to "right price" their homes. The bulk of my clients are moving to their next home and that move is rooted in selling this home that you are considering. While sellers tend to be reasonable and somewhat flexible, they are not going to give away their homes. Having said this, what we see more and more in the current market are sellers establishing leverage with the real sentiment that if they are low-balled they can just refuse to proceed. After all, they don't need to move. They, like you, aspire to move. But not if it means getting screwed.

Back to your question. You do have a certain amount of leverage as a cash buyer. How much leverage? Not as much as some respondents would have you believe. And perhaps not as much as you would like to believe. As with other folks asking questions as you are I heartily recommend that you identify a real estate professional to assist you sift through listings and assertively negotiate a fair value transaction with you.

All the best!

Tom McCarey
The Real Estate Lounge Chicago with @ properties - Fri Sep 19 2008, 20:02

Hi Frank,

Thanks for turning to this forum to possibly chart the direction in which you will take the listing of your property in Wicker Park. As with most other respondents to your query I will try to deftly and intelligently guide you to meet with me to possibly list your property.

As important as it is to have an experienced Wicker Park agent I believe it is more critical to have an agent who is a) experienced with the entire north and northwest side Chicago markets, b) versed at using current technology to gain market momentum with online consumers through electronic marketing, websites, blogging, etc and c) an authority in the Chicago market (ie a top performer) so as to credibly establish your property and to effectively market it and negotiate its transaction.

Face it, this is a tough market in which tumult has been the chief defining characteristic. To choose an agent who does not have a track record for at least three-four years as a top producer could be a bad decision with ramifications that include moldering market time and no transaction. This is not the time to turn to a rookie. You need an experienced real estate professional in your corner to assist you to determine right pricing and the means to effectively market your listing and the wherewithal to negotiate on your behalf. Bear in mind that it still might take time because the absorption rate of listings in today's market has increased. But choosing someone who knows how to use today's tools to increase the marketing momentum of your listing enhances the possibility that you will sell in a timely manner.

Good luck with charting your course.

Tom McCarey
The Real Estate Lounge Chicago with @ properties - Tue Sep 16 2008, 11:22