CNN Foreclosure Ranking

#89

Chicago's very own West Pullman neighborhood tips in at #89 of the top zip codes that have the most foreclosures. Congrats!

$200,000

How far will $200,000 go?

Depends on where you look

February 15, 2008

BY KAY SEVERINSEN SearchChicago - Homes editor

If you think you can afford a $200,000 property, you’ll have lots to choose from. That price range, which we set at between $190,000 and $210,000, garnered 1,841 listings on SearchChicago, more than appeared in any of the $100,000, $300,000 and $400,000 ranges.

Chicago has a lot to offer. Lot's of food, booze, museums and high taxes. What it lacks is good public schools, solid roads, snow and ice removal and safe neighborhoods. If you want all of that, live in the burbs. You can always visit the retsurants, bars and extras.

They Would Eat Their Young

Chicago politicains are just simply unbelieveable. Just when the RE market is heading into it's toughest the spring selling season, they pull this stunt.

Chicago OKs real estate tax hike

February 6, 2008

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Chicago aldermen held their noses today and held up their end of the deal that staved off massive CTA fare hikes and service cuts. But not before giving senior citizen homebuyers a reprieve.

Beginning April 1, Chicago homebuyers will be hit with a 40 percent increase in the city’s real estate transfer tax. Instead of paying $7.50 per $1,000 of sale price, they’ll pay $10.50.

I will predict a spike in closing before April. However, the damage this will do to prices and comps will yet to be seen. Stay tuned!

Hard News

While you weren't watching ...... mortgage rates were tumbling

But joining the refi rush won't be so easy this time

By Michael Oneal and Mary Umberger | TRIBUNE REPORTERS
January 26, 2008

With long-term mortgage rates sinking to their lowest level since March 2004, it looked like one of those golden opportunities to refinance the home or condo this week.

But many who rushed out to their banker or mortgage broker discovered that it is much more difficult to borrow money than it was even a few months ago.

The real estate crisis dragging down the rest of the U.S. economy has frozen the market for many borrowers. As prices fall and lenders wallow in a sea of losses, only those with gold-plated credit ratings and ample equity in their homes are sailing through the application process, mortgage bankers said.

...

"There's a widening gap between those people who can qualify for a mortgage and get great rates and those who can't," said Barton Pitts, president of Professional Mortgage Partners in Downers Grove. "It's a totally different world."

...

What's happened is that banks and mortgage lenders have not only clamped down on exotic, subprime loans they can't sell in the secondary market, but they also have tightened rules or raised the cost for medium quality and jumbo loans that make up a big part of the market. They have demanded more equity, tougher appraisals, and higher credit scores.

Here it is. The coffin of the housing market is being hammered shut. Even here in the "it's different here" Chicago. With out getting a loan to match those crazy asking prices, the market will tumble.

The "tougher appraisals" are the two harshest words in the whole article. What I in vision here is the new and improved appraiser will under cut the sellers outrageous asking price. The Greedy Seller won't budge on the asking price. The foolish buyer will tell the bank that they really need that house. The bank will agree, but the 30 year fixed loan will be for the appraisal. A bonus loan at a much higher rate will be given to make up for the difference. We shall see.

Mostly gone are the once-popular "no doc" loans that required little or no proof of income or assets. And new requirements demand more equity as a percentage of home value in weak markets.

...

"What has gone away is you can't come in and lie to me," said Ken Perlmutter of Perl Mortgage in Chicago.

As if the mortgage broker was the victim! The once "popular no doc loan" is fraud, pure and simple. Both side of that contract should the imprisoned and fined.

Dirty is as Dirty Does

No big surprise here: Chicago zoning procedure is corrupt.

Chicago Tribune Investigation (video)

Poor, poor frmr. Ald Matlak. Of all the dirty Chicago pols, why is he singled out? I suspect he got his fair share for all the re-zoning favors he did for his business pals.

But on the flip side where were the voices of dissent when those projects were elevating Lincoln Pk, Bucktown, Wicker Pk, and the eastern edge of Humboldt Pk to the highest home prices of all of Chicago? Also, imagine all the additional property taxes those developments brought the County! Remember, each condo unit's property taxes are assessed at its SALES PRICE. Many of the old buildings in those neighborhoods probably had very low assessed values. They should be happy to help.

Well, I guess in the end Matlak should just be happy the Feds did not sneak in one night and try to shove a Silver Shovel up his..........................

A Sign of Things To Come?

What neighborhood is this in?




Englewood?

Washington Park?

Roseland?

West Pullman?

Garfield Park?

Hegewisch?

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Nope, sorry the correct answer is Detroit, MI. Sure looks like a Chicago-style Queen Ann Bungalow, right? Would you believe that Remax is selling it for ............ $1.00?! No joke. That house is for sale for ONE U.S. Dollar! And it is STILL for sale. That means, by my accord, if nobody will buy it for $1.00, it must be worth less than one dollar. How much less? 75 cents? 50 cents?

7727 RADCLIFFE ST
DETROIT, MI 48210
MLS ID# 27219986

Most People, Not All

Housing crashes through floor

Sales decline picks up speed in 4th quarter; a tough spring ahead

Sales of new homes in the Chicago area fell even faster in the fourth quarter, and with the economy on the brink of recession, homebuilders face another tough spring selling season.

Builders sold 2,196 units in the quarter, a 51% decline from the year-earlier period and the biggest quarterly drop since the residential slump began more than two years ago, according to Tracy Cross & Associates Inc., a Schaumburg-based real estate consulting firm. Homes sold in the quarter at the slowest pace in 15 years, the firm says.

"It's frightening, it's nerve-wracking — it's a lot of things," says Jerry Thiel, president of G. W. Thiel Inc., a Rolling Meadows-based carpentry contractor that employs about 30 carpenters now, down from 275 in 2005.

Sorry, the Golden Age of the construction worker has ended. Back to business as usual. Did they really think it would go on forever??

The housing downturn, longer and deeper than most people expected, has rippled through the local economy, hitting businesses like Warrenville-based Neumann Homes Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, and USG Corp. of Chicago, which saw its third-quarter profit plunge 95% amid weak demand for its wallboard, a key residential construction material. Chicago-based publisher Tribune Co. has seen a steep drop-off in real estate-related advertising. And big-box retailers Target Corp. and Home Depot Inc. are tapping the brakes on plans to expand in the suburbs as residential development slows (Crain's, Dec. 24).

Ya, I suppose they did.

The market "is probably worse than it was in the early '90s," he says.

Well, It did go UP much farther than the 90's too. Shame on you for not getting out while the getting was good. Nothing last forever. Nothing.