Buying & Selling

Three Things Buyers Can Do in Today’s Housing Market

It’s clear the 2022 housing market has been defined by rising mortgage rates. With rates on the rise, it has become more costly to purchase a home. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR):

“Compared to one year ago, the monthly mortgage payment rose to $1,944 from $1,265.”

This is an increase of nearly 54%that’s a massive increase for a monthly mortgage payment! If you’re thinking of buying a home in Chicagoland, it may be causing you to consider putting your plans for homeownership on pause. This rate hike is making homes less affordable, especially compared to the historic lows we saw over the last few years.

The good news is we are here to help you navigate today’s housing market and this rising rate environment. Here are three key things to consider when buying a home with higher-than-normal interest rates:

1. Expand Your Search Area and Criteria

If you’ve been looking for a home in the city center or a specific area in the Chicago suburbs that’s starting to feel like a stretch for your budget, you may want to try looking a little further away for a location that could be more affordable. Expanding your search location or re-prioritizing the items on your must-have list can open up opportunities...

Is It Still a Good Time To Buy and Sell?

Here’s what buyers and sellers need to know about our housing market.


The latest numbers from April just came in, so today, let’s take a look at them to see what’s going on in our housing market.

The average sales price in March was $395,000. In April, that number climbed to $412,000. Meanwhile, the average number of days on market decreased to about 40 in April. This is a normal trend for this time of year. 

If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you know that interest rates continue to increase. This means it’s becoming more expensive each month to buy a home. 

Is it a good time to buy or sell? The answer is still yes. Sellers should list their properties before rates get too high and buyers’ purchasing power decreases. For the same reason, you should buy as soon as you can. The higher rates get, the less home you can afford. 

If you need help buying or selling or have any questions, please call or email us. Our team is always willing to help!

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Buying and Selling at the Same Time

Here are six options when buying and selling a home at the same time.


Recently, I’ve noticed a lot of sellers are excited to sell their homes, but they’re less enthused to buy. Since inventory levels are so low, I understand the concern. Don’t worry; if you’re looking to sell your home and buy a new one, you have options, and I want to go over a few of them with you today: 

1. Negotiate a long closing with your buyer. Instead of a typical 30-day close, try and have a 90-day one. In this seller’s market, many buyers are willing to accommodate this need. With such a long close, you should have plenty of time to find a new home.

2. Use a reverse contingency. In this scenario, you would insert a clause into your purchase agreement that makes your sale contingent on finding another home to buy. This is very convenient, but some buyers may not be interested in a house with one in place.

3. Negotiate a rent-back agreement. In this situation, you close on the house as normal, then rent the property back from your buyer while you look for a new home. These are increasingly popular, but some mortgages limit the amount of time you can rent the property from your buyer.

"Each option has its pros and cons. "

4. Find temporary housing. After your home sale, you could rent for a year and give the market time to settle. This option is popular with people who don’t know if they want to stay in their area since there...

How Interest Rates Affect Both Sellers and Buyers

This is how rising rates will affect both sellers and buyers.

Are you looking to buy or sell a home this year? If so, have you wondered how interest rates will affect you? Most of the time, we think that interest rates are only crucial to buyers, but they're also important to sellers.

If you want to sell your home and interest rates rise 1% this year, buyers will be able to afford less. Therefore, sellers may see their values fall and attract fewer buyers. As a buyer, if interest rates rise 1%, you can afford 10% less. If you qualified for a $300,000 mortgage in December, a 1% rise in rate would mean that you now only qualify for $270,000. If you were looking for a $300,000 home and couldn't find something that made you happy, you’re not likely to find an ideal home for $270,000.

Interest rates will increase this year, so if you have any interest in buying or selling, you should get in the market soon. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me by phone or email. I look forward to hearing from you.

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How to Buy & Sell at the Same Time


If you need to sell your home and buy a new one, do it simultaneously.

One of the biggest concerns that sellers have in today’s market is how to go about buying and selling a home at the same time. Luckily, we do this all the time, so today we can help you manage both transactions.

Generally, the easiest way to go about it is to list your home for sale when you get a contract, after which, you can search for a new home. Then, we’ll help you close both houses on the same day; you’ll close the one you’re selling in the morning and the one you’re buying in the afternoon. All your possessions will be loaded on the moving truck the night before so that they can begin unloading at your new home as soon as you’re done closing.

This way, you won’t have to worry about where you’re going to live between transactions. If there does happen to be a larger gap between when you close on your old home and when you buy the new one, you may be able to get post-closing possession if you and your agent negotiate for it.

If you have any further questions or need assistance juggling two transactions at once, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send an email. We’d love to help you.

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The Factors Causing People To Move


These are the four biggest market factors causing everyone to move.

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Have you noticed a ton of people moving recently? Why is that? Today I want to go over the factors in our market that cause people to move:

1. Low interest rates. Even with rising prices, low interest rates make buying a home more affordable. Right now, interest rates are down from where they were in May of this year. They were already low in May, so buyers can afford to move into nicer homes.

2. People are leaving the state. Since the pandemic, more people have had the opportunity to work from home. This means people don’t need to stay in Illinois for their job, so they have the opportunity to move closer to family, head south for nicer weather, or leave because of high state taxes.

"Low interest rates make buying a home more affordable."

3. People are using this moment to downsize. Whether older people are moving into a smaller home or transitioning into an assisted living facility, a large chunk of the older population is using this opportunity to change their lifestyles.

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As-Is Listing Info for Buyers and Sellers


What you need to know about buying or selling an as-is home.

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The term “as-is condition” has different connotations for different people. So when a seller calls and says they want to sell their home as is, I ask what that means to them.

Often, they want to list as is because they don’t want to update their property. That’s fine because we’ll consider that when deciding on a price. However, for some sellers, it means something like the furnace is out and they don’t want to repair it, but that’s something we’ll have to disclose. Some people think they can list their home as is and no one will ask for inspection repairs, but the issue is that as-is listings sometimes have negative connotations for buyers.

That means we need to be extremely careful when listing a house as is. The only time I advise it is when there are issues that won’t be handled. If it’s a cosmetic problem, the buyer understands that they’re buying it as they see it, like if you didn’t remove wallpaper or replace the carpet. However, if something major needs to be fixed, such as the roof, we need to disclose it. Sellers need to be smart about using the term “as is” when selling because it could turn buyers away....