Chicagoland Area Real Estate Blog & News

Are You Struggling To Pay Your Mortgage?

Those who are struggling with paying a mortgage have options.

Recently, I've started getting questions about being late on mortgage payments and whether you need to sell your house.

There's a lot of fear around this because people have been in forbearance for quite some time, and all of a sudden, they're now forced to come up with the money despite their situation not having changed. If you or somebody you know is behind on payments, I have options for helping those who are struggling to pay their mortgage. I’m happy to discuss and walk you through all your options so you can make the best decision.

If this doesn’t apply to you, please pass this information on to somebody who may need it. If you have any questions, please give me a call. I look forward to hearing from you.

...

The Market Numbers You Need To Know

These are the January numbers from our market that you should know.

Welcome to our recap of the January 2022 real estate market stats for homebuyers and sellers. If you’re a seller, I’m going to guess that you’re interested in the average sale price. Over the last six months, it has hovered right around the $360,000 range after peaking at around $400,000 last June. We have seen a 10% adjustment, but that adjustment has been stable.

You might also be wondering how much inventory we have. There is just 1.1 months’ worth of inventory right now, which keeps us in a strong seller’s market.

With such low inventory, things are a little more difficult for homebuyers.

The average price has flattened out, but what about the list-to-sale price ratio? Right now, sellers are getting 97.4% of their list price on average. This peaked at 100% last June. The average days on market has increased from a valley of 35 in August to 61 days in January.

Homes are taking slightly longer to sell, and price growth has slowed down a bit. However, we’re still seeing multiple offers, and we’re still in a strong seller's market.

If you have questions about today’s market, what you need to do to successfully buy or sell, or anything else related to real estate, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

...

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.

...

Are You Looking To Sell This Spring?

Here are a few ways you can prepare your home to sell this spring. 

Are you thinking about selling a home this spring? If so, now is the time to prepare. Today I want to go over a few things to consider to get your house ready to sell this spring.

First, consider the exterior maintenance of your home. Every year, someone calls my team in April wanting to sell, but we have to wait for the weather to break so that they can do the necessary outside maintenance. What does this maintenance look like? You should seal your driveway, paint if you need to, seal your windows, and tidy up your landscaping.

Once you get the outside taken care of, it’s time to start thinking about the interior. This means it’s finally time to declutter. Create separate piles labeled donate, trash, give away, and keep. There’s no sense in hauling around something you don’t want or use, so the sooner you do this the better.

Finally, talk with an agent so that you know exactly what you need to do to sell your home. If you’d like someone on the Kite Team to be that agent for you, give us a call or send us an email. We’d love to talk with you!

...