With pre-approval or financial statement in hand you are ready to start your home search. Now you need to find an agent to work with. Rather than call the agent for every for sale sign you see, choosing one agent who can show you any home of interest is more beneficial for you as the agent will learn more about you as time passes and both of you should begin to feel comfortable working with each other.
Ways To Find Your Agent
Seek services from a previous agent you were comfortable working with.
Ask your lender to recommend agents they work with.
Ask friends or family if they an recommend an agent.
Google for Realtors that serve the geographic area you'll be buying in and read their web sites. Are the agents
Choose an agent that works full time. Part time agents may be at "work" when you need them most.
Choose an agent that works in the area you are going to buy. If they live there too even better, they have first hand experience of living in your future village.
If you don't feel at ease with the first agent you encounter, move on and find some-one better.
Buyers agents only get paid when a purchase closes. All our expenses are paid by ourselves. Be respectful of an agent that puts the time and effort into finding your home. I am committed to helping my buyers get that perfect house no matter how long it takes and I work every day of the week around your schedule. I am ready to be your advocate, all I ask is you place your trust in me to do a fabulous job!
In my next article I'll discuss Finding The Right Home and Making Compromises
Whether you have bought a home in the last year, 10 years ago or 20 years ago, it never hurts to have a refresher on the basic steps of the transaction So the following articles will be about a typical residential purchase transaction from start to finish. if you refresh your knowledge before you start, the process should be smooth and perhaps make more sense.
Before You Start Your Home Search
With over 90% of residential home purchases still being financed, it is important to get your finance approved before you go home shopping. Any well represented seller will insist on seeing your pre-approval prior to making a decision on an offer you present. For higher end properties, you may be asked to show this to a seller prior to being able to view a home.
So what is a pre-approval? A lending institution will give an approval for a mortgage based on a number of things. Before you find a home the information gathered is related to your financial ability to repay the loan. Be prepared to provide W2's for the last 2 months, your last 2 years tax returns, details of all your current revolving credit, fixed loans and other responsibilities like child support; and information on your employment history especially for the previous 2 years. Your lender will issue a pre-approval based on the information you provide for a mortgage amount. It is called a pre-approval because it is still dependant on an appraisal and updates on your financials.
In addition to establishing what price of property you can buy, it also serves as an opportunity for you to assess the monthly repayments to make sure you are comfortable with the numbers. You can of course choose to take less than is offered. Now you have established the amount you are going to borrow, you can view properties in the right price range and have the blessings of an agent to show you homes.
What Do You Do?
If you have a lender with whom you have previously worked, and are happy with the service you receive, this may be a good starting point. You can also consider your bank or credit union. Other alternatives are mortgage brokers, who may be able to source a better interest rate for you. I am happy to recommend loan officers that I regularly work with and in whom I have complete trust.
Cash Purchases.
If you are going to buy a property with cash, a letter from your financial institution confirming your ability to access funds will be required for the amount of your purchase.
In my next article I'll discuss finding the right agent for you.
Deer Park has over 1000 homes and is divided up by subdivision. The Squires subdivision is on the south side of Cuba Rd, East of Ela Rd. There are 52 homes in total and are single family homes with 3 or 4 bedrooms. You'll find some ranch homes, 2 story homes and a few split level homes. Many have brick fronts, a few are all brick. Most have partial or full basements. Squires was built in the late 1970's. Properties have 1 acre lots, are on well and septic, and have established landscaping, and the common areas are well established with lots of evergreen and deciduous trees as well as the pond off Pheasant Trail. Children attend Lake Zurich schools with Isaac Fox and Lake Zurich Middle School South being within walking distance, but served by the school bus service.
Squires Streets:
Bobwhite Lane
Mallard Court
Pheasant Trail
Quail Court
Sumac Court
Teal Court
Thrush Court
Properties Sold during the last 12 months:
None
Properties Currently Available:
There are 2 homes for sale in The Squires as of today, April 19th 2009 and the following links will take you to details of the homes.
http://www.realestateinbarrington.idxco.com/idx/3737/details.php?idxID=004&listingID=07191748
http://www.realestateinbarrington.idxco.com/idx/3737/details.php?idxID=004&listingID=07164464
Foreclosure Activity in The Squires
A check of the foreclosure records as of April 9th 2009 reveals no pre-foreclosures or bank owned homes in this subdivision.
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Contact Corinne Guest, of Royal Advocate Realty Licensed Realtor® & Broker in Illinois, 847-381-6328 for real estate services in Deer Park Illinois.
Copyright Corinne Guest 2009 - Deer Park IL Real Estate - The Squires - Homes
You've decided to sell your Barrington home, you may have an agent in mind or you may want to interview some to decide who is going to work best for you. There are many things that need consideration before placing your home on the market and one that might come up is the subject of buyer or buyer's agent incentives. What do I mean by this? The following is a list of incentives I see, some more commonly than others:
For Buyer's Agents:
For Buyers:
Free Car, Boat, Cruise, Plasma TV etc.
Pay some or all closing costs
Buy Points -(reduces interest rate of buyers new mortgage - usually 1 point lowers the rate by a quarter.)
You may not have encountered these ideas, but they are out there in the market place today. The question is do they work? This may be a very subjective question but my take is this.
Buyers will buy the house they want. They will not buy any of the others regardless of incentives. Why? Simply because they like the other one better.
Do they work for agents? My opinion is again the same, No! If my buyers want to buy house A, but house B offers me more commission or a bonus, my duty is to help them buy house A, not persuade them to buy house B. Now some may argue that the houses with more commission go to the top of the pile and may get shown more often, I contend that is not the case. Buyers today do their own research, and know which houses they want to see.
So I encourage you the seller to price your home right from the outset, pay both your agent and the buyers agent a commission that is fair in today's market place, and forget the incentives.
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Contact Corinne Guest, of Royal Advocate Realty Licensed Realtor® & Broker in Illinois, 847-381-6328 for real estate services in Barrington Illinois.
Contact me by email if you prefer by clicking on email on the right side of this page under my profile.
Copyright Corinne Guest 2009 - Selling Your Barrington Illinois Home - Should You Offer Incentives?
Good Shepherd Hospital is located on Route 22 in Barrington west of Route 59. In close proximity to the hospital there is an abundance of medical offices and dental practices. You'll also find some in nearby Fox River Grove. On the campus of the hospital there are a number of buildings that have doctors offices, but more practices appear to be moving into the new office condo style buildings, Fox Glen being a prime example of this type of space.
The Smith Professional Center located across the street from the hospital is also home to doctors practices and also at 450 W Highway 22, on the corner of Kelsey and 22. There are also Physical Therapists in close proximity.
Having said that, there is still an abundance of space available for new Doctor Practices to consider, especially in the Barrington area. Close to Good Shepherd there are spaces available, new and older. The question is, should you lease space or buy? Well one thing is for sure, there has never been a better time to buy space, you might be able to get a pretty good deal. If you don't need all the space, as owners you could lease some out and then if your practice grows, at least you'll have the ability to expand in future years.
Consider buying real estate for your medical practice, whether if its as a Doctor or Dentist, Generalist or Specialist it is a good time for the investment. If you are looking for medical space in Barrington, let me find it for you. Your time is valuable and should not be wasted tracking down a new office, I can do it for you. Just give me some basics about what you need and I will search all the commercially listed properties for you. Just remember to let me know if you want to lease or buy.
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Contact Corinne Guest, of Royal Advocate Realty Licensed Realtor® & Broker in Illinois, 847-381-6328 for real estate services in Barrington Illinois.
Contact me by email if you prefer by clicking on email on the right side of this page under my profile.
Copyright Corinne Guest 2009 - Barrington Real Estate - Medical Office Space
On the heels of my last blog about sale prices and date for homes sold In Inverness Illinois, I thought it appropriate to see what the average asking price for 2008/9 will buy in Inverness today.
Before doing that if you are interested in the data I compiled, just click here.
The approximate asking price for detached homes in Inverness for toady, April 2009 is $750,000 compared with $898,000 in 2005. So what kind of property can you buy at $148,000 less than 4 years ago?
Well the average house in this price range is about 3500 square feet, has 4 bedrooms 3 and a half bathrooms, on 1 acre lot with a 3 car garage. Between $700,000 and $800,000 there are 16 homes available, although 3 have accepted contracts. You can choose between homes in the older subdivisions such as Macinstosh or new homes on Creekside or Inverness Ridge.
If you are in the market to buy in Inverness, the village is divided by zip code. Some fall under 60010 and some under 60067.
Price range for all Inverness homes is $279,900 for a townhome up to $3,950,000 for a custom French Provincial style Manor. There are 119 homes available today, April 16th 2009.
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Contact Corinne Guest, of Royal Advocate Realty Licensed Realtor® & Broker in Illinois, 847-381-6328 for real estate services in Barrington Illinois.
Contact me by email if you prefer by clicking on email on the right side of this page under my profile.
Copyright Corinne Guest 2009 - Homes and Real Estate for Sale in Inverness Illinois
I thought residents of Inverness might like to know how well sales of homes are doing compared with the exact same time last year. I am comparing April 2007 to April 2008 with April 2008 to April 2009. I will round the numbers up for ease of reading.
During the year April 2007 to April 2008 there were 74 detached homes sold. The average asking price was $778,000 and the average selling price was $731,000. This means homes were selling at 94% of the asking price. The average market time was 294 days.
During the year April 2008 to April 2009 there were 40 detached homes sold. The average asking price was $756,000 and the average selling price was $691,000. This shows that homes were selling for 91% of the asking price, the average marketing time fell to 164 days.
Now what was happening in 2005? Well during the period April 2005 to April 2006, there were 74 detached homes sold, with an average asking price of $898,000, sales price of $848,000 meaning sales were for 94% of asking and average time on market was 165 days.
So what does this tell us? Well for one market times seem to have fallen but maybe because sellers are becoming more realistic about what their homes are worth today. In 2007 it was hard as home owners in any of our areas to acknowledge that our home values had not only dropped but by substantial amounts. That is a very hard pill to swallow and as a home owner myself, I cringe when I realize my house is worth exactly what I paid for it 5 years ago!
It also tells us that with sales prices at or around 91% to 94%, it is the acceptable price for the market that will bring the buyer and once a buyer sees the right value for his money, then you will sell close to asking price. Historically we have always used a benchmark of selling at about 95% of asking and this does not appear to have varied much.
So if you have had your home on the market for longer than 6 months, take a deep breath and be honest in acknowledging in Inverness, if you had priced the home correctly, you should by now have a buyer.
If you would like an analysis of your home in Inverness, IL, feel free to email me or visit my web site, just click below and fill out a request.
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Contact Corinne Guest, of Royal Advocate Realty Licensed Realtor® & Broker in Illinois, 847-381-6328 for real estate services in Barrington Illinois.
Call me today at 847-381-6328. Contact me by email if you prefer by clicking on email on the right side of this page under my profile.
Copyright Corinne Guest 2009 - Real Estate Homes Sold in Inverness Illinois. How Is Your Market Fairing?
When your home is on the market for sale with me, I strive to get feedback for you from the agents that are showing it. Every time a showing is booked, an email request is sent to the agent asking for feedback. Questions I ask are broad in nature so I can get a general feel for how it went. Questions like:
1. Did your client like the property?
2. What did they think of the price?
3. What do you think of the price?
4. Are your clients considering making an offer?
5. Would you show the property to other clients if it matched their needs?
The agent gets to pick from multiple answers and at the end if they have specific comments, there is a box for that as well.
Sometimes the emails are never responded to, although I find I get better results by sending 2 follow up reminders. I also try contacting them by phone a few days later if they have not sent my email request back.
Whilst I fully understand the anguish you the seller is going through, and I hate having to say that "I was unable to get feedback from the agent", sometimes the sad fact is that agents don't reply. This is probably one of the most annoying issues I as an agent have to deal with, and I find one of the most disrespectful of our profession. Please bear with me if I cannot always get a response for you, I am trying! As my seller, you get to view email feedbacks I do receive exactly as I see them - if you want to.
Do I give feedback if asked? Yes 100% of the time! I return every email and every phone call. To me it is just good business.
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Contact Corinne Guest, of Royal Advocate Realty Licensed Realtor® & Broker in Illinois, 847-381-6328 for real estate services in Barrington Illinois.
Call me today at 847-381-6328. Contact me by email if you prefer by clicking on email on the right side of this page under my profile.
Copyright Corinne Guest 2009 - 2 Way Communication is Key to Selling your Barrington Illinois Home - But I Sometimes Struggle To Get Feedback
Are you either trying to sell your Barrington home yourself or considering it? As home sellers, regardless of whether you sell by owner or with the services of a Realtor, you are required by law to complete the necessary disclosures which currently are:
Residential Real Estate Disclosure
Radon Hazard Disclosure
Lead Based Paint Disclosure
Another disclosure used but one that is not required is the Mold Disclosure
It's a good idea to complete these, make copies and have them available for your buyers when they visit the home.
If you do not have access to these forms, please call or email me, I would be only to happy to drop by with them.
email:info@corinneguest.com or call 847-381-6328
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Contact Corinne Guest, of Royal Advocate Realty Licensed Realtor® & Broker in Illinois, 847-381-6328 for real estate services in Barrington Illinois.
| Corinne Guest | Royal Advocate Realty | 847-381-6328 |
S Prairie, Barrington, IL | Village Home - Like New |
| 4BR/3BA Single Family House | | offered at $699,900 | | Year Built | Unspecified | | Sq Footage | 3,100 | | Bedrooms | 4 | | Bathrooms | 3 full, 0 partial | | Floors | 2 | | Parking | 2 Car garage | | Lot Size | 0.22 acres | | HOA/Maint | $0 per month |
| | | see additional photos below |
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| Contact info: | | Corinne Guest | Royal Advocate Realty | 847-381-6328 | For sale by agent/broker |
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Posted: Apr 13, 2009, 6:21am PDT |
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We are pleased to announce that Christine Lee has joined our office. Christine has been active as a Barrington agent for 5 years and would love to serve you. If you need a Korean speaking agent, call us and we'll put you in touch with Christine.
Here are some of the single family home sales in the entire Barrington area during February 2009.
8 Cutters Run, South Barrington sold for $1,800,00
30 Deverell, North Barrington sold for $1,255,000
132 Lincoln Ave, Barrington sold for $775,000
1218 Barclay Circle, Barrington sold for $750,000
503 Pond Gate Drive, Barrington Hills sold for $550,000. Bank owned home.
370 Covington, Barrington sold for $440,000
10158 Haegers Bend Rd, Barrington Hills sold for $330,000
If you would like to know how much the home down the street sold for, feel free to email me.
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Contact Corinne Guest and Jonathan Guest, of Royal Advocate Realty Licensed Realtors® in Illinois, 847-381-6328 for real estate services in Barrington Illinois.
Call us today at 847-381-6328. Contact us by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under our profile.
Click here to view all the Illinois homes for sale and then click on Search For Properties. You can view homes in all of Northern Illinois.
Copyright Corinne Guest 2009 - Homes that sold in Barrington IL, February 2009.
There have been many changes in the real estate market in the last 10 years and not all of it is solely related to the shift from a sellers market to a buyers market. Real estate used to be very much about print materials. Houses for sale were published in papers, magazines. Buyers visiting real estate offices had to either rely in their agent to wade through a very thick publication of homes, or sit in the real estate office and flip through the book themselves. Signs outside homes for sale provided a phone number to call and many buyers spent Sundays driving around neighborhoods seeking homes of interest, signs or even open houses.
Then the internet, already born and running suddenly took a quantum leap into our industry. Instead of large yellow pages size books in which to search for homes, everything went online. Now your Realtor had a very quick tool to search for homes. Following that Realtors started get their own web sites on which they could not only advertise their services and personal listings but by virtue of reciprocal agreements could advertise most listings in our multiple listing services. Now the consumer could surf the internet looking for homes. Where once there were one or two options you the consumer now has a myriad of options.
We all became Google'ers! So how does this affect listing your home for sale? Well listing your home for sale with a Realtor will ensure your home is exposed to all the other Realtors in the area, but your home now gets national exposure on the consumer site of Realtor.com Is that enough? Simply no. As consumers we all search in different ways, use different preferred web sites or click on different results to our search term. Some sites provide results for paid advertisers, some you have to give information so you may receive back information. Others give you free access and even more are free sites to advertise.
Your home needs to be exposed to as many different web sites as possible, free, paid, featured, personal, group, linked even duplicated. So what are the sites that consumers could find your home? Here is a list of all the web sites I use to advertise my listings and this is not an exhaustive list but I do try to look for new sites on an ongoing basis.
The Realtor Multiple Listing Service commonly known as the MLS.
Realtor.com
Homes.com
Chicago Tribune
Daily Herald
Realestatelakezurich.com
Realestateinbarrington.com
Homesbyroyal.com
Trulia
Craigslist
Point2homes
Point2agent network
Backpage
Vast
Hotpads
Citycribs
Livedeal
Propbot
Realestateadvisor
Local
USCondoexchange
Oodle
Yahoo real estate
Google Real estate
Edgeio
Homescape
Homesearchers
House.com
The Housing Pages
Homescape
Propsmart
Homeseekers
SearchChicago
It is an ever increasing percentage of buyers that start their research for homes online. As potential buyers they can see more homes, in an anonymous fashion, in the comfort of their own homes, when they want and as often as they want. Consumers will re-visit sites, bookmark pages, view photos, virtual tours, & can ask questions. Make sure they find your home!
Contact Corinne Guest and Jonathan Guest, of Royal Property Investments LLC Licensed Realtors® in Illinois, 847-381-6328 for real estate services in Kildeer, Hawthorn Woods, Lake Zurich and Barrington Illinois and the northwestern suburbs.
Call us today at 847-381-6328. Contact us by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under our profile.
Click here to view all the Illinois homes for sale and then click on Search For Properties. You can view homes in all of Northern Illinois.
Copyright Corinne Guest 2009 - Internet Marketing to Sell your Home in Barrington, Deer Park, Inverness, Lake Zurich, Kildeer, Hawthorn Woods, Long Grove.
It was not so long ago that South Barrington Homes were going to be starting at $1,000,000. South Barrington has always been one of the most expensive areas in the 60010 zip code with land prices being premium. However South Barrington has a much more palatable entry price point now that we have seen values tumble. This will no doubt make home owners in South Barrington grumble just like the rest of us.
If you ever wanted to buy in South Barrington but just could not quite reach it, take another look. With some very attractive style homes with 4 or more bedrooms starting at around $750,000, 5 bedroom homes for $850,000 and up and yet plenty to choose from under $1 million, I doubt there will ever be a better time to buy. ( Of course I don't have a crystal ball, and prices may fall yet further).
All South Barrington homes I sell are qualified for either: A Free Home Warranty for 1 year, or if you prefer $500 towards your attorney fees for the purchase.
Click The Button To
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Contact Corinne Guest and Jonathan Guest, of Royal Property Investments LLC Licensed Realtors® in Illinois, 847-381-6328 for real estate services in Kildeer, Hawthorn Woods, Lake Zurich and Barrington Illinois and the northwestern suburbs.
Call us today at 847-381-6328. Contact us by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under our profile.
Click here to view all the Illinois homes for sale and then click on Search For Properties. You can view homes in all of Northern Illinois.
Copyright Corinne Guest 2009 - South Barrington IL Homes For Sale - Now Is A Great Time To Buy Your New Home in South Barrington Illinois.
You may think it is just you but it is not. I check the notice of defaults for Illinois on a daily basis and the numbers are growing. So what can you do? Well without a doubt a pro-active approach is better than burying your head in the sand, although I know how hard that will be.
Emotions running through your mind are, failure, embarrassment, fear, denial, and a bunch of other adjectives.
The reason for your mortgage arrears is no doubt valid. With job cuts all over town, people having to change careers just to get a job, or having to give up work because of medical issues, even over commitment and bad lending practices originally, if you cannot pay, you cannot pay. So what are your choices?
Well you can hide and wait for the Sherriff to kick you out! Really is that what you want, somehow I don't think so. Alternatives.
Perhaps the first thing we need to do is see if you qualify for a loan modification. Simply your lender may be able to re-write your loan, adding any missed payments on to the new debt. If this is something you have not heard about, or don't know if it will work for you, email me now! It is easy to find out, I have a company I work with that specializes in them, all it involves is a simple phone call providing your circumstances and financial info over the phone. If that does not work then you and I can move onto other options.
For a frank but non judge-mental conversation call me on 847 381 6328. Let's see if there is anything we can do to help you! Or email me at info@corinneguest.com
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Corinne Guest serves clients in the Barrington area and has successfully closed short sales and helped clients get approved for loan modifications.
Copyright Corinne Guest 2009 - Are You Facing Foreclosure in Barrington, Lake Zurich, Long Grove, Kildeer, Hawthorn Woods, Palatine, Inverness, Hoffman Estates, Algonquin, Lake In The Hills, Fox River Grove? Loan Modification an Option?