Chicagoland Properties

New Construction Still Bouncing Along At Bottom

2010-12-19T20:34:00.002-06:00

According to analysts at wells Fargo, the weak housing market provides little incentive to build. “While starts appear to be making progress, any recovery in housing will be agonizingly slow,” according to Wells Fargo.

Read Whole Article Here

U.S. Mortgage Relief Effort Falling Short of Its Goal

2010-08-22T17:57:00.012-05:00

The Obama administration's mortgage relief program originally intended to shield 3 million households from foreclosure. now it looks like it will only help as few as one-sixth of that number.
Read Whole Article Here

New Appraisal Standards Interfered With Sales

2009-12-11T00:22:00.007-06:00

It was one of the most frequent refrains in home building over the past year. After protracted negotiations, builders and buyers would reach agreement on price. Then the appraisal would come in so low it would wipe out any profit left in the deal.
Read Whole Article Here

US Housing Market Could Take A Dip

2009-10-16T23:53:00.004-05:00

Despite signs of stabilization, next year could prove treacherous for the housing and mortgage markets. "We still have a crisis in the number of people who can't pay their mortgage, and we haven't seen the peak of that yet. It's going to weigh on us for several years," says David Lowman, CEO of Chase Home Lending.
Read Whole Article Here

Spring Housing Market Hints At Recovery

2009-07-07T03:15:00.006-05:00

"While sales have been down compared to last year, we've seen a steady increase in the number of sales and median home prices on a month-to-month basis. This steady climb gives us reason to be hopeful that we'll continue to move in a positive direction."
Read Whole Article Here

A New Home In The Chicago Area Less Than $200K?

2009-05-23T20:08:00.009-05:00

Is it still possible to buy a new home in the Chicago area for less than $200,000? It sure is, says recent buyer David Smith, if you are willing to make compromises and forgo some luxuries.
Read Whole Article Here

Can a Housing Recovery Gain Ground?

2009-05-23T19:52:00.002-05:00

Consumer confidence has perked up and affordability is high... Through March, the more than three-year plunge in home sales appears to have bottomed out.

Read Whole Article Here

Builders Upbeat: Housing Market to Rebound

2008-01-15T12:14:00.001-06:00

"Over the past 33 years, our nation has gone through seven housing cycles," said David Ruttenberg of Belgravia Group, a Chicago home building company. "As surely as night follows day, every boom period was followed by a downturn. Then, just as surely, the market rebounded."

"The main reason for today's housing downturn is more subtle. This time, the main problem comes from Wall Street. The root issue is "financial engineering". For many years, some lenders made loans to home buyers who were marginally qualified at best. These lenders made shaky loans because of excessive incentives they received from underwriters who bundled those loans, then sold them," Ruttenberg said.

By comparison, "In 1979, our sales were down about 80 percent over the previous year. It took us two years to recover fully," said Jim Hughes Jr., executive vice president of Wheaton-based developer Wiseman-Hughes Enterprises.

Even worse, "Back in 1979 and 1980, everything was 30-year fixed mortgages at 18 percent. You were lucky to get 15 percent," Hughes said.

Read Whole Article Here

Wall Street Journal: Now Is A Great Time To Build Or Renovate

2007-11-23T15:09:00.000-06:00

It's not the best time to be selling a house in much of the country. But increasingly, it's a good time to build or renovate one.

The housing slump has pushed down prices on everything from lumber and drywall to labor and design fees.

Read Whole Article Here

New U.S. Housing Starts Show Increase

2007-08-24T18:45:00.000-05:00

The U.S. housing industry got good news Friday when new home sales defied odds and expectations and reflected a modest increase in U.S. government statistics. Sales of single-family homes increased by 2.8 percent last month.

Read Whole Article Here

A Bullish View On Home Sales

2007-04-30T14:12:00.000-05:00

Eventhough many people see the real estate market as spiraling downward, some see it as a great time to buy.

Thaddeus Wong, co-founder and co-principal of @Properties says, "Everyone is talking doom and gloom, fire sale. I don't think it's warranted across the board. In a shifting market, there is dramatic opportunity. Buyers and sellers at both ends of the market continue to do well."

Read Whole Article Here