We are looking forward to 2010 as if it is an entirely new era…..my wish is for people to be happier and in better circumstances…This economy has been quite a ‘wake up call’ for many people, including me…I can only hope that the world becomes kinder and more peaceful..We all need to work at it. What a priviledge that is…”only in America’….let’s all make it happen..My experiences are invaluable and I ‘m willing to share with those who want my knowledge and help…call me…Jackie Dougherty..(good Real Estate Broker)…

AND what about the health care programs being submitted to the Senate?  This will be a fascinating turn of events..I do firmly believe that something will come out of all of this, however, perhaps a portion and not the entire proposed programs…and then there is the Stock Market…Woo Hoo…and then there is the Foreclosure and Short Sale debockle………Where is all of that going to end? As if you all weren’t aware of the goings on…………….It is a good time to reflect and re-evaluate one’s own situation….Kind of ’should of, would of, could of’  and many other pearls of widom and what ever holds one’s thoughts  together and in a positive manner,,,go for it……keep trying and NEVER give in or up…….Good Day…Good Luck..Good Health…………………..Jackie

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                           

Rates are at an all time low….sellers are being realistic….buyers have some wonderful choices….and the economy is looking up….Read the good stuff and make it happen…ONLY IN AMERICA…….call me if you have questions…Jackie Dougherty…630-706-7213

The HInsdale real estate market continues to hold it’s own even with the amount of inventory…access to the Birlington Northern, expressways, and airports along with scores of shopping and dining facilities……….have created a convenience that attracts many buyers to the area…as of 8/18/09  There are 338 active detached properties on the market with an average list price of $1,279,451 and 74 active attached properties ont he market with an average price of $423,791. HInsdale has a great variety, however, of prices depending on location, age, designe,etc. nonetheless the average price in HInsdale for Real Estate is pretty high ticket.

Less than three months after new rules for home appraisers kicked in, the real estate industry is in uproar.

Realtors, homebuilders, mortgage brokers and the appraisal industry itself all agree the rules are causing problems. Some are backing a bill in Congress to kill them.

The new guidelines essentially put a firewall between lenders and home appraisers. They also ended the practice of lenders using their in-house staff for initial home appraisals and prohibit the use of appraisal-management companies owned or controlled by lenders.

But since they went into effect May 1, the rules have created a slew of unintended consequences that critics say are causing delays in closing sales, or undermining sales because botched appraisals are coming in too low.

“This thing is not only preventing the housing market from recovering, it’s destroying the housing market,” said Marc Savitt, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. “We’re eliminating competition, and we all know what happens when you eliminate competition: Prices go up.”

After a homebuyer and seller agree on a price, the buyer applies for a mortgage. The lender then orders an appraisal to ensure the value of the property, because if the borrower defaults the property will be sold to satisfy the debt. The appraisal fee, which can run between $250 and $500, is usually paid by the buyer.

To determine what a home is worth, the appraiser compares prices of similar homes that were recently sold in the area and makes adjustments for different features, such as a swimming pool or extra bathroom. If the property appraisal comes in below the agreed upon price, the buyer usually has to make up the difference and may instead walk away.

Suzanne Wilhelm, who has been trying to sell her home in Henderson, Nev., for six months, blames an appraisal done under the new rules for scuttling what had been a done deal with a buyer several weeks ago.

The appraisal valued her four-bedroom, 2,000 square-foot house at $190,000 - $45,000 less than the price the buyer agreed to pay. Wilhelm, who paid $187,000 for the house in 2001, believes the appraiser based his estimate on the sale of several foreclosed homes in the area but ignored sales of regular homes that would have reflected a higher price.

“It’s very unfair that we’re put into the same bracket as those people who were so irresponsible in buying their homes,” said Wilhelm, a teacher.

The rules, dubbed the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, are meant to eliminate conflicts of interest that created pressure on real estate appraisers to inflate the value of a property. Lenders, agents and brokers have been known to pressure appraisers to “hit the number” that the homebuyer and seller agreed on so the deal would close and everyone could collect their fees. Inflated appraisals were partly blamed for fueling the housing bubble.

But under a settlement last year with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agreed only to buy loans from lenders that don’t directly hire appraisers. The move sent shock waves through the industry because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee about half of all U.S. home loans.

So lenders started giving more business to appraisal management companies, which critics say draw appraisers from a pool of candidates willing to do the job for less money and who, in some cases, may be unfamiliar with a neighborhood.

Paul Conforti, a broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman in Merrick, N.Y., said he’s seen appraisers based as far as Maryland, about 200 miles away, come into New York’s Nassau County to evaluate homes there.

“If you’re appraising a house, all you really have to go on is the” recent sale of similar properties, Conforti said. “If the person doesn’t know the area … they end up using comparables from another town. It doesn’t make sense.”

Almost 60 percent of builders are reporting that inadequate appraisals are causing serious problems in the market, often comparing newly built homes to foreclosures without considering the money needed for property repairs. Of those reporting appraisal problems, more than half said the appraisal amount was actually less than the cost of building the home, according to a survey released this week by the National Association of Home Builders.

Cuomo’s office maintains the rules are necessary, and that critics are using the appraisal rules as a scapegoat for a declining housing market made worse by the recession.

“With homes prices falling and foreclosures rising, this complaint is simply wrong and risks returning us to a corrupt system filled with conflicts of interest that promoted artificially inflated values,” said Emily Browne, a spokeswoman for Cuomo.

Browne added that there’s no evidence of a spike in appraisal delays in the two months that the rules took effect.

“Even if there are some delays, there is no reason to think the (rules are) the cause, as opposed to the unrelated, nationwide drop in home values which has made the appraisal process more complicated,” she said.

But the real estate industry is coming out against the rules in force.

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers went to court in February to block the changes, which it claims limit competition. Since then, other key industry groups, including the Appraisal Institute, have voiced their opposition to all or elements of the home appraisal guidelines.

Last week, the National Association of Realtors urged members of Congress to support a bill that would impose an 18-month moratorium on the new appraisal guidelines. The measure is still working its way through Congress.

The Realtors said the new appraisal guidelines are hurting the real estate industry. It contends that appraisers hired by appraisal management companies are not hired “for their competency and qualifications, but for their turnaround time and price.”

Freddie Mac tried to address some of those concerns last week when it issued new home appraisal “best practices” guidelines for lenders.

Among its recommendations, the mortgage finance company said appraisers must be certified or licensed in the state where the property being appraised is located and be familiar with the local market.

Fannie Mae issued similar guidelines in April.

“We’re optimistic that the push to quality will in fact solve some of the problems,” said Ken Chitester, spokesman for the Appraisal Institute. “If consumers are demanding that qualified appraisers perform the valuation on the properties, then that’s a big step in the right direction.”

 2nd Quarter Economic Forecast by John Tuccillo

We are at the point of the economic cycle where economic data is pointing in different directions. The employment numbers are still dismal: June’s job losses were far in excess of expectations (although it should be pointed out that May’s numbers were better than expected by about the same amount) and the unemployment rate stayed high.But real estate numbers are looking good, the Dow is rallying and there are glints of progress in consumer spending. For housing, existing home sales numbers are rising, inventories have fallen and the pending sales index points to more of the same. Prices are still weak and falling in many places mostly owing to the number of distressed properties on the market, but buyers are showing real interest in these properties and this has set a bottom for the market. Lower priced properties go quickly (sometimes with multiple offers) while more expensive homes languish. All in all, the data are little help.
 
But wait (as they say on TV), there’s more. Actually, mixed data are a good sign because they occur when the economy is turning. The reason I threw the Dow in above is that historically, the economy emerges from recession six months after the Dow turns up. That now looks like it will be in September. The wild card here is the impact of the stimulus. There has been a great deal of criticism that the stimulus has not yet worked (usually from the same folks who didn’t want it in the first place). If you look back, the CBO projections were that 10 percent of the effect of the stimulus would be felt in 2009, 60 percent in 2010 and the rest in later years. The turn in the recession will depend on how soon that 10 percent takes effect. I’m still sticking with September.
 
What about the Chicagoland area? If you look back over the past thirty years, home values have tracked inversely to employment. This makes sense since jobs encourage people to buy homes (they also spark the demand for commercial real estate). The unemployment rate in the MSA has nearly tripled since the beginning of 2007, and the housing and commercial markets have reacted accordingly. Right now, the employment picture in the MSA is worse than the nation because Chicago is a secondary casualty-losing jobs as a result of other areas losing jobs-and the negative impacts of the recession are happening a little later.
 
Now let’s look at the second quarter housing statistics for the MORe market area. The MLS offers a wealth of information and should be your most important tool in educating buyers and sellers on the reality of the market. In looking at MLS data, you should be looking at data that best describes not only the current market but the direction the market will take over the next several months. I described the key indicators in the last quarter report. Unfortunately, for the second quarter, they are pointing in the wrong direction. As compared with the second quarter in 2008, sales for the second quarter of 2009 are down (with the exception of detached single family homes in Cook County) and days on the market are up. The ratio of sales to list price is about even and this suggests that there is increased buyer interest in the market. Bargain hunters, as they are in most markets in the U.S. are coming out in force. The numbers for the second quarter are a bit anomalous in that they don’t jibe with the first quarter, which was generally better than the first quarter of 2008. The numbers would suggest that the market is flirting with a bottom, but has not yet reached it.
 
The problem with looking at a large market area is that your business is often done in a sub area, and gross statistics often misrepresent conditions where you operate. That means that the most effective way to educate buyers and sellers is to take the MLS stats for the areas where you do business and calculate the indicators as described above. That will allow you to make the most accurate case to consumers. 

As I make sure that my listings show in all forms of internet programs…My question is:  Where are the responses and How do we accomplish having potential buyers find us..I understand SEO and I am supposedly connected to many different engines…wish I had the magic secret…if someone does…please let me know..and then try to find me as a professional Real Estate Broker in the Chicago area..I’m willing and able and anxious to be really busy…call:  Jackie 630-706-7213

DOWNERS GROVE, IL - Sales of single-family detached homes went up 1 percent in June compared with the same period a year ago, according to statistics released today by the Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS® (MORe), the first such increase since December 2006.
 
MORe measured activity on single-family detached homes in about 120 southern and western suburban communities through information from Midwest Real Estate Data LLC.
 
In addition, the number of homes under contract (but not yet closed) in the same West and South Suburban Chicago area was 40 percent higher than a year ago, the seventh consecutive month of year-to-year growth in pending sales.
 
“Many first-time home buyers are taking advantage of the $8,000 federal tax credit. This is helping to reduce the inventory of homes on the market,” said Mike Drews, president-elect of MORe, and a REALTOR® with Charles Doss, REALTORS®, in the Aurora and Oswego areas. “First-time buyers can receive the tax credit if their home purchase closes by December 1st, so to take advantage of that credit, they really need to have a home under contract by October 1st.”
 
There were notable home sales gains in many suburban communities, particularly in Addison (89 percent increase from a year ago); Bellwood (150 percent); Bloomingdale (350 percent); Calumet Park (200 percent); Flossmoor (100 percent); Geneva (59 percent); Markham (138 percent); Matteson (122 percent); Maywood (156 percent); Oak Lawn (58 percent); Richton Park (167 percent); West Chicago (59 percent); and Winfield (150 percent). 
 
The average 40 percent increase in contracts across the 120-community area was fueled by dramatic advances in some towns, where the numbers of homes under contract leaped by double- and triple-digit percentages.
 
Standouts in the south suburbs for number of contracts were Burbank (146 percent increase from a year ago); Harvey (150 percent); Lynwood (1,000 percent); Markham (133 percent); Matteson (107 percent); and Oak Lawn (93 percent).
 
In the DuPage County area, contract activity was highest in Addison (118 percent increase from a year ago); Bensenville (700 percent); Hinsdale (59 percent);
Villa Park (100 percent); Warrenville (160 percent); and West Chicago (69 percent).
 
Outstanding numbers for contracts were posted in the western Cook communities of Bellwood (250 percent increase from a year ago); Elmwood Park (333 percent); Franklin Park (217 percent); La Grange (75 percent); Melrose Park (200 percent); and Westchester (243 percent).
 
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For nearly a century, MORe has been dedicated to anticipating and serving the needs of more than 14,000 REALTORS®, affiliates and licensed appraisers in South and West Suburban Chicagoland. MORe is the second largest REALTOR® member organization in Illinois, and the seventh largest in the nation. To learn what a REALTOR® can do for you, visit www.succeedwithmore.com.