Busy Autumn Season With Such Low Interest Rates

Fall is definitely in the air and the leaves are coming down.  The Midwest colors of yellow, oranges and reds paint beautiful landscapes.  Living in the Orland Park/Homer Glen area allows me to continuously drive through forest preserves and drink in the beautiful foliage.  It makes driving more enjoyable for me.

Sometimes we see a halt in buying and selling real estate in Fall and Winter months.  But with interest rates in the 3 percent range, buyers would be foolish to wait.

In fact, this is a great time for buyers.  There are still less buyers out looking.  Many already made their purchases, especially families wanting to move before the school year.  There might be less inventory to choose from, but I am still seeing some great homes. 

Orland Park real estate has remained healthy with more sales this year than last year.  Year-to-date to the end of September has shown a 9.8% increase in the amount of single family homes sold.  Prices have dropped but remain in the single digits.  The average sale price September year-to-date is $296,150. 

If you want to take advantage of these historically low interest rates don't put your home buying off until next Spring.  These rates might not last and more buyers are out looking making it more difficult to get a good deal.  Give Judy Orr a call at 708-536-8200 to get set-up for an automated search that will be sent directly to your e-mail, or fill out this easy Home Search form.

Homer Glen Homes For Sale August 2012

If you're considering living in Homer Glen, there are currently 174 Homer Glen homes available for sale today, 8/22/2012.  The last post like this was in December 2011 and there were 209 homes up for sale at that time.  I believe this goes hand in hand with more buyers and less inventory.  Of course, it also is an indication that there are less buyers during the winter, although I had a busy December last year. 

Have prices increased?  Unfortunately, prices have dropped for the 1st half of 2012.  But the amount of homes in Homer Glen that have sold jumped by double digits, so we are seeing increasingly better stats in that department.  I'll take more buyers and hope for prices to finally increase again.


There are currently 9 homes available under $200,000.  That jumps to 57 available homes in the $200,000-$300,000 price range and I've seen some good deals recently.  47 homes are for sale from $300,000-$400,000, 37 from $400,000-$500,000, 12 priced $500,000-$600,000, 6 from $600,000-$700,000, 5 from $700,000-$800,000, 1 priced at $899,000 and the highest priced home is $1,149,000.

If you're looking to live in Homer Glen, IL, give us a call at 708-536-8200 or use the contact form (scroll down - right side). 

Lemont Homes for Sale 5/30/2012

As of today, there are 193 Lemont homes for sale.  There are 3 homes under $100,000, although one looks like it needs to be knocked down.  I have some FHA buyers interested in low prices like these but what they don't understand is that FHA financing will not work with a home that needs a lot of fixing up.  There are FHA 203K loans but they are more costly to a buyer and they are lengthier. Although some banks will deal with them, many won't.  A lot of these homes need to be sold "cash only" because even a conventional loan won't touch them.  These homes are usually for experienced investors/flippers or contractors/builders.

On the other end of the price spectrum is a Frank Lloyd Wright styled home priced at $1,650,000.  It is a 6,500 sq. ft. home that sits on over 7 acres of land backing up to Glen Eagles golf course.  The custom furniture comes with it as it blends well with the architecture of the home.  This is a highly custom house and will not appeal to everyone.  It appears that the home was up for sale for most of 2010 to the first part of 2011 and has just been put back on the market.  It's top price was $1,999,900 so it has taken a price reduction, like most houses have.

If you're interested in Lemont homes or any surrounding suburbs, give Judy Orr a call at 708-536-8200.

Orland Park Homes Available 3/24/12

Orland Park, IL is a very popular southwest suburb of Chicago.  In fact, it was on Money Magazine's Top 100 Places to Live.  So how many Orland Park homes are currently up for sale?  Today there 272 homes on the market.

The lowest priced home is $89,900!  Keep in mind, the average sale price in Orland Park for 2011 was $318,088.  So this home is priced really low.  In fact, it's the only home priced under $100,000 in the village.  It appears to be cute and has some updates, but there is some kind of mold report that makes it look like there is some kind of mold on the property.  I think that's why it is priced where it is.

There are 23 homes priced under $200,000, which is a good amount considering the average price of Orland Park homes.  Some of these are short sales and foreclosures, but there is a good selection.

On the top of the range is a home priced at $2,200,000 that's been on and off the market since 2004.  Although the price has been reduced over the years, it's not that far off from the original list price of $2,499,900.  It's not easy selling a multi-million dollar home in our area.  They are selling in New York and California, but it's a tough sell in the southwest suburbs of Chicago.  The home is gorgeous and sits on a big lot.  I hope they can find themselves a buyer soon.

If you're looking for a home in Orland Park or any other southwest suburb, give Judy Orr a call at 708-536-8200.

2011 Homer Glen Real Estate Sales Stats

You can now view Homer Glen real estate sales statistics starting from 2005 and going through 2011.  Comparing single family Homer Glen homes from 2010-2011, there was an 8.6% increase in amount of homes sold but a 5.8% decrease in average sale prices.  We would certainly prefer to see prices increase, but at least the decrease remains in single digits, unlike some areas.  The last time we saw a double digit price drop was in 2009.

Homer Glen condos and townhomes showed double increases.  There was a huge 142.9% increase in the amount of attached properties sold!  Prices increased by 8.9% and this is the 2nd year in a row that prices have increased.  However, I think ground is being covered by a big 31.7% decrease in prices in 2009.

You can view the charts of both single family and attached Homer Glen real estate by clicking the link.

Palos Park Prices Went Up in 2011

It's statistics time and I'm busy updating real estate sales stats for the southwest suburbs I work in the most.    I've got updated data for single family Palos Park homes. Click the link and you'll see real estate sales stats from 2005 through 2011. The charts will show amount of homes sold and average sales prices for the different years.

Although the amount of sales took a double digit decrease, average sale prices actually went up by double digits.  In fact, Palos Park took back it's #1 place as the most expensive southwest suburb.  Lemont beat out Palos Park in 2010.

Another stat you might find interesting can be found by clicking Palos Park real estate supply and demand 2011.  You'll see the chart that shows exactly what a Buyer's Market is.

Orland Park Homes 2011 Sales Statistics Are In

The stats are in for all of 2011 for single family Orland Park homes.  Click the link to go to a blog post showing the data comparing the amount of sales and average home prices from 2010 to 2011.

There was a small (6%) uptick in the amount of homes sold in 2011, but the average sales prices dropped double digits (-11.9%).  It's great to have more buyers out there purchasing Orland Park homes, but sellers certainly aren't happy seeing these constant price reductions.

One of my buyers told me today that they heard that things were going to continue getting worse.  I've been feeling positive and I've been very busy working with buyers.   I'm seeing a lot of activity for this time of year.  If this activity continues this could be my best year yet.

I didn't expect Orland Park homes to drop by double digits.  I also thought we'd see a much higher figure for amounts of sales, so these figures surprised me.  I'm going to continue feeling positive about the upcoming year and working with my happy buyers and getting my listings sold.

If you're looking to purchase and/or sell this year, give Judy Orr a call at 708-536-8200.