A.Finkl and Sons Moving South(side)?

Okay, Its a Chicago thing. And more specifically a North side Chicago thing but it is something that may drastically change the dynamics of the 'Clybourn Corridor' (also a Chicago thing). Hmmm...

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What The Numbers Don't Tell You (even if they could)

I came across this writing in one of my regular 'reading list' blogs, TransparentRe.com. The original New York Times article linked here is one of several mentioned in the post. The setting is Naples, Florida. Oh, and if you've never been there think 'Beverly Hills'... with alligators.

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Make Me Move? Take A Swing!

Everyone is talking about it. Its the buzz in the real estate industry. Listing agents are jumping from the roofs of their unsold penthouses... Zillow has launched a consumer targeted national multiple listing service--with a twist. There's a "Make Me Move" box which allows the seller to cut right to the chase and post their 'magic number'.

Yo....K an' A!

Lets take a mental road trip away from Chicago for a few moments and travel back thirty years to the intersection of Kensington and Allegheny Avenues in the north Philadelphia neighborhood of Kensington. A guy I knew from college lived there and when we went home for Thanksgiving break the autumn semester of my first freshman year (don't ask) the first thing he screamed into the cold, fishy air when we stepped off the elevated platform and into the ghetto was YO...K an' A! ... one fist raised to the sky and the other clenching the strap of his worn army surplus duffel bag stuffed with two months of dirty laundry dragging behind him. He was instantly a different person. He was home.

Our initial collegiate bond hinged on the fact we were both from 'Philly' but I very quickly recognized that I was a fraud. I was not from Philly. I was from Levittown which probably needs no explanation to anyone within this readership. For those who do let me just say that while a little depressing in its own right these days I certainly wouldn't describe it as urban blight. It isn't even a city but a suburban town, for crissakes. Kensington in the 1970s could only be described as urban blight with its gap-toothed grid of city blocks lined up, down and back again with delapidated red brick rowhouses and vacant lots.

And as we walked through the alleys where Rocky had just been filmed the year before I suddenly realized that the place where I grew up, some 45 minutes north by interstate, was a different world entirely. Fifteen minutes later I also realized that buying and selling real estate was what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life.

My friend had an older brother named Louie who was beginning to buy up the worst of the worst on Cambria Street--the left for dead rowhomes that were virtually unlivable to anyone but the 'huffers' --and attempt to do the 1970's urban blighted version of Flip This House.

"Fishtown, is too pricey. I like it here," proclaimed Louie, who looked more to me like a guy who sold pretzels than an investor. Fishtown was the next neighborhood over and even to my untrained teenage eye, pricey was the last word I'd use to describe it. Nevertheless, I listened with great interest as we spent the next couple hours touring his most recent acquisitions. "Getting rid of the huffers is the key to investing," he told me. "Glue sniffing is an epidemic." I had no idea. I felt I might be smart enough to buy and sell property but getting rid of huffers was totally beyond my world.

"What about the suburbs?" I asked. "I don't think there are many huffers there."

"Nah," he said. "I like the city. I like to see the air I breath."

It would be ten years before I made my first real estate purchase, ten more before I ever bought an investment property and five more on top of that before I even got licensed. Needless to say, I lacked whatever it took to make the real estate plunge at an early age and although the concept of investing in property always intrigued me, I was apparently, no Louie.

So now, after a lenghty 'corporate America' sales career crash landed me in Chicago a decade ago, I'm finally a Realtor. I live in the city and sell in the city and my primary sources of business are buy-side represented negotiations and exclusive residential listings. I seldom buy and flip property and I rarely venture into a 'bad' neighborhood (so defined by what a Realtor is not allowed to call it) to see what can be bought on the cheap. And I don't think I've ever met a real life huffer so I never had to worry about Louie's number one peril of investing.

Pat Kitano recently referenced an article of mine on his TransparentRE.com site. 'My new best friend' (my wife Mona's words) goes on to suggest that she and I be from here on referred to in the blogosphere as "Geno and Mona from Oakbrook..." , no doubt due to the rooted 'East Coast' tone and various Chicago settings from which I write. But Oakbrook? fugeddaboutit....Its a suburb, Mr. K. ...I like to see the air I breath!

For The Consumer

These are a few consumer oriented sites I think are noteworthy: Here in Chicago a site called
Blockshoppers.com takes the concept of publishing 'recent sales' to a higher level by posting a short bio and picture of each new property owner. The site is limited at this writing to the Lincoln Park and Lakeview neighborhoods and requires a little navigation but I like it a lot.

Another cool blog I recently came across (actually he happened upon this site) is Kyle Else's Open House--The Tour Sheet Blog. The author is a "real estate consumer who follows the industry" hailing from somewhere within the borders of the USA!

Craig Schiller at both RealEstaging and Home Staging Rants & Ravings shares some great vision regarding the subject of...you guessed it Home Staging! And as always there's My Mortgage Guru, Chris Hahn over at Lasalle ABN AMRO, with a top notch presentation of consumer oriented video clips in the sidebar.

photo by iastate.edu

Did I Really Say That?

As I was writing a comment on Bonnie Erickson's Real Estate Snippets blog out of Minneapolis it reminded me of some of the things that have shot out of my mouth before I could help myself (and quickly grab them back!). So I'm posting a few of those that come to mind from recent real estate situations here in Chicago. Again, these are words actually spoken aloud within earshot of another 'party'. (I can't print most of what I didnt say.)

I must make one small disclaimer, though: These are all responses to another 'party's' very lame question or statement and usually after the editing chip in my mind finally fried and gave the old tongue the go signal. To be sure, all of my blurbs were quickly followed by a smile, chuckle or in a few instances, a merciful look of regret. (see my picture on chicagohomeestates.com... that look)

On a Listing Appointment

POTENTIAL CLIENT: But Mr___ ___ next door just paid $___ for a house just like mine.

AGENT (ME): Unfortunately, Mr___ ____,already has a house just like yours. I don't believe he's in the market for another.


On A Showing a Week Later of the Above Mentioned Property

BUYERS AGENT: The house next door only sold for $___ a few months ago, why are you so high?

LISTING AGENT (ME): Great. Go knock on his door and see if he'll sell for that price now.


To Assorted Listing Agents Asking Me For Feedback...Repeatedly

ME: My client? My client was underwhelmed. (response to a top producer's over bubbly assistant)

* * *

ME: What does my client think of the property? Did I fax you an offer? I didn't. Hmmm...I guess that's what he thinks of the property. (this agent called me 3 times in one hour)

* * *

ME: For crissakes Myrna (real name), my client didn't even act like he liked it.


To My Teenage Dogwalker Who's Thinking of Becoming An Investor

ME: Think about it, Avi (real name)...you can't even buy a really good car for 80 grand. (my wife said I was being mean...but I wasn't)

To a New Listing Before A First Open House

ME: Do I look like I bake cookies? If I'm serving anything it would be liquor. (and I don't even drink.)

To An Open House Visitor Who Was Being Negative

VISITOR: What kind of people live around here?

ME: What kind of people live around here? (I sometimes repeat the lame question they ask so they can hear how lame it really is) ...People who can afford a home that costs a
Million Five Fifty.

VISITOR: A Million? Really?

ME: A Million Five Fifty.

VISITOR: A Million Five. Really?

ME: No. Not really. A Million Five Fifty!

I should probably post a second disclaimer stating all of the above took place in a much more robust market. My next posting in this series will focus on the best of my own begging.

image by loosetooth.com

DIGG THIS! week of December 2, 2006 Vol. 5

The following real estate-centric teasers are newsworthy items that I happen upon during my research and readings for the week and post on Digg.com. The titles and descriptions are mine (thank me very much!) but the actual stories are pulled from a variety of daily and weekly news sources. Click on the Digg Story button below each feed to view the original story--and if you "dig it" then Digg it! The feedback is helpful and appreciated.

photo by x.lux.solis

Chicago...Now and Later

"In the year 2525, if man is still alive: Those are words from a 'one-hit wonder' musical group from the 1960s whose name escapes me. Hopefully, forgotten too, will be the predictions of this article from AOL Money via Moody's Economy via Forbes.com. Hopefully like the grade school 'telephone' game of that song's era it will be mostly fiction by the time 2016 rolls around. The trend is pointing up which is good. but the annual appreciation rate is a little lukewarm for my taste.

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Selling a House Then Buying? 6 Helpful Tips

Here's an interesting piece I found this week in the Boston Globe. "You put in a contract on a new house. You can't sell your old house...and the sellers are getting pushy.. One writer from Boston has a few ideas on the subject.

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OK...What Exactly Is A Bubble?

The 'B' word. Every Tom, Dick and Realtor has been tossing this term around for the past two years but whenever I pose the question in the title to someone there always seems to be a lot of 'ers' and 'uhs' (along with the occasional blank stare). I know... we are a nation of repeaters so I'm linking you to the best definition I've heard to date. No need to scramble for an intelligent answer any longer.

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Two Big Bloggers Battle And Divide The Country...Very Ugly

Read as a nation of commentors take sides and spit at each other


I've observed long enough so now I must speak. You may not realize it but there is a 'civil war' of sorts going on right now in America between two distinct blogging sectors--The Housing 'Bubblers' and The Housing 'Optimists' (for lack of a better monicker). At the forefront of this seething conflict are Housing Panic's "Keith" (never a last name posted) and BloodhoundBlog's Greg Swann. You may not be aware of the turmoil because the media generally doesn't report on cat fights but I'm telling you its real and its ugly. Its real ugly. I could probably put and "F"
in there too but I won't.

I linked the latest measure of this go round on Digg but you need only visit either of the above mentioned blogs to see what I'm talking about. And the commentors, as you might imagine line up like foot soldiers of blue and red states, Fox News and CNN, or Pat Buchannon and...well moving on.... Where I grew up someone would be at school the next day with a black and blue shiner after such finger poking and name calling.

And its not just Housing Panic and Bloodhound. Its a lot of us, most of us. We've chosen our side and aligned our thinking and comments accordingly. Some of us are spies or at the very least, conscientious objectors. We play (fight) for one side but empathize with the other. Some of us are embedded reporters attempting to be 'fair and balanced' while staying out of harms way (cat scratch fever, hurt feelings from name calling, spit...) But most of us, I suppose (in the real estate business) are Zealots.

I'm a Realtor so you can probably guess where my allegiance lies. But I am also bright enough to know when to ignore an objection. And for those of you who don't know you should be able to find it in "Closing Techniques 101.' (fake name!)

photo by hifielmer

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Chinese Math

"Now let me get this straight - the press is supposed to control the market - if they say it's bad it must be so - if they say it's good it must be so - they are the keepers of doom and gloom - the ever ubiquitous "they"!

(This was a comment from Scottsdale broker and heavy hitter Tony Marriott, Associate Broker, CLHMS, CRB, CRS in response to a segment of an article I posted on my ActiveRain blog.)

And my take on this whole recent 'Media vs Realtor Spin Cycle' --and response to his comment-- was as follows:

"There's a term you may be familiar with called 'Chinese Math': i.e...if there are two billion or so people in China and you sell a 50 cent pencil to just 1% of them that is $10 million--the pretense being that 1% is easy to achieve because its such a small number. Now take this theory and twist or spin it anyway you wish and you have story content for both the media and the real estate industry. I really try to be objective by drawing from my own experience but the reported numbers are so 'all over the place' that I occasionaly just have to find a shoe that fits the 'ubiquitous' foot!" In other words, we all spin the numbers commensurate with our own respective agendas, NAR included. And after all, I do split my time almost equally between being a Chicago buyers agent and listing agent. Talk about two sides of the same story!


But also allow me to defer to an age old (Non-Chinese!) addage, 'numbers are deceiving!' In this case it applies to whoever has the audience's collective ear, readership, or viewership. Currently it does appear to be the media frenzied 'Bubble Brigade'-- ubiquitous to be sure, as Mr Marriott so articulately points out. After all, we Realtors had our own day (years) in the Sun during the 'Housing Boom' of recent years. And regardless of the spin I read, hear or spin myself, I'm still of the belief that even a half empty glass is very desirable to a thirsty man. Its just a matter of how much-- be it need (for housing) or thirst.

DIGG THIS! week of November 25, 2006 Vol. 4

The following real estate-centric teasers are newsworthy items that I happen upon during my research and readings for the week and post on Digg.com. The titles and descriptions are mine (thank me very much!) but the actual stories are pulled from a variety of daily and weekly news sources. Click on the Digg Story button below each feed to view the original story--and if you "dig it" then Digg it! The feedback is helpful and appreciated. Hope everyone had a safe Holiday.

photo by x.lux.solis

Chicago-1.7% The Rest of the Midwest-hsssss

"...The median home price in the Midwest in the third quarter was $170,500, down 2.6 percent from a year earlier, but the median price in the Chicago area rose 1.7 percent, to $279,400." I pulled this from the Trib.

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Its Not Your Father's FICO, Son

It used to be a 'letter of credit' and a good word from a vendor or two were the only things you needed to get a loan. These days, in many ways, its just as lenient but the myriad of interconnected data reporting hybrids that are pinging (and analyzing) your personal history will make your head spin. I found this piece on Smartmoney.com.

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What I Read...

Most days I have lunch with my Broker at this small Chinese restaurant in Lincoln Park. Almost always seated toward the back is this one elderly individual, clearly from China and always reading the same old book with Asian characters on yellowed pages. For no other reason than this he reminds me of my own deceased grandfather who read only one tattered book over and over, Dante's Inferno. I have it on my bookshelf and have no idea (besides the general premise) what it says exactly--its in Italian. And even if it wasn't I get the feeling that it would still be unreadable to me.

But I do read. I get The New Yorker every week but I have to be honest--its for the cartoons. The stories--especially the Fiction and Essays--are very engaging but the truth of the matter is I don't live in Manhattan and I've been trying to get a caption published in the weekly Caption Contest for years. So each week I scratch my head for the wittiest comment I can muster to match the posted cartoon then barely make the Sunday eve deadline for open submissions. So far no luck there.

The rest of the week I spend time on the following sites. Nationally I read: Sellsius. This is a very cool site with short interesting articles and great photos and graphics. It also has podcasts but I'm not that bored yet. Grow-a-Brain also rocks. Again, short and sweet and a lot of both. Lately I've been visiting Transparent RE a lot--very technical but readable.

All three of these also have numerous links so beware---its easy to wander off. (but that's exactly how I found these sites to begin with.) I make it a habit to click on Rain City Guide out of Seattle every few days but I find it to be a totally different market there and their writings and opinions are more NAR (our industry association)--centered and 'traditional.' I like edgy more. I already 'get' Real Estate 101 but I comment there nonetheless. Oh, and I also interact with Active Rain a lot. An excellent place to engage in comment swapping with other markets.

Locally, its Yo Chicago and the Chicagoist mostly. I take a quick peek and post the occasional comment on ChitownLiving, Chicago Real Estate Blog and my associate's own Chicago Real Estate Local but we're all kind of saying the same thing. (and there's a couple hundred thousand more just like us) It reminds me of a scene in the movie Man in the Gray Flannel Suit where thousands of businessmen in almost identical hats (and gray fannel suits) are teeming a New York City block hurrying in a huge 'gray mass' to get into the same office building before starting time. (just like us real estate bloggers)

And there's more. My wife, Mona receives at least one or two high end, glossy catalogs daily so I have tangible proof that you can mix stripes with other stripes and brown can go with blue although truthfully...I just usually wear black. ( at least until they come out with a darker color.)

Once or twice a year my Broker hands me a book a la Tipping Point and it reminds me that I do enjoy actually holding something in my hand to read. But do I, will I read it over and over until the pages yellow and strangers take notice and make comments behind my back or my grandchildren, God willing, observe in wonder? Not if I get the new laptop I want for Christmas!

The $800,000 House? (Revisited)

(I recently posted this piece on my Active Rain Blog and received several interesting comments from other markets so I'm reposting it again here.)

Over the past year or so I discovered an interesting Real Estate wrinkle I call "The $800,000 House Phenomenon." I didn't recognize it at first because I think it used to be called "The $600,000 House Phenomenon" but as the housing market changed, so did the phenomenon. And although I personally find it unique to the Northeast Side and North Shores of Chicago, its probably present in every market in any city at some pricepoint or another. It lays out something like this:

A client, or more accurately a young couple, decides to buy their first big single family home. If they are North Shore buyers then they have visions of a white, Center Entry Colonial built in the 1940s-50s on a 'Father of the Bride', 'Home Alone' or any John Hughes movie setting type of street. If they wish to reside in the city proper (in this case Chicago) then its a beautifully rehabbed brick and lead glass expanded cottage or carriage house, walking distance to the lake, zoo and parks. This is their housing vision. They live in nice, tricked-out condos now but they want 'The House.' And again, this phenomenon is very neighborhood specific. Its a 'location' thing.

The fact that "The $800,000 House" is obviously under a million dollars makes it appear 'do-able' from a financing point of view--after all, who really wants to spend a million bucks on a house when you're still in your early to mid thirties? Anyway, every week or so I get a request to assist in the search of just such a home..."around the $800,000 range...in a great neighborhood..." And here is the reality:

Two-thirds of the houses I find in this price range are either overpriced by a hundred thousand or so already (sometimes more) or just poorly remodeled little things with low ceilings, average to bad bathrooms and kitchens that if priced more correctly, would already be torn down. And needless to say, you can pretty much forget New Construction. Across the board, my clients are generally a little discouraged by what I send them in this price range because what used to be the $800,000 neighborhood is now the nesting ground of the soon to be built 2.5 to 3 million dollar 6.000+ square foot New Construction House. Its still an $800,000 Neighborhood--it just doesnt include the actual HOUSE. This all has to do with a Real Estate term called 'The Highest And Best Use" of a property which I think is pretty self-explanatory. And I dont think its a bad thing either. I sell a lot of New Construction that serve higher and better uses than what previously stood on the site.

But it is a little sobering when you actually come face to face with what's on the market (housewise, that is) for under a million in Chicago. Simply navigate around our search engine linked at Chicagohomeestates.com and you'll see that many of the homes dont look enticing enough from the MLS picture to even request a showing. And most, if not all of my clients' condos from which they are moving have better finishes and appointments. Again, I find that these properties comprise about two-thirds of what's out there. One must keep in mind that the 'Location' rules and if the 'Location' happens to have a ho-hum building on it with a bulldozer parked in the driveway, so be it. The truth of the matter is the million dollar plus housing market expands and ticks up every month leaving the $800,000 House that someone might actually move into a little further behind in almost every way. But this too, is a good thing. You gotta have 'appreciation' and on a personal level it makes my job more interesting, more challenging, and more rewarding when I do connect with the perfect house. And they do exist. Read on.

Most of the remaining third of inventory are correctly priced at land value only and WILL be torn down if they dont fall down on their own waiting to close. The remainder of the remainder--those few rare gems that boast curb appeal, livability and attractive pricing--are what I'm talking about. Now we're in 'the zone' and the scenario plays out like this:

On a weekly basis, a handful (maybe less) of homes in the $800,000 range appear on the market and by "market" I mean a good portion of the Northeast Side of Chicago and almost all of the desirable "upper-end" North Shore communities within an hour drive of the Hancock Building. Many have had new and sometimes drastic price reductions because the now increasingly discouraged owners who originally felt their homes were worth "a million" realized the Buying side of "the market" wasn't responding. This is usually attributed to a combination of timing and simple Incorrect Pricing and is a topic I have addressed at length in a previous archived blog. These homes are too nice to tear down and while not without a few obvious flaws; dated baths and kitchens, small closets, no central air, odd shaped or irregular sized lots---they are still, all things equal, solid properties with decent curb appeal worth maybe in the mid to upper 700s as of this writing. Many of these may be a little overpriced but are still able to command a negotiated offer that is acceptable to both the Buyer and Seller. I negotiate more than my fair share of these as well.

And finally, what's left of the above handful are the cream of the housing crop--new on the market with significantly better renovations and curb appeal, on the prettiest streets in the most desired neighborhoods with the highest rated public schools. These go into multiple offers the first day or so on the market with few or no contingencies and virtually No Negotiation. These are the true $800,000 Homes. These are homes that more than one Buying entity likes (loves) (desires) enough to write a contract on the spot and close in 30 days. These are the ones that WILL be worth a million in short order. They are generally priced right for a timely sell as the house is already flush with Equity and the Owner needs to move on NOW--no fooling around, no testing the market. As I mentioned earlier, I have at least one person a week asking me if I know of any of these. And what do I do?

Bubble notwithstanding (ha,ha)...I put them in the car immediately and tell them without hesitation about this "$800,000 House Phenomenon" I discovered.