the wasserblawg

CRAINS CHICAGO BUSINESS : County to lower home assessments By: Lorene Yue May 11, 2009 (Crain’s) — Residents in some suburban Cook County townships will see a reduction in the assessed value of their homes as the tax system catches up with the real estate downturn. But because tax bills are paid in arrears, it won’t be known if homeowners will see any benefit until next year. Homes in 30 suburban townships will have their assessed values lowered by 4% to 15%, Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan announced Monday. The reduction is being made to accommodate market changes at a time when suburban areas are not up for reassessment, which happens every three years. “After careful analysis of market sales and foreclosure data, we determined those townships should not have to wait until their next reassessment for the impact to be reflected,” Mr. Houlihan said in a statement. River Forest Township will receive a 5% reduction, while C...

PART 1: QUALIFY THE BUYER BEFORE ACCEPTING THE OFFER Current market conditions present two unfortunate realities for prospective home sellers: prices are declining. Market times are not. As a result, the general perception in the marketplace is that Buyers now have the upper hand over Sellers. To the extent that there are so many more Sellers than Buyers in the active market this may be so. This makes many Sellers uneasy and quite understandably so. Once they get past the lowest low-ball offers, many Sellers are quick to accept the first "decent" price offered and then hope for the best. Reality is showing us however that merely accepting an offer does not assure an actual closing. There are still many perils and pitfalls that are keeping a high number of contracts from closing. Sellers MUST plan carefully to better the likelihood that the contract will close. This post and others that will follow in this series will offers specific suggestions to help sellers write better be...

Two days ago, I wrote about the re-emergence of multiple offer transactions. In response, I heard from a number of real estate agents who confirmed that they are encountering this phenomenon. I also have heard from another of others who essentially groaned and who all collectively wished for just one stinking offer , at this point, any offer. They are, almost certainly, still be in the majority - which lead me to states an obvious truth: These days, it (still) is really very hard to find Buyers who are willing to submit a written purchase offer. and perhaps a somewhat less obvious truth: That's just half the battle. Its just as hard (harder?) to get contracts to close. Doubt me on that one? Ask any realtor or real estate lawyer, mortgage broker or loan officer. Ask at the title companies too. They will all likely sigh heavy and confirm it. A great many contract are taken that never close. Even the contracts that can and do close have their problems. These days deals are just a...

Ladies and Gentlemen, mothers, fathers and children of all ages, please direct your attention to the center ring. back from an extended absence, returning to critical acclaim, and the jubilant cheers of its many fans, I GIVE YOU: MULTIPLE OFFERS! I don't have any statistical data to back me up on this one, but in talking to real estate agents over the past couple of weeks, I was pretty taken aback to hear  multiple stories of buyers and sellers finding themselves in multiple offer situations (negotiations in which more than one buyer wants to purchase the same property... bidding wars).  Bidding wars were well known in my practice, and in the larger marketplace during the go-go or boom years. Buyers were so desperate to win a Seller's acceptance that they were paying more than the asking price, and waiving protective contingencies such as inspections, mortgage financing and sale-of-other-property requirements.  I had not, until just recently, seen one in many, many moons. But ...

Ready to make that real estate deal? Get it in writing . A written contract is essential to any purchase and sale transaction. But where are you getting that contract and who's form are you going to use? Lets face it, the blank forms look like endless mad-libs that are already littered with unreadable prose, even before the "missing words" get added in. Which one are you going to use? There are scores of contract forms available to get to the essence of a real estate deal (the buyer's promise to the seller to turn over a whole bunch of money if the seller forks over a deed and the keys. By my last count, I have at least 20 of those forms in my collection of contracts accumulated over the last few years. I have worked with nine different pre -printed (form) real estate contracts over the last year alone. That does not even include the various forms used by new home (and condo) builders or condo conversion developers, each of whom seems to use a different form fro...

You Know that it had to happen....