January 2007 
There are 4 blog entries for January 2007.
26% of Home Buyers in Illinois are Single Women
Wednesday, January 31st, 2007 at 12:22pm. 382 Views, 0 Comments.
As I was reading through my Illinois Association of REALTORS e-mail magazine I was interested in their latest statistics on home buyers in Illinois. The statistics are as follows:
8% = single males
26% = single females
44% = first time home buyers
57% = married couples
I sell a lot of homes to unmarried couples so I'm not sure how that is factored into the above figures. I was also surprised at the low figure for single men. I wouldn't have thought it was so low based on my own experience. Of course, this is taken for the entire state of Illinois and not just the Chicago and southwest suburban area so I'm sure those figures would be somewhat different. UPDATE: the survey link is no longer active and please refer to the
…Predatory Lending Program is Suspended
Monday, January 22nd, 2007 at 11:52am. 460 Views, 0 Comments.
In September of 2006, I wrote an article summarizing the Predatory Lending Program. The full name of the program is Illinois Predatory Lending Database Pilot Program, also known as HB 4050. I gave my opinion that I didn't feel the program was fair for sellers and buyers in the targeted zip codes and I didn't feel it was put together properly. In fact, one of the reasons it has been suspended is because many lenders just didn't understand the program and would not participate, leaving some buyers unable to get any kind of mortgage financing.
One of the reasons Governor Blagojevich cited was the study put together by the University of Illinois which showed sales in the affected zip codes declined by 50% whereas sales had only slowed down 20% in
…What Style Home Do You Have?
Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 at 10:30am. 808 Views, 0 Comments.
Whenever I'm getting information over the telephone regarding a home I'm going to be preparing a Comparative Market Analysis on (CMA), I will ask what style is the home? Many times I'll get a long pause where I will step in and start naming and describing different styles.
Most people know that a ranch style home is a one-level home. That's the easy one. Some people will tell me 
they have a two-story when they really have a cape cod (or 1 1/2 story). A cape cod is easy to describe over the phone as it's typically the kind of house children draw in pictures with a square body and a triangle on top with a peaked roof coming down the sides. A true two-story has the same square footage on the upper level as it does on the main level and the upper
New Illinois Carbon Monoxide Detector Law
Wednesday, January 10th, 2007 at 1:09pm. 659 Views, 0 Comments.
New year, new Illinois real estate laws. The one that affects the general public the most is the new carbon monoxide detector act. The new act, Public Act 94-741 (HB 5284) requires that every Illinois residence must have a carbon monoxide detector installed within 15 feet of any sleeping area. The act states it must be an approved alarm.
There are three different types of alarms that are deemed acceptable. Your alarm can be battery operated, plug-in with a battery back-up or can be wired into the AC power line with a second battery back-up. You can use a combination smoke detector/carbon monoxide unit but it must follow State Fire Marshall's requirements, has to be labeled by a nationally recognized testing lab and needs to comply with
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