November 2008 
There are 5 blog entries for November 2008.
A Week for Giving Thanks
Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 11:00am. 357 Views, 0 Comments.
It's been a bad year for so many people. How many have lost their jobs and their homes? How many will not be able to sit down to a lavish turkey and stuffing Thanksgiving dinner this year, unless they have the good fortune of a local soup kitchen?
I don't usually write posts to reflect like this but even I have been scared by our current economy. I still try to keep a good outlook although I must admit I've become guarded.
My husband and I had planned on purchasing a future retirement condo in Arizona this year while prices were affordable. But now I'm wondering if we should go out on that limb. I didn't have the best year in real estate sales and we don't really know what next year will bring.
I have my plans for taking on the real
…Keep Trying to Find That Sweet Spot When Selling Your Home
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 11:39am. 317 Views, 0 Comments.
It seems like most sellers are simply "chasing" the downward spiraling prices and are one step behind where they should be. When they reduce again, it still should be lower. Even I have had listings where it took a while to convince sellers they needed to go lower. A lot of sellers just don't realize that it doesn't matter what they need or want. What matters is what the current market will bear.
I had an Orland Park home for sale that I took knowing it was priced a bit high and had expired with the previous brokerage. But it was a beautiful home and they had actually received an offer at a higher price but the timing wasn't right for them (the buyers wanted a very quick closing), so they let it go. They expected to get another offer,
…Sellers Finding the Current Market Difficult to Understand
Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 4:13pm. 388 Views, 0 Comments.
I am surprised at the fact that many sellers act surprised when I tell them we're in an historic bad real estate market. So many reply, "Really?!", almost like they're shocked to hear this news. I don't get it, just turn on the television, read a newspaper, go on the Internet, and you'll read all about the bad economy and the bad real estate market. Buyers sure know about it!
Why Are Some Agents Acting So Positive?
Many agents are taught to be positive and don't mention the fact that they're having a bad year. NAR is advertising a campaign to give people hope - it's a great time to buy, yada, yada, yada. Of course, that mantra is true - it's a good time to buy, although some professionals say keep waiting as prices will continue to go
…Will Real Estate Start to Recover After the Election?
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 10:09am. 349 Views, 0 Comments.
I sure wish I had a crystal ball. There are so many different opinions out there, and I'm talking about trusted individuals that I look up to for their wisdom. Yet they all have different views of the real estate market.
The Predictions
I can't remember if it was our own National Association of REALTORS (NAR) or a large real estate publication that told us we would see a recovery in the 3rd quarter of 2008. That sure didn't happen. They pretty quickly changed their prediction to the 4th quarter which didn't ring true to me because in the Chicago area our 4th quarter is always slow due to weather, winter and the holidays. So when I read that I wasn't convinced and my gut feelings were correct. We are still seeing ever declining prices
…Judy Orr an Editor on Topix for Oak Lawn
Sunday, November 2nd, 2008 at 8:01pm. 419 Views, 0 Comments.
In doing searches for different towns I've noticed that Topix always seems to come up in the search engines. After reading another real estate agent's blog posting on the subject, I skipped over to the Topix website and joined as an editor for the village of Oak Lawn.
You can read the latest Oak Lawn news, read some posts on Oak Lawn real estate and join in on forums for local or national news items. I'm thinking of joining up as editor of a couple of other towns although they already have editors (there can be multiple editors for a town).
I really like it because for 5-10 minutes in a day I actually learn news about the village that I might not have read or heard about. In fact, you can find out about one of my interesting news topics
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