A time share in central Illinois??? Are you serious??

I have always thought that most time share developements that are being pushed on you whenever you go on vacation are expensive and in the end are difficult to unload. Here is a twist on the traditional idea though you might want to think about. Central Illinois has some very nice and affordable lake communities that are all within 45 minutes from Peoria. Canton, Oak Run, Avon Lake, Lake Wildwood etc, all offer homes that can make a nice little weekend getaway. There are also some nice options that are actually on the river although flood insurance would be something you'd need to consider.

If you are like me, the idea of having a spot to get away to sounds pretty appealing, if not for two things. The first is the amount of time that would actually be available to enjoy it. With family and work schedules finding a day or two off doesn't come easy. Because of that, there is the second factor-cost. Paying for something you aren't able to enjoy daily isn't a fun prospect. But...what if you could find a friend or two in the same situation and you developed your own little time share? You could reasonably expect to buy a property in a buyers market and split up the times available to use it, thus decreasing the cost, enjoy it for as long as it's enjoyable, and then sell it as an investment down the road. You could even go a step further and get a few people involved and sell off "shares" of ownership that would correspond to the amount of time alloted and share of expenses as well. Some developements allow lake access and rights if you are a lot owner-so there isn't even the need to buy/build a house.

Winter is here and there are some great values in these lake developments right now.If you'd like some information on the Oak Run development, just click on www.oakrunpoa.com. If you'd like to see any properties that might fit the bill or would like to receive email updates, just let me know and I'd be happy to help!

This changes every quarter but there are some things that stay the same. New constructions and newer homes are popular just like newer cars. They have all the bells and whistles that you see on HGTV....minus the trees. If you like trees...there are a number of great options that are a little older and might require a small amount of updating.

You can't be living in a new construction and selling, which means you must live in an existing house. If your home is in a more modest price range that does not compete with new constructions, just keep things clean, neutral and put away as many small items as you can. Give your house some curb appeal with new lights, mulch and some flowers. Maybe some shutters and a flower box. If you live in a house built in the last 30 years, even the last 10-12 years, and it's in the same price range as a new construction...LISTEN UP!

The market is good for nice homes priced right. Whatever you think it might cost to fix up your house, it will cost you DOUBLE if you don't. You'll have TWICE the time on the market, which will lead to a lower listing price and an even lower selling price. Why the cheery outlook? I've been doing this a long time. Since birth. I've seen SO many homes that would have sold for SO much more had the sellers just put in a little time and money up front. I don't know how many times I've heard "we don't want to paint our purple room or change the leopard skin carpet to a neutral color because someone will just come along and want something different." You know what-you're right-someone will come along and want something different-like your neighbors neutral themed house that is for sale down the street.

What about just giving the buyer a credit to change the paint or carpet? Ya know why a credit sounds like a good option to the seller-because they don't have to do the work. Ya know why a credit doesn't sound like a good option to the buyer-because they are stuck doing the work. Remember-the buyers have to deal with moving into a place and getting settled. As appealing as a credit might sound to the seller, it sounds like "fixer upper" on a listing sheet to the buyer.

You might be thinking..."Mark's sounding a little harsh tonight...what's with that?". I hate to see people lose money. I hate it even more when it can be so easily avoided. If you hire me to sell your house and you want my honest opinion, you'll always get it. It may not be what you want to hear, but by not telling you then I'm remiss in my job. That leads to a longer marketing time and a lower selling price.

What does this have to do with the title of this blog? Not much...got carried off on a tangent.

What's selling? Above $200K, draw a 10-15 minute driving circle circumference around downtown Peoria and that puts you where most of my clients like to be. Germantown Hills, Morton, north Peoria, Dunlap, Washington. New constructions tend to start for the most part around this price range and a little higher.

Looking above $500K? You'll find homes in this price range everywhere, but forgive me Metamora, Germantown Hills, Washington and even Morton, right now there are more homes in this upper price range in the Dunlap area than any other community in central Illinois. That's not to say the other communities are any less desirable-absolutely not. They all offer something unique to their respective areas. I'm just pointing out where most of the homes in a respective price range are.

Above $500K right now I've seen a big slow down. I don't like saying that-but for the first time in a number of years it seems slow. I have a number of clients that have moved into town from other states where the markets are horrible, and they can't buy anything here until their houses sell their. Many of these clients I've been able to find short term rentals for and as soon as they can sell their current house then they will be buying here. I've never seen so many clients in this situation in my entire career. It speaks volumes as to what is going on nationally. Peoria has remained a little bubble in the real estate market. Maybe it will burst too, but not today and not this year. Things remain strong regardless of what is going on in every other market I know. Look at all of the Bloomington builders that have moved over here-perhaps half of our larger builders have come from Bloomington.

Peoria is strong. Our economy remains strong. Our home values remain strong. It still rains way more than it should but our sunny disposition remains strong. Let me know what you think of this blog if you are a frequent visitor. Drop me an email sometime and let me know what topics you'd like me to hit on. Let me know what you like or don't like about our website. We've seen the traffic increase every month since we've started this and it's thanks to people like you.

Get a market snapshot view of where you are looking to buy, or where you currently live!

How would you like to automatically get updates on not only what is available in a neighborhood or area, but also updates as to what homes have sold recently and for what price? In addition these updates will show you bar graphs and charts that will detail if an area is going up, remaining steady, or going down! If you would like a detailed report for a specific neighborhood, school or style of home just drop us an email and we'll be able to add that criteria in directly. You can get a single report, or updates every two weeks, 4 weeks or 6 weeks!

Taxes around central Illinois.

Funny thing with taxes and rates. A lot of people will chose one area of town over another based on what they believe the taxes are but you can't always judge a book by its cover.

Taxes on a home are computed in this way: The percieved fair market value of a house is divided by 3. From this number you would then subtract any exemptions (example owner occupied status which is $5000, or senior citizens exemptions etc). Then you would take that final number and multiply it by the tax rate. This method is the same no matter where you live in the area, but the tax rates can vary. So which ones are the highest? Lowest?

Surprisingly-the town of Dunlap has about the lowest around...they are at 6.5%. Areas like Peoria Heights have about the highest in the area-8.7%. Dover Pointe subdivision in north Peoria/Dunlap-7.3%. Most of the Charter Oak area of Peoria is 8.2%. Much of East Peoria is 6.9%. Metamora is has rates around 8.2% and Germantown Hills has rates of 7.79%

The difference comes in to play when you consider 1) how old a house is and 2) how recently it sold. You could have two homes on the market for $250,000, with the same tax rate, but if one is an older home that didn't sell for the last 20 years, the true assessed value is probably much farther off of what it should realistically be. On the other hand, if you have a new house that is 2 years old, and it's on for $250K, the tax man probably has it assessed a lot closer to the true market value.

Just for kicks, I just looked up the taxes on 10 homes that are all currently on the market in Peoria, West Peoria, Dunlap, Princeville, Germantown Hills, Metamora, Washington, East Peoria and Morton. They were all listed for sale for $199,900. The taxes ranged from $2800 to $5300 but it didn't have as much to do with what the tax rate was, as much as it did with how old/new the house was or how recently it last sold. If all of these homes were to sell tomorrow for full price, the taxes would most likely be adjusted perhaps a year or two down the road to reflect what they should be, and it would be pretty close across the board. Also something else to consider is that what you may save in terms of taxes on one hand, you may lose in resale value on the other. A home that is 30 miles from nowhere might not have a high tax rate, but it also may not have the greatest pool of buyers when it comes time to sell.

Lesson to be learned? Taxes are just plain high everywhere in central Illinois. You can't get away from it. It's a great place to call home though and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Scenes from the street.

Ya gotta love this. Here is a shower I saw in a house recently....complete with an electrical box and a no smoking sign-because obviously they are concerned about their health. :)

File under the heading "Home owner de-improvements".

Every now and then I come across some pretty unusual home owner improvements...this would be one of those. This bathroom was painted green and yellow, which I'm assuming was to keep with a John Deer theme...or color blindness...or a remnant paint sale...or something along those lines. And what says John Deer...or bathroom...better than a little chicken wire around the ol' shower?

Floor to ceiling wallpaper, and everywhere in between.

Check this groovy wallpaper out. Saw this in a bathroom last week. When you have this kind of vibe going on the walls, it was obvious that you just need to keep going and wallpaper the ceiling

If bars could talk...this one could tell a story or two.

Saw this in the same house. Boy....if walls (or polyester) could talk. I thought the Christmas lights added just the right ambiance to this ultra groovy basement bar.

Last inspected date...1945

Was showing a house on Prospect the other day that had about a dozen of these old chemical fire extinguishers hanging from the attic rafters. They may be old...but no need to be concerned...as you can see from the date on the tag they have been inspected and checked out...in 1945.
 

Too weird to be true...

I actually saw this fashion statement the other day.....yes-that is a real wood tub surround. :) Modern plumbing....yet that rustic outhouse ambiance.

Time to think about a Vacation home...in Central Illinois!

A few hundred posts back I made mention of what I believe to be the best kept secret in central Illinois, if not the entire state. There is a great little lake community (600 acre lake to be exact) called Oak Run that is just about 40 minutes west of Peoria in a little area called Dahinda. Along with all of the boating activities that take place there, you'll find a golf course, tennis courts, beaches, 2 marinas, a restaurant/bar, general store and a club house. Yearly dues run about $188 and there are some additional fees for a boat sticker, etc, but they are nominal. The association website is www.oakrunpoa.com and my blog for the area is www.myoakrun.com . I've lived in central Illinois my entire life and I've always known about this place but had not been there for probably 20 years. Then about 4 years ago I had a client call to ask me to show him some properties out there and we fell in love with it. To get our feet wet, literally and figuratively, we went in with another family we are friends with a bought a vacant lot, which gives us the lake rights. There is no demand to build and many people just own a vacant lot for the rights that go along with it. After about a year we liked it so much we went in with the same family and found the worst house in the whole subdivision, bought it, fixed it up, and now it's our own little time share with them. So....if you...or you and a friend...or you and ten friends...would be interested in maybe doing the same, give me a call and I'd love to show you around the lake sometime! It is by far, without question, the best purchase I've ever made, and the best investment in our family as well.

Road trip

The Boys Were Back in Town...on a recent ski trip....however the road trip memories of when I was 20 are a lot different than the realities of a road trip when I'm 40. :)

Taking a little detour from the normal real estate news.

If there is a theme for the posts this week on our blog, it would probably not be real estate related. We'll get back to that next week. Here is a Link to a video of the St. Patricks Day Parade in Peoria last year. Here is another Link to a video of a fund raiser at Peoria's Maui Jim headquarters off of Allen Road where people took an icy plunge for a good cause.

Comparison between Morton,Dunlap, Washington and Metamora/Germantown

Since these are the communities I am always driving to with clients, I thought it would be interesting to look at how they are stacking up against each other in terms of available homes, pending homes and recently sold homes over the last 12 months. Since the different communities have a variety of different price ranges, I decided to narrow the focus a little.

For this part of the report, I looked at homes priced between $300,000 to $500,000, those currently for sale as well as what has sold over the last 12 months.


In Morton: There are currently 19 for sale, 31 that have sold over the last 12 months and 1 that is currently pending. This equates to an average of 2.58 sales per month and a 7.3 month supply of homes. The definition of supply of homes is how long it will take to sell the currently inventory of homes at the current rate of sales, assuming no new homes are listed.

The following post was from a prior blog entry I had on another post a few months back, so while some of the data numbers may have changed, the comparison overall is pretty much the same.

 

 

In Dunlap: There are 76 currently for sale, 95 that have sod over the last 12 months and 13 that are currently pending. This equates to an average of 7.9 sales per month an a 9 month supply of homes.

In Washington: There are currently 19 for sale, 26 that have sold in the last 12 months and 2 that are currently pending. This equates to an average of 2.1 sales per month and a 9 month supply of homes.

In Metamora/Germantown Hills: There are currently 20 for sale, 18 that have sold and 2 that are currently pending. This equates to an average of 1.5 sales per month and a 13 month supply of homes.

The one thing to consider with the numbers above and the supply of homes is the current number of pending homes, since that is an indicator as to how many closings might occur in the next 30-60 days. Metamora and Washington pendings are on par with the average number of closed homes over the last 12 months, while Morton's pendings are lagging behind the average sales, Dunlap's pendings are far exceeding the average number of sales.

New Construction vs. Existing Homes

I was recently asked to attend a seminar being put on by a local subdivision that was interested in getting some input from local Realtors on what can be done to increase the resale value of these homes. Mind you, this subdivision has always, and will always, be a popular place, but the average selling prices of the homes that are now approaching the 10-15 year old range has been lagging and the main reason is the abundance of new construction in the same price range. With that in mind, I thought I would put out a comparison between what was "new" 10-15 years ago and compare it to what is new right now.

New construction is always the greatest competition for any existing home regardless of the area. It's easy looking back on the comparables to see that the older the house is, it doesn't as much matter necessarily how large it is, or what custom features were put into the house at the time it was built, as much as how it stacks up to the latest and greatest features that might be found in a new construction. A large reason for this is that the home builders have the advantage of being able to incorporate the the most desired features into their design for what buyers are looking for today. Those same features will be as different 3-5 years down the road as they were 3-5 years in the past. Houses are a lot like cars in the sense that everything changes every few years and most buyers want the most recent updates. One criteria the majority of buyers we work with that come in from outside the area is, aside from price and location, that the age of the home be new, or at least new within the past few years.


Wall coverings-this includes paint as well as wallpaper and faux finishes. Wallpaper is normally an item that is pretty personalized and an element that a lot of buyers would prefer not to deal with. It can be challenging to remove, and in a buyers market like we have today-buyers can afford to be picky. The artistic painting and faux finishes are things that we are seeing less of today in newer homes as well. That's not to say that someone might come in and absolutely love it...that could very well be the case. It's just my experience, and that of builders, that the more a house can appeal to the broadest group of buyers, the greater the likelihood that it will sell quicker and for a higher price.

Cabinets and countertops. Again, in comparison to new constructions, the two things you will notice immediately is that cabinets colors have gotten darker with richer colors and countertops are almost exclusively granite.

Plumbing, door hardware and lighting fixtures. Ten years ago practically everything was brass. Then there was a transition to pewter. Now we are seeing a new transition to rubbed oil/darker finishes.

Flooring. Everything that was old is new again. Shag carpet has been repackaged as Fraziee (I know I spelled that wrong but I'm 40 and too old to look it up), wood floors are popular and the wider 5" plank size is becoming the norm.

Appliances. White appliances have been replaced with stainless steel. Gas ranges/stoves have been given a preference over electric.

Trim/doors. While 10 years ago we still saw a decent amount of oak, it was in transition to white painted trim and now we are seeing about a 50/50 mix of white painted trim and a creme colored painted trim. Doors were 6 panel whereas now the higher end new homes normally have a larger 2 panel design.

Think your place is small?

If you think your place is small, check out this link to see a clip about a 90 square foot apartment! I know there is a trend towards smaller places, but this is getting ridiculous. :) Enjoy.

Get the scoop you want on any subdivision in central Illinois!

We have been offering for a while a free service that I think is pretty slick. If there is a specific subdivision, part of town, school district, city, price range, style of house, etc that you would like to get updates on, just drop us an email asking for a market snap shot of whatever it is you want and we will set you up to get automatic updates every two weeks. You can opt out on your own at any time if you want to stop getting the updates. For example, if you were wanting to see the current listings, pendings, recently sold homes, days on market data, pricing trends, etc, for say.....Sommer Place Subdivision or Chadwick Subdivision or all homes in the Morton school district, or the two story style 4 bedroom homes in Washington between $200K and $400K, whatever criteria you want to use, just let us know and we'll get it set up and you'll get your first email report today. Or if you have no plans in moving, or may move in a year and are curious to see the trends in your own subdivision, we'll set you up to get those reports as well. We'll never bother you with a phone call and any information doesn't get used other than to generate the report for you.

Reason #198 to live in Peoria!

Palm trees....sunshine....81 degrees...baseball.....the Peoria Chiefs....$7 tickets and free parking!

When is close,close enough??

What do you get when you put a $1000 Fisher and Paykel double drawer dishwasher...under a counter top that is 1 foot too short? Apparently....this. :) Sometimes in my job I see some great ideas, and then sometimes I see somethings that...well...end up here. The best part about this picture that you can't see is that the counter top of caulked to the top of the dishwasher...so it obviously wasn't a work in progress but rather the finished product of a kitchen remodel.

Revamped Peoria area real estate blog!! Finally!

For those of you that have been followers of this blog for a while, you have noticed that it has been continually hi-jacked by some remote spam computer somewhere and occasionally there have been many posts put up that appear to be made by me. Fun...I know. Nothing like looking on my site and seeing 50-100 posts about male enhancement products or diet tips, registered under my name. SO....after failed attempts to try to stop those posts, we threw in the towel and are starting a new blog here. Thanks for sticking with us!

Peoria-area Realtors see Ups and Downs in Sales

The following article was taken from the Peoria Journal Star 10/18/2011

By STEVE TARTER (starter@pjstar.com)

PEORIA —

Area home sales were up by 22 percent in the third quarter of 2011 - compared with the same period last year - but the president of the Peoria Area Association of Realtors isn't ready to celebrate yet."We are encouraged by the numbers but we remain cautiously optimistic," said Laura Martin, the PAAR president.

Third-quarter sales totaled 1,252 homes compared with 1,028 in 2010. The average sale price of a home in the third quarter was $147,167, compared with $140,384, an increase of 4.8 percent.The median sale price for the third quarter of 2011 was $124,000, compared with $115,000 in 2010, an increase of 7.8 percent. The median is a typical market price in which half the homes sold for more and half for less. "This last quarter we started to see how the market is changing again. After all the stimulus money was done, there was a quiet time after that," said Martin, referring to federal tax credits provided to homeowners in 2009 and 2010.

"Long-term real estate recovery is dependent on jobs, consumer confidence and favorable lending qualifications. Right now, we have Realtors saying that it's hot. September and October have been busy after some slow months," she said.

But area home sales are still down 4 percent for the year, comparing the first three quarters of 2011 with 2010. While a big fourth quarter could push 2011 into positive territory, that's a quarter fraught with unknowns, said Martin."You just don't know about the fourth quarter. With weather changes and holidays, things tend to slow down," she said.

A combination of factors favor buying a home right now, said Martin. "Interest rates are at historic lows. Home prices are competitive and there is a good inventory of properties on the market," she said.
The inventory of homes in the Peoria area was 3,033 at the end of September, a decline from the 3,288 that were on the market in September 2010. "That's what happens when a market is in recovery. The inventory starts going down a little," said Martin.

PAAR CEO Dallas Hancock said a seller needs to make sure that a home is priced right. "Otherwise, they won't even get a showing. The first showing is now done online. A seller won't get a walk-through unless the price is right," she said."I know people get tired of hearing that this is the time to buy a house, but it is. When you consider that you make the same payment on a $200,000 home at 4 percent interest that you'd make on a $100,000 home with 8 percent interest, you're really shopping your money right now," said Hancock.

Steve Tarter can be reached at 686-3260 or starter@pjstar.com.

Copyright 2011 pjstar.com.

Sommer Place Subdivision

There are some exciting things going on in Sommer Place Subdivision. If you aren't familiar with it, it is a subdivision that is in the city of Peoria, the Dunlap school district and has an Edwards mailing address. Goofy, I know, but what can ya do. Anyway, it's located about a mile from the Shoppes at Grand Prairie in north Peoria, behind Weavers Farm and across from Chadwick Subdivision. It will be around 500 homes large when it is all said and done, and is almost half way there right now. They had their first home owners association meeting about a week ago, the first since taking control of the developed sections from the developers. Lots of good talk and, like all new neighborhood associations, there was some interest in maybe at some point looking into the possibility of a pool. I've been involved in a lot of neighborhoods, associations and such over the years and the discussion of a pool always comes up, then fades when costs are worked up. However, if any neighborhood can do it financially, I think it would be Sommer Place due to the lone fact that it will have the right number of homes built to support it. It won't happen now, or next year, as the association is just getting started and it takes a while to build up the funds to start a project, but long term it is about the only Peoria/Dunlap area subdivision I think that will have the manpower and funds to start such a project.

How reliable is Zillow Zestimate?

Zillow is a real estate website that has great mapping features and also shows available for sale. Not only that, it also gives sales figures for recently sold homes which is the one aspect of the site that sets it apart from the other home search websites. However, there is one function of it which I find really pretty useless when it comes to coming up with estimated values of homes based on sales data, which is a feature they call a Zestimate. One reason for this is that it does not take into account a specific subdivision or other important variables when determining value. It also has values that swing wildly from low to high values when certain markets, like ours, are more balanced. This is because it takes into account sales that might be nearby, but also located in much higher or lower priced subdivisions. Take for example the following.

In Chadwick Place and Chadwick Estates subdivisions, located in the northern part of Peoria, in the Dunlap School District. I pulled the sold information for all of the homes in the two subdivisions (12 sales) that have closed so far this year. The TRUE average sold price was $451,333 for those 12 homes. The average value as estimated by Zillow for these 12 homes was more than $45,000 off.

Specifically...

7203 Draycott...sold for $355,000, Zestimate was $317,200...off by $37,800

7204 Vauxhall...sold for $366,500, Zestimate was $314,100...off by $52,400

70014 Clayton...sold for $375,000, Zestimate was $338,700...off by $36,300

5919 Ivybridge...sold for $390,000, Zestimate was $318,800..off by $8,200

6815 Greenwhich...sold for $395,000, Zestimate was $358,000...off by $37,000

7114 Vauxhall...sold for $400,000, Zestimate was $361,600...off by $38,400

5905 Eaglecreek...sold for $411,000, Zestimate was $361,700...off by $49,400

5811 Eaglecreek...sold for $458,000, Zesitmate was $415,000...off by $43,000

6812 Stonecrest...sold for $560,000, Zestimate was $496,000...off by $64,000

5811 Ivybridge...sold for $507,500, Zestimate was $500,400...off by $7,100

7012 Stratton...sold for $580,000, Zestimate was $464,000...off by $116,000

7021 Stratton...sold for $618,000, Zestimate was $562,300...off by $55,700

So while Zillow does a wonderful job with their mapping features, available homes and sold prices, it does a horrible job with its Zestimate values and current market value indicators. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Mark and Jennifer

New School Boundaries for newest Dunlap elementary school

I believe that the Dunlap school district (DSD) has always done a really good job of maintaining the status quo with relationship with any school boundary changes. It hasn't been easy with the increasing number of students that attend their schools. They have just announced which subdivisions will be attending the newest school that is being built and this is just a continuation of this effort. There are a number of new subdivisions being built currently around the new school and the plan is to have these subdivisions be the ones that will attend it. This helps keep the vast majority of students in the same schools that they are currently. 

To view the entire article on the new school boundaries, click here.

Get the scoop on a subdivision you want, or one you live in!

We have been offering for a while a free service that I think is pretty slick. If there is a specific subdivision, part of town, school district, city, price range, style of house, etc that you would like to get updates on, just drop us an email asking for a market snap shot of whatever it is you want and we will set you up to get automatic updates every two weeks. You can opt out on your own at any time if you want to stop getting the updates. For example, if you were wanting to see the current listings, pendings, recently sold homes, days on market data, pricing trends, etc, for say.....Sommer Place Subdivision or Chadwick Subdivision or all homes in the Morton school district, or the two story style 4 bedroom homes in Washington between $200K and $400K, whatever criteria you want to use, just let us know and we'll get it set up and you'll get your first email report today. Or if you have no plans in moving, or may move in a year and are curious to see the trends in your own subdivision, we'll set you up to get those reports as well. We'll never bother you with a phone call and any information doesn't get used other than to generate the report for you.