Work and Play

I think I have one of the few jobs that allows me to work 24 hours a day, but also enjoy spending time with my wife, my family, and my friends. What I am talking about is this. The other night, I attended a Cubs game with my friend who had an extra ticket. So we jumped on the “EL” and headed down to Wrigley Field. While on the “EL” I find myself catching “For Sale” signs out of the corner of my eye. This happens often, as I think I have been conditioned to seeing “For Sale” signs. It is not like I am purposely looking for the signs, I just happen to see them. In my business I am always trying to stay on top of the market and on top of the inventory in the market. I work a lot on the North Side of Chicago in neighborhoods such as Lake View, Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Albany Park, Uptown, etc, so I like to know what is for sale in these neighborhoods. I think I have become very good at spotting a sign, taking a quick look at the building or house, and coming up with a price in my head. I usually come up with a couple of prices to accommodate if there are 2 – 3 bedrooms and if parking is available and so forth. So while we were on the “EL” I saw some properties for sale and did some quick math in my head. While we were walking to and from the game I saw more property and did the same thing. I was sure not to be rude and ignore my friend totally. I do not want to do that especially since he gave me a free ticket. What is good about this exercise is that if I have a client looking for something in this area, I can let them know if I saw something or let them know what I think the value of the area might be. So I was working while at the same time enjoying spending some time with my friend. Of course if something really catches my eye, I will not be so subtle. I will stop take a good look at the property, walk around the property, write down the address, and even make a phone call. Sometimes my friends cannot appreciate what I am doing and will nag at me to keep moving. Luckily, for my friend, this did not happen the other night. So all in all we had a good time at the game and was able to keep from talking his ear off about Real Estate. See the picture above. These are the seats my friend has, they are pretty good. See the tall building all the way to the right? That’s the New York building. Count nine floors up and I have a client who I helped purchase that unit. Ok so maybe a little Real Estate talk at the game:)

Realtor from 9 to 5

I wanted to share with you a story about my day to day work habits, and how they have paid off. As a Chicago Realtor I am often asked what I do all day. Since most people know that a Realtor works with clients, who often work steady job themselves, most of my client time is nights and weekends. People often wonder how I spend my days from 9 to 5. The simple answer I give is that I work on the computer most days (I also do other Real Estate activities which I will share in later post). I work on articles for my Blog, checking the MLS for properties, communicating with clients and prospecting for business (working with leads.) This is the short and easy answer. What I wanted to share with you was one of the little things I do that has helped me become a better buyer agent. As a buyer agent, we are expected to know what types of properties, Condo or Single Family Homes, are available. We are also expected to know the price range for any particular Chicago neighborhood. One of the things I wanted to do was to get an inside edge on my competition. I thought about how I could do this and I came up with the idea to put myself in the shoes of the buyer. Our website Chicago Home Estates works very hard on capturing buyers and bringing them to our website. Now, I know that a buyer who is on our website is probably on another Real Estate website as well. So I thought I should do the same. Since we send out updates to our clients about new properties, I thought I might as well receive updates from other websites just like a buyer. How this has paid off for me is that I was registered on another Chicago Real Estate website and received information about a 2 bedroom condo in Lincoln Square that was not yet on the MLS. I immediately contacted a client who was looking for exactly this type of condo, in Lincoln Square, and we were able to view the condo before it even went on the MLS. This little bit was responsible for me securing a client as their buyer agent. My clients were impressed that I was on top of the inventory of 2 bedroom condos in Lincoln Square, and wanted to use me a their buyer agent. I am always looking for new ways to stay up on the inventory of Chicago properties. I do not claim to know about every condo and Single Family Home in Chicago. There are far too many for anyone to keep track off. Since I live in Lincoln Square, I try to be especially updated on the inventory in Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Albany Park, Uptown, Irving Park, Lakeview and Lincoln Park. As I said earlier I will share other activities I do as a Chicago Realtor from 9 to 5 in later post.

First steps in the home buying process

This question comes up many times with first time homebuyers. Many first time homebuyers have an idea of where they would like to live, but they do not have an idea about the cost of a home. What I like to tell clients is to start doing some research online. In this day in age the internet provides a countless number of resources for the consumer to look at. You can find a number of Real Estate websites on line, and from these Real Estate Websites you should be able to find some sort of home search locator. A good home search locator will allow you to enter in your specific criteria, such as how many bedrooms you need, bathrooms you need, which neighborhood you like, etc. These home search locators will find homes that are currently on the market. This is a good way to start understanding the type of price the particular home you are looking for is. Another good home search locator should allow you to save specific searches so you can enter different criteria, without loosing your original criteria.

Once you have an idea about the price of the homes you are interested in, you need to know if you can afford your type of home. The next step is to meet with a mortgage lender and discuss with them the types of loans you can get, and the amount of money you would be eligible to borrow. From this you should get a clear idea of the type of home you can afford.

You may find that your originally desired area is out of your price range. Now what? Well there are two things you can do. One, which I recommend, is to contact a Realtor. You should let them know what type of home you are looking for and also let them you know what type of price range you are in. The Realtor can then work with you to let you know what types of homes in your desired neighborhoods are available in your price range. Also they can let you know about different neighborhoods that support the type of home you are looking for and that are in your price range. The second thing you can do is to continue to use the home search locator to explore different neighborhoods on your own. I do not recommend this unless you are familiar with those neighborhoods. You can spend a lot of time searching neighborhoods without finding one that supports your needs. Many Realtors work in all different types of neighborhoods and they may be able to turn you on to a different neighborhood, faster then you can find one.

Now that you know the type of home you are looking for and you found a neighborhood you want to be in (whether it was your originally desired neighborhood or a new neighborhood you found.) The next step in the process, since you followed my advice and are now working with a Realtor, is to go out and start visiting some of the homes you and your Realtor have found. This step allows you to see first hand the layout of a home, and all the features up close. It gives you a chance to speak with your Realtor about how the whole home buying process. It will also give you a good idea about the feel of a neighborhood (if you are not familiar with it.)

The next step would be to purchase your new home. This aspect of the home buying process is another set of steps. If you give me a call or e-mail me, I would be happy to go over it with you. :) I hope this was helpful, and if you have any questions about this or any other part of the home buying process, please feel free to call or e-mail.

Chicago Open House...can be windy city blues

This weekend I did an Open House at my new listing 2512 W. Iowa #3. (sorry, but I had to plug my new listing.) I try to do Open Houses every weekend. I find that this is a good way to market my listings and to meet potential buyers. My Open Houses are usually from 1:00pm – 4:00pm. I bring my paper to read if it is slow. I also have my PDA so I can keep in touch with clients. Overall it is a good experience. The only part I dread is the putting up of Open Signs. This part of the day takes a ½ hour at the most, but it can feel like hours. Especially on weekends like this past weekend. I am fortunate enough to be practicing Real Estate in Chicago. The market is strong, and the city is a desirable place to live, but when it gets cold…it gets cold. This weekend was one of those weekends I wish I was at home relaxing on the couch and not having to go outside.

I try to strategically place my Open House signs where I can draw the most traffic to my Open House. So I am usually at a busy corner or intersection. I have to stop my car, turn on my hazard lights, avoid traffic and grab a big metal sign from the back of my truck. These signs are made entirely of metal, and are not very flexible or easy to move. Of course when the wind gets a hold of them, they have no problem flying around. I can have it in my hand one second and the next I am fighting the wind to keep it from blowing out of my hand. By the time I am done putting up the signs I am exhausted and worn out. Three hours later, I am back out there grabbing my signs again. But, the most frustrating thing of all is, I have spent my morning putting up the signs only to come out a find half of them blown over from the wind. Not much you can do, except pick up the sign and hope for better the next time.
Weekends like this past one are not over yet. As Chicagoians we have seen it before and we know it will happen again. I will continue to put out Open House signs that will get blown over in the wind, get tossed in a dumpster by someone who has nothing better to do, and overall test my patience. So if are driving around this winter and happen to see a Realtor putting up an Open House sign. Slow down, give them some space and hope that the wind does not cause them too much trouble.