Getting Real

When Homes Are Overpriced - Example: Oak Brook

Single family homes in Oak Brook are way overpriced. How do I know this? There are two glaring indicators based upon sales data from the last year. First, all you have to do is look at what homes in Oak Brook are selling for relative to their list prices and the discounts are huge compared... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
December 30, 2011 at 12:08 pm

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Battling Real Estate Myths With My Own Family

In trying to handle the sale of my parents’ Dallas home from Chicago I guess I should have realized that I would encounter the typical real estate myths from my own family members – but I didn’t. I guess I naively thought that they read every one of my blog posts and had bought into... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
December 13, 2011 at 7:25 am

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Can A Realtor Really Sell Your Home For 28% More?

There is a 3 letter answer to this question, starting with the letter N and ending with the letter W. The very fact that the National Association of Realtors claims this to be the case is an outrageous embarrassment to the entire real estate profession. I’ve actually addressed this issue a long time ago but... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
October 24, 2011 at 7:08 am

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If You Can't Sell Your Home Should You Rent It Out?

The Chicago Tribune ran a story on Friday about reluctant landlords who decide to rent out homes that they can’t sell (There’s actually no such thing as a home you can’t sell. You can always sell it but you may not like the price you get.) and it’s worth reading by anyone facing this decision... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
October 16, 2011 at 7:23 am

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Chicago Homes Under Contract Taking A Lot Longer To Close

When I reported on September home sales in Chicago a few days ago I noted an apparent disconnect between the number of contracts being written and the closings that were actually taking place. The large and growing discrepancy seemed to imply that it has recently been taking longer for homes to close once they go... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
October 12, 2011 at 10:12 pm

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Should You Wait To Sell Your Home?

It’s the perennial question. Every potential home seller agonizes over whether or not now is the time to sell because invariably they are looking at realizing a loss on their home. As I’ve addressed before there is a lot of irrational economic thinking that goes into this decision that causes people to delay getting on... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
September 23, 2011 at 7:09 am

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Should Your Condo Association Be Limiting Rentals?

As many would-be sellers face losing all the equity in their home and maybe even having to write a check at closing they often turn to renting their home out as a way to cover a portion of their expenses so they can move to a new home. The only problem is that when that... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
September 22, 2011 at 9:15 pm

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How A Realtor Chooses A Realtor To Sell His Parents' Home

Well, at least this is about how I’m going about choosing a realtor to sell my parents’ home. I wonder how other realtors would do this. Actually, one of my first real estate blog posts was about how to choose a realtor. Of course, now that it’s hitting a lot closer to home I need... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
August 22, 2011 at 7:07 am

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The #1 Myth About Selling Your Home

I’ve run into this home selling myth enough times that I finally decided to write an entire blog post on it – not to mention that I think I’ve finally heard enough variations on this myth that I can write a substantial post on the topic. And here it is: Home sellers often believe –... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
June 12, 2011 at 8:09 am

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Should You Wait For Home Prices To Recover Before Selling Your Home?

People ask us this question all the time. With Chicago home prices down more than 34% from the bubble peak many would-be sellers think they might want to wait for home prices to recover before putting their home on the market. It’s a natural inclination but it turns out that a lot of very serious... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
June 3, 2011 at 8:40 am

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