I have been determining the approximate value by looking at similar houses that have sold recently, comparing their assessed value and features to nearby houses on the market and using that to get a rough idea how sell price relates to features, floor space, and assessed value. The agent who showed me the one house is showing me others and forwarding me the MLS listing for them. I get the sell prices from the tribune, which is where my lawyer said he would look them up.
I am still looking for a lender. I have been to one, and have referrals to two others. I am not at all happy with the first. The rate is not the best, and the loan agent is sexist beyond belief and is a bald faced liar. I have the better credit. I am the wage earner. I damn well expect to be the borrower and listed first on all paperwork. She stated that was simply not allowed and refused to change the paperwork until I walked back out to the car. When I was prepared to drive off suddenly it became possible to list a woman first on loan papers.
What makes it all the worst is I have worked from the bank. It was one of the least sexist work environments I have been in. The president of the bank, a man and a conservative, made a point of not allowing many common forms of workplace sexism such as men expecting women to make the copies or type things up. I heard him on more than one occasion tell new men working for the bank such things would not be tolerated.
/hijack
I don’t see how a buyer’s agent would be fully on my side. Anyone who is paid on commission has an interest in seeing that sale price is higher not lower.
You should have seen my mom when she came back from the closing on her current place - all the paperwork had listed her as “a spinster.” (Which is not only an icky word, but in her case, factually incorrect. And I don’t see why it had any business on her closing paperwork.) The moron who drew up the paperwork told her that “spinster” was simply the legal term for “unmarried woman,” upon whcih Mom said unless they substituted something for it, she wasn’t signing a damn thing. Suddenly alternative terminology became possible.
Any agent worth his or her salt knows that the business is based on reputation - if you are pissed off, you aren’t going to refer your friends, and you will find someone else the next time you are in the market.
I know plenty of realtors who just want to do a great job for their clients and aren’t looking to scrape up every penny they can. Don’t use one if you don’t want to, it’s your decision (not snarkily intended). That’s all I’ll say on the topic.
Sure they are. They want to MAKE A SALE. If you don’t like the price they are getting, they won’t make any sale. Or, they can get the price you want and make a sale.
All this stuff you’re talking about here and researching on your own could be done right now by someone who does those EXACT things every day and can do them with more proficiency than you.
There’s crappy buyer’s agents out there and there’s spectacular ones. Instead of banging your head against a wall trying to find the right house, find the right buyer’s agent. As Eva Luna said, they get their work based on referrals. Find someone to refer you to one.
Does it matter? Your already effectively paying for their services. You don’t have to listen to their advice. You could just use them soley to do research on houses you are interested in and set appointments up for you.
You still determine what your willing to pay and can negotiate as you wish. Because of commission they have interest in you buying a home quicker. Since most people name the price range that they are looking at a buyers agent have little ability to convince you to buy something more expensive. For most agents buying is not their most profitable job. They have more interest in you being happy with the service, so you will consider them when you sell your house or recomend them to your freinds when they are considering selling.
My partner and I spent alot of time looking at houses before we decided on using a buyers agent. Once we had her helping us out we were able to look at more houses in a shorter amount of time and the houses were more suited to our needs. Our buyers agent ended up making very little money on the transaction. The selling agent would not agree to a resonable split on the comission. She made alot less then she would have if we had bought a house of the same value from another agent. We were refered to her by another agent. Her business practices required her to pay a percentage to the refering agent.
She is now selling a freind of mines house. When my house is ready she will be my selling agent. Then she will be my buying agent again.
Well so far this other agent is doing this for us. Yes, she can’t very well draw up an offer for us since she represents the seller, but the rest she has covered.
One thing I would like to know is if the number of homes for sale in this area is unusually high. It seemed pretty normal compared to other areas recently from driving around looking for signs, but the very fact that several homes which seem to fit our criteria are for sale so close together makes me wonder.
Another thing that I will need to figure out is who to have inspect the places we want to make offers on. It worries me that the owner of one of them is or at least was on the zoning board. I don’t know if that would influence or intimidate an inspector.
Another choice we need to make is how long to plan on living in this place–five years, ten years, or forever. We can afford something that will have room for some down the road luxuries, like a small green house, or try to go low with something we would expect to move from in 5 or so years.
I don’t really know too much about Northlake - I travel through it often, but don’t know if I have ever gone to it. I grew up on the NW side of Chi and have lived further west for 20 years.
Your personal choice is certainly yours, and I don’t know your commutes and any number of other factors. But I just wanted to offer my opinion that that area is quite congested, with Manheim and North going right through it and 294 on the W.
And make sure you check out the airplane noise - planes approach O’Hare from different directions depending on the wind - tho they usually pass just to the W of 294.
Final thought - make sure you check out the surrounding towns/neighborhoods. For some of the areas S and SE of Northlake - well, I’m not sure property values are as high there as other places.
My opinion (which is worth very little) is that there might be other communities out there that you like as well as Northlake.
One think pulling us north is one of us has a job near where we currently live. We plan to do a test commute soon from Northlake on a normal workday–before making any offers. Airplane noise is generally less of an issue. I grew up on airbases and as long as they don’t sonic boom, I am not really that bothered. Tivo helps tremendously with this. TV can pause as easily as a conversation for the airplane to fly by.
In what ways does Northlake appeal to you moreso than Niles/Mortgage Grove/Skokie?
If your commute is going to be up 294, make sure you try it at different times and different days of the week. Monday mornings after say 6 a.m. can be HELL!
Also, depending on how far east your job is, realize that there is NO good way to get from west of the city to N of the city. I speak from experience: as a kid I spent a lot of time getting from Belmont/Central up to Rogers Park, and in later years going from Lombard/Glen Ellyn to Evanston and environs. Either you go north and then have a long slog across the likes of Dempster/Touhy, or go into the city on the Ike and try to make your way N on the LSD or the Edens.
Everyone is different, but IMO minimizing your commute (if possible) is key. I just consider it time working that you aren’t getting paid for. I have a longish commute, but the lion’s share of it is on the train where I can read or nap. I would go crazy if I had to slog through city/highway traffic every day. But lots of people do it…
Don’t be surprised if the paperwork switches when its typed up. I’m always first on paperwork - I’m first on about half of the actual documents - surprisingly, it often gets flipped in typing.
As to a buyer’s agent - the commission difference for them is generally so miniscule that they are more driven to complete the sale than get a higher price. For them - they make something like 3% of the purchase price. There is a bit about that in Freakonomics - that the commission reward difference isn’t enough for a seller’s agent to push for a higher price - they are more interested in a quick sale and close.
When we bought our first home, my wife was pissed over the fact that her income was higher than mine, we were going through her bank, her name is before mine in the alphabet, and we signed everything with her name first, but the papers were all drawn up with my name first.
Heck, when we combined our bank accounts going with her long term bank, the bank immediately put my name first.
Lotta deep seated biases out there. Gotta decide for yourself which ones are worth fighting.
Let’s assume the house you are looking at is listed for $300K.
If you paid the listing price and your agent got the standard 3%, their commission would be $9K.
IMO&E it would be very unusual for a home to sell for less than 90% of the listing price - most often closer to 95%.
But assuming you steal it for 90%, you’d pay $270G, and your agent’s commission would be $8100.
Simply put, completing the sale is way more important to the agent than that $900.
And in reality, the difference is likely to be more in the area of $250 or so.
Each $5000 more you pay gets your agent only $50.
I can afford a house I would want to live in there. I can’t in Niles/Morton Grove/Skokie. Most other places where I can afford to live would be an even longer commute or have significantly higher crime. I rather like living in Niles; I will miss it. I welcome other suggestions. One thing is that the job near where we are could move, the other job is in the loop and is not moving.
We were in a similar position when we bought our first house. Our decision was to buy close to my wife’s suburban job, with easy access for me to get the train to Chicago. If whichever of you works downtown does not use the train, I strongly recommend that you give it serious thought. I’m not that familiar with what more affordable neighborhoods are along the N and NW train lines.
I wouldn’t have thought Niles was that much pricier than Northlake. Shows how little I know! Another possibility would be the extreme NW neighborhoods of Chi. Tho I understand prices are rocketing in Jefferson Park and even my old stomping grounds.
We are not too fond of Metra, the el suits us better. I would like to stay near where we are, but I don’t see how we can. If I have to change areas, I prefer to be more central than far out in any one direction. Portage Park is nice, but a tad pricier for less house than Northlake. Franklin Park, Melrose Park, and Schiller Park are also in the running, but Northlake doesn’t seem to be significantly further out and the houses have larger yards and they are more diverse.
I hope we find something soon; I can’t sleep. It is really scary to to think of moving away from where we have gotten comfortable, but I don’t see any choice. I can’t touch the prices in Niles; they are nearly twice that of Northlake. I can find a couple of places in Des Plaines, but all have stairs or are really tiny, or have some other major defect as far as I am concerned.
It is amazing what a difference a few miles makes. With what we can afford, I could buy a lovely Victorian home down state.
It is a big step. It is reasonable to be nervous. But in a few months you will be experiencing the special joys (and hassles!) that one only experiences from homeownership.
In many ways you are in the best position you will ever be, since you currently rent you do not need to sell your current home. Given the current market you will get a good deal for your money. And so long as you buy a solidly built home in a decent neighborhood, it will retain its value and most likely appreciate nicely.
Yes, it is reasonable to be nervous. But don’t let that stop you from enjoying this exciting step! Keep us apprised!
I have let you all convince me to get a buyer’s agent. I don’t want to have to draw up offer letters by myself. I asked the agent who showed us the first house to be our agent. I looked at the list of houses which she is representing now, and none suit our needs except that one, and it is no longer our first or second choice. She has been very helpful and is one of the few real estate agents who has not managed to severely annoy me in the first few minutes of conversation. She also lives in the area we are looking at.
We are going back today to see our first choice, bringing the whole family. I think hubby will agree that it suits us. It has a large yard (over a third of an acre by my calculations), two bedrooms on the first floor, one on the second floor, with another room upstairs, two full baths, a living room and a family room, laundry facilities on the first floor. It also has an extra-size two car garage and a second one car garage. The two car garage looks large enough to have a work shop and hold the cars, and it is heated. It seems to have a lot of closets compared to what we are used to. The big advantage in this one is that the additions have sloped roofs, albeit not highly sloped. The other house similar in features has a flat tar paper roof and other issues, including painted brick. The siding on this one looks to be in excellent condition. The roof seems to be in good condition.
Tip, find a way of speaking directly to the seller ( personal contact can be useful, getting a feel for the other party without lawyers and agents can short circuit problems )
On the commission side, the big danger is that a RE agent will undervalue a property to shift it quickly - I just had an interesting experience of that.