Chicago Real Estate Podcast with Anant Deoras

Winning Tips for Chicago Buyers in an Ultra-Competitive Sellers Market

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 08:31:00 -0700

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In many neighborhoods across Chicago, we have extremely low inventory and incredibly high demand. Chicago is experiencing an ultra-competitive seller’s market, which means buyers typically compete against multiple offers for their dream house. How do you make your offer stand out?

First of all, consider the price. When Chicago was in a more balanced market, you might have been able to start off with a lower offer knowing that the seller would counter. You can’t do that today because the seller won’t even consider your offer. You need to start off very close to listing price. In certain neighborhoods, you may even want to offer above asking price.

Earnest money is also important. Typically, earnest money caps out at about 5%. I recommend putting down 10% in earnest money in order to prove that you’re serious and financially responsible enough to buy the home.

Finally, pay attention to closing terms. If you can close quicker, that could make the difference in winning the bid, especially if you are up against a contingent buyer who needs to sell their property first. If you can close sooner, by all means, make that clear to the buyer.

Of course, these tips will only be successful if you are pre-approved. If you need to get in touch with a lender, or if you have any questions about today’s video, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you.

How to Amp up the Resale Value of Your Home

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 09:49:00 -0700

Whether you're putting your home on the market this year or in the next five years, it is a smart decision to start building your home's resale value now. Here are some ways to create a comfortable home while making it easier to put more money into your bank account on closing day.

Small Maintenance and Repairs

If you think that home maintenance on the weekends waste your time and energy, think again. The small chores you do around your home prevents it from losing value. Neglecting small maintenance and repairs causes 10% of your home's value to walk out your door and slip through your windows. Most appraisers claim that homes showing little to no preventative maintenance can depreciate from $15,000 to $20,000.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut and Syracuse University shows that regular maintenance boosts your home value by about 1% per year. However, ongoing maintenance costs offset that value, which means that regular maintenance actually slows down your rate of depreciation. Furthermore, because home buyers generally notice any repairs needed upon buying a new home, proactive maintenance lets the home buyer know that he or she will not have to spend extra money to maintain the basics. This makes your home more attractive, and thus more likely to get higher priced offers.

Maintaining the basics can cost you little money and certainly some effort, but there’s a way to accomplish this very important activity smartly. This article by HouseLogic, for example, shows you how to keep home maintenance below $300 a year. Planning ahead will also help make maintaining your home easier. Most professional appraisers and real estate agents recommend a proactive maintenance schedule that includes:

· Keeping enough cash on hand to replace systems and materials

· Creating and following a maintenance schedule

· Planning a room redo every year

· Keeping a notebook of all your maintenance and repairs

Landscaping

The Virginia Cooperative Extension at Virginia Tech published a study that shows landscaping can increase a home's value by 15%. The study claims that a home valued at $150,000 could increase its value between $8,300 and $19,000 with the addition of landscaping. Particular landscape elements add different value. For instance, landscape design can increase your home's value by 42%, plant size can increase your home's value by 32%, and diversity in plants can increase your home's value by 22%.

Replace Entrance Doors

If your entry doors are wood, consider switching them out for either fiberglass or steel doors. Steel doors add style and architectural interest to your home while improving security; you can add a deadbolt and electronic keypads to keep out intruders. Unlike wood doors, steel doors do not rot or splinter.

Alternatively, fiberglass doors can be designed to look like wood doors and give your home a modern look. Fiberglass doors conserve more energy than steel doors.

Price-wise, a steel door will cost you $1,335 with a 91% return on investment whereas a fiberglass door will cost you $3,126 with an 82.3% return on investment.

Garage Door Replacement

At first, you might not think that your garage door increases the value of your home. However, your garage door distinguishes your home from the other homes on your block. As the largest entryway of a house, garage doors get noticed first because they're the focal point of your home. If you want to quickly increase the resale value of your home, you need to make the most of this space.

Some interesting things being done with garage doors include:

Increased Size: Bigger garage doors help homes stand out more.
Bold Colors: Bright and bold colors now can complement the color of your home, or you can build a concept around the color of your home.
Faux Wood: You can install fiberglass or steel garage doors that look like wood garage doors. This gives your home a new level of sophistication.
Windows: Large Windows on your garage door improve the aesthetic of your home, and provide light into your garage so that it's no longer a dark space.

More importantly, a garage door replacement will cost you $1,652 and add $1,512 to the value of your home; that's a return on your investment of 91.5%.

Fiberglass Attic Insulation

While energy efficiency is still not the sexiest selling point of your home, installing fiberglass attic insulation saves energy and garners a big payback on your investment. According to Remodeling Magazine's 2016 Cost vs. Value top trends report, fiberglass attic insulation gained the top return on investment among the 30 projects in this year's report. Using Remodel/Max as the cost source, a fiberglass attic insulation project cost $1,268 nationwide. Real estate professionals surveyed estimated that the work would boost the price of a home at resale, within a year of its completion, by $1,482. That's a 116.9% return on investment.

Replacing Windows

Replacing your windows is another way to save energy and increase your home's resale value. Replacing your old windows with energy saving models will beautify your home, keep it comfortable, and ease the workload of your HVAC system. According to HGTV, you'll see a reduction in your utility bill by 7% to 15%. However, if you're selling your home, you could expect a 60% to 70% recoupment of your investment. The two types of replacement windows that fetch the best return are vinyl and wood.

Remodeling Your Kitchen

Kitchen remodeling can get expensive, but small renovations can make your home more buyer friendly. Changing your kitchen's texture and color using a matte finish and neutral colors such as putty or grey enhances your home's resale value. Because matte finishes have transitional qualities, your potential homebuyer can easily match his or her stainless steel or black and white appliances. Also, refinishing cabinetry, or switching to Energy Star™ appliances provide comfort you like and pizazz buyers adore.

Flow is important to any interior design of a home. If you feel that your kitchen hinders a good flow, change it. A small investment to knock out a non-structural wall or remove a kitchen island creates space and provides flow that buyers love.

A minor kitchen remodel can cost you $20,122 while putting $16,716 of resale value into your home; that's an 83% payback on the project. If you want to do a major kitchen model, this can cost you about $60,000 and put about $39,000 of resale value into your home, which is only about a 65% payback on the project. Therefore, consider a minor kitchen remodel first.

Bathroom Addition or Remodel

Likewise, carefully consider adding a bathroom or remodeling your bathroom. Switching out your frosted glass shower doors for glass doors, cleaning the grout, replacing the shower and floor tiles, switching out your sink or toilet, or replacing your sink and shower fixtures can cost you little money.

Adding a bathroom can get expensive, but it can reduce congestion during hectic times and provide your guests with a bathroom. Consult with your real estate agent or a local appraiser before deciding whether a full remodel or addition is right for your situation. While a bathroom remodel will cost you about $18,000 with a return on investment of about 66%, a bathroom addition will cost you about $42,000 with a return on investment of about 56%. Therefore, it's best to do your due diligence before working on your bathroom.

Your Needs and Buyers' Wants

On that note, if you need to renovate your home, be sure to consider how those changes will affect its appeal to future buyers. Knowing design trends will give you the opportunity to make changes to your home based on where your needs and your potential buyer's desires intersect, thus increasing your property's resale value drastically.

Designers and design websites provide great ideas when you’re brainstorming home renovations. Keep in mind as you research, however, that you don’t want to sacrifice your needs for a comfortable home just for the sake of what you think a future buyer will want!

Therefore, before you begin making any changes to your home, consult your real estate agent. Real estate agents, because we are constantly working with new buyer clients, have insider insight into what homebuyers are looking for now and in the future. We’ll be able to help you make smart choices when remodeling or renovating your home.

If you think you might want to remodel or renovate your home in the near future, or if you are just curious about other ways you can increase its resale value, please reach out to me!

How to Avoid a Turbulent Sale with a Real Estate Attorney

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 10:42:00 -0700

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I’m honored to have my attorney partner, Kevin Mitrick, with me today to discuss the importance of having an attorney on your side when buying or selling a home in Chicago.

In general, attorneys charge anywhere from $595-695 for real estate transactions. This is a flat fee, and the attorney will be doing various things from contract to closing.

Primarily, an attorney will review the contracts and maximize the benefits while minimizing the risks to the seller. The attorney will also attend the closing and review the documents a final time before you sign. If your original attorney cannot attend, another will be called in place. In the state of Illinois, it’s very uncommon for a title company to assist in interpreting and signing documents because it borders very closely on providing legal representation, which is illegal for them to do.

If you need to contact Kevin directly, you can reach him at kmitrick@ssvlegal.com or you can reach out to me and I’ll track him down for you. Here is one example of a real estate attorney contract.

If you have any questions about Chicago real estate, then I’m the one to ask. I look forward to hearing from you!

What Does Tax Proration Mean for Chicago Buyers and Sellers?

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 08:47:00 -0700

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Kevin Mitrick, an attorney with Spain, Spain, & Varnet P.C., focuses primarily on the representation of buyer and sellers in real estate transactions. Today, he joins me to answer the question, “What is a tax proration?”

In Cook County, taxes are billed bi-annually and based off the previous year. The first installment is always 55% of the previous year's full tax bill. When a transaction closes, there will be a period of taxes that have not been paid yet, generally from the day the last bill was issued through the day of closing. At times, that can be a lengthy period. The goal is to come up with a calculation that both the buyer and seller agree with.

Although that can be difficult, buyers want to maximize the tax credit while sellers want to minimize the tax credit. Generally, the tax credit covers 100% to 110% of the prior year’s bill. That’s the basis for calculating the tax credit.

If you have any questions for Kevin, you can reach him at kmitrick@ssvlegal.com or (312) 788-7684. As always, if you have any real estate questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

3 Reasons to List Before the Spring

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 06:54:00 -0800

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If you’re thinking about selling this spring, rethink your strategy. There’s a huge advantage to listing your property now before the spring market comes along. Today, we’ll discuss the top three reasons why.

Overall, demand is strong. Although springtime is the busiest selling season of the year, the market still experiences lots of activity during the winter. When you compare this January to last January’s numbers, you’ll see demand is up by 8.4% in the city of Chicago.
There’s less competition now. Inventory is down, and buyers have fewer options to choose from. From a quantitative measure, we’re down by 4.7% in the city of Chicago.
There are fewer transactions. What does this mean for you? It means the closing process will be shorter and quicker, since the local industry professionals are dealing with fewer closings.

If you’re thinking about buying or selling a home in the Chicago area this spring, please reach out to me at your earliest convenience. Let’s take advantage of low inventory and strong demand right away. Call or email me!

I want you to be my next guest!

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Thu, 4 Feb 2016 14:22:00 -0800

I'm reaching out to you today with a great opportunity for both of our businesses.

In addition to working full-time in real estate, I also have my own real estate video blog. Each of my posts gets sent out to thousands of my friends, family members, clients, prospects, and more in and around Chicago.

Now, back to this opportunity. I wanted to know if any of you would be interested in appearing on one of my next videos. My viewers are always looking something new and exciting, so I think it would be a great idea to talk to some small business owners about the work they do and why they do it. As an added bonus, it's a chance for you to get your business's name out there to the masses, for absolutely free.

Here's an example of a video I did with my lending partner to give you an idea of the kind of video we can make together:

How Will New TRID Changes Affect Your Chicago Home Purchase?

If you're interested in appearing in an upcoming video of mine, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

National Real Estate Market Primed for Expansion in 2016

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 11:26:00 -0800

Strengthening Economy

Despite existing-home sales dropping last November, the National Real Estate Market is primed for expansion in 2016. Here's why: Better weather in many parts of the country resulted in an increase in single-family and multi-family home construction. With unemployment steadily decreasing, orders for new durable goods increasing 3 percent, inflation staying level, and income beginning to grow, the Fed decided to raise interest rates. The rate increase signals that our economy is getting stronger. So, don't let the drop in existing-home sales in November fool you, with a stronger economy, home sellers can expect eager home buyers in 2016.

Millennial Home Buyers

The low demand in November meant that first-time home buyers had only a 30 percent share in demand, which is slightly down from 31 percent in October of last year. However, in 2016 home sellers saw an increase of first-time home buyers enter the housing market. The Census Bureau projects that the population of millennials aged 25 to 34 will increase by an average of nearly 500,000 per year in the second part of the decade. Also, NAR's inaugural quarterly Housing Opportunities and Market Experience survey reported that a large majority of millennials between 25 and 34 years of age who rent now but want to own a home in the future.

Interest Rates

The Federal Reserve raised short-term interests this month. Freddie Mac reported that the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage stayed below 4 percent, but rose from 3.80 percent to 3.94 percent in November. Mortgage rates are expected to rise to 4.50 percent by the end of 2016, but this rate is still historically low; a full percentage point below the rate during the recession of 2008. The low fixed mortgage rate should help spur demand and encourage first-time home buyers to enter the market. Potential home buyers should keep an eye out for rate increases so that they're not caught by surprise when the spring buying season comes around. Early 2016 would be a good time for home buyers to start looking to purchase a home.

Mortgage Lenders & Home Buyers

Fannie Mae's fourth quarter 2015 Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey™ shows that lenders are expected to ease mortgage credit standards for GSE-eligible loans and government loans over the next three months. This should reduce the affordability problem for first-time home buyers. Although home prices will be high, all of this is good news for home sellers because they should expect an increase in demand for their home. In 2016, the first-time home buyer will have mortgage credit options available that were not available during the housing down-turn. First-time home buyers will have low-and no-down-payment mortgage loans available to them. Some loan options available include FHA loans and the conventional 97 percent program offered by Fannie Mae. Qualifying first-time home buyers only need to put 3 percent down on a home.

Homeowners

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association weekly survey, the Refinance Index increased 11 percent compared to the previous week. It appears homeowners have anticipated the Federal Reserve's increase in interest rates. If you're a homeowner with an adjustable-rate mortgage or a variable home equity line of credit, you should expect your rates to rise in 2016. The first part of 2016 will be a good time to refinance. Home equity lines of credit (HELOC) are both fixed and variable. Variable HELOCs are tied to the Federal Reserve prime rate, whereas fixed HELOCs are not. By refinancing early in 2016, you'll afford any major life events that may occur such as your daughter's wedding, high college tuition, or home renovation projects.

Wrap-up

The National Real Estate Market is on its way to expanding. The Federal Reserve raising interest rates indicates optimism in the housing market and the economy as a whole. The 2016 housing market will remain a seller's market that should see an increase in first-time, millennial home buyers entering the market, along with easing credit standards and increases in wages. Homeowners with variable mortgage rates should expect their rates to rise in 2016, but early 2016 will be a good time to refinance so that you're that you won't feel the brunt of further interest rate increases.

Why Is Selling Your Home a Two-Step Process?

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 11:32:00 -0800

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Today I want to talk about selling your home. Specifically, I am going to talk about why you need to sell your home twice in order to reap the benefits.

The first time you sell your home is when the property is on the market, properly priced and marketed, a buyer submits an offer, and you accept it. That’s the first sale.

Then, unless the buyer is paying in all cash, they will be required to have an appraisal contingency. The appraisal is the second sale. The appraisal must meet or exceed the contract price in order for the financing to go through. If the appraisal does not come in at or above the contract price, I always advise my sellers to fill out an appraisal questionnaire online whenever there is doubt. The questionnaire is detailed and will cover all the figures that go into your home’s price. We will then send this over to the appraiser.

So remember, the sale of your home is not complete when you come to terms. It also has to pass the appraisal test and if it doesn’t, the deal will fall apart. If you have any questions for me, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

How we helped Melissa Mayer remain calm during the selling process

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 12:12:00 -0800

“Anant was very helpful in helping me get my condo sold so I could move out of the city and get on to the next chapter of my life. So I was very happy to have completed that. I think for this transaction there was a little bit more back and forth anticipated between the sellers, the attorneys and my attorney and he did a fantastic job of keeping me apprised of what was going on and letting me know what it meant, what was significant and what was not significant. So I kept my wits about me during the course of the final stages. So he basically helped me keep my sanity.”

-Melissa Mayer, Home Seller

Tips for Holiday Decorating on a Budget

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 08:16:00 -0800

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The holidays are approaching. Today, we thought we'd do something a little different and share this festive video on holiday decorating tips from HGTV. Designer Angelo Surmelis shares several great ideas to spread holiday cheer throughout the home. Here are some of our favorites.

Pay attention to the mantle. If you don't have some already, buy some kind of garland to drape over the mantle. Next, use leftover ornaments and candles to add light and texture. When choosing ornaments and candles, ensure they are in the same color-palette. This helps make your mantle a great focal point!
Use smaller Christmas trees. Every house has their main Christmas tree. In addition, you can also purchase smaller, inexpensive, eco-friendly trees to place throughout the home. Decorate these trees with strips of fabric from a T-shirt in holiday colors to save money for the main tree.
Use what you have. Be resourceful. Adding a plate charge and place mat to your everyday dining set adds some jazz to your table. Fresh-cut flowers and candles will help finish the look. You don't need grand, expensive candles -- a little candlelight goes a long way!

As you can see, it doesn't take much to make your home feel more festive. If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

How we helped Damon Caliendo sell his home during the holidays.

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:57:00 -0700

"The results I got were a lot better considering the time of the sale. We put the house up for sale a week before Christmas and Anant was sure to let us know ahead of time that we were selling at a slow period. For when we sold, everything was on point, or better than expected. I haven't sold a house in years and was not sure what exactly to expect, especially selling in the dead of winter. It went smoothly, both my brother and I were very pleased from start to finish. Anant was very precise and direct with his emails. Everything was said and done to a tee!"

-Damon Caliendo, home seller

How Will New TRID Changes Affect Your Chicago Home Purchase?

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 10:07:00 -0700

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

Today I have Rick Pantoga with me, my local mortgage lending expert here in Chicago. He's going to be explaining some important changes that the real estate market will be experiencing this year. He's been in the business for 29 years, so he's seen both the good and the bad.

On October 3rd of this year, the real estate market saw some big changes. What exactly happened?

It's because of the recent changes that came to the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID), and this will affect everyone involved in real estate, from consumers to Realtors to lenders. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a final rule amending regulations the Truth in Lending Act as well as the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

So, what does this mean for you? The TILA-RESPA rule consolidates four disclosures for closed and credit transactions secured by real property into two different forms.

One of these forms is a loan estimate that must be delivered or placed in the mail no later than the 3rd business day after receiving the consumer's application. A closing disclosure must be provided to the consumer at least three business days prior to consummation.

These new disclosures must be provided by a creditor or mortgage banker that receives an application from a consumer for a closed end credit transaction.

The TILA-RESPA rule includes some new restrictions on certain activity prior to consumers receiving the loan estimate. These restrictions include imposing fees on a consumer before the consumer has received the loan estimate, or requiring submission of documents verifying information related to the consumer's application before providing the loan estimate.

Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions about this issue. We understand that it may seem a little confusing or overwhelming. We would be happy to clear up any misconceptions that you may have!

What's the Secret to Selling Homes in Chicago?

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Thu, 1 Oct 2015 11:43:00 -0700

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Today I want to talk about the importance of staging your home when you sell it in Chicago. It's a very easy way to maximize your sale price in Chicago.

I had a 3 bedroom duplex property in Humboldt Park, and the owner paid $1,500 to have it staged. This included consultation and the design elements such as the furniture. This particular client was even staying there while it was staged, and he said that the stagers were very courteous and stayed out of the way as much as possible.

As you can see, the staging really makes the unit pop, and the buyers commented on the design elements. This leads me to believe that it played a significant role in their decision to purchase the property.

So, what was the return on the investment?

Well, a similar duplex nearby sold for $335,000, but my client's apartment managed to sell for $362,500. That's a difference of nearly $28,000. My property sold for 94% of the list price.

My client spent $1,500 and got $28,000 back. I'd say that's an investment worth making!

If you want to get the listing or staging process started, please don't hesitate to contact me! I know a wonderful stager and would be happy to put you in contact.

I look forward to speaking with you!

How Do We Go Above and Beyond to Get Your Chicagoland Home Sold?

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 15:04:00 -0700

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Today, I want to share a quick marketing tip with you to help you attract attention to your home when selling. There are many strategies we can utilize to get your home the broadest possible audience, but today we want to focus on the 10 tips for marketing your home before listing it on the MLS!

Send out "Coming to the Market" postcards: Send out cards with great photos of your home with some basic details about it. On the back of the card, put copy on it explaining some of the great features of the home.
Facebook: Everybody has a Facebook account, so this is an easy way to make technology work for you! It will help you reach an audience who may not be able to be reached through traditional print ads. You can create a custom audience to market directly to people who would be interested in your home!
offMLS Ads: This is a great new tool that is an agent-only online portal where unlisted homes are advertised. There are about 600 agents in the Chicago area using this website, so it's a good way to get your home a whole lot of exposure.
InTouch: This is an in-house portal here at Berkshire Hathaway that hosts listings with all the details of your home and makes it easily accessible for other agents within Berkshire Hathaway.
ReaLync: I've recently partnered with this fantastic website to provide clients with virtual home tours and host virtual open houses for buyers interested in your home.
Email marketing: We send listing information to more than 8,000 people in the Chicago area. We will send a video Ecard with your listing to this database to generate interest.
Video blog: Close to 800 people subscribe to my video blog - based on availability, I would use this resource as another means to plug your listing!
Virtual open house: This is a great way to build buzz. You need to merge a traditional open house with new, cutting-edge technology to get the best results.
3D renderings: This is an option we're very excited about. Don't hesitate to reach out to me about the potential for 3D photographs of your home!
Email plugs: Twice a month, I send out emails that include exclusive listings!

Note: written permission is required to market your home Pre-MLS. This is known as the exemption period. I just want to properly disclose that this specific marketing requires written permission for homeowner.

If you have any questions about the techniques we use to get your home sold fast and for top dollar, don't hesitate to give us a call or shoot us an email. We would love to hear from you!

How we helped Larry by finding him the home he wanted quickly

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Tue, 8 Sep 2015 15:01:00 -0700

"The results were that we got a new home! He did a number of things online in lining up various properties until we made up our mind. Anant came down and spent most of the day going through the properties with us and we told him exactly what we were looking for. He led us to this property and helped take care of everything from there!"

-Larry Davis, home buyer

How we helped Rob by never wasting his time

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 14:43:00 -0700

"He did a great job of showing me properties. He always made sure that the properties we saw were types of things that I liked so we maximized my time. He was very good at determining up front whether it was worth my time to see a particular property."

-Rob Fick, home buyer

The Benefits of Owning Over Renting

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 10:32:00 -0700

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
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Today, we'll discuss buying versus renting. There are three main points that I want to make about buying and renting in Chicago's current market.

The first thing to consider is rental affordability. A recent Zillow survey published in Crain's magazine revealed that in Chicago, renters typically pay 31% of their total income, while homeowners pay 14% of total income. Rental demand is skyrocketing, but percentage-wise, the monthly payments are considerably higher than mortgage payments.

Next, think of real estate as a financially leveraged instrument. That means that for a relatively small down payment, you acquire a very large asset when you buy a home. You do not need to put 20% down on a home; we will work with you to come up with a manageable down payment, such as 5% or 10%.

Finally, whether you're renting or buying, you are paying a mortgage anyway. Renters pay the mortgage by paying a landlord. If you're going to pay a mortgage, it might as well be your own. That way, you can build wealth and reap the tax benefits.

As you can see, there is an advantage to owning a home here in Chicago. If you have any questions on today's video, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

How we helped Dr. Eappen by getting the necessary repairs done prior to his home sale

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 10:17:00 -0700

"Anant was very helpful finding tradesmen to do the minor repairs on the condo before we put it on the market. I am far away from the property so he would go and let the contractors inside in order to do the work. These things were very helpful to me since he was right there in the city."

- Dr. Eappen, home seller

Three Things to Know about Real Estate in Chicago

anantdeoras.chicagorealestate@gmail.com (Anant Deoras) — Mon, 3 Aug 2015 12:10:00 -0700

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I have a couple of different things to speak about, because there is a lot going on with the real estate market in Chicago right now.

First of all, inventory is very low, and this is causing multiple offer situations to occur more frequently. This is subsequently raising home prices, so if you're looking to sell, now is a great time to do so.

As far as median home prices go, we're currently sitting at $305,000 for the Chicago area (through June 2015). This is good news because prices have been increasing very nicely in the last few years. If you'd like a more detailed price report for your neighborhood, please don't hesitate to contact me. I can provide one for you.

Finally, closed sales in Chicago have risen dramatically since 2013. This is simply because supply is low and demand is high. Part of this may be the fact that interest rates are still very low, which is causing buyers to purchase now when affordability is high.

If you have any further questions about this report, or if you'd like to buy or sell in the Chicago area, please don't hesitate to contact me!