Comment of the day: Hope remains for some sellers, just not for bad homes and locations

I agree with Simon. Let’s use a young family example looking for a home under $400K, a sizable amount, and they want to keep the family east of Kedzie for a tolerable commute downtown. It gets pretty tough and inventory is low if you want anything better than a three bed, two bath condo in a nice neighborhood. Forget finding a decent house to move into in a safe neighborhood. A decent 3 bed condo or town-home with a family room, parking and close to a train under $400K is a huge score.

Same goes for downtown… I agree with the analogy that the units with views, nice finishes, amenities and in quality buildings are a premium and sell well. The sales numbers showed sales activity strong in some buildings and tiers over the past year and terrible in others.

The party is over for crappy units, crappy locations and guaranteed appreciation…and in many cases as we all know, prices are way down.

But the decision to sell is based on the individual units, owner’s situation and the location, not on the entire Chicagoland market.

I bought two years ago and will easily sell for a good percentage more today if I listed. My condo neighbors sold in the last year of doom for $35K more for than they paid for theirs in the infamous end of 2006.

Of my clients alone, it’s probably been (and will be) 50/50 they’ll sell for more than they paid (after commissions, closing costs etc…) if they bought in the last 4 years. You have to gather the facts and pulse of the likely buyers.

– Realtor and reader Eric Rojas, expanding on commenter Simon’s remark that “people pay a premium for properties that have something to offer in the long term.”