I guess the mood overall has been a lot more positive lately. There was a lot of activity in August and the first of September — I’m not sure if the fall market’s already gone, but it does seem slower now than it did a few weeks ago.
In terms of the pricing of the market, there’s been six or seven developments out there that have drastically reduced their prices, and I think that’s setting the market again. R+D659, Catalpa Gardens, SoNo, Clarovista –- at one time these were around $350, $450 a square foot, but now they’re down to $250 or $300. I’m not quite sure if this is really the bottoming out of this market, but it is better than when people had absolutely no idea where things were going.
– One local Realtor’s observations on the Chicago market as fall begins. Check back regularly for more on- and off-the-record reflections, ruminations, and rumors from builders, buyers, agents, and anyone else we come across.
I agree with the sentiment in this comment concerning we have a better idea right now of what’s going on. I wish I had written it first as I’ve in fact told clients it seems like we (me, consumers, Realtors) can tell when something is priced right out of the box again. Now, if sellers can go “there”… that’s another story.
One of my buyer clients just saw their first and second choices go under contract immediately this weekend after price reductions… they were late having me write an offer (I prodded). Another client a couple weeks ago delayed over a weekend and lost a place. Both are upset. The latter fired me (!) even though it took them a week to write an offer after a second showing and me asking them to meet twice.
Once in awhile, some places make a lot of sense and we know when more today than 6-9 months ago.