There are bright spots - and sold signs - amid the gloom

There are bright spots - and sold signs - amid the gloom.
Associated Press
Column: It really could be worse
November 23, 2008


BY KAY SEVERINSEN - SearchChicago-Homes Editor
This week starts a new real estate column by SearchChicago-Homes Editor Kay Severinsen. The weekly column will typically run on Fridays in the Chicago Sun-Times HomeLife section as well as on SearchChicago-Homes.

If your proverbial glass were 94 percent full, how pessimistic would you be? What if it were 78 percent full?

I'm asking because if you listen to news reports about the state of the housing market, you'll come away with the impression that not a single home has sold in two years. And if by some miracle a house were to sell, it would be priced roughly equivalent to a Big Value Meal.

But since Thanksgiving is almost upon us, perhaps we could look at that glass and feel thankful that there are some Big Gulps left. In the third quarter of this year, Chicago's nine-county area had 78 percent as many homes sold as in the same time period of 2007. And those homes that sold had an average price that was 94 percent of the price in that same time period a year ago.

Here are the actual numbers for the Chicago area from the Illinois Association of Realtors: 20,449 existing homes sold in Q-3 2008, down from 26,257 in 2007. Sale prices in the third quarter fell from an average of $337,187 to $317,008 in that same time period in 2007.

Think of it: In the past three months alone, more than 20,000 of your neighbors took the plunge in this time of desperation, when supposedly no one has a dime to spare and when Starbucks cafes are closing almost as fast as campaign headquarters.

How can this be?

Could it be possible that there are actually people out there who need to buy a house and have the money to do so? Could it be they found a good bargain given that prices are down and mortgage rates are good? Could some of them be first-time buyers who like the idea of getting $7,500 off the price, thanks to the Feds?

Maybe I'm dreaming; then again, maybe it's reality. And if that's so, maybe we should be thankful that Chicagoland's real estate glass is mostly full. We could also say thanks for a couple of other real estate realities:

· We don't live in California or Florida, where the markets have tanked. Florida's home prices plunged 20 percent from a year ago. San Bernadino, Calif., prices are down 39 percent over a year ago. Ours are down 6 percent.
· We don't live in California where a friend of mine is ecstatic that he and his wife, both working professionals, can finally buy their first house. It's a foreclosure, vacant for a year and a half, with a hole in the garage ceiling and all the appliances ripped out, for the bargain price of $280,000.
· We weren't flooded this year like Des Moines and Iowa City; most of us stayed high and dry.
· We had no hurricane evacuations and almost no homes destroyed by random wildfires
· The next president of the United States considers our city his kind of town.

If you are warm, safe and healthy and your loved ones are alive and thriving, isn't the rest of it just gravy?


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HOT TICKETS:
Nutcracker Suite, Hyde Park School of Ballet - Mandell Hall, University of Chicago 1131 East 57th Street Chicago, IL 773-493-8498

Who knew there was a Hyde Park School of Dance? I was very surprised to get an invitation to a rehearsal in my box, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a production that was cute and brought back so many memories - no, it's not the Joffrey, but you'll keep a thriving dance school afloat, and these dancers will be much more responsive to your applause. BRAVO!

NEW EATS:

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In answer to your question, yes, there is practically a gun to my head to make me eat at Italian Fiesta, a place that I know has the saltiest pizza on earth. The one and only reason that I am here is because I understand the President Elect loves this pizza so much that they are opening a spot in DC so that he won't be so lonely. I got the smallest sausage and cheese they had. It's so thin, it will slide under a door, and they haven't skimped on the salt in the slightest. I had to drink a lot of water today. The pizza is passable, but I can't see that it will take the place of Due's spinach and broccoli as my favorite pizza on earth. Sorry, Barack, we just have to agree to disagree. I know good food, and this I'm sorry to say, just isn't it.