June 17, 2010 in Blog by admin

2nd Chance – Back on Market – 6 bedroom on 2 acres with Swimming Pool

Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose in short sales.  I have received one short sale approval and one denial.  For those that missed your opportunity the last time this listing was active, here is your 2nd Chance to be the owner of this amazing property.

Located on 34th Street in Steger, IL this home is located on 2 fenced in acres.  With a winding driveway approaching this brick ranch you can see the possibilities that you have to make this a top notch home.

The main home is 5700 square feet with 4 bedrooms, family room with fireplace, large kitchen and formal dining room.  Hardwood floors in the living room, family room and dining room.  You can access the inground pool and 8 person spa from the formal dining room.

The finished attic has been finished off and turned into the master bedroom suite with a luxury master bath.  With several skylights this huge space (69×22) has a large sitting area plus the sleeping area has a large closet.  A sanctuary away from the rest of the home you can reconfigure the space to suit your lifestyle.

The adjacent 2 bedroom home has a separate entrance and a large kitchen.  A great in-law, rental or teen suite it also has access to the in ground pool, spa and the pool house.

There are 3 sheds, a 3 car detached garage, fruit trees, tree house and enough land to put in your own basketball court, tennis court or large garden.  Private yet easy access to major transportation you are only 35 miles from Chicago.

Don’t let this one get away this time.  Put in your offer and make this your dream home!  Approved at $225,000.00 

June 17, 2010 in Blog by admin

Prairiefest on Father’s Day Weekend in Oswego, IL

Head out to the uber suburbs city dwellers and enjoy Oswego’s 22nd Prairiefest sponsored by Oswegoland Park District and local business such as Allied First Bank, Lowe’s, Allied Waste Services, Town and Country HOmes, Oswego Community Bank,Walmart and many other local sponsors. 

The fun starts today at 6 p.m and continues until Sunday June 20th at 7 p.m. when Tin Horse a local favorite ends the fest.

Windy City Amusement Carnival provides rides throughout and for only $20 you can get unlimited rides per day.  Food and plenty of music will give everyone something to do. 

The Main Stage will have Mike & Joe on Thursday, Infinity – Friday and along with Vicious Cykle. Saturday listent to Green Thirteen and Eddie Money!

Leave the Windy City and head out to small town living and one of the best festivals in the suburbs.  Free Gate admission and enjoy a slower pace of life in this rural small town only 48 miles from Chicago.  Or take Metra to Aurora and grab a cab to Oswego at 91 Plank Drive. 

Since I live here I am a bit biased but we do have a great time and we are really friendly!

www.prairiefest.com

June 9, 2010 in Blog by admin

Naperville May 2010 vs May 2009 Market Activity

Naperville market activity is in for the month of May.  Currently there are 11 homes under $200K available on the market.  The majority of listings are from $300K to 600K range.  Like surrounding cities and villages this year’s numbers are ahead of 2009.  Hopefully, these numbers continue as the year progresses.

For those buyers that are interested in the Naperville area please give me a call and allow me to show you the Naperville market.

2010             Closed            REO          SS         Market

Detached             121             6            6              108

Attached               57              7            7               43

2009             Closed      REO    SS      Market

Detached           94         12       2          80

Attached            47           6       1          40

       YTD                AT             DE

2010                     168            421

2009                     161            310

To view homes in your town go to www.foxvalleychicagorealestate.com

Virtually yours,

 Evelyn Santiago

June 5, 2010 in Blog by admin

Fox Valley – Aurora Market Activity May 2010 vs May 2009

Aurora, Illinois is the states 2nd largest city and the market has been affected like everywhere else.  The numbers are in for May and they are ahead of 2009 at this same time.

AURORA MARKET ACTIVITY MAY 2010 VS MAY 2009

The YTD closed for detached single family homes is 410 with attached at 70 solds YTD.  Compared to 2009 with detached single family at 285 and attached at only 50 we are ahead by a good margin.  Whether those numbers continue will depend on a lot of factors.

Buyers don’t hesitate to make your buying decision.  Interest rates on mortgages dipped below 5% and although lending standards are tougher you can still qualify if you have 640 to 680 FiCO scores, solid job history and some savings.  Call me if you have questions and I will refer you to one of my lending partners who will let you know if you qualify for a home today!

June 5, 2010 in Blog by admin

For Training and Continued Outstanding Customer Service This Call is Being Recorded

We have all heard this phrase or something similar when we call the local telephone company, credit card customer service or most major corporations customer service.  We go ahead with our call and hope that it will be of some use to the customer service agents that we talk to.  We don’t question it we just go ahead with it.

I have a new phone system that allows me to record calls so I decided that the next time I placed one of my Friday “short sale status” calls I would try it out.  This is what happened as best as I can recall.

Wow, I actually got the negotiator for once so she started the verification process to make sure I was authorized to talk to her about the loan.  Property address, loan number, last 4 of borrower’s social security call and then that famous phrase – “For quality assurance and training purposes this call will be monitored and recorded.  So I said great – activated my system and my system said “This call is being recorded for quality assurance”. 

Dead silence then I am sorry I am not sure I can talk to you if my call is recorded?  Really, why?  I don’t know but I have to put you on hold?  About 3-4 minutes go by and she comes back.  Sorry, I can’t talk to you if you record this call. 

Why may I ask you can record the call and I can’t?  Well, I don’t know.  No problem, I told her.  I don’t expect you to know why senior management places such policies but I will send the CEO a letter asking for an explanation.  If you are going to be picky about this then perhaps we shouldn’t talk.

Since I had not talked to this person live once I told her it was not a big deal that I would cancel the recording and we could continue our conversation.  That I was not picking on her and that I was just curious that recording converstions was a one way deal and that I would take it up with senior management.

I found this experience rather interesting and wanted to know from my fellow Realtor’s, loan officers and anyone else that wishes to comment what their experience has been with recording conversations for “quality assurance and training purposes”.

I did get my status and hopefully after apologizing profusely I won’t be penalized for my iniquisitive nature and having the audacity to turn the tables around on them.

June 3, 2010 in Blog by admin

Oswego, IL Market Activity May 2010 vs May 2009

Listen up fellow Oswegoan’s, the numbers are in and it looks like we beat last year’s numbers on closed sales.  We seem to be building some momentum and hopefully we will continue selling off the remaining 253 active detached single family homes and 137 attached single family homes we currently have in inventory.

So call your friends and family.  Tell them what a wonderful community we have in Oswego.  From 1 bedroom condo at $35,000 to the $2.8 Million 5 bedroom Victorian on 17 acres we have the right home for them at the right price.

Current Market Activity – Oswego – May 2010

May 2010

                    Sold            SS            REO        Market         YTD

Detached         34               1              12              21         123

Attached          12               1                4               7            59

May 2009

                       Sold              SS            REO          Market     YTD

Detached           25                 4               6                15       109

Attached            10                 2               4                  4         28

Tell them I am available to show the the right home at the right price that suits their needs in Oswego.

Virtually Yours,

Evelyn Santiago