The Village of Palatine to cut over 30 large trees along Palatine Road!

See the Video:  Trees 

PROGRESS?

 In the interest of “Progress”, The Village of Palatine is making improvements to a short leg of Palatine Road.  The Railroad crossing is being improved (but we will still have to wait for trains), there will be more turn lanes, (but we will have to wait for a break in the traffic from 2 oncoming lanes now), and just West of Bothwell Street, the 2 westbound lanes will funnel into 1 lane.  Ugh!

Out of fairness, some improvements to the Plum Grove Road intersection are welcome, but at what cost?   Also out of fairness, many of the dollars spent are provided by federal funds.   Hmmmm…..but any way you slice it…the taxpayer is paying.   

So, let’s see what the effect will be……we will move Westbound Traffic in rush hour a little more quickly between Northwest Highway and Bothwell Street.   I don’t see any study that claims that a substantial number of cars will be encouraged to turn-off before the lanes are restricted.  Then all heck breaks loose when all of that westbound traffic has to merge into only one lane near Smith Street. 

The Historic Masonic hall had to be destroyed, other businesses will be inconvenienced by having the highway so close to their front doors….the VFW, and many more businesses are giving up the grassy easement or much of it to pavement.  

Now the real sin…….at least 30-40 trees…..OLD trees….beautiful trees will be cut down along Palatine Road.   Gone will be the Canopy of Green that we drive through every day.    Sure they will replace some of the trees with thumb size saplings, many of which will die in the first salty winter….only to be replaced with more immature trees.   Gone will be the hardwood trees…replaced by easy to grow alternatives.

This will likely affect real estate values.

Personally, I do like many of the recent changes to the look of “Downtown” Palatine….the beautiful train station, other new buildings, new condo’s, the stately row houses along Smith Street.   But I really hate losing all of the “Green”.

Overall, I don’t see much change in the traffic along Palatine Road…..Let’s not make any further improvements like this to the beautiful Palatine Road corridor from Smith – West to Barrington Road.

Traffic takes the “path of least resistance”.  If we stop improving the beautiful Palatine Road corridore, drivers will be more likely to take the other 4 lane alternatives:  Rt 68, Rt 62, Northwest Highway and Lake Cook roads.

There you have it….just my opinion.   What is yours?   Let us know!

For more details of the construction changes, just click this link:      Treeless Road Improvements

July 4th 2010 at 9:30

With perfect weather and a slight breeze, thousands of locals found the perfect vantage point to watch the Hoffman Estates Fireworks Display Sunday night.   “It used to be almost a secret location….parking along Central Road near AT&T. ”  Says Larry Rowan, long time resident and Realtor in Hoffman Estates.  “Every year more people show-up to line Central Road and now the people can be counted by the thousands!”  Many cars line Central Road and the new business at the corner of Central and Huntington has a parking lot overlooking the tollway and just under the fireworks area.”   Enjoy the Grand Finale video attached.

“It is a picnic setting now, with families bringing chairs and blankets and, of course, all the neighborhood kids.”   The crowds are pleasant and very well behaved.  “It is fun watching being right under the fireworks….the perfect location!”  “I wonder what the travelers on I-90 think as the aerial displays burst right over their heads!” 

The fireworks started at 9:30 as the band and singers sang our National Anthom across the tollway at the Festival location behind the village hall and ended at 10:00.  

I have seen all of the local fireworks displays and Hoffman Estates ranks right up at the top with Arlington Park and Itasca.

Now you all know the “Secret” location for easy viewing and parking!  See you next year!

 The purchase of a home is a major financial commitment. Don’t let the excitement of looking for your dream home prevent you from following these common sense tips:

1. Have an Upper payment Limit in mind and try not to extend it.   Before you start looking, carefully analyze your expenses and decide how much you can afford to pay for a home.   Contact a trusted Mortgage Advisor for the Upper Limit of what you can afford.  An often-cited old guideline indicates that your mortgage payment, insurance, and property taxes should not exceed 28 percent of your gross income.  Today’s underwriting standards often allow much higher ratios.  Allow the Lender to advise you on how much Mortgage that you can qualify for, however settle on a monthly all inclusive mortgage payment that you are comfortable with.   Keep in mind that there are lucrative tax deductions for home owners that include your mortgage interest and Property Tax payments. 

2. Consider how your down payment will impact your home’s financing. Down payments typically range from 5 to 20 percent of the total purchase price. A lower down payment makes it easier to purchase a home, but also increases the size of your mortgage. If possible, you should aim for a down payment of 20 percent so you don’t have to obtain private mortgage insurance, which typically runs from .25 to 1.25 percent of your total mortgage amount. Keep in mind that you will also have to pay closing costs, which can equal between 1.5 to 3 percent of the Purchase Price.

3. Familiarize yourself with housing prices in the area. A Realtor can provide a comparable market analysis, which shows the sale prices of homes in the area.  This analysis can give you a feel for whether the asking price of a home is reasonable for the area.  Be cautious of on-line value estimators….they are frequently inaccurate.  Ask the advice of a professional that will know the area and has a sales history.

4. Location – do not compromise on location……proximity to power lines, backing to highways or commercial areas can seriously affect your ability to resell the home at future date.  Consider the schools if you are raising children.   If you are purchasing a condominium or townhome, find out if the declarations or rules limit your enjoyment of your property.  Examples to consider are:  Pet restrictions, parking restrictions, commercial vehicles and trailers, hardwood floor restrictions in condo’s etc.

5. The Mortgage Approval process includes a Professional Appraisal that will help insure that you are not overpaying for the property.  Be cautious of settling for a higher price than the appraised value.

6. Get a professional inspection. While the home may look like it is in great shape to you, an inspector will check things like the heating and air conditioning systems, plumbing, electrical, walls, roof, foundation, drainage, garage, and basement.

Consider getting a Radon and Mold inspection.  Insurance companies limit claims to clean up mold and in some cases a serious mold problem necessitates the destruction of the home. 

7.  Secure proper Homeowners Insurance early on in the process.  Insurance underwriters usually check into the claims history on the home and may reveal a frequent flooding situation or claims for mold in the past.  Both are situations that you may not find acceptable to you and your family.

8. Review your options before selecting a mortgage. Fixed-rate mortgages are typically a good option for homeowners who plan to stay in their home for many years. The fixed rate results in a fixed mortgage payment, making it easier to budget for other expenses. Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) are popular with homeowners with rising incomes, those planning to move in a short time, and those who want the short-term cash flow benefits of lower interest rates.  FHA financing is the most popular mortgage vehicle presently.  Low down payments of only 3.5% and higher debt to income ratios are possible thru FHA.

REAL TRENDS Housing Market Report – June 2010

May housing sales up for 9th month in a row as closed units up 19.8 percent over May 2009 while prices climbed 6.9 percent in same period. All regions were up strongly in both units closed and average prices. Continued impact of tax credit and low interest rates are main reasons.

May 2010 housing unit sales were up 19.8 percent over May 2009 for the second best report of 2010. The average price of homes sold was up 6.9 percent and while not as strong as April 2010 continued the 9 month trend of stronger sales and rising prices.

Unit sales were up in all four regions of the country. The Northeast again led the surge with a 27.8 percent increase in units sold in May 2010 over May 2009. The West had the lowest increase in units closed at a 14.4 percent improvement over May 2009. Prices were up in every region. The West region had the largest increase in average prices of homes sold at 11.6 percent over May 2009 while the Northeast was up 7.8 percent. The region with the weakest price increase was the South with an increase of 2.3 percent in average sales price comparing May 2010 with May 2009.

“The market is reacting as most expected. With a huge number of contracts written before April 30 to take advantage of the tax credit for homebuyers and closings that must take place prior to June 30 to qualify, industry experts expected that May and June 2010 closings would be higher than normal.” said Steve Murray, editor of the REAL Trends Housing Market Report. “We expect that housing sales will continue to show a strong increase in June 2010 over June 2009. Based on estimates of May contracts, however, we expect that third and fourth quarter 2010 closings may well be less than the first two quarters of 2010 and may well be lower than the closed units in the last two quarters of 2009.

The increase in housing sales is the 9th month in a row where housing sales for the present month were above the same month from the prior year. And price increases just hit their 6th month in a row on the same basis. We expect housing sales for the year to be above the level of 2009 in the range of 4-7 percent even with somewhat of a decline in this year’s second half. Home prices will continue to strengthen for at least the next three months but may level out thereafter. The upper end of most housing markets remains soft at this time with no apparent recovery at this time.

Housing Market Report

REAL Trends Housing Market Report

May 2010 April 2010
(Versus same month a year ago)

Closed Sales AVG Price Closed Sales AVG Price

National
+19.8% +6.9% +23.1% +7.3%

Regional Report

Northeast
+27.8% +7.8% +32.9% +13.1%

South
+19.4% +2.3% +25.4% +2.9%

Midwest
+21.4% +5.0% +30.6% +10.5%

West
+14.4% +11.6% +10.0% +10.2%

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• NAR Reports Home Prices Rising in 91 Markets; Q-1 Sales Up From a Year Ago (realestatechannel.com)

Homes For Sale in Evergreen:

$499,900

$474,900               

$449,900

EVERGREEN SUBDIVISION on the far North side of Hoffman Estates is home to 191 families enjoying the location.  Built 23 years ago by Kennedy Builders, Evergreen has proved to be one of the most popular neighborhoods in the Hoffman Estates and Barrington areas.   As you enter Evergreen from Palatine Road or Bradwell Road, stone monuments welcome you.  The community offers it’s residents a private spring fed 5 acre lake that is a favorite of local fishermen with it’s abundance of Small Mouth Bass and other fish. 

Residents enjoy the location for it’s more rural feel away from the high traffic conjestion of other nearby towns yet Evergreen is only a 5 minute drive to Grocery and  convenience shopping, 12 minutes to the Palatine Metra station and close to several area parks.  This area is served by the popular school district 211 and the award winning Fremd high school.  Evergreen is home to families of all ages…..young children thru retirees. 

There were 7 initial home floor plans offered with customization encouraged.  Homes vary from 2,200 Square feet to over 3,300 square feet.  The community borders a Nature area and the village of Inverness on two sides.  Lot sizes vary from 1/4 acre, 1/2 acre up to 1 acre and 10 homesites offer walk-out basements. 

Many of the initial residents have moved up from smaller floorplans to the larger homes as they have become available thru the years.  This community is very popular and the turn over of residents is much lower than average.   Rather than move, many residents have expanded their homes and most residents have recently remodled their homes to update the kitchen and bathroom areas.  Pride of ownership shows with homeowners paying special attention to landscaping, decks and patios. 

The December holiday season is well noted by a community of residents that enjoy lighting their homes in celebration of Christmas.   An all-day annual Fishing Derby and picnic is a favorite summer activity each year.  Evergreen has it’s own Dinner Club and Bunko clubs.  Residents are very social and enjoy all that evergreen has to offer.

The adjacent Juniper Park with it’s playground, baseball field and a soccer field are popular summer stops and the locals have discovered a great sledding/boarding  hill right inside of the subdivision’s boundaries. 

If you like wildlife, you will enjoy this community.  Enjoy Fox and Deer sightings over your cup of coffee.  Several Red Tail Hawks, Great Horned and Barn Owls call our area home as well.   If you need more wildlife  Evergreen is only 3/4 mile from the Crabtree Nature Preserve and their miles of walking paths.   A short bicycle ride takes you to the large Deer Grove Park with miles of walking paths and bike trails that wind thru the 100′s of acres of wooded and prairie areas.

Kennedy Builders also built 5 companion communities with these home styles; Steeplechase and Tall Trees in  Barrington, Heatherstone in Palatine; Plumrose and Plumwood in Schaumburg.

Home prices in Evergreen range from just under $500,000 to the mid $600,000′s   For more Evergreen information and home availability contact Larry Rowan of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, a 22 year resident of Evergreen.  Larry@larryrowan.com  847 301-3196.

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Sometime this summer, the Federal Housing Administration plans to reduce the  maximum “seller concessions” from 6 percent of the home price to 3 percent. Seller concession rules allow buyers to look to the property seller to pay for a variety of services and taxes connected with the transaction – loan origination and local transfer fees, appraisals, inspections, closing and escrow costs among others.  It may not be used for a Down Payment.     

If you are buying a $200,000 house and using FHA financing under current rules, you can contract so that the seller agrees to pay all closing costs and even some repairs the house needs at closing, up to 6 percent of the price, or $12,000. On a $400,000 house, allowable concessions go to $24,000. That’s huge, especially if you have to struggle to come up with a 3.5 percent down payment and you’re not sure where you’ll find the closing and repair money.

Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac conventional financing, seller concessions generally are limited to 3 percent. For many buyers, the extra negotiating flexibility built into the FHA program makes the choice between programs a no-brainer.

FHA says that the long-standing 6 percent maximum “exposes the FHA to excess risk by creating incentives to inflate appraised value.” That would occur when sellers agree to pay buyers’ closing and other expenses but merely tack those costs onto the final sale price of the house. Rather than agreeing to a $200,000 price as in the example above with $12,000 worth of concessions, the final contract price of the house would instead be $212,000.

If an appraiser did not detect and report the price boost, FHA would effectively be insuring a mortgage on a house worth less than the sale price. In fact, since the rules allowed a 6 percent seller concession and the down payment was just 3.5 percent, FHA would be insuring an underwater loan from the start.

To limit further possible losses, FHA decided to cut the concessions limit in half. In its announcement, the agency said the change would occur in “early summer” after publication of a Federal Register notice and a public comment period. But Lemar C. Wooley, an FHA spokesman, confirmed May 19 that there has been no Federal Register announcement.

Since public comment periods frequently run for 60 days followed by a review period, it appears that any start date for the concessions change has slipped to late summer at the earliest. Wooley said in an e-mail that “early summer may be stretching it, but I’m told that we do still expect it this summer.”

Why does the timing matter? Whatever you might think of FHA’s existing seller concession rules, the fact remains: Concessions of 6 percent are still allowed, and will be until FHA announces they’re not. Buyers and sellers who have a legitimate need to build concessions into their contracts can still do so, but they need to know that the clock is ticking.

Smart real estate agents and mortgage loan officers already are putting out the word: If a home sale deal needs the 6 percent FHA feature, get the contract put together as fast as possible.  Larry Rowan, Broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Schaumburg, Il., supports the FHA move but encouages using the more liberal policies available in the mean time for buyers strapped for cash.  Larry Rowan and Coldwell Banker Home loans are offering FHA Financing Seminars for First time Homebuyers.

For more detailed information, Call Larry Rowan, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage 847 301-3196  larry@larryrowan.com

www.larryrowan.com

Economic Recovery could be Quicker than past Recessions according to the experts. 

Citing growth in both consumer and business spending, economists Justin Weidner and John C. Williams said recovery “is likely to be faster than from the two previous recessions” in a report released Monday.

The Northwest Suburban Real Estate Market continues to Rebound with more sales, some higher prices and shorter marketing times in general.  The market still resembles a Beauty Contest, however, with the sharpest homes setting the High mark for quick sales and high prices.   There are still many “used-up” homes that need so much updating and reparing that the buyers are taking a pass.  Short Sales and Foreclosures are creating an appraisal situation that is hard to counteract in some neighborhoods.  The Northwest Suburb real estate sales should continue to gather momentum in the coming months.

Economic Recovery could be Quicker than past Recessions according to the experts. 

Citing growth in both consumer and business spending, economists Justin Weidner and John C. Williams said recovery “is likely to be faster than from the two previous recessions” in a report released Monday.

The Hoffman Estates Real Estate Market continues to Rebound with more sales, some higher prices and shorter marketing times in general.  The market still resembles a Beauty Contest, however, with the sharpest homes setting the High mark for quick sales and high prices.   There are still many “used-up” homes that need so much updating and reparing that the buyers are taking a pass.  Short Sales and Foreclosures are creating an appraisal situation that is hard to counteract in some neighborhoods.  Hoffman Estates  real estate sales should continue to gather momentum in the coming months.

Good News for Schaumburg Sales – Economic Recovery could be Quicker than past Recessions according to the experts. 

Citing growth in both consumer and business spending, economists Justin Weidner and John C. Williams said recovery “is likely to be faster than from the two previous recessions” in a report released Monday.

The Schaumburg Real Estate Market continues to Rebound with more sales, some higher prices and shorter marketing times in general.  The market still resembles a Beauty Contest, however, with the sharpest homes setting the High mark for quick sales and high prices.   There are still many “used-up” homes that need so much updating and reparing that the buyers are taking a pass.  Short Sales and Foreclosures are creating an appraisal situation that is hard to counteract in some neighborhoods.  Schaumburg real estate sales should continue to gather momentum in the coming months.