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First time home buyers having a rough time?
My name is Al Keefe, and I'm a graduate journalism student at NU covering real estate, housing and economic development. I'm wondering: Is anyone out there trying to buy a home right now, or buying one for the first time? What's it like in Evanston? Do low prices make it a good time to buy, or does tight credit make it a difficult time? What about sellers?
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I am interest to learn why a city employee thought you were a flipper?
"Some of the neighbors and one city official expressed concern that we were "flippers". We assured them that we are going to be living in the home for a long"
I would think it would be rather silly in the economic climate to buy a home now and hope to sell it for a large profit quickly.
Also youre other statement interest me, "The only problem we had was finding a home in our price range $250,000.00. The only properties in that price range were foreclosures or abandon properties... most of which were in such dis-repair that we had to pass them up"
Given the high number of potential foreclosure on the west side if many are in poor condition it is likely few will sell thus they entire area will end up in vacant lots as they are demolished. It is interesting to me we have council members wanting to give out $80,000 to affordable housing groups for administrative costs when the entire west side is in real trouble.
I think he thought we were flippers because that was the big thing in 2008 until the economy took a turn for the worse. Remember, the economy changed for the most part in June. I agree, flipping would not be a wise investment at this time, but people still do it. Just watch HGTV.
I signed up for email notices from various departments at City Hall. Zoning being one of them. I saw a case where someone wants to tear down a home, combine 2 lots and build a new larger home. Remember, the rich are still rich, the middle class is getting poorer. Every time th government bails out a company, the executives seem to get big bonuses. I would have been happy to receive even $1,000.00 to help us in the rehab of our home.
And look at the news right here on this site. Evanston still wants to go ahead with the 5th ward plan along the abandon rail line.
When ever we drive around town, there are still for sale signs in front of some houses we looked at. There is a house 3 doors down from us that is in Short Sale and empty. The owners were forced to move out and the house sits vacant. I think the banks would rather sit and wait for a bail out than to get these homes off their books. The housing industry/banking industry MUST change the way they do business. They can't just keep the status quo.
A whole series of City programs for housing rehabilitation are listed here: Evanston Community Development Housing Programs
Evanston also offers a First-time Home Buyer's program
Find out more about Brummel Park Neighbors and Michele Hays
Michele - I would suspect all these city programs have income limits - that is they do not allow those with higher incomes to use the program. If this is not the case please advise.
That is why so very few affordable housing programs here are working - they appear to have poor product to sell and limited buyers.
It appears we have a housing crisis in your area as well as the 5th ward were may homes are in foreclosure - one person I know in your ward told me about 30% of the condos in his building are not paying the assessements.
The city trying to do the same old programs will not solve the problem. When will we have "Change" in Evanston?
I live in NE Evanston there are not many properties on the market. In the area on the west side there appear to be numerous properties in foreclosure and up for sale.
What do you think the city should do to encourage 1st time buyers to purchase these properties? ( since you have been recently in the market)
It appears to me the whole affordable housing effort is nonsense. Since it is income limited. That is only certain buyers qualify to buy, thus a large pool are excluded. The city council and others have created a patronage program around this effort.
Do you have any thoughts on how the city should encourage the sale of these properties to homebuyers that want to live in the homes from your own experience?
We just purchased our home in Evanston on August 30th. The only problem we had was finding a home in our price range $250,000.00. The only properties in that price range were foreclosures or abandon properties... most of which were in such dis-repair that we had to pass them up. The ones that were in OK shape were snapped up instantly. The home we purchased is on the West side and originally was listed for $295,000. That is NOT what we paid for it. The sellers were desperate and came down quite a bit. We were the 1st and only offer on the home. We made our offer 2 days after the home was listed.
We had tried to purchase a home at 500 Grey Ave., again, another foreclosure but when we made our offer, the bank holding the mortgage started playing games with us and claimed they had several offers. We made our best offer, waited 2 weeks and heard nothing. We walked away and put an offer in on our current house. That same day the house on Grey came back and said they would accept our original offer. We told them it was too late.
If I was able to contact the powers that be in Washington that are bailing out the banks on for-closed properties, I would suggest that bank NOT be bailed out with our tax money. They had a chance to take that house off their books and blew it!. As you can see it still makes me angry. The house on Grey is still vacant and getting more run down every day.
As far as the mortgage, we were pr-approved for a certain amount, we went over the numbers carefully to make sure we could afford it. We looked at 20 homes in Evanston and 2 in Skokie. We are very happy with the home we purchased and are spending $20,000.00 fixing it up.
Some of the neighbors and one city official expressed concern that we were "flippers". We assured them that we are going to be living in the home for a long time to come.
Also, Condominiums were out of the question! A gluttony of Condos are on the market. Sometime 2-6 in the same building and their building more?
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