Looking for a home in a cute Chicago suburb near a train and cute downtown?

[Doglover5]

Interesting -- thanks!

[flipchikki]

Originally Posted by divakat

Honestly, I don't think a realtor makes a difference. The towns of Naperville, Downers Grove, and Glen Ellyn are some of the most sought after in the state. Those are the towns I am looking in as well. The last two I made offers on had multiple offers on them 3 days after they were listed and we lost out on each of them because someone put in all cash offers above the asking price---and we have a very experienced local realtor. The inventory is so small in Downers Grove, the only things left are either way overpriced, right next to the train tracks or on a very busy street. This goes double if you are looking for something that is walking distance to the downtown area, and includes Glen Ellyn and Naperville.

Divakat, this was pretty much our life story. We were beat out several times by cash offers, in all the areas you mentioned and were alerted several times that we were in a multiple bidder situation. In all, we placed bids on 7 houses (having to bid above list price on the Wheaton house) and I'm happy to report that we did get this house and that the banks have approved the short sale (that's a nice month and a half wait for a short sale! Much shorter than what we were expecting!). We are finally closing this week (hopefully after having our closing date moved twice)

Thanks all for the suggestions, we can't wait to check them all out!

[divakat]

I'm so glad you found something! We are still looking but hopefully inventory will pick up come February.

[C. Maurio]

Originally Posted by Gunner0325

La Grange or La Grange park is right between both Naperville and Union Station. I take the La Grange Metra sometimes to Union and it is only a 20 minute commute if you catch the express. And La Grange downtown is pretty nice and very family friendly.

It is so good that ZZ Top did a song about it!

ZZ Top - La Grange (From "Double Down Live) - YouTube

[chet everett]

Might be confused -- La Grange, Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[tyd450]

glad to hear you found something.... I would love to hear more about your short sale experience. I am in a situation where my lease is up 6/1 so I have some time to wait around anyway so I am considering some short sales. You mentioned that you had to bid a little above the asking price.... how much below the outstanding loan was it? I'm just trying to get an idea of what is a good value when it comes to short sales.

[chet everett]

There about 10x more variables when trying to price a short sale than a regular residential property.

The majority of home sellers attempting to sell their home below what is owed on the primary mortgage also have additional debt, often secured by a second mortage or HELOC (aka "home equity line of credit") and the rules of the holder of the first mortgage holder getting shafted means that the lenders will generally be forced to hold the seller responsible for the amount borrowed on the HELOC (which has a component of "revolving credit" that is different than the older "closed end" second mortage) -- the degree to which the initial primmary mortgage is underwater and any additional debts will need to be cleared are crucial to clearing the title for a sale to proceed. If the seller has no ability to bring cash to the table and is unwilling to sign promisory notes to the lender(s) then the short sale will not proceed. The are a whole range of strategies that can be attempted to clear a path with cooperative sellers and understanding lenders but these things are very much NOT a "one sizes fits all" thing -- if a particular primary lien holder agrees to some terms with a particular secondary lien holder for one particular borrower there is really nothing to "bind" them to similar agreements with others...

The vagaries of how each lender "models" their losses on each potential sale are highly suspect -- in some neighborhoods the lender may be guesstimating that there are others in the same situation becuase of the age / physical proximately of the mortgagee and these cases tend to make the lender more cautious than in more isolated / one off types of situations.

Of course all of the above is a whole separate issue apart from what the current market value of a home is and what sorts of projections / internal models the lenders have for the future value(s) of homes in those areas. If the lender is honest they may actually tell the homeowner what minimuns they will accept right now.

Sellers that currently have unrealistic understanding of either the debt they have or the price their home may fetch are the single biggest impediment to resolution of short sales, a few months back the lenders were not as willing to share information on what steps they would be open to...

[C. Maurio]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Might be confused -- La Grange, Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yeah.. I know. But it is fun anyway!