Curious how the real estate market is doing in the western suburbs of Chicago? It’s hotter than Paul Rudd! In this video, we will look at what’s happening with home prices and look specifically at the Burr Ridge & Downers Grove markets.
Eric Andersen, B.A., M.Div.
Owner/Designated Managing Broker, Eric Andersen Homes
📲 Text/Call: 708.674.6725
📩 Email: eric@eandersenhomes.com
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My name is Eric and I own an independent real estate brokerage in Chicago, Illinois. I specialize in helping out-of-state newcomers find the perfect home here in Burr Ridge and the western suburbs. When I’m not selling homes, I love spending time with my wife and 6 children, serving my congregations (I’m an ordained Lutheran pastor and serve Zion, Summit & Immanuel, Hodgkins), exercising, and making Neapolitan pizza from scratch and baking it in my Ooni wood-fired oven. Despite being a Chicago native, I’m a St. Louis Blues & Nashville Predators fan. I’m currently reading the biography of John Adams by David McCullough and How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur.
I have a number of awards and designations, including:
⭐️ Top 3 REALTOR® in Brookfield, IL (2021)
⭐️ 20 under 40, class of 2021 (Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS®)
⭐️ Gold 2020 Top 3% Sales Award (Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS®)
⭐️ Endorsed Local Provider (RamseyTrusted)
⭐️ Best of Zillow
⭐️ Pricing Strategy Advisor (National Association of REALTORS®)
⭐️ Certified Staging Consultant (Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS®)
Transcript:
Last year, People Magazine declared Paul Rudd the sexiest man alive. And while I’m not exactly sure what to say about that, what I can say is that the real estate market is even hotter. I’m Eric with Eric Andersen Homes, and in my “How Much Will Home Values Rise in 2022” video, I was just talking about how insanely active the market is, how it hasn’t been slowing down at all, and how most economists are predicting that home values will continue to rise in 2022. The biggest question or disagreement isn’t over the market crashing—very few are predicting that. The question isn’t ‘will’ home values rise in 2022, but ‘how much will they increase.’ Now, you will occasionally hear someone use the word “crash”, but when you see those headlines, make sure not to get caught up in the hype, and be sure to read what they’re actually saying. Of the few sources that are using words like “crash”, I’ve yet to see one who actually meant “crash.” What they mean is the market may slow down a little, a pumping of the brakes. But slowing down is far different from crashing. If you’re doing ninety miles per hour on I-55 and slow down to eighty, you haven’t crashed, but you’re still driving really fast. The doomsday prophets might be calling a dip of, say, five percent a crash. But do the math: if we’ve had twenty percent appreciation and slow down to fifteen percent, the market is not crashing—it’s still growing at a rate of fifteen percent. That’s a hot, not-crashed market by any standard. Tapping the brakes a little? Sure. But words like “crash” get more attention and clicks, so that’s what they’ll use. Zillow is not predicting a crash. They recently suggested that home values will rise sixteen point four percent in 2022. That’s the most bullish prediction I had seen—until they updated their own prediction. Now, Zillow is predicting twenty-two percent increase. Now, I’m not a big fan of Zillow’s predictions, and I’m especially not keen on their home value zestimates. Why it’s legal for them to speculate on how much your home is worth without ever seeing it and factoring in items like the condition, upgrades, and specific location, is a mystery to me. Their iBuyer program infamously crashed (and yes, I mean crashed) because they were buying up homes based on their algorithms which turned out to be wildly inaccurate. Now, I don’t wish Zillow or its employees ill, but you should know that their pricing models are notoriously inaccurate. In this case, it cost the company $328 million in the third quarter of 2021, and they ended up having to lay off 25% of their employees. The moral of the story is if Zillow can’t even accurately price homes they are buying and selling, there’s little reason to believe their algorithm will be any more accurate in a sight-unseen estimate of your home. But back to today’s market, it remains very strong. I have no idea if Zillow’s twenty-two percent estimate will turn out to be accurate or not, but most economists are saying home values will continue to rise this year. We’ve been seeing increases in the local markets, so I’d like to take a minute to show you what’s been happening in both Burr Ridge and Downers Grove lately.Home values in Burr Ridge are up eight point seven percent vs. this time last year. This is due to low inventory (note the almost 16% drop in inventory) and high demand, which is reflected in the low market time–only forty five days. Homes are selling fifty two point six percent faster than they were in January, 2021.Home values in Downers Grove are up eleven percent from this time last year. This is due to low inventory (note the fifty one percent drop) and high demand, which is reflected in the low market time–only thirty five days, and also in the increase in closings (plus fifteen percent). Homes are selling fifty four percent faster than they were in January, 2021.In other words, the market is red-hot in Downers. Since both home values and interest rates are projected to increase, more buyers than usual are out looking for homes right now. One final point, just anecdotally. This weekend, I put in nine showing requests for one of my buyer clients. These were mostly new listings, and very competitive. Of those nine requests, do you know how many of those showings were confirmed? Only three. Four of them had already sold, one was having work done this weekend and wasn’t available to see, and the other had significant limitations on showing availability. It tells you something about the market when out of nine properties, you’re only able to see three of them. The market is crazy right now, which makes it all the more important to have an experienced, local market expert on your side if you’re considering a move. Be sure to subscribe to my channel and turn on notifications so you always stay up-to-date with what’s happening with the real estate market here in the western suburbs of Chicago. I’m Eric with Eric Andersen Homes here to remove the headache from real estate and provide expert guidance for your next purchase or sale.