Housing Sales Rising Slightly in Palos Park

Home sales in Palos Park are rising so far in 2010. Patricia Brown-Wyrick, a real estate agent with RE/MAX 2000 in Orland Park, has her opinion on why this is:

"Regardless of the market, whether you're looking at good markets or bad markets, whether you're in a recession or a period of growth, schools rule and location rules when it comes to home sales," Brown-Wyrick said. "Even if the market is not like what we'd like, the areas with better loations and better schools still do better when it comes to selling. The ones with the lesser quality schools and the lesser loations are hurt more when times go bad."

It happens that Palos Park is blessed with a good location: It's easy to get to downtown Chicago from the village. It also boasts some of the top schools in the south suburbs.

These are two reasons why home sales in Palos Park are on the rise so far in 2010.

There's another important factor, too. Sellers understand exactly what kind of housing market they're in. They know that they have to reduce their asking prices or risk not selling their homes. This has made housing in Palos Park more affordable, and has helped boost demand.

Whatever the reasons, agents here are happy to see housing sales increase, even if the level of sales is still far below the days of the housing boom.

According to the latest sales data from the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors, Palos Park saw 26 home sales from January through August of this year. That may not seem like a lot, but it's an improvement over the same period in 2009. From January through August of last year, only 15 homes were sold in the village. The numbers were similar in 2008, when from January through August of that year 17 homes sold.

The hope is that Palos Park will see more home sales for all of 2010 than took place in 2009, when 29 homes sold for the entire year. In 2008, 34 homes sold in the village, while 48 sold in 2007.

Reta Wegele, an agent with the Orland/Palos office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, said that certain homes in Palos Park are selling faster than are others. Buyers are avoiding homes in the $600,000 to $900,000 range, she said. But there is a stronger market for homes priced under that $600,000 level, Wegele said.

"You just don't see too many sales in the $700,000, $800,000 range," Wegele said. "The folks who can afford to buy those houses are sitting tight. A lot of them are waiting for prices to fall even more. Over $600,000 is just a dry market right now."

Even those homeowners who do manage to sell their homes in Palos Park will find that it takes longer to land the right deal.

According to the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors, it took sellers an average of 209 days to sell their Palos Park homes in 2009. That's up slightly from the 193 days it took on average in 2008. It's up significantly from the average market time of 165 days in 2007.

The good news is that Palos Park remains a desirable place to live, said Kathy Toscas, a real estate agent from RE/MAX Team 2000.

"People still come from all over for Palos Park," Toscas said. "It's just an amazing place to live."

Sellers can take some little steps to increase their odds of a sale, Toscas said. They need to make sure that their homes are in top showing condition. This means that owners have to remove the extra furniture, decorations, knick-knacks and stuff from their homes to make them look larger and cleaner.

Owners also have to make sure that their real estate agent -- or they themselves if they're trying to sell their residences without the help of an agent -- markets their residence aggressively, both online and in print publications.

Finally, sellers must price their homes properly. Buyers today are savvy. They won't waste their time bidding on a home that's overpriced. There are simply too many other choices available to them.

"Sellers are not nearly as surprised about the market and about falling home values as they were a year or two ago," Toscas said. "They have definitely gotten the message. They are more likely to listen to me about price today."

Agents working the Palos Park market also point to the traditional stability of the Midwest as one more reason why housing sales here are on pace to better the mark from 2009.

"I think we'll have a gradual recovery, like the rest of the Chicago area," said Diane Lynch, a real estate agent with Realty Executives Premiere. "In the Chicago area, we're not like Las Vegas or Florida where you have the extreme ups and downs. We are always steadier here when it comes to housing prices. That helps in times like these."