Palos Heights Still Attractive to Home Buyers

Colleen Pochyly hopes to become one of the newest residents of Palos Heights.

She and her husband, Chris, recently made an offer on a home in the Old Palos neighborhood, and they're waiting to see if they'll soon be making the move from Oak Lawn.

"We decided that we wanted a quiet, sleepier, more laid-back community," she said. "Oak Lawn was great for raising our kids. But my kids are older now. They're 16 and 18. I keep telling them that I'm looking for the 'grandma house.' This is that kind of community."

The Pochylys' real estate agent, Suzy Frederickson of RE/MAX Team 2000 in Orland Park, isn't surprised that the family is making the move to Palos Heights. The suburb, despite the national real estate slump, continues to attract new residents.

"This is a great place to live," Frederickson said. "I live here, and I love it here. I know how badly the real estate market is performing across the country. But when I look at Palos Heights, I really don't see that housing sales are down that much. It's not as good as it once was, of course. But it's still doing quite well."

Nationally, housing sales took a significant dip in July. According to the latest numbers from the National Association of Realtors, the sales of existing homes fell 27 percent in July when compared to June. That one-month decrease is the largest since the Realtors association began tracking the sales of existing homes. The drop-off sent national home sales to their lowest point in 15 years.

The numbers in Palos Heights, though, aren't mirroring that trend. According to data from Midwest Real Estate Data, from August 2008 to August 2009, 60 homes were sold in Palos Heights. From August 2009 through Aug. 27 of 2010, that figure stood at 69 homes. That increase of nine sold homes equals a boost of 15 percent.

Patrick Duffy, a real estate agent with Prudential Rubloff in Chicago, is familiar with the Palos Heights market and sells homes here. He also operates his own homebuilding company, Duffy Construction, that builds homes in Palos Heights.

He says Palos Heights has seen a slowdown in housing sales since the housing boom crashed in late 2006. But housing sales here have remained consistent in the last two years, he said.

From September 2008 through July 2010, the city averaged about six homes sold every month, Duffy said.

"This is a very nice place to live," he said. "You have good schools here. You have a great park district. You have a downtown area with shops and restaurants. People just like to live here. We get a lot of people coming here from other suburbs."

As of late August, 94 homes were for sale in Palos Heights. Of those homes, 15 had contracts on them that hadn't yet closed, according to Midwest Real Estate Data. That number of for-sale homes represents an inventory of about 16 months.

Bob Arnold, a real estate agent with RE/MAX Team 2000, said that much of the credit for Palos Heights' relatively steady home sales comes from realistic sellers. Homeowners know today that they have to price their homes properly for them to sell.

As is the case in most cities, homeowners who price their residences too high in the hopes of snagging that rare bigger offer will usually find their homes sitting on the market for months, Arnold said. Those who price their homes appropriately, though, will find buyers, he said.

As to why home sales across the nation fell so drastically in July, Arnold puts part of the blame on the federal government's home buyer tax credit. That provided a credit of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers, and its move-up buyer credit provided a tax credit of up to $6,500 for all other buyers. Both credits expired on April 30.

"I think the activity here right now is stronger than anyone expected," Arnold said. "All those people who were going to buy a house in June and July ended up buying sooner because they wanted to take advantage of the tax credits. Now I feel that we are going to adjust to a more realistic market. I think we'll see a pace that will begin to eat up the inventory of homes on the market."

Colleen Pochyly isn't thinking much about the national real estate market right now. She's only concentrating on the ranch house in Old Palos that she hopes to soon call  home. Like others who have moved to this suburb, she's looking forward to enjoying its amenities.

"Since we've been looking here, we've run across young families and old families. There are a ton of kids riding bikes on the streets because there are no sidewalks. Traffic moves slower here, maybe because of that," Pochyly said. "I see so many people out walking dogs.

"Life just seems to have a simpler feeling here."