Looking at Chicago foreclosure listings were down 1% in the last 30 days.  Foreclosure listings made up 12.4% of the total number of properties listed in the MLS during the last 30 days.  This compares with  13.4% in the  the 30 days preceding.

Short sales were also down 3% during the same period and stood at 19% of the total listings.  Distressed properties made up 31.4% of the total listings.

On the sales side, foreclosures made up 18.2% of the total closed sales in the last 30 days and short sales made up another 21%.  All in all distressed sales made up 39.2% of total sales up from 34.4% of sales in the preceding 30 day period.

Speaking to some of the big time REO brokers I expect that this trend will reverse over the next several months as banks start to let go of more inventory that was help up do to the robo signing scandal.

The average list price of Chicago homes for sale is currently strongest at the high end (homes priced above $394,000) and weakest at the low end.  The low end homes are most affected by foreclosures and average list prices have dropped 4.1% over the last year.

Over the same period however the median closed sales price for low end homes has actually risen.  Again this is likely due to forecloses being so aggressively priced that they attract multiple bidders and drive up the end sales price.

Median sales prices for high end homes in Chicago has actually risen by 1.7% over the last 12 months.

The monthly supply of inventory is way down (>17%) for the higher end homes but still stands at 12 months which represents a seller's market.

Where do the Chicago Bears live?  Well they don't own homes in the City of Chicago.

Bob Goldsborough posted this story today at Chicago Real Estate Scene about where the Chicago  Bears do choose to own real estate and call home.

Of course all this could change shortly as heads are currently rolling at Halas Hall.

List your Houston area home on the MLS for a flat fee of $274 for the next 30 days.   This special ends on January 31st 2012.  Use coupon code hst274 in our shopping cart to get the special deal.

Your home will also get listed on major websites like Realtor.com, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Zillow, Trulia and many others. You can post open houses for the duration of your listing.  The length of the listing is 1 year and all changes are free during that time.

2011 was a difficult year for flat fee mls listing companies as sales volumes were down again.  I primarily attribute this to two different market forces.

One is the fact that when distressed properties take up 30-40% of listing market volume that is just fewer potential sellers that will go with our type of for sale by owner assistance program.

The second is the fact that when the market is up for sale by owners and flat fee listings do well but when the market is down sellers get scared and many choose to hire more traditional brokers.

That being said we still sold a lot of homes with our mls listing services this year.  Enough so that we should again  rank as in the top 1% of agents overall in Chicago.

I just posted a Oak Park Real Estate Trends report to our Chicago Real Estate Scene blog.  It has cool graphs of median sales prices, average price per square foot, inventory and sales absorption.

It is for single family homes only but I am sure I will get to condos later in the month.

You can sell  your home without paying a huge commission to a listing agent.  Get you home listed on the St Louis MLS for a low one time fee of $297.  My name is Scott Berg and I am  licensed locally.

The home can also be listed in major websites like Realtor.com, Yahoo, MSN, and Trulia.  You can decide what you would be willing to pay buyer's agents to bring in a buyer for the home.

This is a great way to enable you to get more aggressive on pricing your home and beat the competition.  We provide everything you need including disclosure documents, contracts and advice.  Visit us today to find out more about our MLS Listing Program.

The Bucktown Real Estate Market

This data was compiled from Chicago MLS listings from the past 12 months.

As you can see from this data there is around a years worth of inventory in Bucktown with 97 homes sold in the last 12 months and 48 currently active on the market. The average market time is 176 days for closed homes but jumps to 314 for those active which I believe comes from some home owners have unrealistic expectations.

As you can see Bucktown real estate has a wide variety of home prices ranging from $229k to $4.4 m.

Scott Berg has been listing homes for a flat fee on the Chicago MLS since 2004. We can assist you.

Typically our clients are either "for sale by owner" or industry insiders. Industry insiders include former real estate brokers, commercial brokers, mortgage brokers, attorneys, builders, developers, rehabbers, flippers, and appraisers.

The program includes an mls listing as well as listing on high profile websites like
Realtor.com, trulia, zillow, ChicagoTribune.com, msn, yahoo and many other high profile and high traffic websites.

We also offer our clients assistance through the entire process including advice and tips on how to get their home sold. Call us today at 708-434-1165.

Market Statistics for Bucktown, Chicago for December 5, 2011

There are 46 active homes listings for sale and 97 have been sold in the last 12 months. The sold listings had an median sale price of $730,000 and average market time of 175 days. The average market time for active listings is 287 days.

If you would like to search Bucktown homes for sale, be sure to check out our great online home search which includes all homes, houses, condominiums, land, foreclosures, and short sales. The search includes the entire metro area of Chicago Real Estate.