ChitownLiving | Chicago Real Estate + Life

To new buyers entering the Chicago real estate scene, it looks like chaos.  It seems totally random, like the lottery numbers that bounce around and then are called nightly.  Amidst all the madness there has to be an amazing deal out there right?  Yes there are, but in reality, the market is fairly transparent and efficient.  News travels fast, good deals are abundant and can be negotiated, but the truly amazing ones are like having a winning lottery ticket. To illustrate, I relay a situation that recently occurred while working with a buyer client in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood.   My client and I were monitoring the Old Town neighborhood and actually specific buildings for over 12 months and viewed almost 70 properties.  We were experts on this market, actually micro-market I will term it. While working with my client I went on a listing appointment in the same neighborhood, actually in one of the buildings my client and I were monitoring, a very desirable newer condo building.  I presented my selling price to the prospective seller.  Two days later, another unit, one floor above the unit where I had my listing appointment went on the market.  I was stunned, shocked, amazed, and left scratching my head at the list price as it was $100,000 below the list price I proposed for the unit one floor below.  Except for being one floor lower, it was the same unit with identical view, floorplan, finishes, and parking arrangement.  Deal of the century, a pure arbitrage opportunity, my client’s number finally hit, almost like winning the lottery I thought.  All was perfectly aligned. I immediately called my buyer client and said “Get ready, I’m coming to get you, we have to see this unit.  I think they have left a significant amount of money on the table”.  We saw the unit and sure enough it was identical to the unit one floor below that I had been in one week prior.  While we were there, the listing agent had a glazed look on her face.  She said, “I’ve got to tell you that the listing just went into the MLS and I’ve already had 8 showings and I’ve got 2 offers.  If your client is interested they should act soon.  I expected a lot of activity but this is crazy”.  Yeah, crazy I thought to myself. My client and I left and despite the two other offers we immediately drafted a contract.  My client really liked the place and I was sure that this was the deal of the century.  No sooner had I faxed the offer to the listing agent than my cell phone rang.  It was the listing agent.  With a wavering voice she said, “I am so, so sorry but there was a data input error on the MLS.  The list price for the condo you just saw was incorrect.  It should have been $395,000 not $295,000.”  My jaw dropped and my heart sank. Unlike the randomness of the lottery, this story illustrates just how efficient the Chicago market is despite the outward chaotic appearance.  Unlike picking 4 numbers, it takes effort, patience, and market knowledge to uncover and take advantage of these situations.  For every community area, neighborhood, block, street, development, building, and home, there is someone (or more likely many people) with their ear to the ground, waiting to pounce when the opportunity arises.  Any deal that seems too good to be true often times is, is snapped up within hours of being listed, or is never even exposed to the market. In this case, another losing lottery ticket, but to my mind we were in the game and were only one number off.  On a positive note, we uncovered another fantastic situation shortly afterword. Image Source: http://www.ksdk.com/news/lottery/lottery.aspx