Happy New Year from Team Chris & Chris. And what a year it has been for us here at Compass in Chicago. This national brokerage, with its marketing savvy and cutting-edge technology, continues to be a stellar place for us and, in turn, our clients. The company has been in Chicago for only 4 years yet now is #2 in market share in both the city and in broader Chicagoland. This year, Compass Midwest expanded to include Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Currently, Compass reaches just under 50% of the total US population, so do keep us in mind if you are moving to another city or even if you have friends or family needing a referral to a highly competent agent in a city that’s not Chicago. We can help make that connection. We did it this year in large markets like Nashville and Austin, and in smaller markets like Williamsburg, VA.
You are no doubt aware of the extremely strong real estate market nationally over the past 18 months. This has been attributed, in part, to the pandemic shift to remote working and to continued low mortgage rates. The Chicago market remained unusually robust, really benefitting sellers, from June ’20 through June ’21 when it began to slow down into a more “normal” fall market. While 2022 is expected to continue to be quite vigorous, experts predict a more “balanced market,” one that doesn’t so strongly tip toward sellers. Sellers will still have the benefit of high prices, but more homes are expected to be listed in 2022, giving buyers more choices, and hopefully avoiding the multiple-bid situations that were so prevalent last winter and spring.
This Spring ’22 will see buyers hurry to take advantage of the low mortgage rates before they rise, as the Fed has promises they will (30-year fixed rates may rise from its current 3.1% to 3.6% by the end of next year). This will be good for sellers. Rising interest rates should slow price growth, however, which will be good for buyers as the year progresses. (Buyers, reach out to discuss timing!)
If you are thinking of selling in the upcoming year, we can help you estimate what you’ll be able to sell for so that you can plan. We can also advise you on what kinds of updates you may want to make to get your home ready for market. We can even recommend service providers to you.
We work with buyers and sellers in all the neighborhoods in Chicago, Oak Park, and Evanston, and at all price points. Just this year we helped people with everything from a $100K studio in Buena Park to a $2.3MM house in Andersonville! We treat all our clients with the same care and attention. You may be interested to know that in the past year 96% of our business came from referrals or repeat clients. People must like working with us. We work hard to make what could be stressful more enjoyable.
In that spirit, last January we started something new with our social media. We call it #houseface_friday. Every Friday we post a photo of a particularly expressive building like the examples shown above. We started it this year just for fun, but it’s also led to some serious business. It helped us build a much larger following on Facebook and Instagram where we’ve always marketed our listings (and ourselves). This year our posts actually got us some showing requests and some new clients! If you’re not already following us, please check us out at: Facebook and Instagram
Yes, will plan to continue #houseface_friday in 2022. And yes, we would welcome the chance to help you, your family, and/or friends with any of your real estate needs this year. Thanks for keeping us in mind.
