Cooking Again

Published On 2014-04-14
Cooking Again
The numbers for last week, April 7-11th, inverted from the week before.  During the first week of the month, only 39 properties sold to investors across the 7 Chicagoland counties.  However, last week marked a big comeback at the auctions with 93 properties sold to investors in Chicago.  Much of the sudden turnaround can be attributed to Cook County’s resurgence last week.  With only 17 properties sold to investors the week before, Chicago-proper had a lot of catching up to do.  Luckily, progress came at the right time and last week Cook County sold 51 properties to investors.
 
The other counties didn’t fare quite so well.  Although Dupage County was able to climb back into double digits by selling 12 properties at auction last week, other counties that typically sell over 10 properties didn’t make the cut.  Will County sold 8 properties to investors while Lake sold only 7.  It’s interesting to see how important some of the mid-level counties can be to the overall statistics.  Though they are sometimes forgotten, a margin of 5 properties up or down can make the difference between a good week and a bad one. 
 
One of the Cook County properties that sold last week went for an impressive 93 percent less than its Zillow estimated price.  The petite 725 sq. ft. property sold at auction last Thursday for $3,100, even though the estimated value is $86,647 and the last time it sold was in 2003 for $111,000!  However, although this West Pullman single-family home went for an absolute steal, it may be too soon to tell how good of a value the home will be.  Although the number of new foreclosures in the area has dropped by 16.6 percent, the number of unsold foreclosure properties in the neighborhood is still 17.5 percent higher than in Chicago in general, meaning that the home values may not be rising in that area as quickly as in other areas in the city.