January Blues Just Like February Blues

The weather is being blamed for the terrible real estate market of January. If you look at this wonderous picture taken last night while the snow was furiously falling, you must admit that snow creates a fantasy world...but, does nothing to help sell homes!

And, according to the Illinois Association of REALTORS, Chicago-Metro area home sales took their worst one-month plunge since at least 1998. The trade group said on Monday that January sales of both single-family homes and condos were off 34 percent, compared to the same month in 2007.

Thirty-four percent? That’s over a third of the market, which leaves 66 percent of all properties on the market unsold. Ouch!

And, here’s one reason why according to the Chicago Tribune:

“She, (the seller) too, blames January weather for dampening buyer enthusiasm. But she says she isn't in any particular hurry, and says she's sticking close to that asking price because it reflects how much profit she'll need in order to buy the suburban townhouse she has in mind, rather than what the market will bear in her neighborhood…”


The first rule of pricing that agents learn, is you don’t price the property at X because the seller NEEDS that amount. The market doesn’t work that way. Probably also explains why she hasn’t had one showing in the past two months.

If you really want to sell in today’s market, you must price your property at or below fair market value. It’s the only way you’re going to attract buyers, unless you want your property to remain unsold for years!

We will not be able to reach a bottom until these unrealistic seller are off the market. There’s too much inventory and competition.

But, for you buyers, now is an exciting time. Lots of properties; lots of seller concessions. That’s if, you can get a mortgage. Lenders and their underwriters are asking that your application include either your first-born or favorite pet. Well, almost.

What makes a good agent?

Is believing your market is going up, a prerequisite to being a good agent? Asked Matt Heaton on Active Rain.

Good question. And, here’s some thoughts.

Good agents are successful in good markets and bad markets. Why? Because they tell the truth! The whole truth.

Example: I have a seller who needs to sell his house. Do, I tell him everything is great? Or do I explain what is happening in today’s market and why he needs to do the following:

1) Price the property at or just below fair market value
2) Get the property cleaned and staged
3) Offer a higher commission to the selling agent
4) Offer to help pay the buyer’s closing costs

Now if the seller can’t or won’t do the above, then how can I help? We have too many overpriced homes on the market today. And, I want my listings to sell! So, perhaps, the “truth” in this case is too difficult…and I’ll get the listing when it expires in four months.

But, I’ve paid attention; shown up; and told the truth!

Another example: I have a buyer who wants to buy. Do I tell him everything is great? He’d laugh at me. Buyers are reading the paper or reading the latest financial news online. They know that many builders, lenders, title companies and private mortgage insurers are going under. They also know that interest rates are relatively low and that the supply of unsold homes is enormous.

So, how do I help this buyer? By determining his needs; his wants. Then finding several “perfect homes” that he also sees as “perfect.” Next is my ability to structure a contract that gets him the best fair market price. And, to negotiate that contract to get what he wants.

And, nowhere do I have emphasize that the market is going up or down. The market just is. Those agents who have mastered this basic concept will survive in any market. Look at the few agents who have been in this business for over 10, 15 or 25 years. They’ve learned to work in a “just is” market.

C 2008 Move UP to Naperville blog, Eileen Landau

MGIC changes their underwriting guidelines effective March 3, 2008

Private mortgage insurance companies insure mortgages, or at least, they used to.

Here's part of a memo, from the Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Company, one of the leading insurers:

February 6, 2008

Dear Valued Customer:

As a result of our ongoing evaluation of market conditions and loan performance, we are making a number of changes to our base underwriting guidelines and have created a new set of guidelines for areas exhibiting market weaknesses. The following underwriting guideline changes are effective for mortgage insurance applications received by MGIC on or after March 3, 2008.

(Then it goes on to break down underwriting guidelines. FICO is very important...and it better be above 660! And if the appraiser says that the property is in a declining market [see list below] , then many lenders wouldn't touch it, as these loans right now can't sell on the secondary market.)

Here is the list of restricted markets:

* Arizona -- Entire State
* California -- Entire State
* Florida -- Entire State
* Nevada -- Entire State
* Denver-Aurora, CO
* Greeley, CO
* Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
* Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta. GA
* Honolulu, HI
* Coeur d'Alene, ID
* Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL
* Baltimore-Towson, MD
* Bethesda-Frederick-Gaithersburg, MD
* Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV
* Barnstable Town, MA
* Boston-Quincy, MA
* Worcester, MA
* Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI
* Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
* Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ
* Edison-New Brunswick, NJ
* Newark-Union, NJ
* Ocean City, NJ
* Nassau-Suffolk, NY
* New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ
* Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY
* Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA
* Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC
* Winchester, VA
* Tacoma, WA

So what does this mean? If you're either buying or selling in one of the above areas, it will be harder. If the buyer doesn't have 10 or 20 per cent down payment, then probably the best way to close the sale may be an FHA loan, as a conventional loan may prove impossible to get.

An Interview with Baritone Scott Skiba

I met with Scott on a snowy Thursday for lunch and asked him the following questions about his career.

Q: How do you feel about your role as Iago in Verdi’s Otello?

A: Iago is a very Machiavellian character. He manipulates through indirection. He insinuates and suggests, he’s never direct. And, he’s a great improviser. His values are always focused on his advancement.

Q: Do you have some favorite composers?

A: Yes. Pucini, Verdi, Mozart. I’ve sung in over 30 different operas.
And, from a baritone’s perspective, Verdi is a favorite. His most complex characters are baritones.

Q: Have you heard any great tenors?

A: There are more and more tenors today as so many colleges have music schools and departments. And, here’s an interesting fact, originally, roles were for high male voice or low male voice. Not until the Bel Canto age did the idea of a baritone vocal range come about.

There will be some strong tenors in the next couple of years.

And, there will be some great sopranos too…but as I know so many I can’t say.

And, did you know that opera is the fastest growing form of entertainment among younger people. Today’s singers have greater acting abilities and more talent.

There’s nothing worse than the old school of opera which we call, “park and bark.” That’s where a singer picks a spot on stage and stays there and sings. There’s no interaction with the other singers. This style was popular from the 1950’s through the 1970’s.

Q: Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

A: I expect to be singing and teaching. I’m currently at Baldwin-Wallace College where I’m designing a four-year opera program.

As I’ll be more mature, I see myself singing a role such as Scarpia,in Tosca, who is a more controlling and intimidating than Iago,. And, I also want to sing more demanding roles written by Verdi.

Q: Any final words?

A: Yes, support all the arts…employ a baritone!








Scott Skiba, Assistant Professor of Voice. M.M., B.M., Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Skiba has sung with the Indianapolis Opera, Bloomington Music Works, Oberlin Opera Theater, Louisiana Lyric Opera, Olney Theater Center, DuPage Opera Theater, Indiana University Opera Theater, Opera Western Reserve and the Pittsburgh Opera. The Pittsburgh native remains an active recitalist and Oratorio soloist. His Oratorio and concert performances include the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, Akron Symphony, Oberlin Black River Singers, Cleveland Choral Arts Society, Columbus Symphony, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, guest recitalist at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music and featured soloist on The McGraw Hill Companies' Young Artists Showcase, on 96.3 WQXR - The Classical Radio Station of the New York Times. Skiba recently completed doctoral coursework with internationally acclaimed baritone and Distinguished Professor of Music, Timothy Noble at the Indiana University where he was an Assistant Instructor of Voice. Skiba began his vocal training with Mr. Greg Biddle in Pittsburgh, Pa and received a bachelor of music degree in vocal performance and a master of music degree in opera theater from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he was a student of Daune Mahy and a Lab Assistant in the Otto B. Schoepfle Vocal Arts Center. .

Naperville and its Freight Trains

As reported yesterday in the Naperville Sun, Canadian National Railway is proposing to purchase the 118 year old EJ&E line.

Currently the EJ&E runs from Waukegan in the north to Gary, Indiana in the south. The freight line runs against the western border of Ashwood Creek and Ashwood Park; it runs along many newer townhomes that have been built in the last five years.

If this purchase goes thru, there will be over 40 trains rumbling thorough the area. Currently they have about 15 trains.

And it seems that I'm always held hostage to a train when out showing in DuPage-Aurora. To get there from my office I have to take Ogden, Route 34, which crosses the tracks at ground level. There is NO over pass; no tunnel. I've waited as long as 20 minutes (with clients) for coal carrying cars to slowly cross the road. And, I'm not the only one. Seems like there are 44,999
other cars that also have to put up with this.

So, there's a price for progress. Yes, it might help re-route freight cars out of the inner Chicago area, but now we'll pay for it. And, does it do anything for Naperville? for Aurora? I don't think so.

And, those homes that are on the train line? Well, their prices will go down! And, their market time will go up.

DuPage Opera Theatre Excites with Verdi’s Otello

DuPage Opera Theatre has again performed an outstanding rendition of the seldom seen and heard Otello by Verdi.

Under the baton of music director and conductor, Kirk Muspratt, the staging, singing and acting transported us to 15^th century Cyprus. Michael Ehrman, stage director, kept the fast-paced action with Iago’s deceptive intrigue moving toward an inescapable finale.

The opera was adapted from Shakespeare’s play, Othello, by Arrigo Boito. Otello displays how a cunning, malignant, evil man, Iago, can set up a spider web of deceit. Otello, a dignified, much decorated Moorish general, has just married Desdemona and believes that she loves him.

Iago by Machiavellian means, is able to manipulate Otello into believing that his wife is having an affair with a former underling.

Although the opera and play are called Otello, the story belongs to Iago who is almost in every scene either listening behind posts to conversations or actively engaging the other characters as though he were a puppet master.

The main roles were sung by Marcos Aguiar as Otello, Christia Starnes as Desdemona and Scott Skiba as Iago.

I found that Otello’s acting stiff, as it just didn’t seem that a famous General would be so ineffectual and wooden. While we see and hear Desdemona in much of the opera, it’s not till the last act, in her bedroom, where she sings the Willow Song, that we are able to appreciate both her fine soprano voice and ability to sing while her head is hanging over her bed.

The only thing that bothered me was the line: “my mother had a maid called Barbara.” Yes, that’s what was written in the English play, but you’d think that Boito could have changed the name as it’s so out of place.

Iago was a dark, brooding villain, who sang with outstanding resonance and tone. His physical movements, sly like a cat, foreshadowed the tragic ending.

The DuPage Opera Theatre produces two operas a year. In the past few seasons they’ve presented Carmen, Hansel and Gretel and La Boheme. This July, (July 18, 20, 24 and 26) they will present Tosca by Puccini.

The DuPage Opera Theatre performs in the McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage. They generally do four performances of their current opera. I think that the final Saturday night is always best as they’ve had time to work out any kinks.

The theater is convenient to I-88 and I-355. They have free parking, compared to downtown Chicago where parking expenses can equal one of DuPage OperaTheatre’s ticket. And, yes, their theater prices are reasonable.

Order your Tosca tickets now at: http://www.cod.edu/ArtsCntr/dot.htm

Or call: 630- 942-4000

C 2008 Move UP to Naperville Blog, Eileen Landau