Real estate has always been about location; close to schools, parks, neighborhood amenities, transportation, etc. Lately, access to transportation is becoming a higher priority for many buyers. With the current economy, many people are vowing to walk, bike or take public transportation to work instead of driving.
Especially with job security on the minds of everyone, people are starting to make away with nonessential items, which include cars for some. The cost of owning/leasing, maintenance, parking and insurance add up. In addition, many lately have had their qualms about the new parking system in the city, and added cost of parking / tickets.
So what neighborhoods are people looking at? The 2010 Q1 stats versus time period year before shows significantly lower market time for detached homes in the following neighborhoods:
Uptown, -62%, Lake View -16%, Jefferson Park -16%, Albany Park -42%, Avondale -65%, Humboldt Park -52%, Oakland -91%, Woodlawn -42%, McKinley Park -90%, Edgewater -9%
In addition to vicinity to public transportation, many potential buyers I spoke to, all of them searching from intro to mid level attached housing, required walking distance to neighborhood amenities, such as groceries, coffee shops, and dry cleaners.
Parking ironically is still a priority for potential buyers. With many home owners planning to stay longer in their home, many of them would like to have the option and convenience of having parking available versus street parking which can become difficult in some neighborhoods. Many also feel that having parking available when you do sell makes your home more desirable.
What does this mean for suburban areas? There has recently been increased movement back into the city, but how this will affect value and demand? City living is not for everyone, and the cost of owning a car is minor that many will continue and will even move outside of the city. I have received a lot of inquiries lately about several north, northwest and western suburbs, with Evanston still being one of the most requested area.
Sherwin is a REALTOR® in the Chicago & Suburban area with @properties. Questions can be forwarded to Sherwin Sucaldito
”About Location” by Sherwin Sucaldito is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at Realty Evolved
