Golly gosh, I have been so busy of late, the first quarter of 2012 has slipped by and I forgot my Wynstone market report. I tell you what, we’ll make this a double report and look at the North Barrington real estate market and Wynstone neighborhood sales.

The following graph shows the North Barrington real estate inventory levels over the last year. In July 2011 we reached a peak and ever since then it’s been on the way down. Going from about 86 listings to around 70 in six months is actually pretty good progress. Once inventory levels get to about a six month supply, home owners should expect prices to increase. Of course that’s a very blanket statement, there are so many other factors involved.

It’s true that a lot of the North Barrington real estate inventory are homes in Wynstone. At the time of writing there are 36 homes available in Wynstone with prices from $465,000 to $2,600,000. Another 4 Wynstone homes are under contract. That’s very close to 50% of the homes listed in North Barrington.

How are Wynstone sales doing? In the last 12 months there have been 24 sales. In 2010 there were only 7 sales. In 2011 it jumped up to 22 so we appear to be on target to keep that number if not exceed it by the end of 2012. North Barrington real estate has an average marketing time of 326 days, still a buyers market. For Wynstone it’s 502 but of course that’s just the average and skewed by those highest priced listings. The median priced sale in Wynstone is now $780,000. If I re-run the numbers for sales under $1 Million,  then the market time comes down to 383, still a long time.

Wynstone is not out of the woods yet, still firmly placed in a buyers market. In case you are interested in tracking the median price of homes in North Barrington, this chart shows the last two years. Pinch me now, doesn’t it look like we have leveled off, I think so, I hope so.

There are generally speaking two different types of real estate broker in Barrington, the Franchises and the Independents. Our company is an Independent company and we wanted to let our buyers and sellers know what they can expect from our Independent Company. As the managing broker and owner of the company the single most important thing to me is the freedom it brings me within the real estate business.

No Corporate Rules: As an Independent real estate broker in Barrington there are no corporate rules we have to follow. As long as we follow the letter of the Illinois real estate law, we have more freedom to think and act outside the box, negotiate with you, offer incentives, in other words flexibility.

Brand Name: Every name is a brand name right?  Where’s did ours come from and does it means anything to our clients? Our company name started out as Royal Property Investments LLC and we still hold the corporate name but the funny thing was we got a huge volume of calls from distressed sellers asking us to buy their homes. As our primary market is helping buyers and sellers with residential real estate and not investing, we started doing business as Royal Advocate Realty. Of course being a Brit you can likely guess where the Royal came from, the advocate is what we do. We advocate for our clients. Whatever your goal is, well that’s our goal. Selling homes is not really how we see this industry, it’s too “salesy” and we hate being “sold”.

This Sites brand name is different to the company name because I wanted to show our visitors how much information there is to learn about the Barrington area and it’s real estate. It seemed logical to name it for what it is.

Marketing: One of our favorite subjects because we feel so strongly about what we do. Marketing is very diverse and there is not one broker in Barrington that does it the same.  We started in real estate at the time the internet was becoming a tool with extensive possibilities. Therefore we use it, and we use it a lot, almost to the exclusion of anything else.

Ours includes:

• Our online presence is our greatest achievement, we are right up there with the big boys, actually above many of them. Search Engine Optimization – SEO is what we strive for in every page or post we write.
• Our blog is a 5 year book of works and over 80% of it is about Barrington.
• Our social media presence is growing but we have selected three best outlets, doing all of them would be insanity as a new one pops up almost everyday.
• Saving paper is important to us and we hope you too. For us, glossy flyers are out, after all when we are with buyers 90% of them end up on the floor of the truck.
• Smart phones and tablets are in, we’ve found ways to make the best use of those.

The majority of our equestrian properties are in Barrington Hills, but like the one I have with  a sale contract, the are others in Unincorporated Barrington. Here are just some of the homes that may be zoned to allow horses in Barrington Hills. Not all will have barns, sheds, arenas or fenced paddocks. If you would like a list of Barrington Equestrian Properties that have stalls or barns, just send me an email with your requirements.

Showing properties 1 - 26 of 26. See more city of Barrington Hills real estate.
(all data current as of 5/18/2012)

1. $949,000 : 4 Marbury Lane, BARRINGTON HILLS
   
   4 beds, 5 full, 2 part baths

   Home size: 6,800 sq ft

   Lot size: 1.15 ac

   Year built: 2000

   Parking spots: 4

   Days on market: 170

   Walk Score®: 15
   
2. $939,000 : 813 Magnuson Court, BARRINGTON HILLS
   
   6 beds, 5 full baths

   Lot size: 5.00 ac

   Year built: 2003

   Parking spots: 3

   Days on market: 564

   Walk Score®: 6
   
3. $900,000 : 149 Algonquin Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
   
   5 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 5,000 sq ft

   Lot size: 10.93 ac

   Year built: 1977

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 149

   Walk Score®: 6
   
4. $899,900 : 164 Springwood Lane, BARRINGTON HILLS
   
   6 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,510 sq ft

   Lot size: 9.86 ac

   Year built: 1954

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 322

   Walk Score®: 0
   
5. $899,000 : 511 Pond Gate Drive, BARRINGTON HILLS
   
   5 beds, 5 full baths

   Home size: 5,312 sq ft

   Lot size: 5.00 ac

   Year built: 2003

   Parking spots: 3

   Days on market: 200

   Walk Score®: 3
   
6. $890,000 : 699 Plum Tree Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
   
   5 beds, 3 full, 2 part baths

   Lot size: 5.00 ac

   Year built: 1975

   Parking spots: 5

   Days on market: 428

   Walk Score®: 12
   
7. $879,999 : 343 Old Sutton Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
   
   5 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Lot size: 4.73 ac

   Year built: 1982

   Parking spots: 3

   Days on market: 254

   Walk Score®: 0
   
8. $850,000 : 30 Old Hart Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
   
   3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 8,395 sq ft

   Lot size: 5.04 ac

   Year built: 1950

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 113

   Walk Score®: 29
   
9. $799,900 : 364 Ridge Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
   
   5 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Lot size: 5.00 ac

   Year built: 1974

   Parking spots: 3

   Days on market: 88

   Walk Score®: 28
   
10. $799,900 : 39 Dundee Lane, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    4 beds, 4 full, 2 part baths

    Home size: 4,500 sq ft

    Lot size: 1.13 ac

    Year built: 1990

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 223

    Walk Score®: 17
    
11. $799,000 : 704 Goodman Court, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

    Lot size: 5.00 ac

    Year built: 2003

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 569

    Walk Score®: 3
    
12. $790,000 : 162 Springwood Lane, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 1,718 sq ft

    Lot size: 10.55 ac

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 374

    Walk Score®: 0
    
13. $760,000 : 10 Rock Ridge Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    5 beds, 5 full, 2 part baths

    Home size: 5,000 sq ft

    Lot size: 5.28 ac

    Year built: 1968

    Parking spots: 4

    Days on market: 214

    Walk Score®: 6
    
14. $750,000 : 272 Donlea Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 3,000 sq ft

    Lot size: 5.00 ac

    Year built: 1968

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 308

    Walk Score®: 0
    
15. $749,123 : 123 Deepwood Court, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 2,378 sq ft

    Lot size: 5.00 ac

    Year built: 1976

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 6

    Walk Score®: 3
    
16. $725,000 : 65 Hills And Dales Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    4 beds, 3 full baths

    Home size: 4,314 sq ft

    Lot size: 5.30 ac

    Year built: 1983

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 311

    Walk Score®: 0
    
17. $719,000 : 240 Steeplechase Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    5 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

    Lot size: 5.17 ac

    Year built: 1978

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 28

    Walk Score®: 6
    
18. $699,900 : 12 Little Bend Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    5 beds, 5 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 5,770 sq ft

    Lot size: 4.72 ac

    Year built: 2006

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 80

    Walk Score®: 2
    
19. $699,000 : 525 Oak Knoll Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    3 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 3,847 sq ft

    Lot size: 5.04 ac

    Year built: 1980

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 15

    Walk Score®: 3
    
20. $698,000 : 326 Old Sutton Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    4 beds, 5 full baths

    Home size: 4,200 sq ft

    Lot size: 5.00 ac

    Year built: 1956

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 67

    Walk Score®: 2
    
21. $690,000 : 157D Helm Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    3 beds, 2 full baths

    Home size: 2,051 sq ft

    Lot size: 7.90 ac

    Year built: 1947

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 237

    Walk Score®: 11
    
22. $674,000 : 23 Bow Lane, Barrington Hills
    
    4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

    Lot size: 5.01 ac

    Year built: 1979

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 476

    Walk Score®: 6
    
23. $650,000 : 23 Oakdene Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    5 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 3,816 sq ft

    Lot size: 5.42 ac

    Year built: 1967

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 9

    Walk Score®: 23
    
24. $650,000 : 10 Crawling Stone Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    4 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

    Lot size: 5.00 ac

    Year built: 1979

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 157

    Walk Score®: 0
    
25. $650,000 : 69 Otis Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    6 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 3,510 sq ft

    Lot size: 5.09 ac

    Year built: 2003

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 365

    Walk Score®: 0
    
26. $650,000 : 427 W County Line Road, BARRINGTON HILLS
    
    5 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

    Lot size: 5.00 ac

    Year built: 1966

    Parking spots: 7

    Days on market: 497

    Walk Score®: 14
    

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Your home inspector provides two crucial services to you. First is the inspection itself. Taking on average 2 to 4 hours, depending on the size of the home, he’ll look under the lid for you and give you both a summary and a full report. It isn’t for me to explain the full parameters of his inspection, any home inspector will provide that for you, so you’ll know exactly what he will and will not be doing. Suffice to say he can certainly find things that you and I cannot possibly see when we view a home. Examples are plumbing, electrics, roofing, safety issues, and more.

Now you’re a fully informed buyer with an inspection report in hand you can make the decisions you need to about buying the home. Do you want to proceed, do you want the seller to make certain repairs, do you want a credit, or is this home such a nightmare you want out. Here’s where that second service comes in. Your home inspection report is now your tool. It’s your leverage. It’s official. It provides you the ability to withdraw or ask for repairs, because it was carried out by a licensed home inspector.

Bear in mind your seller might want to see a copy of the report depending upon your request. If you withdraw or ask for repairs or credits be prepared to let them see it if they ask.

Had you decided to do your own inspection, or had a friend or relative, perhaps someone you know who is a carpenter or plumber do one for you, then your leverage is gone. It’s not an official inspection. Had you decided to just not bother, because the property looks OK, even after 2 or maybe 3 showings, you have no leverage. Only an official inspection by a licensed inspector gives you the leverage and ability to negotiate for remedies or credits.

It clearly is a very important tool in the process of buying a home and any Realtor will recommend, very strongly, that having a home inspection is a wise decision. Yes it is something that costs money right at the beginning, but relative to the cost of the property it’s a small investment to make.
We feel so strongly about you having a home inspection, we just do not want you to dismiss it. So much so we are offering to re-imburse your home inspection cost when you close on your purchase. What’s more, if recommended for the property you are buying, we are also going to cover the cost of your Radon test.

The cost of these two items may run about $500 to $900 depending on the size of the home. The value of your home inspection and Radon test. Priceless!

How to apply. You must complete our application form to qualify. It’s one of those cases, if you don’t ask you don’t get. We need a simple application so we can keep track of your home purchase. For more details and to apply.

Selling your Barrington home involves a lot of things. In recent years they have not changed but those hurdles just seem tougher to leap over.

The most frustrating part about selling your Barrington home is the wait period. Keeping your home as clean and tidy as you can on a constant basis, leaving for showings, dealing with your pets, getting feedback that can sometimes sting or even upset you and wondering if the last buyer is ready to buy now and might make an offer or just started the process and they want to look at lots more houses first.

Then finally the offer comes and you feel relieved that at last you have your buyer and can start moving forward with selling your Barrington home. The reality is there are a lot more hurdles to leap over before we can get both seller and buyer to the closing table and it isn’t really any fun going through each step and having issues to deal with. Let’s take a look at the issues, what might happen and what options are available to keep the sale moving forward.

Contract Negotiations – Selling your Barrington home requires a meeting of the minds of both buyer and seller. An offer is just the start and no doubt there will be a period of negotiations at the end of which an agreement has been reached. This can be stressful as sellers feel they are giving away too much and buyers push back hard.

An up to date estimate of sales price for a seller is imperative to understand where that sales price should be. Without it you’ll likely be somewhere in the past with your numbers and until we start going up again, you are probably out of date.

When we get down to the nitty gritty numbers both buyer and seller should realize killing a sale over a couple of hundred bucks isn’t worth it. In real estate we show over and over that 95% of the time the first offer you receive and negotiate will be the best.

Home Inspection – Most likely when selling your Barrington home there will be maintenance items or repairs needed that you don’t know about. I always caution my sellers to allow for some repairs or a credit request to compensate for these items. They don’t exist until a home inspection brings them to light and it’s a very rare day that a home inspection comes in with nothing on it.

Having agreed on price it can be hard to learn about unknown repairs and the cost. Whether it’s general home inspection issues or elevated Radon readings, if you are selling your Barrington home, to be bombarded with another request for a cost reduction, in whatever form can be a wearing process.

A deep breath is in order. Take the time to think through the options, speak to your Attorney, ask your Realtor for their experience. Focus on the end goal rather than the irritating issue at hand.

Lenders and Appraisals – The inspection issues are resolved and buyers and sellers are still in the game. If your buyer is applying for a mortgage, hot on the heels of the inspection issues will be an appraisal. It can be both irritating and annoying to get into yet another debate if the appraisal comes in lower than your agreed upon contract price, but there isn’t really anything you can do about it.  You can reduce your price to match the appraisal, or basically lose the buyer.

Would it be wise to dig your heels and and so no to the price adjustment? Consider that any new buyer you get will be going through the same loan process, you may get lucky and the appraisal comes in on point, on the other hand it could be even less.

Mortgage Approval – The final stage of the process if your buyer is getting a mortgage. Sadly it’s never a slam dunk. Pre-approval letters presented with the offer are the best indicator of your buyers ability to get a mortgage, yet not every approval goes through. Only when the clear to close commitment is issued can a level of comfort set it.

Selling your Barrington home is a nail biting on the edge experience, there’s no doubt,  it’s a process all sellers have to go through with emotional ups and downs.

Fail any of the hurdles and you are back at square one. Just remember to focus on the end goal and not let the little things you can control derail your sale. If you cannot control anything then just remember it’s not your fault. You just have to move on with selling your Barrington home and look for a new buyer.

There are many smaller neighborhoods, like Chippendale offering Barrington homes close to the village in a named neighborhood. Typically smaller neighborhoods do have very similar homes. Many buyers will select several neighborhoods like this with similarities but in the same village.

Before picking your location it’s a wise buyer that doesn’t guess the budget but finds out the budget. There is nothing worse than being disappointed when you visit your choice of Barrington homes and find a house that’s wonderful but out of your price range. Now that’s established we can explore the villages that you like the best. Those can be further refined by adding other needs on your list, like school district, in town or out, small acreage, large acreage and so on.

Once your ideal location has been established, then you can start looking at Barrington homes and further adding your refinements.  Always keep in mind you might not find what you are looking for in the preferred area,  and keeping a couple of  second choice neighborhoods or villages will open up the choices. It’s not uncommon for buyers to consider the three similar neighborhoods of Kildeer, Hawthorn Woods and Long Grove.

Here’s Our Searching For Barrington Homes Success Formula

By following the following formula you’ll achieve the goal of finding your new home in less time and with less stress. Your budget should be established first so we look at the right priced Barrington homes. Then we can identify the right villages with your price range. Now you’ll be viewing Barrington homes in the right price and chosen neighborhoods, which saves a lot of wasted energy and time, a precious commodity.

Find Barrington Homes  and Village Information

Your time is precious and the beauty of the internet is the ability to get a jump start on your research.  You can find village information at our Barrington homes neighborhoods pages. Searching Barrington homes by map or criteria with our tools or signing up for a home tracker account are all easy ways to start looking at what is available.

We hope to meet you soon.

Creating a South Barrington Homes Short List

South Barrington has around 60 to 80 homes for sale at any given time. At the time of writing it is 74. Remember that when you start creating your South Barrington homes short list. If you add your price criteria it may reduce the homes to about 10 to 20, so finding everything on your wish list means you might have to wait a while to hit the jackpot. Create a short list of the homes of interest putting those that match that wish list as close as possible to the top of the list and we’ll start by viewing those first and call them the A list. After that we can move on to your B and C list.

As we view your South Barrington homes short list, if you are not finding your perfect house, consider some of the items on the wish list as you view each home. Give careful consideration to the home and the item that is missing or not quite right and ask yourself: Do I love this house so much it won’t matter so much if I don’t tick those boxes.

The target for any home buyer is to achieve 80% of the wish list, and luxury property hunting is no different.

Alternatives to South Barrington Homes

If you really cannot find what you love in the South Barrington homes for sale, do you have the time to wait? If not you might consider Barrington Hills and Inverness as alternatives. Both are adjacent and while there are distinct differences both offer similar luxury properties. Another option if you wont mind going north into Lake County is North Barrington.

You can view all the South Barrington homes for sale, search by adding your criteria, or get new listings delivered daily to your email.

South Barrington homes may not have your dream house and you might not be willing to compromise. After all it’s a sizeable investment and if you plan on staying for a while, you could always consider building your perfect place. Search vacant lots.

Buyers: If you have a home listed with any other Realtor®, either locally, in state but far away, or out of state, and you are in the market to buy a home, you are free to talk to another Realtor® about your buying plans. The agreement you currently have is an agreement to sell your current listing, not for any other transaction.

Sellers: The obvious answer is that you may talk with your listing Realtor® about your listed home at anytime. You should not discuss  the terms of your agreement with any other Realtor®, with the following exception. If you are considering changing Realtor® when your existing agreement ends, then you may approach other Realtors® to have that discussion.

Realtors®: No Realtor® may approach a seller already listed with another Realtor® to discuss the marketing of that home, to persuade the seller to change brokerages or Realtors®. In the event a seller contacts a Realtor® to discuss listing with them, the Realtor® should not use that seller instigated contact to persuade or advise the seller to attempt to cancel the current listing. The conversation should only be about how we would market your home.

Realtors® and FSBO Listings: As your home is not listed with any other Realtors® you are considered fair game and the likelihood is you may be contacted by several Realtors®.

So what should you do if your home is listed with a Barrington Realtor® and you are not happy with the service provided? Stay tuned.

When you are selling your home anything that is attached to the property is expected to stay. That includes light fixtures, window treatment hard ware, and built in shelves. In Barrington it’s also expected that you leave all the appliances, kitchen and laundry; drapes, blinds and other window treatments. When you list your Barrington IL homes for sale, we’ll go through a check list with you, so both of us understand what you are leaving.

Personal property like pool tables, hanging art and mirrors should never be a part of a real estate contract because they are not real estate.  So what to do if there is real estate you want to take and personal property you want to leave.

Let’s look at personal property first. For the most part you’ll be taking it all with you but there may be the odd item you don’t want or cannot take. If you don’t want it you cannot add it to the contract and hope. You can offer it to the buyer but if they don’t want it, you must remove it. Try Craigslist to sell off unwanted items. Items like pool tables are often an item sellers want to leave. It’s just too big to take, or the cost to have it moved is too much. The same rules apply. Offer it, sell it or remove it but don’t just leave it.

Real property you want to take. You might have a dining chandelier you don’t want to leave, or an inherited item of real property. Perhaps specially made drapes to match the baby’s room or crib decor. If there are items like this that you want to take, we need to know right at the start. My suggestion is always to remove them before we start marketing and that includes taking photos. If no-one ever sees the item, it can never be an item of contention. You might have to replace the item with a suitable alternative, leaving an empty space  is not advisable.

Pack your items now ready for the move. It’ll save confusion, misunderstanding, arguments and heartache down the way. For items you have agreed to sell or leave for the buyer, it’s always advisable to have the attorneys draw up a bill of sale so there are no problems at closing or afterwards.

Who Is and Why are you Relocating to Schaumburg?

Schaumburg is one of the larger cities in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and is also home to some large and medium sized corporations. Take Motorola for example. When we moved here I thought they were in Chicago. Not so, their headquarters is in Schaumburg. There are over 49 companies with offices in Schaumburg whose revenue is over $100 million. There are hundreds of other smaller companies. Some have headquarters here including Career Education Corporation, Corus Steel USA, Electro Wire, Navistar Financial Corporation and Zurich North America. Others have smaller offices. So it stands to reason many jobs involve relocating to Schaumburg.

Once you know you’re relocating to Schaumburg, you’ll probably think about where you are going to live. Schaumburg like most of the northwest suburbs is not surrounded by open countryside, making the choice a slam dunk. Far from it. Schaumburg is as close to the next suburbs as you can get. Travel in a 10 mile radius from Schaumburg and you’ll find: Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Hoffman Estates, Rolling Meadows, Palatine, Barrington, Mount Prospect, Elk Grove Village, Streamwood, Roselle, Bartlett and quite honestly, a whole lot more.

Relocating to Schaumburg But Living In Another Suburb

The chances are this is exactly what will happen. Most relocating families will look in all the surrounding suburbs and start making a short list depending on their needs. Things like how far you want to travel to work, schools,  employment opportunities for spouses, community leisure, size of property, and budget will all determine where to look. Once that part is done you’ll then be able to start narrowing down property choices and actually start looking at some homes.

Having an expert relocation Realtor on your side, one that has both the relocation experience but has also traveled the same path you are about to, can only serve to help you make the right choices. If you’ll be relocating to Schaumburg soon and need a helping hand with a place to call home, call Corinne today at 847-363-3686.