Realtors bet on area market
Real estate mogul Ron McColly liked to rent a plane to fly over the Joliet, Shorewood and Plainfield corridor to get a bird's-eye view of hundreds of new houses sprouting up.
That was in the good old days of 2005, when the area's "boom" was in full bloom.
Even as the housing market was slowing, however, McColly Real Estate, with 15 offices in Northwest Indiana and the Chicago Southland, opened its first Will County branch in March 2007 with a new office in Shorewood. Jeffrey Grigoletti is the managing broker there.
"This market has been on our radar screen for quite some time and was chosen because of the exponential growth that the market has experienced and the potential for even greater growth in the future. The Joliet, Shorewood, Plainfield market has been recognized as one of the top suburban growth areas in the country and we are extremely excited to become a part of it." says Ron McColly, founder/president of McColly Real Estate.
While Will County commonly comes in as one of the hardest-hit areas for foreclosures in the Chicago metro region, local Realtors still find room for optimism.
"One of the big reasons we had Shorewood on our radar screen for a long time is the huge growth since 2005," said Monica Decker, marketing director for McColly.
"We're in this business for the long haul," said Ed Prodehl, of Coldwell-Banker Honig Bell, speaking from a from a 4-year-old, 12,000-square-foot corporate office in Joliet.
"We realized a downturn would happen," he said. "We just didn't know when."
Coldwell-Banker Honig Bell added a new branch in Shorewood, with Judy Archer as the manager there, and recently built new offices in Frankfort, Lockport, Homer Glen and Channahon.
"There have been steady increases in real estate sales in the Chicago collar counties," Prodehl said. Real estate is a local business, he added.
"We haven't suffered the kind of downturn they've seen on the East Coast and a pocket of other states. What happens in other parts the country doesn't necessarily reflect what is happening here in the Midwest or in the Chicago suburban market."
Locally, the month of April showed the strongest home sales in six months. That could signal the beginning of the end of the housing slump, Prodehl said.
Between 2006 and 2007, according to the Main Street Organization of Realtors, there was nearly a 5 percent hike in the number of homes sold in the Shorewood market, Decker said.
Despite the "doom and gloom" in press accounts, there is a sliver lining, Realtors say. Motivated sellers make it a great time to buy.
Interest rates are at a historic low, hovering around 6 to 6.5 percent.
Over the past year, home prices have slipped at least 10 percent, said Kathy Bulian, of the Closers Real Estate Specialists, which recently opened a new office in Minooka. Gone are the days when sellers can routinely price homes at prices 20 percent higher than the figure they would really take.
"We just need some man-eaters to come out and buy these properties," she said.
The time is ripe for renters and first-time homeowners to get into the housing market, Realtors agree. It's also an ideal market for the "move-up" buyer, looking to upgrade to pricier digs.
"I'm telling anyone and everyone to come out and buy these properties," Bulian said.
"This is the crossroads of America, at the intersection of Highways 52, 55 and 80," Bulian said. "It will pick up, and we'll be as strong as we ever were."