Chicago agents, advice needed

[Kate J.]

Hi All. I am having trouble to sell the property in north subs of Chicago. I've listed it in end of May, and had 2 offers which I stupidly turned down, as I expected it to sell for higher price. Between mid June and now I have 3 showings in total and one more really low ball offer. The July was completely dead. What should I expect? Should I take it off the market and hold till February or I should wait till the end of August? The unit is nicely staged, and had great feedback on showings. However, I have a certain feeling that the market started to go to recession, is this also your feeling?

[Bob Floss II]

@Kate J. There's always a pretty big drop off this time of year. Everyone is running around trying to squeeze in summer vacations and getting their kids ready to go back to school. Typically the last week of July and the first week or two of August is a dead zone. It should start to pick up again in another couple weeks and then the market stays relatively stable until about Thanksgiving. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas there's still some activity, but its much quieter. After Christmas its stays pretty quiet until about Martin Luther King Jr's birthday and then things start moving again.

HOWEVER, I've never been and never will be a fan of taking your property off the market. You never know when people are in a situation where they need to move and are looking for a home. 

I would not blame the market conditions and take a hard look at your property and your comps. If you've only had three offers and they are all "lowball" offers, you might be over priced. Your tying up money you could be using on the next project and lowering your bottom line by increasing your holding costs. It might be time to lower the price and move on to the next project.