We are in the middle of a historically low inventory time period in Chicago, and the far western suburbs have very few 2-4 units in general.

And our realtor told us the inventory is just so low and people are buying so fast, that’s why I’m really concerned about the deadline.

You hear the idea of an abundance mindset on the podcast a lot and after taking inventory I've realized I definitely have a scarcity mindset by default. 

Residential real estate has gone up in most markets due to people looking for bigger homes, low interest rates, low inventory, etc; however, real estate (unlike the stock market) can go up in one area and down in another.

We have seen more inventory in the last two weeks, but we are also seening even more buyers come on the market as the snow is melting..

Just as your current hot market at home, we are experiencing similar issues here with record low inventory and multiple offers and a large influx of cash buyers from California and East Coast. 

There appears to be a lot of factors that are currently (and have been) contributing to the high demand for houses and the lack of inventory, such as rock bottom interest rates, the pandemic encouraging people to move from the cities and purchase homes, etc.

We had this year in Januray about 40% less inventory than last year (pre-pandemic, already very low inventory).

Don't forget the bidding wars that are also going on now with the extreme lack of inventory & excess amount of buyers.

Right now, inventory is low, days on market low - see how many properties have sold and for how much.