arhome realty blog - arhome realty

5 Ways to Make Your Home Stand Out

In other words: How to get a higher price for your home. It's true - if your home stands out (in a good way), it attracts more buyers, gets more traffic, and that typically results in more interest, more offers and a higher end sale. It's important to make sure your home is truly ready for a home sale, to make the most of its market debut and get more buyers to fall in love with it. And while we generally don't recommend any major projects (exceptions abide - ask an arhome agent for the most profitable approach), the good news is there's a lot that you can control when it comes to making your home above-average. 

1. Maximize Curb Appeal

Curb appeal is one of those obvious checklist items that somehow gets overlooked in the end. Of course, it's…

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Mortgage Rates Drop Below 3%

The average rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans hit record lows this week. Mortgage News Daily reports that the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate loan is just barely above 3%; for FHA loans, its dropped all the way to 2.75%.

That’s lower than we’ve seen in many, many years.

Why are rates dropping so low?

Of course, we know the COVID-19 pandemic is involved. But according to Fed chairman Jerome Powell, this has hit the economy in ways that are worse than any typical recession. Powell stated recently: ”The scope and speed of this downturn are without modern precedent and are significantly worse than any recession since World War II.” That’s powerful.

With predictions that our economy may not recover until the end of next year, the…

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Chicago Spring Market Update

Ever since COVID-19 news hit the world, the real estate market met a significant crossroads: many people were questioning if it was a good time to sell, for safety, and what would happen to our still-strong prices. Data now backs up that we did, in fact, see a halt in the market. Especially towards the end of March, there was a drastic drop in newly listed properties - less than half of the amount listed that week last year (keep in mind, before the pandemic hit, 2020 numbers were exceeding 2019 numbers). So yes, the response was strong.

There is still good news in all of this: first off, our data shows that as of May 4, 2020, median sales prices are still higher than 2019, and haven't seen any huge shifts aside from a small dip 2 weeks ago (see…

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How We Keep Moving

In the midst of the current world situation and now the extended Illinois' stay-at-home order, we want to share with you how we're continuing to serve our agents and clients. You are not alone - we have your back now more than ever.

1) We qualify as an essential business, so we're open for anthing you need. Our admin staff is present for real-person phone conversations, transaction handling and processing deposits and closing funds. Agents are working remotely unless an essential in-person exchange is required. We're making sure you successfully make it from listing to closing while adjusting to the new normal.

2.) We're fully digital. From home evaluations to showings, documents and meetings, we can take care of it all online. All our weekly…

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COVID-19: Should I Buy or Sell?

For those who need to buy or sell real estate during COVID-19, this question might be haunting you. For those who don’t, you might be wondering if there’s something to be gained (or avoided in the future) by acting now. Although “uncertainty” has been the most popular word in this season, we put together a 4 step guide to help you weigh your options.

1.) Price

Weekly market data is showing price drops that could be related to the pandemic. The first half of March showed year-over-year price growth; the second half did too, but much slower. This could be an early market response, but if it continues, we might see further price drops in April. How much? What we know is that normally, March/April is by far the busiest season in the real estate…

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Real Estate & Reasons to Stay Positive

As the world is feeling the COVID-19 impact, it seems no industry is immune. Real Estate, above anything, is getting hit with the "worry" impact more than a physical industry disruption. Buyers nervous about job security are nervous about future mortgage payments. Sellers are nervous to let viewers inside their homes. Investors are nervous about future property values. Nervous, nervous, nervous.

But for those in search of the silver lining during these trying times, here's some good news: despite the Illinois mandatory shut down, the real estate industry is keeping up at a steady pace so far — and we have facts to prove it. For all those who need some industry encouragement, we've put together a list of positive local real estate news for our…

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Welcome to arhome realty.

Welcome to arhome. We can't wait to show you around.

American Realty & Associates, Inc. is now arhome realty. We are the same, longstanding company that has been your local resource for over 20 years - just with a new, fresh name.

The new name "arhome" has a special place in both our past and our future. The letters "ar" represent our legacy name, "American Realty" - keeping it alive. At the same time, we like to pronounce "arhome" like you'd say "our home" - because truly, we want everyone who works here, walks in here, or does business with us to feel like they are at home. "arhome" is your home, and we want to take care of your home like you're family.

We are ready to move into the future of real estate, with all the technology and…

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The New Remine Tax Portal is Here!

And we're training! Remine Pro, our new property tax data portal, is officially launching in full-swing starting 2020. We hosted 2 days of classes to train our agents in all the powerful tools that this new system will provide.

Remine gives our Realtors® access to 200+ public records data to help better service our clients. With data, flood maps and more at our fingertips, we are increasingly valuable in what we bring to the table to help sell your property, or to help you buy the right place.

Each day we had the same session reviewed, to make sure everyone had a chance to come to the training. We discussed each step of the program, how to make the most of each tool and how to find all the data we have been used to seeing in our retiring…

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Fall Listing Power Class

Our Fall-Themed Listing Power class this weekend gave our agents a STRONG set of skills to master the listing presentation. We make sure that our agents are trained and ready to walk into any home and know the best strategy to make it sell quickly. From listing price to staging, our agents were trained on mastering the full marketing package to give our clients the best selling experience. And yes, Saturday morning brunch was served! 

Hiring a well-informed agent is the only way to have the peace of mind in your property sale. More than that, we encourage our clients to take the advice of our agents seriously. We're trained and experienced, and we will help your property sell for the best price. 

To get in touch with one of our agents,…

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Marketing LIVE

Marketing LIVE

Attention agents! Our weekly social media marketing workshops are now broadcast via Facebook LIVE every Friday. All American Realty & Associates, Inc. agents have access to these tutorials either live as they are broadcast or later for review.

This week's tutorial explained custom social media post creation with all the tools that are available for agents to effectively create their personal brand and market themselves on social media channels. Are you craving more online exposure? Do you want to create custom, personalized, and unique posts that beautifully market your services and also save you time? Then these classes are for you. Every week, in person or online.

Want to join our team? Weekly marketing workshops are free for…

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