In today’s real estate market, it is becoming increasingly difficult to sell homes. While many builders are no longer offering incentives such as flat screen televisions to entice buyers, individual home sellers are still trying to lure potential buyers with creative offers. 

 

One such unorthodox idea is from a seller in western Wisconsin. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Bob Fanning will name whoever purchases his home as the beneficiary of a $500,000 ten year term life insurance policy. Fanning’s home, listed at $498,900, could end up paying for itself if Fanning, 69 years old, doesn’t make it to see 2018.

 

Certainly this is a gamble for any home buyer and may not ultimately be the reason the home is purchased, but it is certainly an interesting idea that is causing the home to get some media coverage.

According to the US Census Bureau, the Dallas metro area had the largest population gain from ’06 to ’07. Texas came in with four cities in the top ten with the southwest region of the US having a total of seven cities. While the growth in the southwest is attributed to individuals and families moving into region, Chicago actually had a larger number of people move out than in. Chicago’s population increase is from a low death rate and an even higher birth rate. The rankings are:

 

Dallas               162,250                                   Charlotte           66,724

Atlanta             151,063                                   Chicago             66,231

Phoenix            132,513                                   Austin                65,880

Houston            120,544                                  Las Vegas            59,165

Riverside, CA      86,660                                   San Antonio         53,925

I came across this article in the Chicago Tribune today and I though it was good information in this election year. I posted it below…

 

 

Hillary Clinton: Calls for immediate government action to deal with the home-loan crisis. Supports plan by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) to allow homeowners to restructure at-risk mortgages, backed by Federal Housing Administration guarantees. Proposes $30 billion “second stimulus” package to help states and localities fight foreclosure moratorium on subprime owner-occupied homes. Favors increased regulation of mortgage originators.

 

Barack Obama: Supports immediate government intervention in housing crisis. Like Clinton, favors Frank-Dodd plan to provide federal loan guarantees to allow refinancing of troubled of troubled mortgages and keep people in their homes. Wants “second stimulus” of $30 billion that would include $10 billion to help people avoid foreclosure. Wants to require more transparency by financial institutions and reform the system so that federal regulatory agencies don’t overlap and compete with each other.

 

John McCain: Calls for more accountability and transparency in financial markets. Says it’s not the duty of the government to bail out banks or barrowers who acted irresponsibly, but does not rule out temporary aid for people to help them stay in their homes. Says the down payment requirement for FHA mortgages should be raised. Calls for overall reform of the system as part of any aid effort.

 

Sources: Candidate web sites, Tribune News Services and Politico.com

The Illinois Housing Development Authority is sponsoring a Homeowner Outreach day on Saturday at the DuPage Township Levy Center. The outreach day is part of a statewide initiative to help homeowners learn their options and possibly help them refinance their homes. The state’s homeowner assistance pool has funds to help homeowners with rising mortgage costs and offers refinancing loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration with favorable rates. 

 

The Homeowner Outreach Day will be held from 9am to 1pm this Saturday, April 5^th at the DuPage Township Levy Center located at 251 Canterbury, Bolingbrook. For more information call 800-532-8785 or visit www.illinois.gov.

Naperville has been named to yet another “best of list.” In its April 2008 issue, Fortune Small Business magazine named Naperville number 29 on its “100 Best Places to Live and Launch” list. The magazine examined metro areas across the country using US Census data looking for family friendly areas that also had strong small business growth. From there, they narrowed the search down to the city level.

 

Naperville was the only Illinois city to be named to the list. Our school systems were tops on our pros list and our heavy traffic was our largest negative. The magazine considered other lifestyle factors, such as parks and other public infrastructure. Business factors such as tax rates and job growth were also considered. According to their web site, Naperville “boasts the lowest municipal property tax rates in the Chicago metropolitan area, and Naperville entrepreneurs benefit from a number of state tax incentives targeting small business.” They go onto say that “in 2007, the city fielded 116 start-ups.”

 

Naperville has been recognized many times over as a wonderful place for people of all ages to live. Now it is being recognized on a national level for its small business development as well.