5 Things to Know about Buying A House at A Golf Course

The idea of life on a golf course is a dream to many prospective homebuyers. Through each window, a golf course can create lush picture-perfect views of vast, meticulously maintained lawns. In fact, in many neighborhoods and towns, golf course homes offer the best vistas available. Another benefit is that houses are often sited so that neighbors are not directly visible, and all views face the fairway. Best of all, for avid golfers, owning a house at a golf course means that their next round of play is right outside.

In home buying, what seems ideal seldom is. It’s important to consider the pros and cons of living next to a golf course, especially if you’ve never lived on a course. Here are the top five things to keep in mind when hunting for your golf course home:

1. Courses are maintained, early and often. Lawns must be cut and tended to in the morning, before rounds are played. That means that groundskeepers are out on the course before sunrise. In places with a year-round golf season, putting greens are usually maintained every day. If a master bedroom window faces a green, headlights from golf carts and riding mowers will blaze through. The engine noises will be heard as well.
The fix: If you’re a sound sleeper, no worries. If you’re a light sleeper, make sure that your home is located on a fairway and relatively distant from greens and tee boxes that require more maintenance. Select a property that positions your master bedroom away from the course or look for window treatments such as blackout curtains. You may even want to consider investing in a white noise machine.
2. Pay attention to location of cart paths when house hunting. Many courses built in residential developments are lined on both sides by houses. The path for golf carts will run along one side of the fairway from tee box to green. If a cart path is directly behind a home, golf carts will be zipping by all day. This can be more than a little disruptive to the otherwise serene setting a golf course affords.
The fix: Proximity to a cart path does affect housing lot desirability and this should be reflected in the price of a home. Sometimes a house in one of these “high-traffic areas” will be a great deal. Good landscaping can block out some disturbance, but will also block views from the ground level. Smart positioning of outdoor features like decks, pools, hot tubs and other water features is a must to minimize the disruption of carts zooming by.
3. Tee boxes and greens are regular stopping points. Every golfer will park his or her cart at every tee box and putting green during a round of play. If a house is located near these course elements, players will be stopping near your home throughout the day. Their chatting and laughter will be audible, and their loud golf pants will be visible. If a house is on a cart path near a tee box or green, carts will park on the path regularly.
The fix: Where there’s a golf course, there are golfers. This will always be true. So when viewing a house at a golf course, always sit out back or facing the course and wait for a foursome to play through. Take note of where they park their carts and how much noise they make while playing. If you’re not comfortable with the noise and motion of the golfers, then the house is not for you.
4. Understand all of the deed restrictions. One of the potential cons of living next to a golf course is that homes are almost always in deed-restricted communities where certain aspects of home maintenance and modification are regulated by a homeowners’ association (HOA). In order to maintain a certain look and feel of the course, house exterior paint colors usually need to be selected from a limited palette. You probably can’t put a swing set in your backyard, facing the course. Landscaping requirements may mandate that a certain density of trees be planted on your property and which species are acceptable – this may seem un-American, but it is rather common. In golf course communities, homeowners tend to have visible pride of ownership and take these rules very seriously. Golfers who can see your house from the course may complain to the community or HOA if they notice that you’re behind on maintenance.
The fix: If you like the feel of a neighborhood, aspects of the deed restrictions probably appeal to you. It means that many qualities of the neighborhood will be retained for years. Always request the HOA documents and read through them when contemplating the purchase of a golf course house that is part of a deed-restricted community. These documents are often available online. If the rules don’t work for you, look elsewhere.
5. Golf course land is often off-limits for non-golf activities. Golf courses are great for playing golf, but can’t be used for much else. Recreational walking or biking on cart paths is forbidden at almost all courses. You can’t walk your dog along a fairway.
The fix: If you like to walk or bike, make sure that a golf course community also serves these needs as well. Even if you live on a golf course, you won’t play every day, and your golf course home should meet the needs of a well-balanced life.
There’s no question that having a house at golf course provides a great quality of life for many people. If you think a golf course home might be right for you, just remember to weigh the pros and cons and carefully research specific properties before taking the leap into homeownership. Then you can enjoy all the perks of living next to golf course views.


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Provided by Katie Oakes Keller Williams Premiere Properties

Wheaton Housing Market Trends

2012 shows signs of an improving housing market as the U.S. economy continues its forward-moving yet slow road to recovery. The Wheaton housing market appears to be no different. In January of 2011 there were 22 homes sold resulting in a median sale price of $237,000. The data is in for this past month, January 2012, and the results are promising with 29 homes sold for that month at an average sale price of $305,000. These numbers show not only growth in the number of homes sold with a 32% increase, but they also show a 22% increase in the median sale price of homes in Wheaton.

The housing inventory in Wheaton also shows signs of improvement. Looking at the numbers again from January 2011 in comparison with January 2012, the    numbers of homes on the market appear to be steadily decreasing and homes pending sale. In January 2011 there were 603 homes for sale while in January 2012 that number has dropped by 21% to 477 homes.  The amount of homes under  contract to be sold in January 2011 was 32 but has now increased by 28% in January 2012 to 41 homes.



The graph depicts the listing invesntory of homes for sale, homes that are pending closing, and homes that have closed in Wheaton from January 2010 to Janurary 2012. Red shows homes that are for sale, blue represents the homes under contract to close, and the green homes depict homes that have sold.


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How to Choose a Contractor for Your Next Home Remodel

There are referrals and recommendations. Referrals come out of the phone book, off the side of a pickup, from a business card tacked up at the home center. They say who the contractors are but not anything about them. Recommendations carry a judgment, good or bad, and a lot more weight. Instead of saying check the board for business cards, the lumberyard manager says that contractor has been buying here for 25 years, always working, knows his stuff. The best recommendations come from friends and neighbors who have had similar work done, tell you how the job went and let you see the results.

Collect pre-screened names from groups like the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. Enter your ZIP code on their sites to see names of local members. Generally, contractors who go through the process of joining national groups and staying active in local chapters have been around for a while — and in the same place. It's difficult to do that through good times and bad unless you're doing a reasonably good job. Online services like Angie's List and Service Magic can provide names. But you don't know the standards of people writing the reviews. They may know almost everything or next to nothing about remodeling and judge jobs very differently than you would.

Interview specs. Referrals and recommendations can steer you in the right direction but can't guarantee great results. More homework is the best bet. Whittle down the list by checking names with local consumer agencies and the Better Business Bureau. If a remodeling contractor has a website, see if it posts the license number, insurance coverage and years in business. Then ask the few at the top of your list to look at the job. Prepare for the interviews on two fronts. First list the job components. You don't have to be a construction expert or even a DIYer to do it. Just be specific. Instead of listing 'new tile floor' pick a product and note the manufacturer, model and size. You can always substitute a similar product before going to contract.

On the second front, prepare a list of the information you'll want about the contractor. It should include his occupational license, proof of insurance (two kinds, for property damage and workman's compensation), years in business and contact information about recent projects. Let each contractor know that you're soliciting other estimates. There's nothing wrong with competition. Don't assume the contractor will handle permits or cart away construction debris. Ask how that works. On both counts — the specs and the occupational questions — look for straightforward answers in plain language. After all, if you have trouble communicating at this stage, chances are it will only be worse once the job starts.--

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Information and education aid remodel negotiations
By Mike McClintock, Special to Tribune Newspapers

February 2, 2012

9 Steps to Buying a Home

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Step 1 – Get ready to buy a home
There are several things you need to contemplate before beginning your home search. When you begin your search, you'll probably want to form an outline of must-haves, get a feeling for what neighborhoods and school districts you'd like to live in, and begin working on your budget. A good rule to go by is that your mortgage payment should be close to a third of your net monthly income.

Step 2 – Get with a real estate agent in Chicagoland.
That's where I come in. I'd be more than happy to schedule a time to meet with you and communicate with you about why you want to buy a home and get an idea of your plans for the future. We'll talk about everything from neighborhoods, school districts in the Chicagoland area, the mortgage industry, to any other economic factors that might affect your buying decision today or in the future.

I can also help you get started on your loan. There are some very good mortgage professionals in Chicagoland, and I partner with a lot of them, so you'll be in great hands. They'll help you decide which kind of loan is best for you, as well as help you get qualified.

Step 3 – Start house-hunting
After we meet, I'll begin looking for available homes on the market that are a good fit for you. I'll get a sneak peek of many of the homes and exclude the bad ones, and then we'll schedule appointments to view the houses when it's convenient for you.
Step 4 – Understand the housing market
An agent's awareness of the Chicagoland area market is an essential component in your house search. And I assure you I'm informed of all the school districts and neighborhoods, and I will alert you to which neighborhoods are "hot" and require prompt action and the ones that are "cold" and allow for cautiousness.

Step 5 – Find the house you've been waiting for
I'm sure we'll find the house of your dreams in the Chicagoland area. When we do, I'll create your purchase offer. The offer will be tailored to suit your needs, including some contingencies, such as acquiring financing, carrying out the inspection, and a clear title. When we present your purchase offer, you'll want to present "earnest money." This is a cash deposit submitted to the home seller to secure an offer to purchase the property. The amount is often put towards the closing costs. If your offer is accepted, we should close on the property about 30 to 60 days after. This allows plenty of time for your mortgage financing.

Step 6 – Negotiate the deal
Most deals don't close on the first offer. It's widely common to receive a counter offer. But don't let this discourage you. We'll consider whether or not to take the counter offer, present our own counter offer, or refuse the seller's offer and move on.

Market circumstances determine how aggressively we negotiate the deal. We'll also work within your financing constraints. And at the end of the day, we'll create a contract that is best for you.

Step 7 – Get a loan
Upon finishing the contract, you'll start working with your mortgage lender to close the loan. This shouldn't take much time at all if you're already pre-qualified, but you need to stay in close contact with your mortgage lender. And I'll handle all the property information your mortgage lender will need to close the loan.

Step 8 – Close the deal
Your lender will send you a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) detailing closing costs within three days of receiving your loan application. You'll get a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) of your closing costs from your lender within three days of getting your loan application. The estimate is based on the loan amount, and RESPA requirements require that it has to contain all closing costs and be within a tight range of accuracy. I'll analyze the estimate and let you know if everything looks all right.

Then it's time to close on your house. This will most often occur at a title company or escrow office and is often a smooth and easygoing occurrence.

Step 9 – Move in
Congratulations! Now you can move into your new home. Enjoy it. And if you need anything, just contact me at (630) 545-9860-6633 or email me!

New Listing in Cortland! USDA Loan Approved Area

2 1 8    S.   O A K    S T R E E T ,  C O R T L A N D,   I L

Come check out this like new construction built in 2007 at an unbelieveable price. A beautiful home that has been well-kept. Enjoy the high end finishes to this home including six panel doors, high ceilings, a second floor laundry, vaulted ceiling and much more. Also includes a spacious 2 car garage and a patio overlooking endless and open land to the east. The unfinished full basement is perfect for future additional living space. To check out all of the property details and interior pictures check out 218 S Oak's website.

Purchase this home for 0% down with a USDA loan. Call or email Katie Oakes at Keller Williams to find out more information. KatieOakes@WheatonHomes4Sale.com and 630.545.9860

Looking for something different? Looking to buy somewhere else? Check out the FREE property search available at WheatonHomes4Sale.com.



Call Katie Oakes at Keller Williams Premiere Properties for more information at 630-545-9860.