McCarty's Mill Subdivision is inexorably linked to Arrow Wood Subdivision by both common area (the two are connected on pretty much every street) and style of homes. Built in the late 1990's and early 2000's and somewhat larger than it's sister subdivision - McCarty's Mill features well-built homes that are slightly smaller than the neighboring Arrow Wood homes built by Pulte. Many of the homes in McCarty's Mill include fairly generous back yards and basements are almost standard. In 2006, a total of 6 homes sold in this subdivision, ranging on the low end from $220,000 for a 3BR 1.5BA home with partial basement, up to $244,000 for a 4BR 2.5BA Finished Basement home. This is up from 2005 where prices ranged from $204,000 to $237,900. Both subdivisions feature great housing values and fu... 02/22/2007

Kensington Lakes Subdivision features perhaps 125 homes on the west side of Randall Road just south of Indian Trail. In 2006, only 8 homes sold in the subdivision - down from 11 in 2005. Prices were up in 2006, with the lowest sales price realizing $269,900 and the highest $293,000. This is up from 2005 prices where the low price represents a bankruptcy sale at $217,500 and the high end was $273,000. This was a fairly significant increase in sales price ranges over 2006 - a year that saw prices of Aurora Real Estate in other parts of the city fall 5-10%. However, the community of Kensington Lakes still offers attractive home values and large floorplans as well as other desireable features like brick elevations and pond views. 02/20/2007

Arrow Wood Subdivision is another area that I'm particularly interested in tracking market trends. This is a difficult subdivision to track because it's completely blended with the McCarty's Mill subdivision. In 2006, only one home sold in Arrow Wood for $263,000 - the highest value yet realized by a home in this subdivision. 2005 saw 4 homes sell in Arrow Wood. Due to the small size of this subdivsion, there are usually not many homes on the market from year to year, yet values look like they are continuing to climb despite the slowdown of 2006. For more information about this subdivision or other Aurora IL Real Estate communities, please visit my Aurora Real Estate website. 02/14/2007

Golden Oaks Subdivision happens to be one of the communities I actively farm, so the local market trends for the area are particularly important to me. 29 Homes sold in Golden Oaks in 2006 - down from an average of 35. Prices in Golden Oaks continued to go up in 2006, unlike other areas. The min sales price in the subdivision in 2005 was $178,000 while it rose to $194,000 in 2006. While the highest price yet recorded in the subdivision was in 2005 for $254,000, 2 of the top 10 sales prices in Golden Oaks were realized in 2006 - the average price of homes has definately continued to rise. The highest sales price in Golden Oaks in 2006 was an Ebony model home with full finished basement and pond view for $239,900. To learn more about this subdivision and other area communities, please vis... 02/14/2007

Golden Oaks subdivision is located on the SE corner of Randall Road and Sullivan Road. It's about 400 homes built by Pulte in the early to mid 1990's. Golden Oaks is considered a hot subdivision for first-time buyers because of reasonable home prices and solid construction. Because of this, there is often a lot of turnover every year in Golden oaks as first time homebuyers seek Aurora IL real estate to move up into.In 2006, fewer than average homes sold in Golden Oaks. While an average year would see nearly 35 homes sell, in the past 12 months, only 26 homes have sold. Sales prices range from a low of $197,000 for an Applewood model home on a slab to $239,900 for an Ebony model home with a finished basement and pond views. Basements were a hot commodity in Golden Oaks in 2006 - often ye... 02/12/2007

January Market Conditions - Aurora Real EstateDetached Style The median price of homes in Aurora was steady in the month of January, staying at $224,900. On the other hand, the average price of homes sold during the month of January rose from $187,750 in December to $199,000 - a fair recovery from the sharp drop at the end of 2006. The number of homes on the market rose in the month of January, from 1,143 units in December to 1,220. This reinforces our theory that our spring market actually started early this year - at the end of January and the spike in units on the market is part of the results. Unfortunately the number of homes sold during January dropped sharply from 140 to 97 - a two year low. Despite this increase in homes on the market, the month of January posed an overall reduc... 02/06/2007

The City of Aurora, also called the "City of Lights" is giving homeowners 60 days to remove holiday decorations or face escalating fines - starting at $50 for the first act of non-compliance. Voted into existence in early 2006, the ordinance has drawn ire from both local and national media. It isn't clear when the 60 days actually run out - 60 days after Christmas Day or 60 days after New Years? Of course this isn't the only ingenious method the city has come up with to make money off of its residents. This past summer, Aurora again enacted lawn watering restrictions. This, in and of itself is a great thing - however, they neglected to post any signs about it. In the past, signs were posted in each neighborhood spelling out the restrictions and when it was permissible to water. This yea... 01/08/2007

Aurora, IllinoisAurora Illinois was founded in 1834 by the McCarty brothers, Joseph and Samuel from New York. Real estate played a big part in Aurora's beginnings - the brothers were looking for a place to build a sawmill and the Fox River afforded them the perfect opportunity. They bought real estate from the government and several squatters east of the Fox River and named the new community McCarty Mills. The budding town soon became a stagecoach stop on the road from Chicago to destinations west. In 1854 a town named Hartford started to grow on the west side of the Fox River. In 1856, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad relocated its construction and repair shops to the community, boosting industry and population as well as forming a large transportation inlet into the area. T... 01/07/2007

December Market Conditions Detached Style Single-Family Homes The median price of homes on the market in Aurora rose slightly in the month of December, going from $224,900 in November to $226,900 in December. That's the good news. Unfortunately, the average price of homes sold during the same period fell sharply from $207,500 in October to $186,250 - a $21,250 drop in the median and the lowest figure since January of 2005. The number of homes on the market again dropped substantially during the month of December, from 1,304 units to 1,127. During that time, the number of homes sold rose slightly from 130 to 134 - have we hit the bottom and started the rebound yet? Fairly flat sales in the month of December caused a slight spike in inventory levels - up to 7.6 months from 7.1 in November... 01/07/2007

CLOSED LISTINGS - Land  MLS #Street #CPStr NameCityAreaList PriceSold PrClosed DateAcreageAZNSLN #LOStatus Date1  052481230 MCDONALD AVEAURORA507$75,000$65,00011/06/20060R1 3104011/06/20062  062934981846 Bilter RoadAURORA507$269,500$215,00011/08/20062.25RESIDENTIAL 3009011/09/2006 11/14/2006

CLOSED LISTINGS - Two to Four Units  MLS #Street #CPStr NameCityAreaList PriceSold PrClosed DateTNUBR1BR2BR3BR4LOPKN/CARSStatus Date1  06290398709 GROVE STAURORA507$149,900$150,00011/13/2006222  31950G/211/14/20062  06310115736 SUPERIOR STAURORA507$189,900$191,00011/10/2006251  23264G/211/10/20063  06265238629SFourth St.AURORA507$245,900$230,00011/06/2006222  23076G/211/06/2006 11/14/2006

CLOSED LISTINGS - Attached Single  MLS #Street #CPStr NameUnit #CityArea# RmsBedsBathsLOList PriceSold PrClosed DateStatus Date1  06229857129NGREGORY STREET11AURORA507521.122993$118,900$117,00011/13/200611/13/20062  062968971050NFARNSWORTH111AURORA50752224451$125,000$105,00011/10/200611/11/20063  062121761256 MARYWOOD CTBAURORA507421.122218$139,900$144,90011/13/200611/13/20064  062378391013WCascade Drive1013AURORA507632.18101$141,000$137,90011/08/200611/08/20065  06239918112 RAINTREE Court112AURORA507521.123030$144,900$142,00011/10/200611/13/20066  062873361269 MARYWOOD CT0AURORA507421.122218$154,900$144,90011/13/200611/13/20067  06289601334 DRIFTWOOD334AURORA507731.123030$159,900$159,90010/31/200611/01/20068  06049218741 old indian trail741AURORA507531.121535$163,000$155,00011/01/20061... 11/14/2006

CLOSED LISTINGS - Detached Single  MLS #Street #CPStr NameCityArea# RmsBedsBathsLOList PriceSold PrClosed DateStatus Date1  062699531208 GatesAURORA5074217390$124,900$126,00011/07/200611/07/20062  062989071112SFOURTH ST.AURORA50752131040$125,000$125,00011/13/200611/13/20063  06209032519 IOWAAURORA50763122818$135,000$133,00011/03/200611/05/20064  06300922114 WARREN AVEAURORA50752131220$137,900$140,00011/03/200611/04/20065  06302214617 HANKES AVEAURORA50753131360$139,900$139,00011/03/200611/03/20066  062854771017 BangsAURORA507621.131020$139,900$139,90011/06/200611/06/20067  06255575500NLancaster AvenueAURORA50753174$140,000$100,00010/30/200611/04/20068  06292363550 WebsterAURORA50773131580$144,900$144,00010/31/200611/01/20069  062903671316 FRONT STAURORA50752131980$147,000$147,00010/31/2... 11/14/2006

I had a newbie agent call me the other day for feedback. Unusual, no, not really. Until he asked me the following:"Did I notice anything unusual in the bedrooms?" So, I asked him what he meant. And he told me this:"I think that someone is living inside the house. The drapes are jumbled up on the floor and there's cigarettes and ashes around the place."So, I asked if he was aware that he could look up the names of the agents showing the property and the date that they showed. "No," he said. Yup, good old GE has a secure website and you can get all sorts of showing information.Now, the fact that I had shown the house a month ago...and he was only just now calling. Hmmmmmm. He said that he had just picked up cards. Could this mean that he hadn't checked the house out in a month?So, I sugge... 10/16/2006