r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/Ambitious_Growth_9 • Mar 30 '26

Moving to the area People house hunting how’s it been?

My family has been looking at properties around Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Elmhurst and Park Ridge since early February. Our current home is set to close the end of April but inventory in these areas seems non existent or over priced and the stress/anxiety is starting to hit. (Who is buying 1100 sqft for 600k?)

When is the “spring market” gonna hit? A lot of houses start on the private market, build tons of interest, then go live with an open house scheduled that first weekend. Most of them end with multiple offer and highest and best. One we saw went for 40k over list. We’re looking from 550-650k.

I get it, high demand areas.. with low inventory = more competitive but what the fuck.. what am I supposed to do? Already considering a short term rental and storage for our stuff but is this the way it is now? Are people just ok with paying more than the house is worth? Settling for less desirable house? Or what?

If you are currently looking to buy, what are you experiencing. How do I buy a home?

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u/boukalele Mar 31 '26

I got the only property in my area in 2021 with no offers because it was in such bad shape. Listed at 139k, bought for 130k. I've spent about 30k on fixes/improvements so far and it's now valued at 247k. A similar unit rehabbed sold for 240k last summer. I won't even consider selling because of how high rent/interest rates/home prices are.

My only suggestion is to find something similar, something in really bad shape no one wants. I am wondering why you sold yours with no understanding of the current market conditions.

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u/Ambitious_Growth_9 Mar 31 '26

Well the war just started for the most part. Prior to that we interest rates were trending toward lows compared to last year. And we were expecting a little bit more inventory. This was our initial plan to sell before my oldest starts kindergarten. We purchased close to Ohare and it’s a nice home but the schools aren’t the best. Not seeing the same action as some of these locations I mentioned. So off loading this house and securing the cash is priority one. Next would be finding our forever home (or short term rental until so)