Happy St Patrick's Day

Tuesday is Tour day - there was more activity today than in the previous several weeks put together. It seems the combination of the great weather and St Patrick's Day encouraged everyone to get out.

I was able to visit 18 houses today and thought these were the highlights:

1000 Michigan in Wilmette - Listed by the Coldwell Banker Evanston Central St. office. This house sits on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. The owner has a private beach, a dune between the house and lake and absolutely great views.

2519 Park Place in Evanston - built in 1990, it feels like new construction in 2006. Great layout, huge kitchen near family room, smart space all over. (Also listed by CBRB Evanston Central St.)

Inventory: Still high but, overall, pricing is getting better. There are lots of properties that should be listed lower however, that's the seller's/listing agent's call. As we say, they should "listen" to the market.

In all, Evanston is hopping - 71 open houses (vs just 39 last week) and 32 in Wilmette (vs 22 3/10.) Good increases in activity. Winnetka, only had 13 opens, roughly the same as last week (12). Now, let's look for follow-through.

Sunday Open Houses:

For the first time this weekend there was a noticeable pick-up in Sunday Open House visitors. It seemed that buyers were coming out of the city, owned their home and were eager to move north. Interestingly, many seemed to be getting "smart" about the market - they asked a lot of good questions, had a sense of what they were looking for and wanted to assign a price.

Should you hold an Open?

The Open visitors described above had a very good sense of value and were conversant in sales, actives and other good metrics. In the past, we may have treated these buyers as "shoppers"; my sense is that they are "buyers. The short answer to the question is, YES.

The Internet is key to providing exposure. I track how OH visitors learn about my opens and the overwhelming majority do so via the Internet. That's where they do their research, find comps and driving directions and make the decision to visit. But, nothing replaces the experience and emotional response they get visiting a house. So, do the open.

More to come.

DS