Summer Homebuying Is Back — And It Is Not Playing Around

Packed open houses. Offers above asking price. Buyers fighting over a limited number of listings. Yep — it's summer in the Chicago-area housing market, and if you were hoping for a quiet, laid-back buying season this year, I've got some news for you.

According to a fresh report from Illinois Realtors picked up by the Chicago Tribune, the summer homebuying season is decidedly on. Open houses are drawing crowds, competition is real, and the number one culprit driving prices up? Same as it's been for two-plus years: not enough homes for sale. Within the nine-county Chicago metro area, inventory is still stubbornly thin, and that supply squeeze is doing exactly what you'd expect — putting upward pressure on prices and shortening the window buyers have to make decisions.

What "above asking price" actually means right now

Before anyone spirals: "offers above asking" doesn't mean every house is triggering a bidding war. It means well-priced homes in good condition — especially in suburbs with strong school districts, walkable downtowns, or easy Metra access — are not sitting around waiting to be discovered. Buyers who show up to an open house on Saturday thinking they'll "sleep on it" are frequently waking up Sunday to a "Sorry, it's under contract" text.

In the NW suburbs, that dynamic is especially true for the sub-$400K range. First-time buyers are out in force. Move-up buyers who locked in low rates years ago are reluctant to sell, which keeps that mid-market tight. And lifestyle buyers relocating from other parts of the metro are eyeing Algonquin, Huntley, Crystal Lake, and Carpentersville with fresh eyes — attracted by the space, the price point relative to the city, and the quality of life out here.

What this means for you — buyer or seller

If you're selling: this is not the moment to overprice and test the market. Buyers in 2026 are smart, they've been watching, and an overpriced listing sits. Price it right out of the gate, prep the house like you care (because buyers absolutely notice), and you will almost certainly have multiple offers within the first weekend.

If you're buying: get your pre-approval in hand before you walk into a single showing — not after. Know your ceiling. Know the neighborhoods you're flexible on. And please, for the love of all that is holy, don't ghost your agent when a good listing hits. Speed still matters in this market, and "let me think about it" has a shelf life of roughly 36 hours.

The good news? There are still deals to be had if you're strategic. Homes with issues — funkier floor plans, deferred maintenance, awkward locations — are sitting longer and coming down in price. That's actually opportunity if you know what you're looking for.

Twenty years in this business and I'll tell you: the buyers who win in a market like this are the ones who come prepared, move decisively, and have a REALTOR who picks up the phone. Just saying.

--- POST: Woodstock Wants a TIF District for the Die Cast Site — Here's What the Fight Is Really About

Woodstock Wants a TIF District for the Die Cast Site — Here's What the Fight Is Really About

Woodstock is floating a Tax Increment Financing district to finally get something built on the old Die Cast property downtown. The school districts are pushing back. And anyone who owns — or wants to own — a home near Woodstock's square should be paying attention.

If you've driven through Woodstock lately, you know the Die Cast area. It's the kind of downtown parcel that has been "about to be redeveloped" for what feels like approximately one geological epoch. The city is now proposing a TIF district as the tool to finally make something happen there — a mechanism that redirects future property tax growth from the area into a fund for infrastructure and development incentives, rather than distributing it to taxing bodies like schools and parks.

And that last part? That's exactly why the school districts are not exactly popping champagne.

TIF districts: the Reader's Digest version

Here's how a TIF works without the policy-speak coma: you freeze the assessed value of a blighted or underutilized area at what it is today. Any new tax revenue generated above that frozen baseline gets captured in a TIF fund the city controls. Schools, park districts, libraries — they keep collecting based on the old frozen value, but they don't see a dime of the new growth until the TIF expires (usually 23 years).

From the city's perspective, that captured increment is the carrot they use to attract developers. From the school district's perspective, TIF means years of watching new residents move into a redeveloped area — bringing kids who need teachers and supplies — while their tax revenue from that area is legally withheld. It's not an unreasonable grievance.

Woodstock's school districts are doing exactly what they're supposed to do: object loudly and early. Whether that objection changes the outcome depends on the Joint Review Board process, which gives taxing bodies a formal vote on whether the TIF meets the statutory "but for" test — meaning development wouldn't happen but for the TIF incentive.

Why this matters for home values in Woodstock

Here's the angle nobody leads with: a successful TIF redevelopment of the Die Cast area would be a genuine win for Woodstock homeowners. Downtown vitality directly props up surrounding residential values. If that old industrial site becomes housing, mixed-use, or commercial space that draws foot traffic to the square, properties within a mile radius benefit.

The risk of doing nothing is that the parcel sits idle for another decade, which is its own kind of drag on neighborhood perception. Cities that leave prominent downtown sites fallow tend to attract more hand-wringing on NextDoor and fewer buyers willing to pay premium prices.

This is early innings. The TIF proposal will go through the process, the school districts will negotiate, and there will likely be an amended deal. That's how these things work in Illinois — loud, messy, ultimately compromised. Watch for it at city council meetings if you're a stakeholder in Woodstock real estate.

As someone who's sold homes in Woodstock for two decades, I'll tell you: a vibrant downtown square is one of the strongest selling points this area has. Whatever it takes to get the Die Cast site off the bench is worth working through.

--- POST: Twenty Years of Ribs, Live Music, and Rotary Vibes: Lake in the Hills Ribfest Is Back July 9–12

Twenty Years of Ribs, Live Music, and Rotary Vibes: Lake in the Hills Ribfest Is Back July 9–12

Twenty years of smoke, sauce, and live music at Sunset Park — and the Rockin' Rotary Ribfest shows no signs of slowing down. This week is your reminder that living in the NW suburbs in July is pretty much undefeated.

If you've somehow never made it to the Lake in the Hills Rockin' Rotary Ribfest, first of all: we need to talk. Second of all: you've got four more days to fix that. The festival runs July 9–12 at Sunset Park in Lake in the Hills, and this year it's especially worth celebrating — it's the 20th anniversary of an event that has become one of the signature summer traditions in McHenry County.

According to the Daily Herald, a new generation is stepping up to put the event together this year, which is exactly the kind of community continuity that makes you feel good about where you live. Twenty years is a serious run for a volunteer-organized festival. That kind of longevity doesn't happen by accident — it happens when a town genuinely shows up and cares about the same things year after year.

What you'll find at Sunset Park this week

Ribfest is exactly what it sounds like and exactly what you want in mid-July: competitive BBQ vendors, cold drinks, live music across multiple days, and the particular kind of easy, lawn-chair community energy that the suburbs do better than most places care to admit. Families with strollers, retirees with lawn chairs, teenagers wandering in packs — it's the whole tapestry, and the food actually slaps.

Shaw Local's roundup of McHenry County events this week also notes the festival alongside McHenry Fiesta Days and a Yacht Rock Party — so if you're looking to stretch your summer event calendar across multiple weekends, you're in luck.

Why events like this matter to your real estate

I talk about this a lot and I'll keep talking about it: community events are a direct indicator of neighborhood quality of life, which is a direct driver of demand, which is a direct driver of home values. Nobody moves to a neighborhood with no pulse. Twenty years of Ribfest means twenty years of community investment, twenty years of the Rotary Club putting in the work, and twenty years of residents choosing to show up for each other.

Lake in the Hills is a genuinely underrated suburb in this area. Good location, solid infrastructure, community pride — and now a 20-year festival tradition to hang your hat on. If you're considering the area as a place to buy, come out this week and see for yourself what the vibe is. It tells you more than any listing description ever will.

See you at Sunset Park. I'll be the one with the pulled pork and a strong opinion about which vendor won.

--- POST: July Home Hacks: Spider Deterrents, Hidden Storage, and Open-Floor-Plan Privacy on the Cheap

July Home Hacks: Spider Deterrents, Hidden Storage, and Open-Floor-Plan Privacy on the Cheap

Summer in the NW suburbs means backyard cookouts, open windows, and — if you're not careful — spiders establishing permanent residence in your mudroom. Let's talk about what's actually worth doing to your house this month.

I sift through a lot of home improvement content so you don't have to. Most of it is fluff. But this week's batch of home hacks is legitimately useful — the kind of stuff that costs almost nothing and makes your house either show better, function better, or both. Which, if you're even vaguely thinking about putting your house on the market in the next year, matters more than you think.

Hack #1: Keep spiders out with citrus peels (yes, really)

Tom's Guide is reporting on a trick that sounds too good to be true but apparently has real legs: citrus peels placed along windowsills, doorframes, and basement entry points act as a natural spider deterrent. Spiders hate the limonene in citrus — it messes with their sensors. You can use orange, lemon, or lime peels, swap them out every few days, and skip the chemical sprays entirely.

July is prime spider season in Illinois — they're looking for water and shade, which is a description of your house on a hot day. This is a ten-second fix that actually works, won't stink up your home (quite the opposite), and is safe around kids and pets. Just don't use it near food prep surfaces. You're not making a cocktail.

Hack #2: You have more storage space than you think

Good Housekeeping's pros put together a roundup of the most overlooked storage spaces in a typical home, and the list is humbling. The back of cabinet doors. The space above kitchen cabinets. The gap between the fridge and the wall. Under beds — properly, with flat storage containers. The backs of closet doors with over-the-door organizers. Space in the toe-kick beneath lower kitchen cabinets, which can be converted to pull-out drawers.

Here's why this matters beyond just "your house feels cleaner": when I walk through a home with a buyer, storage is in the top three things they evaluate — alongside kitchen and master bath. Maximizing visible storage before you list is one of the simplest, cheapest moves you can make to improve how a buyer perceives the home's functionality.

Hack #3: Privacy in an open floor plan (without tearing down a wall — or building one)

Open floor plans are still everywhere in the NW suburbs, especially in homes built in the 90s and 2000s. They're great for entertaining. They're less great when you need five minutes of quiet and you can see straight from the front door to the back fence. AOL ran a good roundup of no-remodel privacy solutions this week: tall plants, curtain panels hung from ceiling-mounted rods, open bookshelves as room dividers, and lattice-style screens with trailing greenery.

The curtain-as-divider trick in particular is having a moment. You can use a ceiling-mounted tension rod or a simple curtain track to create a soft, movable partition between your living and dining areas — or between a home office nook and the main living space. It looks intentional when done right, it's reversible, and it photographs beautifully if you're listing.

Also: if you have pets and the laundry situation is out of control, a plain dryer sheet run over clothing before you toss it in the wash actually does help loosen pet hair before the cycle starts, per Good Housekeeping's cleaning lab tests. Tried it. Works. Annoyed I didn't know this sooner.

Small fixes compound. A house that's organized, smells good, and looks intentional — even in the details — shows better, sells faster, and gets better offers. That's just the reality. Feel free to steal all of these.