The Winnetka, IL residence made famous by being the home where John Hughes filmed his 1990 cult favorite “Home Alone” has sold.

Originally listed in May of 2011, the sale closed on March 8, 2012 for $1,585,000. It was represented by a wonderful agent, Marissa Hopkins, from my very own Coldwell Banker office in Highland Park, IL.

The lovely red brick Georgian has over 4200 square feet of living space and boasts 4 bedrooms and 3 full and 2 half baths. Highlights include a large master suite, beautifully updated kitchen, gorgeous architectural details, a sun room and a screened in porch. It’s on a 1/2 acre lot on a tree-lined street near the charming downtown area.

Marissa did incredible marketing, including an advertisement that looked like a movie poster – brilliant! The home had national and international exposure on television, in print, on line, via social media…There was so much excitement about the home, in fact, that when it was first listed in 2011, a Google search of “Home Alone house” garnered over 42 pages of results pertaining to its being for sale.

So why, with all of this attention and the agent’s hard work and diligence,

did it take nearly a year to sell?

The price.

The home was originally listed for $2.4 million, and the agent did everything a great agent could to ensure that everyone knew about the home (and it seems everyone did!).

But all of the media coverage in the world (and this house had it!) couldn’t sell the home because the price was out of line for the market place.

The bottom line is, educated buyers (and when I am working with buyers, I consider my job first and foremost to be that of an educator) know what the market value of the home is;  they are out there shopping and comparing your home with every other home they are seeing in their price range. Their agent presents them with comps and information so the buyers can see what a reasonable price for the home is.

Nobody wants to overpay in today’s market, no matter how much notoriety the home has.

A home is a commodity, like a stock, and it trades where the market is trading at any given time.

It’s not a product that the seller can ask any price for, based upon what that seller wants or needs, or what it cost to make the product.

Those factors are irrelevant in the sale of a home.

Real estate agents’ goals are to help their sellers net the most amount of money possible for the sale of their home. Ultimately, the decision lies with the seller as to where to price the home. Some sellers heed their agent’s advice, others don’t.

So what can we learn from this sale?

Price the home where the market is, not where you wish it was.

And when your agent presents you with the cold, hard, facts of today’s market place and recommends a price that you may not particularly like, remember the story of the “Home Alone” house.

For more information on buying, selling and renting North Shore real estate, contact me at 847-652-1902 or Stephanie.Hofman@cbexchange.com

This post is categorized under Housing Market Matters, designed to give updates and stats on the performance of the North Shore housing market.

Thanks for reading!