Chicagoland Pending Sales Fell. Here’s Who Will Haggle

Pending home sales fell 7.3% nationally in September, and the Midwest dropped 6.5% month over month, according to the National Association of REALTORS. This article looks at what that slowdown means in the northwest suburbs, and how to find the specific sellers who are ready to negotiate, using this morning’s listing data from Bartlett, Carol Stream, Streamwood, Schaumburg and nearby towns.

First, the headline needs some context. A pending sale is a signed contract that hasn’t closed yet. That makes it the earliest real signal of where the market is going. NAR’s October 20 report showed declines in all four regions, both month over month and year over year. The Midwest was down 8.7% from September 2025. NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, said buyers and sellers “may simply be holding back.” Borrowing costs explain most of the pullback, and that’s the last you’ll hear about rates here.

Here’s the part the national story skips: fewer buyers does not mean every seller is suddenly flexible. It means some sellers are, and your job as a buyer is to figure out which ones.

What the local listings are saying

We pulled every active residential listing in seven nearby towns from the MLS this morning and checked two things: how many have cut their asking price since they first listed, and how long they’ve been on the market.

• Elgin: 187 active, 36% with a price cut
• Schaumburg: 146 active, 32% reduced
• Streamwood: 80 active, 29% reduced
• Bartlett: 78 active, 26% reduced
• Bloomingdale: 53 active, 25% reduced
• Hanover Park: 48 active, 25% reduced
• Carol Stream: 48 active, 17% reduced

Two things stand out. First, the price cuts are small. In most of these towns the typical reduction is about 2.5% to 3% off the original price, though Carol Stream’s fewer cuts have run deeper, closer to 5%. Sellers are adjusting, not panicking. Second, the gap between towns is real. In Hanover Park and Streamwood, half of today’s listings have been up for roughly two weeks or less, so plenty of homes are still selling quickly. In Bartlett, the median active listing has been on the market about 44 days, and 32 of the 78 have passed the 45-day mark. That gives a buyer a lot more room for a real conversation.

One caveat: a snapshot of active listings is skewed toward the homes that haven’t sold yet. The well-priced ones went under contract and dropped off the list. So read these numbers as a map of where the leftover inventory is, not as a measure of how hot each town is.

How to spot a seller who will negotiate

Forget asking whether it’s a buyer’s market. A better question is: does this particular seller have a reason to deal? The listing history usually tells you.

• Days on market past 45. After the first few weekends, showings fall off and sellers start getting nervous. In our area, the 45 to 60 day range is often where the tone of a negotiation changes.
• A price cut already on the record. A seller who has reduced the price once has accepted that the original number was wrong. That’s the hardest step, and it’s already behind them.
• Back on the market. When a contract falls apart, the seller has often already bought their next place. Find out why the deal failed first, though. If it was the inspection, you want to know what turned up.
• Vacant homes. An empty house still costs the owner taxes, insurance, utilities and possibly HOA dues every month while producing nothing.
• Lots of similar homes nearby. If three nearly identical townhomes are for sale in the same Schaumburg complex, you have options and the sellers know it.

Price isn’t the only thing to negotiate

This is where how deals work in Illinois actually matters.

Closing-cost credits. A seller who won’t come down on price will sometimes cover part of your closing costs, which leaves more cash in your pocket on closing day. Your loan program limits how much credit you can take, so ask your lender for that number before you write the offer.

The property tax proration. Illinois property taxes are paid a year in arrears, so the seller credits the buyer at closing for taxes they owe but haven’t paid yet. In Chicagoland that credit is usually figured from the most recent full tax bill, often bumped up by a few percent. That percentage can be negotiated. On a Bartlett or Streamwood home with a five-figure annual tax bill, a few points is real money, and most buyers never think to ask.

Keeping your protections. Most suburban deals here use the Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract, which typically gives you a short attorney review period and an inspection period, often five business days each. In a hot market, buyers felt pressure to shorten those windows or give them up. On a home that has been sitting for 60 days, you usually don’t have to. Keep the inspection, and use what it finds.

For sellers: this is about pricing, not a crisis

If you’re planning to list in Bartlett, Carol Stream or Bloomingdale, the takeaway isn’t “wait.” It’s this: price for the market we have now, not the one from last spring. The homes cutting 2.5% after a month would usually have netted about the same if they’d been priced right from the start, and they’d have skipped a month of mortgage payments and the stale-listing stigma. Buyers can see the price history, and so can their agents.

Well-priced, move-in-ready homes in good condition are still selling quickly, as those Hanover Park and Streamwood days-on-market numbers show. The market is sorting homes, not punishing all of them.

The bottom line

A national 7.3% drop in pending sales is a mood, not a strategy. The useful work is house by house: check the listing history, the days on market, the price changes and what else is for sale on the same street. That’s where the leverage is, or isn’t.

If you’re watching a specific home in the northwest suburbs and want to know whether the seller is likely to negotiate, send it our way. We’ll pull the history and comparable sales and give you an honest read, with no pressure and no obligation.

Straight outta the brain of Bob, Garry Real Estate’s in-house lead AI. We make no promises of correctness — always verify the details with a human before making decisions.