Deal Estate - January 2012

01/31/12

Rodkin on Why Sellers Ignore Offers

Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Tom from the West Loop asks why a seller would ignore a reasonable offer from a potential homebuyer.

Posted at 2:04 PM in DEQ's | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/30/12

On the Waterfront, Four Big Sales

In the past month, four multimillion-dollar homes on the North Shore lakefront have been sold—more than were sold in any single month in 2011. The quartet ranged in price from $2.325 million to $7.5 million, and they all shared views out over Lake Michigan...

Posted at 9:30 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/26/12

The Queen of Terra Cotta Row

List Price: $2.495 million
The Property: During its heyday in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company made Chicago the capital of architectural ornamentation. The company’s officers weren’t shy about using their products on their homes on Terra Cotta Row, a cluster of four homes on the 1000 block of West Oakdale in Lake View...

Posted at 10:28 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (2)

01/25/12

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Heller House Hits the Market Today

After being on sale informally for a couple of weeks, a treasured Frank Lloyd Wright design in Hyde Park, the Isidore H. Heller House, officially hits the market today. Completed in 1897, the residence signaled Wright’s turn away from the richly ornamented style of his boss, Louis Sullivan...

Posted at 9:35 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (9)

01/24/12

Rodkin on All-Cash Home Purchases

Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Jennifer from Hyde Park asks about homebuyers who pay in cash.

Posted at 2:45 PM in DEQ's | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/23/12

Naperville Remembers the Alamo

List Price: $898,000
Sale Price: $800,000
The Property: The theatrical façade of this 12-room house in the East Highlands neighborhood of Naperville reminds me of the Alamo—or what that Texas landmark might look like if renovated into a single-family home...

Posted at 9:35 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/19/12

A Passage to India—via Lake Forest

List Price: $6.495 million
The Property: On a bitterly cold day, a welcoming home can transport visitors to a better place. At this Lake Forest estate, that place is an idealized version of India in the 1890s. The home’s entire central hallway, about 25 feet long, is papered with a Zuber wallpaper panorama called Hindustan that was installed when the home was owned by the family of William A. P. Pullman, from 1926 to 1992...

Posted at 10:03 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/18/12

The Housing Crisis: The Fix Isn’t In

It’s a sign of simmering frustration over the housing crisis—now in its second half-decade—that Jamie Dimon, one of the nation’s top bank executives, complained last Friday that “there is no one really in charge” of fixing the problem. “It is just kind of sitting there,” he said. The Obama administration also signaled this week that it hasn’t done enough to help homeowners...

Posted at 9:35 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/17/12

Rodkin on Refinancing and PMI

Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Mike from Beverly asks if PMI is becoming a trend when refinancing.

Posted at 2:58 PM in DEQ's | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/16/12

Old Town Triangle House Sold by Driehaus Daughters’ Trusts

List Price: $1.299 million
Sale Price: $1.5 million
The Property: Trusts in the names of the two daughters of the financial whiz and philanthropist Richard Driehaus have sold a storybook-style Italianate Victorian that they had owned since 2001...

Posted at 9:15 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/12/12

Thoroughly Modern Living in Lake View

List Price: $1.59 million (under contract)
The Property: City homebuilder Bart Przyjemski has been doing so well with his contemporary-styled homes that he had this one in Lake View under contract before we could get there to shoot video. But it serves as the model for his next few homes—and quite a model it is, with its bold glass and panelized exterior...

Posted at 10:00 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/11/12

Investment Fund Helps Foreclosed Homeowners Hang On

Momentum is gathering behind the idea of converting large numbers of empty foreclosed homes into rentals. The Tribune reported last week that Chicago is selling entire condo buildings to apartment developers. And Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, wrote that large-scale foreclosure-to-rental programs would help heal the housing sector—a concept that is reportedly central to a plan being developed by the Obama administration...

Posted at 9:35 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/10/12

Rodkin on Buying vs. Renting a Condo in the $270,000 Range

Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Stevie asks about buying vs. renting a condo in the $270,000 price range.

Posted at 3:09 PM in DEQ's | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/09/12

A Big Unfinished Mansion in South Barrington

List Price: $1.795 million
Sale Price: $1.47 million
The Property: About a year ago, construction ground to a halt on this 16-room mansion in South Barrington, leaving much of its interior unfinished—including a planned copper dome, which had only been framed out with wood. But that didn’t stop the selling agent from making a silk purse out of this 22,795-square-foot sow’s ear...

Posted at 9:15 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/05/12

Sarah Susanka’s Not So Big House in Libertyville

List Price: $810,000
The Property: A traditonal-looking neighborhood is springing up next door to Libertyville’s charming downtown. SchoolStreet, a New Urbanist development on the site of a failed townhouse project, has been selling well, and its promised front porches are becoming more numerous...

Posted at 10:00 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/04/12

Wilmette Residents Oppose Proposed Hotel

Lockerbie Lane is a residential cul-de-sac west of the Edens Expressway in Wilmette. In July, an Indiana hotel operator announced plans to build a 130-room Residence Inn by Marriott on a vacant parcel of land in a nearby commercial area, next to an existing three-story building. “It just changes everything about our neighborhood,” laments Carol Stutz, a 20-year Lockerbie Lane resident. “It’s not what is best for our quality of life and property values...”

Posted at 12:05 PM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/03/12

Rodkin on Putting a House on the Market in Winter

Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Marie from the Southwest Side asks if it's a bad idea to put a house on the market during the winter.

Posted at 2:55 PM in DEQ's | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/03/12

Tech Exec Sells “Epic” House in Hinsdale

List Price: $5.995 million
Sale Price: $4.5 million
The Property: This 17-room home in Hinsdale has an indoor pool, eight bedrooms and, according to the listing sheet, “four truly epic levels”—which may be the selling agent’s way of saying that the basement pub is as lavish as the hunt room–styled family room...

Posted at 10:55 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 2012

01/31/12

01/30/12

01/26/12

01/25/12

01/24/12

01/23/12

01/19/12

01/18/12

01/17/12

01/16/12

01/12/12

01/11/12

01/10/12

01/09/12

01/05/12

01/04/12

01/03/12

01/03/12

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