Deal Estate - January 2013

01/31/13

A Buyer’s Guide to Pullman

In the 1880s, the railroad-car magnate George Pullman built a factory and a company town for his employees on what’s now Chicago’s Far South Side. The industrial works have largely disappeared...

Posted at 10:20 AM in On the Market Real Estate: Featured story | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/30/13

Chicago Fares Poorly in National Real-Estate News

If your Twitter feed is anything like mine, it seemed to be in two moods on Tuesday morning. Shortly after the release of the latest monthly data from the S&P/Case Shiller Index, the tweeting started—“Home Prices Continue to Rise: Housing is Now Economic ‘Bright Spot’” was the tone of the national news...

Posted at 10:30 AM in Housing Bulletin Real Estate | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/29/13

Rodkin on Whether or Not to Remodel When Time is Short

Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Lynn asks if she should sell her elderly mother’s house as is, or if she should remodel the dated kitchen and baths. She worries about making a profit and the clock is ticking.

Posted at 5:04 PM in DEQ's Real Estate | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/28/13

Down (20 Percent) by the Riverside

List Price: $899,000
Sale Price: $795,000
The Property: In December 2003, fresh off an extensive restoration, this house in a picturesque section of Riverside sold for $1 million...

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

01/24/13

From Party Pad to Family Place, in Bucktown

List Price: $1.999 million
The Property: Bucktown has matured nicely over the past decade, as has this neighborhood house—though en route from party pad to high-end family home, it took a detour into foreclosure...

Posted at 10:25 AM in On the Market Real Estate: Featured story | Permalink | Comments (2)

01/23/13

Are Chicago Sellers Just Tired of Losing?

The year-end real-estate data has been rolling in for the past week or so, and much of it is encouraging. But there’s something that bugs me—and, I believe, a lot of sellers or potential sellers...

Posted at 10:00 AM in Housing Bulletin Real Estate | Permalink | Comments (2)

01/22/13

Rodkin on Whether We’re Out of the Danger Zone

Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Stefan from the West Loop asks if the Chicago housing market is out of the woods finally.

Posted at 4:00 PM in DEQ's Real Estate | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/21/13

Nate Berkus’s Slow-to-Sell Condo Suddenly Sells Fast

List Price: $1.89 million
Sale Price: $1.6 million
The Property: An Astor Street condominium that the interior designer and TV host Nate Berkus first put on the market in March 2011 was sold last Wednesday—just three days after the listing agent marked it as having a contract pending...

Posted at 9:15 AM in Sale of the Week Real Estate | Permalink | Comments (2)

01/17/13

In Wrightwood, Welcome to the 1990s

List Price: $777,000
The Property: This house, in a part of Chicago called Wrightwood Neighbors, is a classic type of urban residence in its resemblance to a milk carton: tall and slender, with a peaked roof. And in this case, some of the contents are beyond their expiration date...

Posted at 10:30 AM in On the Market Real Estate: Featured story | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/16/13

Rodkin on the New Rules from the CFPB

Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, many readers are asking about the possible changes we should expect when buying a home next year following the new rules recently instituted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Posted at 12:59 PM in DEQ's Real Estate | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/16/13

First-Time Landlords Provide a Lesson for Other Would-Be Investors

Last year, Chris Thompson, a 29-year-old IT consultant based in the south suburbs, told his grandfather, Don Clinkert, he was thinking of getting in on the foreclosure-to-rental investment scene. Clinkert said he’d been considering doing the same...

Posted at 9:35 AM in Housing Bulletin Real Estate | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/14/13

St. Charles Mansion Sells After Six Years

List Price: $1.995 million
Sale Price: $1.775 million
The Property: Previously priced by the builder at $4.8 million, this 11,400-square-foot house in St. Charles may seem awfully big to be considered eco-friendly...

Posted at 9:15 AM in Sale of the Week Real Estate | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/10/13

Gertrude Lempp Kerbis’s Greenhouse Condos

List Price: $375,000
The Property: While working for two top Chicago architectural firms in the 1950s and ’60s, Gertrude Lempp Kerbis made contributions to design elements at O’Hare International Airport and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. Today’s tour is at a building that was a benchmark project for her, one that she has said was among the first places where she worked on her own...

Posted at 10:09 AM in On the Market Real Estate: Featured story | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/09/13

Why Are Pilsen and Bronzeville Redeveloping at Different Speeds?

Chicago’s Pilsen and Bronzeville neighborhoods have a lot in common. They are both near the Loop, have lots of public transportation, and, after decades of disinvestment, offer plenty of residential and commercial buildings ripe for renewal...

Posted at 9:35 AM in Housing Bulletin Real Estate | Permalink | Comments (3)

01/08/13

Rodkin on Two Neighbors with Different Asking Prices

Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Connie from Humboldt Park asks if her neighbor—who is putting a similar condo on the market for a higher price—is correct in suggesting that they should raise their asking price.

Posted at 3:44 PM in DEQ's Real Estate | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/07/13

Former Motorola CEO Sells Water Tower Condo

List Price: $1.595 million
Sale Price: $1.46 million
The Property: Ed Zander, the former chairman and CEO of Motorola, and his wife, Mona, have sold their 67th-floor condo at Water Tower Place...

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

01/03/13

Both Sides of Lake View

List Price: $3.45 million
The Property: Today’s property is a handsome brick home, once the coach house of a large estate, built in Lake View in 1913. And today’s property is a slick contemporary clad in metal shingles and horizontal-laid wood siding built in the past six years in Lake View...

Posted at 10:00 AM in On the Market Real Estate: Featured story | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/02/13

Rodkin on Emphasizing a Home’s Best Qualities Out of Season

Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Reilly from Lindenhurst asks how to show off the home’s best feature—a porch—to potential buyers when the area isn’t being used during the winter.

Posted at 1:45 PM in DEQ's Real Estate | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/02/13

Group Turns Around Distressed Properties—and Peoples’ Lives

Houses and condos that lenders take over in foreclosure often need a lot of help getting turned around into habitable places again. For one Skokie-based not-for-profit, cleaning those homes provides an opportunity to repair something else at the same time: the lives of its employees...

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

January 2013

01/31/13

01/30/13

01/29/13

01/28/13

01/24/13

01/23/13

01/22/13

01/21/13

01/17/13

01/16/13

01/16/13

01/14/13

01/10/13

01/09/13

01/08/13

01/07/13

01/03/13

01/02/13

01/02/13

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