05/31/07

New on the Market - St. Charles

List price: $2.195 million

The Property: This rugged stone and cedar retreat hidden away on nine wooded acres is just minutes from downtown St. Charles. The place has a bulky exterior-a massive pyramidal wood shingle roof and deeply recessed window and door openings-but inside it lightens up, with an open floor...

Posted at 09:31 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (1)

05/30/07

Housing Bulletin - Employer-Assisted Housing

While there is no shortage of jobs in the northwest suburbs, the real-estate boom of the past decade has made it tough for many of the low- and middle-income people who hold those jobs to live within a reasonable commute of their place of employment. According to the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC), workers who earn less than $50,000 annually make up 70 percent of the work force in five northwest suburbs. Unfortunately, only 40 percent of the housing stock in those communities lies within the price range of those employees.

On May 18th, the mayors of Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Mount Prospect, Palatine, and Rolling Meadows addressed this problem at a breakfast at Arlington Park, where they discussed the benefits of employer-assisted housing (EAH) with about two dozen...

Posted at 07:44 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (0)

05/29/07

Sale of the Week - Clark Street Row House

List Price: $1.095 million
Sale Price: $1.06 million

The Property: One of seven charming brick-and-stone row houses on a busy block of Clark Street, this three-story, four-bedroom home dates to 1888-and is just 18 feet wide. The sellers, Andrew Wolfe and Yoon Hie Jung, gutted and completely...

Posted at 05:02 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

05/24/07

New on the Market - Uptown (Sheridan Park), Chicago

List Price: $1.79 million

The Property: The developers Tim Lambert and Peter Delp of the Sheridan Park Group are converting a picturesque two-flat in Uptown into a spacious single-family home. Built in 1916, the place will have five bedrooms and a 640-square-foot living room (fashioned from three smaller rooms) with...

Posted at 07:01 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (1)

05/23/07

Housing Bulletin - Sales Tips for a Slow Market

The primary home-selling season is in full swing, and the hot topic is "right-pricing"-as in, is your home priced right to sell? That has become a crucial question in this softening home market, where sellers must tune their expectations properly. They can't ask for the moon, as they might have a few years ago, but they don't want to lowball their homes either. With that in mind, here are some tips from Chicago-area real-estate agents on how to know if your home is right-priced:

• "When a listing is put for sale, if excitement is not generated-if there's a lull in showings or if there aren't repeat showings-most likely the price is the culprit. As a seller, you will recognize that the price is right when you start to receive second showings, or when real-estate agents are...

  Posted at 08:00 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)

05/21/07

Sale of the Week - Lake View, Chicago

List price: $2.995 million
Sale price: $2.95 million

The Property: This new 11-room house on a tree-lined street in Lake View is one of four homes built by the developer Patrick Landrosh within half a block of one another. At 37 feet, its lot is somewhat wider than the Chicago norm of 25 feet, making for more...

Posted at 06:37 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

05/17/07

New on the Market - Playful Bronzeville Restoration

List Price: $899,000

The Property: This 19th-century red brick house has been extensively-and, in some places, zanily-restored. The boldly painted cornice and entry only hint at the quirky details that William Lavicka, a longtime rehabber on Chicago's West and South Sides, has included in his latest project.

Posted at 08:08 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (0)

05/16/07

Housing Bulletin - Downtown Condo Sales: Slowed, Not Stalled

At first glance, the news was disturbing-reports earlier this week that downtown condo sales had nose-dived by 46 percent in the first quarter of 2007. But contrary to those early reports, the downtown condo market has not stalled, only slowed.

According to Gail Lissner of the Appraisal Research Counselors-the local real-estate consultants that provided the data for this latest round of news-sales did drop by 46 percent, but only when compared with the first quarter of 2006. But the market of a year ago differs considerably from today's. The more appropriate comparison, Lissner suggests, is to the two quarters immediately prior to first quarter 2007-periods when the new, slower pace of sales prevailed. With the more recent figures in mind, the recent sales report "wasn't an...

Posted at 07:05 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)

05/14/07

Sale of the Week - Barrington Hills Bargain

List price: $749,900
Sale price: $775,000

The Property: Situated on a secluded country lane in Barrington Hills, this 11-room house, built in 1990, has four  bedrooms, an in-ground pool and hot tub, and a modern metal barn, as well as access to the local network of horse trails. The previous residents lost the home...

Posted at 07:46 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

05/10/07

New on the Market - McKinley Park loft

List price: $549,000

The Property: A converted coffee and tea showroom beneath an antique copper ceiling, this McKinley Park residence is that rarest of finds: a true industrial loft. "They've all disappeared," says Mario Greco, the Rubloff agent representing the seller. With its great aged factory doors, original hardwood floors, and...

Posted at 08:57 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (0)

05/09/07

Housing Bulletin - Affordable Housing

If all goes as expected at today's Chicago City Council meeting, the city will enact legislation to better ensure that people with middle and modest incomes can afford to buy homes in the city. It's the latest step-and a significant one-in a five-year campaign to stem the loss of affordable housing as the city welcomes a wave of new high-end homes. If passed-as is generally expected-the proposal will tighten up the rules for developers and homebuilders; according to Jack Markowski, Chicago's housing commissioner, it should result in about 1,000 new affordable housing units being built each year.

The proposal, which Mayor Daley supports, will require builders of most new multiple-unit housing to set aside at least ten percent of their units for people whose household incomes...

Posted at 09:01 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)

05/07/07

Sale of the Week - Indian Hill Club

List price: $5 million
Sale price: $4.45 million

The Property: This 13-room mansion in a French Normandy style overlooks the fifth fairway of the Indian Hill Club golf course just outside Winnetka. Sequestered behind brick gates and surrounded by formal landscaping, the house has seven bedrooms, five fireplaces, a...

Posted at 05:32 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

05/03/07

New on the Market - Factory Conversion in Roscoe Village

List Price: $3.999 million

The Property: Formerly a machine-parts factory, this 10,000-square-foot structure on a residential block in Roscoe Village is being converted into a lavish, contemporary home, complete with a rooftop deck the size of some suburban back yards. When finished this summer, it will have six...

Posted at 08:33 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (2)

05/02/07

Housing Bulletin - New v. Old in Des Plaines

In the past decade, formerly frumpy downtown Des Plaines has undergone a transformation into a lively place dotted with new restaurants and stores, a fantastic central library, and, most noticeable of all, thick clusters of new, mid-rise condo buildings. Standing at the center of town-at Metropolitan Square near the Metra station-you can look southeast along...

Posted at 09:29 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)