Part of a distressed sale—a foreclosure or a short sale—or a loan modification entails the mortgage lender forgiving some or all of a homeowner’s debt. Formerly, tax laws counted that forgiven amount as taxable income. But in 2007, President George W. Bush signed legislation that temporarily exempted forgiven mortgage debt from taxable income. That law expires December 31—unless Congress acts to extend it…
Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Jill from Brookfield asks which should be repaired first—scratches and cracks on the interior doors or cracks and crumbles on the exterior concrete steps—before putting her home on the market.
List Price: $1.975 million
Sale Price: $1.7 million
The Property: After more than two years on the market, a large, extensively renovated top-floor condo has sold at 880 North Lake Shore Drive, the landmark high-rise designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe…
Sold: A Lotta Terra Cotta LAKE VIEW The most ornate residence in a cluster of homes built for officers of the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company, the Henry Rokham House and its elaborate display of ceramic ornamentation served as a striking advertisement for the Chicago firm. Established in 1878, Northwestern was once the country’s top manufacturer … Read more
Real-estate data has been getting dished up in the past few weeks as heartily as mashed potatoes get passed around the Thanksgiving table. And this year, for the first time in a while, the information provides some solace—though not nearly as much as the comfort food will…
Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Barry from Mount Prospect asks for advice on how to price an empty lot he wants to buy, which seems to have no comparable sites.
On Friday, Richard Cooper, the head of an Oak Brook-based hedge fund, sold his 66th-floor penthouse at the Park Tower for $15 million, the highest-ever recorded sale price of a Chicago condo…
List Price: $3.2 million
Sale Price: $2.56 million
The Property: This 15-room house near the heart of Elmhurst sold for more than any other residence in the town ever has, according to multiple listing service records that date back to 1980…
List Price: $3.35 million
The Property: On a block in Lincoln Park, things are really headed up. Over the past year, two neighboring houses have sold for more than $4 million each, and across the street, the last remaining old-time eyesore is now undergoing extensive rehab…
Apartment rents have been rising and will keep going up for the near future—but at three different rates in three different strata of the market, according to speakers at last week’s Lincoln Park Builders Real Estate Forum ’12. In the fourth and bottom layer, they will remain flat…
