Late this summer, when Drew Walker and his wife, Jill, got the latest installment of the bill for their 2011 property taxes, they noticed that the assessment on their house had gone up 17 percent from the year before. “I don’t get it,” says Walker, the afternoon host at US99. “My home’s value has done nothing but nose-dive since ’07…”
Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, Bob from Winnetka asks whether or not he got a deal on his home, which he bought without an agent.
List Price: $3.95 million
Sale Price: $3.19 million
The Property: Frank Calabrese, a longtime owner of thoroughbred horses with impressive records at Arlington Park and in Florida, has sold his custom-built 15-room house in Park Ridge for $3.192 million. According to Midwest Real Estate Data, that’s the highest sale price on record for that northwest suburb—and Calabrese’s agent, Danny McGovern, says that the buyers paid cash…
Dennis Rodkin visited the set of Windy City Live to discuss the current housing market.
List Price: $2.999 million
The Property: Today’s house is named Woods End, but given its sylvan setting, it really ought to be called Woods Heart. It’s a series of steep-roofed pavilions, each containing a major part of the living space and topped with huge skylights. The rear of the house is walled with windows and wrapped with an elevated 175-foot-long deck…
We’re five years out from the beginning of the housing market’s crash, and home values are lingering at about where they were in early 2002. Many forecasts predict the dark clouds will stay put, both because of the huge overhang of foreclosures and because the federal government has been slow to do anything effective about stopping the decline…
Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, Sherry asks about garnering more buyer interest in a home with seemingly great appeal.
List Price:$2.3 million
Sale Price: $2.3 million
The Property: This newly built 15-room house scored the record price for a residence in East Ravenswood, the Chicago neighborhood that is home to Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The house, two blocks south of Emanuel’s house, is the third on its block built by the developer Christopher Olson…
List Price: $1.19 million
The Property: In the early 20th century, the Villa neighborhood was advertised as “The Beauty Spot of the Northwest Side.” Its Arts and Crafts houses are still there, as are the landscaped parkways and the stone light posts (although those are now used as planters), and only a few out-of-character buildings have been added…
Where we got the data and how we prepared our charts
