Recently, several government and philanthropic agencies have rolled out new programs to help the growing number of Chicago-area homeowners facing foreclosure. Last week, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced that it will provide $68 million in grants and low-interest loans to help people on the edge of foreclosure. And in mid-September…
List Price: $1,395,000
Sale Price: $1,327,500
The Property: On a street of mostly traditional-looking homes in Wilmette, this residence fits right in with its red brick exterior trimmed in white. But the house is a departure for its neighborhood—and for almost any other community in the Chicago area—because it has…
List Price: $619,900
The Property: Last week, Spike O’Dell, the morning host at WGN-Radio for the last eight years, confirmed on the air that he will leave the station in December when his contract expires. With their kids grown and “everything we wanted to do done,” O’Dell told me, he and his wife, Karen, plan to retire to…
Last week, a local builder, Paul Ahlrich of Grun Development, sat down with me for a frank talk about his experience building and selling new houses in Chicago. Ahlrich got into the business slowly at first, and then in early 2006, took a headlong plunge, building three new upscale houses in Humboldt Park—houses he expected to sell before or shortly after…
The silver lining behind the residential real-estate collapse is the opportunity for housing bargains. Here are 14 up-and-coming Chicago neighborhoods and suburbs where prices are relatively low and the promise for future growth is strong
List Price: $1.9 million
Sale Price: $1.4 million
The Property: This 50-year-old Greek Revival-style home may be demolished soon by its new owners—but then again, it may not. After all, it sat for two and a half years awaiting a similar fate from its last last…
Development’s New York moniker belies its Oak Park aesthetic
New South Side project hopes to lure artists with price breaks.
List Price: $1.25 million
The Property: This newly built house is up-to-the-minute in two ways: its sleek, airy design is very contemporary, and many of the materials and methods that went into its construction are sustainable…
In the present economic climate, home sellers have been tense, while potential homebuyers have had a tendency to sit still. But for ten days, beginning on October 10th, one real-estate company will try to get house sales moving again by cutting the asking price on thousands of homes by 10 percent.
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage has arranged for the owners of about 23,000 homes nationwide—about 1,300 of them in…
