Sale of the Week – Lindenhurst

List price: $224,900Sale price: $220,000 The Property: On April 11th-the day before this five-room house sold for $220,000-the National Association of Realtors (NAR) forecast that the national median price for an existing home in 2007 will be $220,300. If that prediction holds up, it means that half the houses sold this year will go for … Read more

New on the Market – Gold Coast, Chicago

Update: The property has been taken off the market; the Trafelets are negotiating a private sale. List price: $649,000 The Property: A duplex in a classic 1920s Gold Coast building designed by Andrew Rebori, this five-room, two-bedroom apartment manages to create elegance in an economical space. Except for the dramatic two-story living room-with a charming … Read more

Housing Bulletin – Real-Estate Agent Parking Permits

For people whose job demands that they park all over the city, there may be nothing more frustrating than hunting for a parking space in a permit-zoned Chicago neighborhood. A potential solution to that problem isn’t working-most likely because of tinkering by city hall. Permit-zone parking started on the Northwest Side in 1979 in the … Read more

Sale of the Week – Oak Lawn

List price: $569,000Sale price: $569,000 The Property: This newly built 11-room, five-bedroom house set the sales record for Oak Lawn when it was sold on April 6th. It is on the same street as-and within two blocks of-this southwest suburb’s two previous top sales. The developer Timothy Desmond of Leeside Builders built all three of … Read more

New on the Market – Beverly, Chicago

List price: $1.4 million The Property: Designed in the late 1920s by Scipione Del Campo for John Tiberi (the owner of a cement company), this 12-room brick house on the city’s Far Southwest Side resembles Tiberi’s boyhood home in Italy. While its blond good looks would stand out in any neighborhood, the house literally rises … Read more

Sale of the Week – Gold Coast gem

Neighborhood: Gold Coast, ChicagoList price: $12 millionSale price: $11 million The Property: This imposing stone mansion-23 rooms in all-is a relic of Lake Shore Drive’s early days as an avenue dotted with opulent single-family homes. Built in 1890 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, the house declined in the 20th century. When he bought it in … Read more

New on the Market – Lake Forest

List price: $11.495 million The Property: What used to be a contemporary flat-roofed house is now a sophisticated French château with a gracious mansard roof sheltering a new second story. The makeover is the work of Don and Jan Zordani, the husband-and-wife team behind Milestone Development. They began, says Don, with an “extremely dark” 40-year-old … Read more

Housing Bulletin – Incentives to Buy

The real-estate market has been giving off conflicting signs for months. That’s making anybody who has a property to sell eager to get rid of it, just in case the signals go from confusing to bad. Most expert observers agree that the worst-case scenario-the bottom dropping completely out of the local housing market-is not going … Read more

Sale of the Week – Lake View, Chicago

Neighborhood: Lake View, ChicagoList price: $1.399 millionSale price: $1.312 million The Property: Built in 2004 by Pat Heneghan, this nine-room wood-frame home has four bedrooms, three-plus baths, three fireplaces, two wet bars, and a deck atop the two-car garage. The homey front porch belies the elegance of the interior, which has numerous windows and skylights. … Read more