Today’s Chicago Tribune Business Section has a good article on the downtown condo market titled, “Record condo numbers to saturate downtown.”
According to the article, nearly 6,000 condos are expected to come on the market this year. That compares with less than 4,800 last year.
But don’t expect lower prices. Instead developers will probably offer better upgrades.
In a related article, “Chicago home sale prices down 6%“, the Tribune reported that median metropolitan Chicago condo prices for existing units rose 7% from a year ago.
This morning I showed 9 houses in Arlington Heights all within a mile of the 
Friday I showed houses in the Norwood Park, West Town, and Rogers Park areas of Chicago. One of my buyers’ concerns is neighborhood safety.
Recently, I worked with buyers who have 2 dogs. They seriously considered a new condo development in Oak Park and mentioned the dogs to the staff at the sales office who didn’t mention an issue with the dogs. Later while at an open house for a townhouse in neighboring Forest Park, they mentioned the dogs and that they had considered the new condos in Oak Park to the hosting agent. The hosting agent informed them much to their surprise that they couldn’t have more than one dog in a condo in Oak Park!
If you see the term, “Standard Chicago Lot”, on listings and don’t know what it means, you’re not alone. In fact, a lot Chicago listing agents don’t know what it means either!
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When I worked in the corporate world, management often wouldn’t listen to employee suggestions. They would, however, follow the advice of outside consultants whose recommendations came from talking with the employees. If only the management listened to their employees, they could have saved the cost of the consultants! 
