From the monthly archives:

May 2006

Air Conditioning is Part of Staging Your Home in Summer

May 30, 2006

On Sunday I showed 2 and 3 bedroom condos in the Uptown and Rogers Park areas of Chicago. In the afternoon my buyers and I walked 3 blocks from my car to a 3 bedroom condo in 90 degree heat. We looked forward to stepping inside to cool off. Instead we found a condo with [...]

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Sellers, Check Your MLS Listings

May 29, 2006

On Saturday I showed 8 2 bedroom 2 bath condos in the Edgewater area of Chicago. 4 of them almost didn’t get on my buyers’ list of homes to view because their information in the Multiple Listing Systems (MLSs) wasn’t complete.
One of my buyers’ requirements is a dishwasher. So I made that part of [...]

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Learning About Lakeview

May 27, 2006

I spent yesterday afternoon helping a couple of out-of-town buyers get familiar with the Lakeview area of Chicago. With all there is in Lakeview, they were on information overload by early evening.
They wanted to know where the grocery stores were. Counting only Jewel, Dominick’s and Whole Foods there are 6 grocery stores in Lakeview. Another [...]

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Pick an Agent, Then Start Looking at Homes Part 3

May 25, 2006

In Part 1 and 2 I gave a couple of reasons why home buyers shouldn’t attend any home showings unless they are using a buyer’s agent they chose. Many buyers will say, “But I’m just starting to look. I want to get an idea of what’s on the market. I don’t want to pick a [...]

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Pick an Agent, Then Start Looking at Homes Part 2

May 24, 2006

Yesterday I wrote about the couple who found a home they wanted to buy and how I had to decline helping them since another agent showed them the property. When the other agent showed the home another problem arose that home buyers should be aware of.
The agent did not inform the couple whether or not [...]

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Pick an Agent, Then Start Looking at Homes Part 1

May 23, 2006

Sunday I received a call from a couple who had found a home they wanted to buy in Palatine and wanted me to be their buyer’s agent. Unfortunately, I had to decline.
The couple had seen the home in an ad and called the broker the property was listed with. One of the broker’s agents [...]

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Mortgage Interest Rate Outlook

May 21, 2006

The Federal Reserve performs a tough balancing act. Keep rates to low and the economy over heats creating inflation. Push rates to high and you choke off growth and job creation. So, what is the Fed to do?
Well last week the Federal Reserve confirmed its fear of inflation by raising [...]

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Don’t Let Peeling Paint Cost You Thousands of Dollars

May 20, 2006

While on the brokers tour in Schaumburg yesterday I came a across a very nice 2 bedroom townhome priced at $334,000. It’s been on the market 3 months now. In my opinion, one of the reasons it hasn’t sold yet, is that the obvious peeling paint at the entrance (shown right) makes a poor impression. [...]

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3 Bedroom 2 Bath 1 Garage Space Condos in Lakeview vs. Evanston

May 19, 2006

Last night I searched for 3 bedroom 2 bath condos with a garage space in the Lakeview area of Chicago and in the suburb of Evanston. My out-of-town buyers aren’t sure yet if they want to live in the city or the suburbs.
Such condos in Lakeview start around $375,000 and the majority under $400,000 are [...]

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Is Interest in Chicago Real Estate Waning?

May 16, 2006

Check out Google Trends, a new tool by Google that graphically shows search volumes. Google Trends generated the graph below when I entered “chicago real estate”. It appears that so far this year interest in Chicago real estate is down from last year and the year before at this time.