From the monthly archives:

March 2008

Make the Most of BairdWarner.com’s Search Form!

March 30, 2008

Have I mentioned that BairdWarner.com was named the best site for real estate search by Chicago Magazine? Yet, many home buyers registered on BairdWarner.com don’t take advantage of the full power of the search form (shown below).
Depending on your monitor’s resolution, many users only see the top part of the search form and [...]

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A Tale of 2 Home Inspections

March 27, 2008

A couple of weeks ago, my buyers for a house in Naperville had a home inspection. What appeared to be a house in need of exterior painting turned out to be a house with a rotting exterior. The total estimate for repairs needed was $26,000! The sellers only offered a $2,500 credit. My buyers [...]

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Aurora & Naperville Park N Ride Locations

March 24, 2008

Saturday I showed homes in Aurora to a gentleman who will be commuting on the Metra Burlington Northern Santa Fe Line to work in Chicago’s Loop. After doing some research and talking with friends who live in Naperville, he decided it was best to search for homes close to the Park N Ride locations for [...]

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Lakeview Listing Agents Should Know Their Schools

March 21, 2008

Today I showed 14 3 bedroom condos in Lakeview. My buyer and I had searched for homes in the neighborhoods served by Blaine, Burley and Nettlehorst Elementary Schools, so we knew the elementary schools for the condos we were looking at.
However, since only one listing agent bothered to enter the name of their [...]

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Curious in Palatine

March 18, 2008

While showing a house in Palatine on Sunday, the buyers and I noticed that the vent hood in the kitchen wasn’t above the stove, but above the counter to the right of the stove. We thought it strange, but continued to view the rest of the house. Later, I returned to the kitchen and noticed [...]

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Chicago Parking Space Prices

March 14, 2008

I have a buyer comparing Lakeview condos and Arlington Heights condos. One of the differences I mentioned to him is the fact that parking for Lakeview condos is often not included in the price of the condos. Many Lakeview condo sellers are asking $25K to $45K for their condos’ parking spaces. Rarely is parking for [...]

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Downtown Arlington Heights’ Urban Feel

March 11, 2008

This morning I received a call from a gentleman in New York City who will be relocating here for a job in Hoffman Estates. He’d like to live in the city, but doesn’t want to commute that far. He wants a condo or townhouse and asked where I’d suggest he look.
I recommended Arlington Heights’ Downtown. [...]

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Naperville Library Rated #1 in Its Population Range

March 8, 2008

Today I showed houses and Naperville and my buyers wrote an offer. The house they wrote an offer on is walking distance to one of the 3 branches of the Naperville Library. The library has branches at 200 W. Jefferson (Nichols Library, shown left), 2035 S. Naper Boulevard (Naper Boulevard Library), and 3015 Cedar [...]

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West Loop’s 565 Quincy Condos

March 2, 2008

Yesterday a couple of buyers and I visited new condo development sales offices in Chicago. One of the new developments we visited was 565 Quincy (shown left) in the West Loop neighborhood. The developer is Belgravia Group.
Erin Mandel, the sales representative, gave a good overview of the development which included an impressive multi-media presentation. [...]

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