From the category archives:

Near South Side

Chicago’s most walkable neighborhoods

Thumbnail image for Chicago’s most walkable neighborhoods November 11, 2009

Today’s Chicago Tribune included a list of the 10 most walkable neighborhoods in Chicago according to Walkscore.com.
The list caught my attention since I like to walk, but also because some buyers I’m working with wrote me, “A sense of being in a city neighborhood – where we can walk to great food markets, restaurants, and [...]

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Regional Economic Forecast 2009 Highlights 3 of 3

January 20, 2009

In part 2 of this blog post series I shared Lawrence Yun’s chart showing that the number of existing home sales have dropped back to 1998 levels.
Buyers considering a new condo in downtown Chicago need to take a good look at Gail Lissner’s chart which I recreated below. This year 4700 new condos in [...]

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New Home Inspection Test for Granite Countertops

January 2, 2009

This year I will be recommending that my buyers perform a new test during their home inspection. While I recently visited the new condo of some of my buyers in the South Loop, they shared with me that they discovered after they moved in that their granite countertops weren’t properly sealed. Their kitchen countertops were [...]

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Why Real Estate Stats Can Be Misleading

November 25, 2008

In Sunday’s Chicago Tribune, real estate columnist Mary Umberger’s headline was “Near South Side homes selling, on average, for more than list price“. Mary reported Zip Realty’s finding that homes in the 60605 zip code had sold for an average of 106.4% of list price during the latest quarter!
This is certainly the kind of news [...]

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2 Bedroom Condo Prices Up in the Loop, NNS, NWS & NSS, But Sales Down

October 17, 2008

Today I started searching for a 2 bedroom condo in the Loop, Near North Side, Near West Side and Near South Side for a couple who will be relocating here from Colorado.
Median sale prices for 2 bedroom condos in 3 of the 4 areas are up for the past 3 months compared to a [...]

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The Domino Effect in Real Estate

September 8, 2008

Today a couple of my buyers were supposed to have the closing for their new condo in the South Loop, but they fell prey to the domino effect.
The woman buying their Lincoln Park condo was supposed to close on the sale of her condo last week. An issue arose with her buyer’s financing and her [...]

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New Home Orientations are Challenging in the Dark!

September 4, 2008

Yesterday I attended a new home orientation at the Library Towers condo development in the South Loop. My buyers got their first opportunity to inspect their new condo and have a home inspector check it out as well.
Unfortunately, several lights in the condo didn’t work so it was harder to spot imperfections. I normally carry [...]

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Life in Chicago’s High Rises May be Getting Friendlier

June 16, 2008

This morning’s SunTimes.com has a good article on LifeAt.com a new social networking site for high-rise dwellers. The site provides social networking within a building. Four Chicago high rises, 340 on the Park, 565 Quincy, Prairie District Lofts and 600 Lake Shore Drive are on LifeAt.com. Superior 110 will be added soon. Each building’s [...]

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Balcony, Balcony, Where for Art Thou, Balcony?

May 24, 2008

Today I showed 3 bedroom condos in the River North, West Loop, South Loop and Loop. One of my buyers’ “must haves” is an outdoor space such as a balcony. What I’ve noticed in showing numerous condos with balconies is that the location of the balcony is often more important to buyers than the size [...]

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Chicago Tribune Reports “Record condo numbers to saturate downtown”

May 14, 2008

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 [...]

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