ChitownLiving | Chicago Real Estate + Life

Saw this article by Lew Sichelman in the Sunday Trib.  From the article, Robert Campbell’s 5 housing market signs are below…
*Existing-home sales. This is perhaps Campbell’s “most predictive” indicator. But it takes some legwork, because the number of homes sold in a given month is just a number. What you really want is a moving average, [...]

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A buyer client of mine is in the process of purchasing a townhome.  During the home inspection, some sand and rust was found in one of the heating and cooling ducts on the lower level.  This caused some concern and raised questions.  Could this potentially be a sign of a bigger problem?  Was water infiltrating and [...]

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Showed several condos last weekend in Chicago’s popular Roscoe Village and Southport Corridor that all happened to be on the floor above retail space.  Something to consider when contemplating the purchase above a retail establishment is the type of retail that is allowed in the first floor space.  Important to do some due diligence here as it would be unfortunate [...]

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I took some buyer clients out this weekend to see about 8 properties.  I didn’t plan it, but every property we saw had a seller who had either moved out or had purchased another home.  During showings, each listing agent made sure to let us know this fact and reinforce it with the phrase, “my clients are motivated.”  Chicago [...]

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Came across this article at South Florida Real Estate Voice that I think has some great tips.  Not sure if they are the top 10 tips, but nonetheless, some great advice for home buyers and sellers.  I won’t rehash the entire article but my brief comments on each point are listed below.

Appearance:  Decluttering a home should [...]

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A client of mine is in the process of purchasing a new construction condo in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.  During the property inspection, the inspector noticed that the light switch on the wall in the guest bathroom appeared to be too close to the tub. Having never run into this before, I was curious as to whether this [...]

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To new buyers entering the Chicago real estate scene, it looks like chaos.  It seems totally random, like the lottery numbers that bounce around and then are called nightly.  Amidst all the madness there has to be an amazing deal out there right?  Yes there are, but in reality, the market is fairly transparent and efficient.  News travels fast, good [...]

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I have added a Chicago property search icon and link back to the blog sidebar.   To search ALL listings in Chicago (and Northern IL) you must provide a valid email address.  Not my rule, but one enforced by our local board, MLSNI.  To make it easy I provide a login and password on my website.

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I was out with one of my buyer clients over the past two weeks and in the area we were house hunting, the custom is to have sellers show their own property, all owners, not just for sale by owners or those represented by limited service brokerages.  Two situations struck me and prompted this post [...]

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While I wait for the “final bell” to be rung on the submission of closing data  in order to publish my October Northeast Chicago market statistics, I ran across a cool site courtesy of UrbanDigs. HousingTracker provides real estate maket statistics for major metropolitan areas.  The data is pulled from Realtor.com so it only covers active listings.  Check [...]

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I mentioned the Emporis site in an earlier post.  Tonight I used the site to do some research for a client and it is a fantastic resource.  So much so, that it is worth mentioning again. Emporis tracks construction progress for many, if not most, projects in Chicago and worldwide.  If you have a contract pending on a mid to large project [...]

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A question that Chicago buyers are asking in a daily basis. Eric Rojas over at The Chicago Real Estate Local has a couple recent posts on the local market.  In his first post he questions whether buyers are on the fence.  In his second post he questions whether buyers are on the fence.  Wait a minute, am I seeing [...]

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So after days of negotiating, my buyer client and seller reach a purchase price of $350,000.  Both parties are happy.  Then my client remembers the session at the very beginning of the house hunting process where the details of closing costs were explained and calculated.  In Chicago, closing costs can be a big chunk of change, expecially City [...]

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Listing agents please do not put me in a compromising position.  The only reason I ever show a property to a buyer is because it may meet their needs or they ask to see it.  Buyer agent bonuses like enhanced commissions, or cash bonuses do nothing to sway me.  They do not enter into my thinking as the [...]

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Dual agency is one of those terms that is thrown around quite often and can tie all involved up in knots unless fully understood. In many cases, the pitfalls of dual agency are never truly understood by clients and inexperienced agents alike, until fully immersed in a dual agency situation. The sterile definition of dual [...]

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Need assistance during the Chicagoland home buying process? Our team can help. Request our free Chicago Buyer Toolkit. Include your full mailing address.

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Looking for a new development or conversion in the early stages? From Hyde Park to Rogers Park, one of my specialties is locating properties for clients early in their marketing lifecycle. In fact, this blog is where I document many of my findings among other things. Need someone to be your eyes and ears on [...]

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The advent of the buyer agent is a fairly new concept in the real estate community. In many areas, the seller agent acting aa a dual agent is still very common. Check out this article titled Buyer Agency for an explanation of the real estate transaction agency relationship. I have represented buyer clients in their [...]

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So you purchased a new construction condo in Chicago and want to monitor the progress of the building without getting off the couch. Check out http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/cs/?id=101030. While unit and pre-construction information is not provided you will be able to see pics of the building as construction progresses. For more information contact Jeff Kerr by phone [...]

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