ChitownLiving | Chicago Real Estate + Life

Our new team website is now live. Our high-level requirements were for a very simple, clean, crisp, contemporary, easily changeable site dominated by local content.
We have a lot of tweaking to do but are very pleased with version 1.0 of the site.

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We have updated our Chicago Home Search. In addition to being built on the latest technology, the new search provides a more seamless integration between interactive map, property results list, and property details. Try it here.
Update: As I experiment with the new home search, one of the best features is the incorporation [...]

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Cook County residents, find your civic footprint. What is a civic footprint? According to the site…
Whether or not you vote or can name your state senator, you have a civic footprint—an imprint of your unique place in the civic world. Knowing your Footprint is a key part of being able to get involved [...]

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My blog was hosted by a very large hosting company, I’ll refer to them as BigHost! from now on.  A bad decision on my part, as they are not WordPress (the software behind this blog) friendly, but I didn’t know any better when I got into the blogosphere. My bad for not doing my due [...]

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In Chicago, sometimes it takes longer to find a parking space than to drive to your destination.  Came across this site courtesy of the neighboring alderman.  Where is my alderman?  Ah yes, warning us about bats.  Map your driving route and then use ParkingAnyTime to locate the perfect parking spot.  I have not yet used the [...]

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I am in the process of bringing a new condo to market in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, West DePaul neighborhood.  The neighborhood boundaries are Fullerton to Diversey and Southport (or Lakewood depending on who you ask) to Ashland.  Just before listing, my client made me aware that Google Street View is available in Chicago.  Let’s browse some [...]

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I must admit, I don’t get the iPhone craze.  Ok, as a confessed BlackBerry, or as some folks say, CrackBerry addict, I do get it.  But I’m crazy for the new BlackBerry Curve.  For me, functionality and reliability trump aesthetics.  My BlackBerry has saved me on many an occasion while out in the field, cruising through [...]

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Chicago is a very walkable city.  Nothing better than strolling around and exploring one of the many neighborhoods.  Came across this nifty tool that measures the walkability of a neighborhood.  Test your address for walkability.

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I just addded an easily accessible Chicago property search to the ChitownLiving sidebar. A work in progress for now. Advanced search options are also available underneath. Enjoy.

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The ChitownLiving Interactive Map Search has been updated.  It is now more like a Google map search.  You can select and drag the map and the list of properties will refresh.  You don’t need to log in but to get advanced features such as saved searches and virtual tours, login required. Check it out in [...]

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Coldwell Banker Residential finally unleashed the shackles and let me implement a decent Chicago home search.  Take a moment to test it out and give me your feedback.

Neighborhood Search - You can search by community area.
Interactive Map Search - You can define searches by neighborhood and even block level.
All Properties - Get all of the above and more, such as saved searches [...]

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For those that don’t care, just start to search Chicago properties.  You will be able to search more listings than ever before without having to log in. For those that do, read on.  NRT owned Coldwell Banker offices have recently started the process of making their vast number of listings more available to the consumer.  The following [...]

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What did I do you ask?  I finally cancelled my original agent website that has been with me from my start in the real estate business.  I feel a little empty, like I lost a good friend, or as if I just sent my first born off to college.  The way I am using the [...]

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Working with buyers and sellers, I often find myself online sifting through listings.  This act brings me face to face with the dreaded spinning room virtual tour.  After viewing many of these, I often feel dizzy when getting up from my chair.  They distort and can misrepresent room sizes.  A friend of mine jokingly thinks virtual tours are [...]

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  I enjoy recommending products I think my clients may find useful.  HouseMath 2.0 was brought to my attention by Matt Goyer’s Real Estate Blog and again by Future of Real Estate Marketing.  HouseMath 2.0 allows you to calculate the true monthly cost of home ownership.  The typical components of monthly mortgage payments are Principal + Interest [...]

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Chicago real estate is a great spectator sport.  Always the lookout for new sites that may be of interest to my clients and readers, I was given the heads up about BlockShopper by Chicago’s Home Weblog.  The site not only provides closed sales data, but info on both the buyer and seller involved in some (emphasis on some) of the transactions.  [...]

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Looks like MAP and MLSNI are one step closer to a consolidation.
The Board of Directors of the MAP Multiple Listing Service (MAP) on Thursday unanimously approved a consolidation with the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois, Inc. (MLSNI). MAP and MLSNI operate the two principal MLS systems serving REALTORS® in the greater Chicagoland area. The MLSNI [...]

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In my post, MLSNI and and MAP to Consolidate, I requested the link to the site, Save our MLS.  Found it courtesy of a Chicago Agent article titled, “Word War Beaks Out in MLS Merger Debate”.  Darn that “.info” extension. Happy to report that the Chicago Association of Realtors is in support of the merger.  Ginger [...]

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Just had a quick look at the Trulia beta site.  As mentioned in a prior post, I always take these sites for a test drive before recommending to clients.  Most are developed for the masses nationwide and I need to see how they perform locally.  Alas, I can not recommend Trulia for a very different reason [...]

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In Northern Illinois there have been two MLS systems, MLSNI and MAP.  These are the databases that urban Chicago real estate agents use to market, search, and share property listings across brokerages.  In addition, data from these systems is provide to other aggregator sites such as Realtor.com and local brokerage sites such as Coldwell Banker.  Having two systems has been [...]

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