The Chicago 77

A gorgeous look at Chicago in a 3 minute time-lapse video.

12 January 2010 –After a meeting of the Chicago City Council, Walmart’s dreams of coming to Chicago have been thwarted yet again. The City Council turned down another proposal by Walmart and Alderman Ed Burke from the 14th Ward. The “Living Wage” proposal was an ordinance that would require large businesses of 50 or more […]

The Good News As we reported two days ago, Chicago and Illinois are on a roll; we’ve had five consecutive months of increased month-on-month home sales. It turns out that we are not alone. Many news outlets are reporting that home sales grew in the second quarter in the majority of the country: 39 states […]

22 July 2009 ? Walmart is trying another route to gain access to the city of Chicago. Walmart has plans to run a Farmers Market this Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm in the vacant lot that was slated to be a Walmart. This is a publicity opportunity for Walmart after its five year […]

While attending the recent SPARKt conference I had the pleasure of listening to Adrian Holovaty, the founder of EveryBlock.com explain his unique service. If you haven’t heard of it, I suggest you head over their right away and sign up. It’s amazing. What is EveryBlock? EveryBlock.com is a service that goes out onto the web […]

17 June 2009 – Walmart has been stymied again. Aldi Market recently signed a lease on the Walmart coveted Chatham Market at 83rd street and Stewart. The Aldi store is set to open in 2010. The location had been scouted by Walmart since 2004. Walmart has been desperately trying to open a Super Walmart within […]

Two reports yesterday seem to cast a shadow over recent good news in closings. Home Builders Not Predicting Increased Business The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported yesterday that it’s nation-wide monthly sentiment index dropped by a point to 15. This is down from a score of 18 one year ago and an all-time […]

I have been pessimistic about the chances that neighborhoods like Uptown would continue to renew and rebuild…be a magnet for the middle class. However, after reading this Forbes interview, I’m beginning to think my pessimism may have been misplaced. At least I hope it was and their optimism is correct.

The Up We are seeing the continuation of a trend that seems hopeful. According the Illinois Association of Realtors® home sales in Chicago for April 2009 were up when compared to March 2009 by 16.7 percent. There were 1,378 home sold in April as compared to 1,181 in March. This seems to reflect the time […]

18 May 2009 – Mortgage rates are down again Monday morning, after the stock markets were slumping Friday. But Monday morning the stock markets are rallying, so I?d expect interest rates to likely be up a bit Tuesday. Rates are way down right now; some people are getting 5% or even less, so if you?ve […]

Two weeks ago Sudler|Sotheby’s closed their 1650 N. Wells Street offices and relocated all of their agents to their head offices at the Polmolive Building at 919 N. Michigan Ave. and to their recently aquired offices from Sussex & Reiley at 912 W Armitage. Over the weekend Baird & Warner announced to their agents that […]

The Illinois Association of Realtors is reporting that March home sales in Chicago were up 40.6% over February. February 2009 saw 840 transactions and there were 1,181 in March. However, year-on-year the numbers are way down, with a drop of 42.2% (down from 2,044 in March of 2008). Chicago’s prices are proving to be sticky?the […]

Today Sheldon Good & Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In a statement the company said it is, ?reorganizing to remedy the effects of improper actions taken by its former chairman. These improprieties, which left the company with a shortage of reserves in the face of the current economic downturn, came to light following […]