The Chicago 77

When people look at apartments, they tend to look at the layout, the size of the bedrooms, the light coming through the windows, and most importantly if it fits their budget. There are a few other questions renters forget to ask. Here are ten (maybe more…) to make sure to either get the answer to or investigate yourself.

The Illinois Association of Realtors® (IAR) announced yesterday that both home prices and home sales were down in Chicago when comparing December 2008 to December 2007. They are also down when comparing all of 2008 to 2007. Chicago Home Sales Figures In December a total of 1,215 homes were sold in Chicago. This is down […]

We probably should have seen this coming, with reports from agents saying they were seeing an unusual increase in buyers wanting to do something. Today The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) released a report stating the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales of existing homes in December went up to 4.47 million units in December. […]

Numbers can be spun in any way that works for you. The foreclosure numbers that Cook County Circuit Court released on Jan. 13, 2009 are a case in point. Dorothy Brown, Cook County Clerk, chose this headline, “Cook County Mortgage Foreclosures Spike to 338%: A Ten-Year High.” And, of course, that is correct. In 1999 […]

Chicago, the city that gave the country its first African American president, has been crowned the most segregated city in the United States. On Dec. 26th, 2008, using data from The Center for Governmental Studies at Northern Illinois University, The Chicago Tribune wrote an in-depth report on segregation in Chicago. The report appears to have […]

All of us here at The Chicago 77, and perhaps all of us who live in the Chicago 77, would like to wish President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, good luck with the heavy load he is about to bear.

I was looking through CNN Money the other day and found an article about houses for sale for less than $1,000. They called them Radical Cheap homes. The article mentioned that there were 18 listings in Flint, MI that were under $3,000, 22 in Indianapolis, 46 in Cleveland and the eye-popping number of 709 in […]

A common question I often hear from buyers in Chicago is, “What school district is the home in?” Unfortunately, all too often the listing agent doesn’t know. What’s worse, they often don’t know how to find out. I’ve heard total guesses that were completely wrong (off by a district or two). My favorite response has […]

The Federal Reserve has bought $10.2 billion of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities. According to the New York Fedâ??s Web site they bought $6.9 billion of Freddie Mac securities, $2.9 billion of Fannie Mae bonds and $450 million of Ginnie Mae debt.

CoStar is reporting that Ernst & Young have signed a 10-year lease for 203,618 square feet at The John Buck Co.’s new office development at 155 N. Wacker Drive. According to The John Buck Co’s web site, the 46 story, 1.13 million-square-foot office tower is scheduled to be completed in July of 2009. Costar is […]

On Wednesday Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley announced a five-year plan to build 50,022 new, affordable rental and for-sale units over the next five years. The plan will cost $2.1 billion with the money coming from federal and state […]

I live in a fee-simple town home. Last night the officers of the association had a meeting, and whether I like it or not, I had to go because I’m the president. What? If you understand why this is weird, read on. If you don’t understand why this is weird, read on. Fee simple is […]

The City of Chicago has teamed up with some select developers to offer large incentives on over 200 homes in 22 neighborhoods. The incentives can total as much as $60,000 to $80,000. The program is called Find Your Place In Chicago and it’s well worth a look.