The Chicago 77

Brazil will always be a beautiful and exotic locale with beach-side condos and vacation homes in demand. The Brazilian vacation rental market is in good standing with AirBnb and similar services providing high-end vacation homes available for rent, bringing in thousands of dollars of revenue.   Why are these homes good investments? Due to tumultuous […]

Miami-based luxury high-rise developers Crescent Heights put Cityfront Place under contract for $83 million and the deal is supposed to close this month. This acquisition is the first downtown apartment building to sell in over two years which is a good indicator that the rental market might rebound before any other division in the housing market.

10 November 2009 –Fannie Mae is primed to become a landlord on a national scale. Last Thursday, Fannie Mae announced a new program that would allow current home owners in foreclosure to stay in their homes by signing a 1-year rental agreement. After the lease expires, homeowners could then enter a month-to-month lease. This would […]

I recently read a Crain?s Chicago Real Estate article about how the downtown apartment market is improving. The good news about this is that there is finally good news! Chicago?s rental market has been put through the ringer this season and no more bad news is great news. The downtown apartment market is doing marginally […]

Let?s face it, it’s a scary time to be a landlord. The apartment rental market is facing difficulties like never before. For the first time in six years apartment rents are down nationwide. Fueling the fire are investor-owned properties (usually condos or town homes), which has expanded the rental supply by roughly 50 percent. Whether […]

Normally May is a great time to be a landlord in Chicago. This season, I wish I could say it is, but it isn?t. Apartment conditions in Chicago have softened because of the rising unemployment rate and overbuilding. The citywide condo boom has ended, and a lot of recently completed and under-way projects are now […]

It?s no secret to anyone that the current sales market is less than ideal. Under most normal circumstances, average homeowners are holding on to their property and hoping for the housing storm to pass. But what if you have to sell? You could be someone who is being transferred to another city or state by […]

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.