The Chicago 77

Have you read the latest news that home sales are down? Pretty much everyday, right? According to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (PDF), released on Monday, Chicago experienced an 18.7% decline in home prices from April 2008 to April 2009, but did not experience a percentage change from the prior month, March 2009 […]

29 June 2009 – This week?s Crain?s Chicago Business (PDF) is reporting that the relative cost of owning vs. renting is swinging back in favor of home ownership across the U.S. and in Chicago. The Chicago real estate market is already seeing signs of this with an increase in pending home sales. There are great […]

Here?s a question real estate agents are hearing lately??With so many short sales out there?does that mean the market is getting worse and should I be concerned about buying now verses later this year?? The answer, in a word, ?No.? Short sales certainly seem to be on the rise due to a variety of reasons: […]

Take comfort home sellers! Celebrities are having the same problem as we common folk. Here are some celebs who can?t seem to sell their houses: Jon and Kate Gosselin, co-stars of the popular TLC show “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” have been trying for three months to sell their former home in Elizabethtown, Pa.

I think there is light at the end of the tunnel. We can certainly see it in our showing activity and in the market. It’s still not an easy market or necessarily a fair market for all involved, but it is changing for the better. Statistics from Illinois Association of Realtors (IAR) definitely back up […]

As prospective buyers are sitting back, waiting, and speculating about when to take advantage of the bottom, it appears we have hit a plateau. One of the most effective ways for pricing to stabilize and then see appreciation is depleting inventory. Signs Home Prices in Chicago Are Stabilizing According to the Illinois Association of Realtors, […]

22 June 2009 ? Signs are appearing that both inventory and pricing in the housing market are starting to level. Banks modifying existing mortgages are keeping people in their homes who thought they would have to sell. A large number of foreclosure units will not be hitting the open market as reported in Friday?s Chicago […]

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 […]

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 […]

In today’s real estate market, everyone wants to know if we have hit the bottom of the declining market. The only way to really know the answer to that question is to see property values start to level off and even appreciate some. The national media would have you believing that property values in Chicago […]

The two big questions on everyone?s mind are why have property values dropped so much, and when will they stop dropping? Even though there are no truly simple answers to the complex set of issues which have created and sustained the problems in the real estate and financial sectors of our economy, I can distill […]

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 […]