11/26/08

Housing Bulletin: Our Second-Annual Turkey Roundup

Although it’s been a painful year in the real-estate market, there has been some news this week to make us all thankful: the announcement that the mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will not pursue any more foreclosures until January 2009, and the Federal Reserve’s plan, unveiled Tuesday morning, to buy up to $600 billion in mortgage-backed assets to help stabilize the economy and the housing sector.

Even so, we have a tradition here at Deal Estate—dating all the way back to last year—of serving up a platter of turkeys...

Posted at 02:39 PM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)

11/24/08

Sale of the Week: A Kenilworth Sale at an Eight-Year-Old Price

List Price: $3.395 million
Sale Price: $2.2 million
The Property: Its multiply-divided windows, steeply pitched roofs, and English-countryside casualness evoke many of the decades-old mansions in eastern Kenilworth, but in fact this house is just eight years old and on the younger (west) side of town. The 12-room brick and...

Posted at 09:17 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/20/08

On the Market: In Lake View, a Brewster Building Condo

List Price: $265,000
The Property: This two-bedroom condo, nicely renovated in the past year and a half, is on the third floor of one of the city’s most distinctive 19th-century residential buildings, The Brewster. Situated at the northwest corner of Pine Grove Avenue and Diversey Parkway and originally known as the...

Posted at 10:44 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/19/08

Housing Bulletin: The Expanding Impact of the Housing Crisis

Two recent reports from expert analysts of the Chicago housing scene shed new light on the impact of the recent troubles affecting the local residential real-estate market. One report shows that renters of high-end apartments are benefiting from the downtown condo glut, while the other indicates that the foreclosure wave is sweeping into Latino neighborhoods after initially hitting African American neighborhoods hardest...

Posted at 06:09 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/17/08

Sale of the Week: Two Steps Toward a Quick Lincoln Park Sale

List Price: $2.395 million
Sale Price: $2.2 million
The Property: Although just four years old, this 13-room house in west Lincoln Park got a $50,000 makeover before going on the market in September. What’s more, the residence was priced $75,000 below what its sellers had originally paid for the...

Posted at 07:20 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (2)

11/13/08

On the Market: B. J. Armstrong’s Highland Park Home

List Price: $2,802,500
The Property: The retired NBA star B. J. Armstrong has owned this six-bedroom house on a secluded street in Highland Park for 14 years, during which time he played for the Bulls and three other teams, worked in the Bulls’ front office, and provided commentary for a TV sports show. He listed the residence for sale late this past summer with an asking price of $2.95 million; in late October he cut the price to...

Posted at 08:19 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/12/08

Some Potential Condo Deals—and a Turkey Call

Downtown developers aren’t the only ones troubled by a drastic downturn in condo sales.
Many suburban developers are also struggling to unload condo inventory. In Lombard (at 310 South Main Street), one developer is offering 18 condos at auction later this month—and the terms of the auction suggest a handful of buyers could walk away with bargain-basement...

Posted at 09:00 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (2)

11/06/08

On the Market: Two of a Kind in Bronzeville

List Price:
South unit (on right) $539,000
North unit (on left) $499,000
The Property: These two townhouses, built in 1885 for a brother and sister, are now for sale either separately or together. Although their exteriors are the same—the mansard roof tops a red brick...

Posted at 07:17 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/05/08

Housing Bulletin: What Makes The Blue Light Special

October was another gloomy month for the downtown condo market, with developers hitting the brakes on both the Spire and the 76-story condo tower by Architectonica that was planned for Lakeshore East.
But October was also the month when deals closed on two very expensive penthouses at the Metropolitan Tower, the building with the blue...

Posted at 11:50 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/03/08

Sale of the Week: Fact and Fiction in Barrington Hills

List Price: $5.75 million
Sale Price: $3.3 million
The Property: At the center of this 22-acre estate in the horse country of Barrington Hills stands an 80-year-old manor house built of stone. The Cotswold-styled house has 20 rooms (seven of them bedrooms), nine full and four partial bathrooms, and six fireplaces. On the...

Posted at 07:21 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (1)