Market Conditions: Have Select Chicago Area Zip Codes Bottomed?

The Chicago Tribune is reporting on a phenomena that many have chattered about here on Crib Chatter: that some areas are seeing more sales than years past and decent, affordably priced properties are also selling quickly.

Yet, the article says the improvements are coming in just 14 zip codes out of the entire Chicagoland area.

And no- one of the zip codes is NOT Oak Brook.

Still, there are pockets, small pockets, where at least in the fourth quarter of 2011 the housing market looked better than it did a year ago. The telltale signs: an increase in median sales prices, an increase in the number of closed sales and a decrease in the number of days on market.

There is no guarantee that the positive signs will continue in the more than a dozen ZIP codes that showed improvement in all three areas, and experts want to see another three months of statistics before they label an area as recovering. A rash of distressed properties also will send the market downward. But given five years of bad headlines about the housing market, even the smallest inkling of positive news may be welcome for homeowners and industry watchers.

“Real estate has become a spectator sport because of the Internet,” said Russ Bergeron, CEO of Midwest Real Estate Data LLC, the local multiple listing service provider. People “want to know what’s going on in their neighborhood. The (greater) number of units means stuff is at least moving. If you can string together six to nine months (of good numbers), then you’ve really got something to be excited about.”

You can click on a map in the Tribune article with more info about the individual zip codes, but those zip codes seeing improvement were located in:

  1. Deerfield
  2. Highland Park
  3. Johnsburg (McHenry)
  4. Johnsburg (Lake)
  5. Mundelein
  6. Park Ridge
  7. Wood Dale
  8. Lockport
  9. Lisle
  10. Aurora
  11. Naperville
  12. Western Springs
  13. Chicago (Hyde Park)
  14. Chicago (Ravenswood)

Nope. No Lincoln Park or Lakeview zip codes among them.

The mild winter certainly has helped showings and buyer interest, said Erene Panos of Re/Max Action. Panos still has conversations weekly with sellers about pricing, but list prices aren’t being dropped as quickly as they were a year ago.

“We aren’t getting as saturated by the foreclosures as before, and that’s definitely helping the resale market,” Panos said. “And if you have a home that has been very well taken care of, it’s not going to be there that long.”

Michael and Ilana Sherman made an offer on a Highland Park home the day after it came on the market, before Michael had even seen it. The couple sold their Lincoln Square condo at a loss in 2010 and began renting in Wilmette while they began watching the residential markets along the North Shore, waiting for the right opportunity. After walking away from one offer and losing out to a higher bid on another, the couple went under contract on a four-bedroom split-level a few hours after Ilana toured it, at the list price of $325,000.

“We kind of expected going into it that we would be able to take our time,” Michael Sherman said. “But the reality is, the houses that are priced accordingly to their real value and that are in structurally good shape go very fast. When you see it, and we’d been looking for a while, if you want to own your own home, then you have to react fast.”

Alan Meyerowitz, an @properties agent, said the Shermans are not alone. He’s talked with other renters who’ve bided their time and are now ready to move forward with a purchase.

“They’re all coming back and they’re ready to buy,” he said. “They’ve saved up.”

Now that the Super Bowl has passed, the traditional “Spring Buying Season” is on.

Will a lot of sellers jump in and list now that there are small signs of the possibility of a market bottom?

Can sellers genuinely “move up” as this article seems to indicate? Or is it just more realtor speak?

Pockets of hope in housing despair [Chicago Tribune, Mary Ellen Podmolik, February 5, 2012]

151 Responses to “Market Conditions: Have Select Chicago Area Zip Codes Bottomed?”

  1. “And no- one of the zip codes is NOT Oak Brook.”

    You have to read between the lines, be smart, and truly understand what is really going on. What is being reported is based on comparative data – not absolute data (therefore, towns that were affected badly in years past and show steady gains are being highlighted – those that never really experienced a HUGE decline are NOT going to be included) – here, let me explain it in terms you may understand: let’s say you have two students. One student (let’s call Clio) scores a 95% on the midterm exam while the second student (let’s call Sabrina) scores 50%. On the final, Clio scores 97% while Sabrina scores 65%. Someone (let’s call G) could say that Sabrina’s score improved 30% while Clio’s score improved only 2% (without getting into the details of what really is going on)…. NOW do you see?!!

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  2. As we’ve discussed here ad nausea you might as well just ignore the median price data. And I’ll bet a lot of this data is just aberrations. For instance, I pulled up Hyde Park. There just aren’t that many sales in that zip code (64 in the last quarter) and most of that activity is sub 200K. The median price went from 81K to 125K. Whoop de doo!

    I think there is a more interesting story to tell about parts of the city that just haven’t declined that much and where sales still occur briskly but it’s hard to capture in aggregate statistics. Just try buying something decent in a desirable area.

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  3. What an amazing concept discussed in the Chicago trib. Families aren’t buying in the city (other than 2 analogies) but they are buying in the suburbs. High demand and limited supply is causing prices to stabilize. Short sales and distressed sales are a good thing because it shows the market is finding a way to clear the distressed and underwater properties in due course. Prices will continue to fall but they will fall more in the city rather than the suburbs. Many places on that list are already half off of 2006 anyway.

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  4. “But the reality is, the houses that are priced accordingly to their real value and that are in structurally good shape go very fast”

    Price it right and it will sell, and more bang/sqft for your $ in the burbs. Standard CC tenants we’ve discussed ad nassum on here.

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  5. “Can sellers genuinely “move up” as this article seems to indicate?”

    Depends on what you define by “move up”. The couple who unloaded their Lincoln Square condo can acquire a larger SFH than the couple that opts to become a reluctant landlord. Many owners seem to still believe recover equals housing prices returning to boom year numbers and that simply isn’t going to happen.

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  6. “Families aren’t buying in the city (other than 2 analogies) but they are buying in the suburbs. High demand and limited supply is causing prices to stabilize.”

    Looks like all those city condo dwellers with cribs/kids-names letters in the photos, took Clio’s advice and moved to the burbs where its cheaper living?

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  7. Clio – you may be an idiot, but that was some funny sh*t!

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  8. Highland Park and Deerfield are high demand for many of my recent clients. Close to their families, great school systems, on the lake, and price points that range from 200’s to 4 million +

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  9. “One student (let’s call Clio) scores a 95% on the midterm exam while the second student (let’s call Sabrina) scores 50%. On the final, Clio scores 97% while Sabrina scores 65%. Someone (let’s call G) could say that Sabrina’s score improved 30% while Clio’s score improved only 2%”

    Oh so thats how you got graded at UIC, hmmm i get it now. hahahahaahaahahaaaaaa

    sorry had one more in me, might as well get it out right away.

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  10. “Highland Park and Deerfield are high demand for many of my recent clients. Close to their families, great school systems, on the lake, and price points that range from 200?s to 4 million”

    Typical anti-diversity flight and ethnic self-segregation.

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  11. If for no other reason, loans are so friggin cheap right now that I just don’t see where the downward pressure on prices is going to come from. i just don’t see buyers walking away from properties they really want over a 25-30k price dispute. That’s probably under $100/mo?

    Buyers work backward from what kind of payment they can afford/qualify for. With 3.8% rates, it doesn’t take much of an income to be walking around with a pre-approval for (at least) the FHA limit. If you’ve stashed away any cash over the last few years, you’re walking around with quite a bit more. Last time we had that situation, cheap cash drove prices way up. here, at least I think it’s going to keep them from falling.

    Put another way, I think arguing over prices is largely a secondary concern for most buyers. The number on the sales contract is less important than the number on the monthly note. Right now, there’s so many factors lined up keeping that monthly note low that there’s no real-world pressure to push down prices.

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  12. More ignorant stereotyping from ignorance personified. I believe my family’s relocation decision some years ago is representative of decisions being made today. We chose to move to get best schools we could find for our kids strengths and weaknesses, which resulted in leaving un-diverse southwest side of Chicago & moving to an unbelieveably diverse area close to Deerfield. Diversity or lack thereof was not considered in calculations but it turned out to be an unintended bonus for us. Leave your mom’s basement, couple up with a nice girl from the Aryan sisterhood & get more positive about life.

    “Typical anti-diversity flight and ethnic self-segregation.”

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  13. T-biscuit,

    very well put, but dont you think that the majority of buyers with purchasing power did so in the boom and are now stuck so cant free up cash or free up the ability to borrow to buy, would cause even more stagnant inventory then put pressure to push prices down and more inventory its a stale market?

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  14. just pointing out per the article above the majority is OUT OF COOK COUNTY.

    if your going to the burbs make sure you get out of cook too.

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  15. Since when is Deerfield “on the lake?”

    Since someone brought up diversity, there’s a decent-sized Latino population in Highwood, which shares Highland Park’s school system. So at least the schools in HP aren’t lily white, though they’re far less diverse than the city.

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  16. also highwood has good food. too bad hoagie hut closed though

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  17. speaking of interest rates, is it correct that just like any realtor can show you any house that is on the MLS, any mortgage broker can give you the current market interest rate (assuming you have the credit score and salary)?

    Put another way, it’s not like Mortage Lender/Broker 1 can only give you 4.0 % whereas Mortgage Lender/broker #2 can give you 3.75%

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  18. “though they’re far less diverse than the city”

    is diversity even a concern when one is looking past lake street going north. And really if ones main concern is looking for the most diversity in race and religion then they should be looking in rodgers park and get off the morale high horse they think they are riding

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  19. Groove is right. When we moved to HP, diversity wasn’t one of the things we were looking for.

    That said, I think there are degrees of diversity even on the North Shore, and HP fares well among the NS suburbs in that respect. Certainly in our part of HP, there’s plenty of economic diversity. There are housing projects within a few blocks of us, and plenty of small, affordable homes. The stereotype of HP is neighborhoods like the ones you see in the John Hughes movies, and it isn’t all like that.

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  20. Deerfield is not on the lake, correct.

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  21. What does “close to Deerfield” mean?

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  22. Guess I’m sounding defensive here about the diversity thing. I’m still dealing with my guilt over leaving the city. Certainly my kids are having a much more sheltered childhood than they would if they were in Chicago, even if we were on the North Side, so I feel somewhat bad about that. It’s not good when everyone is isolated in their own little pods.

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  23. “any mortgage broker can give you the current market interest rate (assuming you have the credit score and salary)? ”

    yeah but there is a huge difference in fees between say someone like guaranteed rate, vs some wells fargo chump, which can vary your APR by at least a few bp’s

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  24. “neighborhoods like the ones you see in the John Hughes movies, and it isn’t all like that.”

    what about hs kids running temporary bordellos out of their parents homes.. it’s still like that, right?

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  25. “Right now, there’s so many factors lined up keeping that monthly note low that there’s no real-world pressure to push down prices.”

    I guess the pressures that have pushed prices down throughout the interest rate declines of recent years are part of an alternate reality?

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  26. “Certainly my kids are having a much more sheltered childhood than they would if they were in Chicago, even if we were on the North Side, so I feel somewhat bad about that.”

    you can live in a small farm town in central IL and still not have “sheltered children”, that is about the parents and the parents views on parenting not about the location of the home you choose. Dont feel bad, only feel bad if you are keeping them from exploring and seeing everything the world has to offer.

    now if you are to feel bad it should be your abandonment of your old chicago neighbors, instead of fighting the fight with them you fled to the hills, when the city needs educated votes with loud voices in numbers to change for the better

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  27. “dont you think that the majority of buyers with purchasing power did so in the boom and are now stuck so cant free up cash or free up the ability to borrow to buy, would cause even more stagnant inventory then put pressure to push prices down and more inventory its a stale market?”

    I’m sure there are people in that situation, but they’re probably only “stuck” if they’ve had a bad string of events in the intervening years (lost job, financial difficulty). While that’s certainly happened to lots of people, I still don’t think it’s a majority. Otherwise, losing money on a real estate sale in order to take advantage of prime time to buy isn’t necessarily the end of the world, or they can become the reluctant landlord. If they last bought in 2005-2006, they’ve had a few 6-7 years to rebuild savings. They’ve been told for the last 2+ years that they’re going to take a bath when they sell, so they’ve had time to swallow that pill.

    Obviously all a guess, but if you were in a good position in 2006-2007 financially, and you haven’t lost your job, you’re probably in a better position now.

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  28. gringozecarioca on February 6th, 2012 at 10:36 am

    “ethnic self-segregation”

    ROFLMAO.. wrong again. I’ve lived next to Blacks, Gays, WASPS, Catholics, Jews, Asians, Pakis, Indians… and on and on… Dan we would never be neighbors, not based on any ethnic criteria, but simply because I will always choose to live somewhere, that you can’t afford to be my neighbor.

    Segregation yes… but one based on income. One that safely keeps scapegoating failures, such as yourself, away from me.

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  29. gringozecarioca on February 6th, 2012 at 10:37 am

    “Obviously all a guess, but if you were in a good position in 2006-2007 financially, and you haven’t lost your job, you’re probably in a better position now.”

    It’s a fair argument.

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  30. “I guess the pressures that have pushed prices down throughout the interest rate declines of recent years are part of an alternate reality?”

    Heh, a fair point. Maybe I’m wrong. Admittedly, I see a drop from ~5 to 3.8% on the 30-year mortgage and think to myself – “Good grief, what a shot in the arm for buyers – this is going to stabilize the market” But I guess people were saying the same thing when rates went from 6.5 to ~5. I can’t possibly imagine rates getting any lower, but I’m sure that’s been said before too. I just have to think this current rate levels are very short-term, and will serve as a short-term prop to prices while buyers ready to lock into long-term homes won’t dilly-dally haggling over prices.

    It certainly does make me wonder what will happen to values when and if rates get back up to the 8-9% historical norms. A $2500/mo budget now will get you 500k+ worth of house. At 8.5%, you’re lucky to get 250k. That loss of buying pool will be a bloodbath.

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  31. Scapegoating failure? OK. If that’s how you see it.

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  32. “I’m sure there are people in that situation, but they’re probably only “stuck” if they’ve had a bad string of events in the intervening years (lost job, financial difficulty). ”
    “Obviously all a guess, but if you were in a good position in 2006-2007 financially, and you haven’t lost your job, you’re probably in a better position now.”

    T-biscuit toe’d shoes,

    I disagree three people that i emailed just in the last hour, 2 dont have any financial difficulty or loss of job or any sting of events intervening. one bought in 2006 and the other early 2007. One owns a 2 bedroom row house and the other in a 2/2 condo. Guess what they owe is a huge disparity of what its worth, so refinancing is not an option and selling at a huge loss takes away all if not more than the down payment for new purchase.

    so how is that not stuck, either of these two are handy and the “accidental” landlord option does not appeal to them in anyway.

    i am not saying this situation is across the whole, but it is a large portion of the people that would should and could be buying.

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  33. Hasn’t this always been a basic truth? I always hear people of my parents’ generation talking about how prices back in their may have seemed artificially low due to double-digit interest rates. The interest rate probably became less of a factor when people started getting those 3 or 5 year ARMs, but that didn’t exactly pan out very well for many folks (it didn’t for society, at least).

    “Put another way, I think arguing over prices is largely a secondary concern for most buyers. The number on the sales contract is less important than the number on the monthly note. Right now, there’s so many factors lined up keeping that monthly note low that there’s no real-world pressure to push down prices.”

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  34. “I just have to think this current rate levels are very short-term”

    I’m thinking again that this has something to do with your perception of reality.

    “Fed Announces Low Interest Rates Through 2014” – January 25, 2012

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  35. “any mortgage broker can give you the current market interest rate (assuming you have the credit score and salary)? ”

    Are you about to buy the house we know you should buy? I don’t see a sale pending yet. If you read around, you’ll see some horror stories on specific mortgage brokers being basically incompetent and causing major hassles. So you’d want to try to avoid that. And of course look for someone you feel comfortable handling any complications in your specific circumstance.

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  36. ““Obviously all a guess, but if you were in a good position in 2006-2007 financially, and you haven’t lost your job, you’re probably in a better position now.”

    It’s a fair argument.”

    i will disagree on this too, so many factors so little time (and brain power) to type. I go over and over again with this with friends and wifey. there are times i will feel that my buying power is great because its mostly liquid, but then weigh all the factors of what i think a average household is against. in the end i come out that the average man’s financial situation is worse now than in the recent 20 years.

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  37. The government will try anything to stop the housing mess, especially in an election year… and my theory is that we will see 2-3% 30 year rates in the near future… hell the government is already handing out $25 billion to deadbeats, just imagine what kind of stuff they will give to the responsible folks! (haha)

    http://tinyurl.com/6nxaljt

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  38. DanDuece: “Scapegoating failure? OK. If that’s how you see it.”

    Dammit, Icarus, we need the Wiki. Even regulars are getting confused.

    Ze was talking to HeilHofer (fka Banned-Dan), DanDuece.

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  39. “which resulted in leaving un-diverse southwest side of Chicago & moving to an unbelieveably diverse area close to Deerfield.”

    Ha ha, LOL!! LOL, again!!!! Do you expect any sane or intelligent person to believe that?

    If Naperville is oft-described as a suburban hell, then bland Deerfield is at a lower level of suburban hell because its level of ethnic self-segregation/flight far surpasses Naperville in its open consciousness and severity. Go visit Northbrook Court mall and compare the ethnic cliqueyness there to the people at Fox Valley mall. You’ll see that this analysis is correct.

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  40. ” just imagine what kind of stuff they will give to the responsible folks!”

    A bill for $25b + Interest?

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  41. “I’m sure there are people in that situation, but they’re probably only “stuck” if they’ve had a bad string of events in the intervening years (lost job, financial difficulty).”

    Agree with groove on this. Know at least a couple/few families who are stuck. They’ve kept their jobs, don’t have any issues in making payments on their homes. And (to the extent I know aobut their finances) have some some more money, but not enough to offset the loss and have enough of a downpayment (and perhaps a cushion that they really want now). 2/2 condos in bad school districts are a big factor.

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  42. “I’ve lived next to Blacks, Gays, WASPS, Catholics, Jews, Asians, Pakis, Indians… and on and on”

    Um…. narcissist, who cares and what does this have to do with Deerfield?

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  43. “Fed Announces Low Interest Rates Through 2014? – January 25, 2012″

    I thought the Fed target rate had remained essentially at the same level (0 or close to it) since 2008. But we haven’t seen rates at this level until the last few months. So it seems to me that there are factors in play that affect the rates we see other than the Fed’s target rate.

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  44. “and my theory is that we will see 2-3% 30 year rates in the near future”

    Isn’t it obvious? It’s what they’ve been doing since the correction began and we haven’t hit bottom yet. Must keep digging.

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  45. “Dammit, Icarus, we need the Wiki.”

    I think he’s trying to monetize the wiki, which I really have no objection to, but I’m not sure he’s making a lot of progress on it, or the rest of his blog, lately. Cutting and pasting minutiae from your everyday life and “borrowing” some graphics doesn’t really work for most people in building a blog.

    “Northbrook Court mall”

    I love northbrook court as a bad weather mall. Haven’t had to use it this winter.

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  46. “So it seems to me that there are factors in play that affect the rates we see other than the Fed’s target rate.”

    Wouldn’t a large one be that they have begun to offer extended rate “guidance”?

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  47. “Um…. narcissist, who cares and what does this have to do with Deerfield?”

    and this does?

    “Typical anti-diversity flight and ethnic self-segregation.”

    doode please next time you guys have a rally or meeting please invite me.

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  48. “I love northbrook court as a bad weather mall. Haven’t had to use it this winter”

    love it even more since the H&M was put in. Do miss the galt toy store and the thomas tracks the had out, but the tree+land of nod+lego is good enough for the squirt because daddy needs a new sweater and scarf 😉

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  49. “Are you about to buy the house we know you should buy?”

    which house is this? let’s just say we are looking forward to the “Spring Buying Season”

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  50. gringozecarioca on February 6th, 2012 at 11:08 am

    ” in the end i come out that the average man’s financial situation is worse now than in the recent 20 years.”

    He did not say the average man. He stated someone doing well who had not been hurt. Basically he is saying that person had a 700k home that went to 500 but now can more easily afford the 2 million home that went to 1.4 mil. The spread was 1.3 and is now 900k.
    So I see his point.

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  51. in another thread the question of how someone who bought in the mid 90s could still be underwater today assuming they haven’t cashed out re-fied. I was thinking about this and don’t know if it would apply to someone who bought in the late 90s but perhaps someone in the early 2000…

    When you refi, you basically reset your mortgage and your payments are higher interest to principle. So lets say you refi’d each time it made sense to do so and you rolled the costs of the refi back into your mortgage.

    we need MuiMui to represent this mathematically. 🙂

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  52. “Cutting and pasting minutiae from your everyday life and “borrowing” some graphics doesn’t really work for most people in building a blog.”

    DZ, what can i do to improve?

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  53. “So I see his point.”

    I guess i missed that detail 😉

    i will chalk that up to not being ejumakaytid at a fine institution like UIC

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  54. “So it seems to me that there are factors in play that affect the rates we see other than the Fed’s target rate.”

    The Fed usually can only affect the short end of the curve with ZIRP, but due to “Operation Twist” they’re buying up the longer end of the curve, which helps keep mortgage rates down.

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  55. “When you refi, you basically reset your mortgage and your payments are higher interest to principle. So lets say you refi’d each time it made sense to do so and you rolled the costs of the refi back into your mortgage. ”

    If you refi’d each time it made sense, and didn’t take any $$ out beyond paying for the refi (w/ zero points), you should be somewhat better off in terms of the amount repaid. 10 years in, on an amortizing 30, at 7% you pay off a bit under 15%, at 4% it’s a bit over 21%.

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  56. It’s nice to see the Claim Company back at NBC. Not the best food but it was always fun growing up

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  57. Icarus, all mortgage brokesr don’t have access to same sources of funding, nor do they all have the same pricing. It isn’t like how any Realtor can show you any property listed in the MLS. Generally speaking, Too Big Too Fail banks are the worst places for a variety of reasons; number one being they have limited sources. Second, the LOs that work there tend to be either new to the business (don’t know what they are doing) or on their way out of the business (failed). Third, the rates usually aren’t the most competitive.

    Ideally, you want to find independent mortgage banks or correspondent lenders who fund their own loans and sell them off after closing. They tend to offer the most competitive rates and deepest source of funding options. Big enough to be a bank, but small and nimble enough to act as a mortgage broker.

    True third party mortgage brokers are all but extinct now due to regulations. Some are trying to hang on, but most are throwing in the towel.

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  58. I thought I’d try out a hypothetical to test my theory.

    Assume you’re a financially sound buyer looking at a 500k home. Current 3.8% rate means if you put 100k down, your monthly note is ~$2350. But you’re a bear, you think prices are too high, so you wait it out.

    Congratulations, you are correct! You ride out the Summer 2012 Mayan Real Estate Apocalypse and the market loses another 20% in the next 9 months (even here that seems a bit extreme, right?). So you go back to your seller, show him the market reports and tell him he’d better take 400k or he’s going to end up wearing a pickle barrel and selling pencils on the corner. He relents and accepts your offer of 400k.

    So you go to the bank, give them your 80k down payment. They tell you rates have rebounded slightly to their pretty stable level from 2008-2011 and are currently 5.25%, so your monthly payment is about ~$2225.

    So you were 100% correct about the market falling further, and can pat yourself on the back for that lower purchase price. You’re really only saving ~$125/mo on the monthly payments, though, but that’s ok (more deductions!). Hey, you saved 20k on that down payment too! Although you probably rode out the Mayan Real Estate Apocalypse on your own place as well, so unless your prior property was less than 100k, you’re probably worse off than before.

    For the sake of completeness, what if rates are still at 3.8%? My theory is first and foremost the Mayan RE Apocalypse never happens with rates that low. Even if it does, some other schmo bought it already.

    It’s like you’re catching knives but you get to wear really thick gloves. Things could still go wrong, but you have a pretty good idea that your downside isn’t as bad as it might otherwise be.

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  59. gringozecarioca on February 6th, 2012 at 11:42 am

    T-Bisuit.. that’s a lotta hypothesizin’

    “i will chalk that up to not being ejumakaytid at a fine institution like UIC”

    I was pretty on target with my Hartford and Stamford U. jokes. Just picked the wrong 2 outta 3.

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  60. “What does “close to Deerfield” mean?”
    We moved to Stevenson High School district which is adjacent west of Deerfield High School district.

    And as to miniClio (no need for rational analysis when you have a point you want to hammer repeatedly huh?) fwiw our neighborhood is approx: 40% immigrants from Eastern Europe (I do love my Russia MD neighbor despite his being nearly incomprehensible in English & complaining as much as Clio about US medical system), 25% immigrants from East Asia, 20% people who grew up in North Shore and located here to be close to family and friends & 15% are outliers like us (including a few value oriented now former Bears & Bulls). We share appreciation for a great place to raise kids to become all they can be and a willingness to pay for great schools. You belong in a self segregating ethnic cliqueness place like Bridgeport where other small minded ignoramuses will agree with your narrow hateful take on how unfair life is to you & your kind.
    “.. bland Deerfield is at a lower level of suburban hell because its level of ethnic self-segregation/flight far surpasses Naperville in its open consciousness and severity. Go visit Northbrook Court mall and compare the ethnic cliqueyness there …. You’ll see that this analysis is correct.”

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  61. “You belong in a self segregating ethnic cliqueness place like Bridgeport where other small minded ignoramuses will agree with your narrow hateful take on how unfair life is to you & your kind.”

    Nope, city folk in Bridgeport are more open minded than those who flee to places like Stevenson HS for their cozy little groupthink. It’s ridiculous to compare the real city to suburban hell, but nice try.

    Btw, your Russian MD neighbor is not “Russian”, he’s Jewish and he’s there because of the segregationist herd mentality I am referring to. There’s nothing wrong with it, but don’t deny it. Nice try again with the distortion of the facts, you aren’t very bright. I’m sure you won’t have any trouble finding some start-another-war or bomb Iran rallies up there with that crowd. Invite Groove so he can see this mentality in full glory, he’s very unaware of large swaths of Chicagoland he’s not been exposed to.

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  62. “what can i do to improve”

    Well, the interpersonal stuff was somewhat interesting. Blogging in detail about your home search could in all seriousness be interesting, especially if you can explain complications that other people are also going through (e.g. how to choose a mortgage broker) but including how it applies to you personally. Cutting and pasting anything is significantly less interesting. Especially cutting and pasting your groupon correspondence and how you are surprised that a sketchy internet retailer is unwilling to ship you additional items for free.

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  63. “Cutting and pasting anything is significantly less interesting.”

    noted. keep in mind, they’re not all gonna be home runs.

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  64. This thread is getting stoooooooooooopid and Dan aka helmethofer is wrecking it again. Dude needs xanax to control those nasty ruminations about jews and asians that are polluting his mind.

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  65. Wrong again ignoramus (a redundancy?). Unlike you I don’t deny facts. While many neighbors are of Jewish heritage (guessing 1/2 of East European immigrants & 75% of those raised in North Shore (and 0% former Bears & Bulls) my MD neighbor is from Russia & is not Jewish. He is here for the same reason I am and our other neighbors are – raising his bright kids here got them into computer engineering at U of I and one now works at Microsoft. What don’t you get about parents choosing to move to get their kids the best possible education? Any statement starting with “city folk in Bridgeport are more open minded…” is really hilarious you real city dweller you. Wait, living in your mom’s basement in Oak Lawn doesn’t count as real city does it?

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  66. Southbound,

    Not to get personal, but I think I’ve identified where you live. Just west of Deerfield, correct? Lots of large townhouse complexes?

    We have friends who live there and it is pretty diverse, though most of the diversity is because of Eastern European immigrants. You do get a lot of space for your money out there and a good school district, though the architecture/design of these complexes is quite unpleasant, with huge garages in front of every townhome in the complex I’m thinking about.

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  67. Hd: ya gotta love a hater but I do agree and I won’t do any more to add to this threads stooooopidity

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  68. Glad to see no one was calling me names. This can get confusing sometimes. I agree some of the posts lately have had an anti-ethnic bias, and I don’t like that.

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  69. just ignore dan(helmet) like the obese piece of ugly white trash that his mother abandoned for being such a shallow minded dickhead white supremacist loser

    I bet dan has LOSER tatoo’d on his face

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  70. “Invite Groove so he can see this mentality in full glory, he’s very unaware of large swaths of Chicagoland he’s not been exposed to.”

    I am always down for new learning experiences, there just needs to be food and beer and a am all in 🙂

    Evil dan hofer, doode even the skinheads i skated with back in the day didnt go the lengths you do to try to tie in the hate you have to any subject. How about this, you stick to your vast knowledge of chicagoland history minus the aryan stuff and find a different blog to post that hate on.

    doode you have alot to offer on crib chatter just stop turning into evil dan at any opening, please.

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  71. Dan#2: I live near Lake-Cook & Arlington Heights Rd (or $500K south of Long Grove if economically profiling myself). Local housing alternatives range from $800/mo. apartments to $800K sfh’s. Local architecture is subpar but it wasn’t appearance that drew us here. I’ve detailed the diversity I’ve experienced above. A neighboring home, formerly rented to a Japanese citizen is now owned by a family from Phillipines. Nearby homes are owned by immigrants from China, India, Pakistan & who knows where in addition to people like your friends & many East European immigrants. It’s a great place to raise kids but now ours are all launched & my wife and I are “Southbound” to city or near city digs!

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  72. “T-Bisuit.. that’s a lotta hypothesizin’ ”

    Is it even based in reality? Does a 5.25% interest rate represent “their pretty stable level from 2008-2011”?

    Here’s what I have as average 30 yr fixed mortgage interest rates for 2008-11:
    Jan 2008 6.24
    Feb 2008 6.41
    Mar 2008 6.63
    Apr 2008 6.54
    May 2008 6.57
    Jun 2008 6.88
    Jul 2008 6.92
    Aug 2008 7.01
    Sep 2008 6.64
    Oct 2008 6.84
    Nov 2008 6.68
    Dec 2008 6.02
    Jan 2009 5.78
    Feb 2009 5.81
    Mar 2009 5.65
    Apr 2009 5.47
    May 2009 5.47
    Jun 2009 5.92
    Jul 2009 5.71
    Aug 2009 5.68
    Sep 2009 5.51
    Oct 2009 5.4
    Nov 2009 5.33
    Dec 2009 5.34
    Jan 2010 5.48
    Feb 2010 5.4
    Mar 2010 5.32
    Apr 2010 5.41
    May 2010 5.28
    Jun 2010 5.17
    Jul 2010 4.99
    Aug 2010 4.81
    Sep 2010 4.74
    Oct 2010 4.66
    Nov 2010 4.6
    Dec 2010 4.92
    Jan 2011 5.08
    Feb 2011 5.21
    Mar 2011 5.17
    Apr 2011 5.15
    May 2011 4.97
    Jun 2011 4.8
    Jul 2011 4.78
    Aug 2011 4.6
    Sep 2011 4.43
    Oct 2011 4.37
    Nov 2011 4.35
    Dec 2011 4.3

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  73. “It’s like you’re catching knives but you get to wear really thick gloves. Things could still go wrong, but you have a pretty good idea that your downside isn’t as bad as it might otherwise be.”

    Your scenario doesn’t allude to the fact that although yearly payments are similar the earlier buyer is down a 100k in equity.

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  74. “I agree some of the posts lately have had an anti-ethnic bias, and I don’t like that.”

    I think you’re right, we shouldn’t make fun of Naperville or Bridgeport in that way. But alas, you always have your troglodyte idiots on CC that do so.

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  75. Worst immigrant group in Chicago these days is the bitter paranoid Afrikaner closet cases.

    They speak English OK, but their personal habits are appalling and their hygiene of every sort (moral, physical, etc.) is disgusting. Their barbaric religious rituals, and their vile cooking smells, are well known and don’t bear exploring here. Fortunately they are uniformly incurious and bad at elementary sums, so our sly and clever merchants do make a nice living by tricking them out of correct change.

    Still, worst of all are their atrocious manners–in particular they are incredibly discourteous guests.

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  76. This is too good to pass up (sorry HD – I know I said…). SInce as Dan/ Herr Hofer points out I am not as sharp as he and others of his superior ilk I looked up troglodyte and here is what I found “a solitary person who lives alone, especially somebody who is antisocial or unconventional” & “somebody living in a cave, especially somebody who belonged to a prehistoric cave-dwelling community”

    Dan/ Herr H the defininitions capture your Oak Lawn basement dwelling backward thinking ass in 2 nutshells!

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  77. “Wait, living in your mom’s basement in Oak Lawn doesn’t count as real city does it?”

    Never been to Oak Lawn, and you hate it because? All I know about it is it’s where Christ Hospital is located, where they always take the southside Chicago gunshot trauma victims. What’s your ignorant point about Oak Lawn, Southside?

    “A neighboring home, formerly rented to a Japanese citizen is now owned by a family from Phillipines. Nearby homes are owned by immigrants from China, India, Pakistan & who knows where in addition to people like your friends & many East European immigrants.”

    You’re trying waaaaaaaay too hard now. I don’t know why I feel the need to defend Bridgeport from dimwit suburban bigots like our suburban-flight example Southbound, but Bridgeport is located next to the real Chinatown, not some faux version at Arlington Heights Rd. near Lake-Cook. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    “While many neighbors are of Jewish heritage (guessing 1/2 of East European immigrants & 75% of those raised in North Shore (and 0% former Bears & Bulls) my MD neighbor is from Russia & is not Jewish. ”

    There’s plenty of collectivism in your small part of suburban Chicagoland. That’s not a bad thing. (Only except when people in Naperville or Orland Park or now Oak Lawn(?) exercise it.) Bunch of idiots.

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  78. who let dan out of his rape cage?

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  79. T-Biscuit, I like your enthusiasm, reminds me of my younger self.

    G, if you missed it, here’s a little more fuel for your fire:

    http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/01/26/treasurys-2008-financial-rescue-could-last-until-2017/

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  80. gringozecarioca on February 6th, 2012 at 4:08 pm

    “I bet dan has LOSER tatoo’d on his face”

    In profession dominated by Jews. They don’t care much for his work and he has met with little to no success. Can’t be because he is lacking something (my bet he is quite technically proficient -which he believes should suffice) that doesn’t get him the work. Must be the poor taste of the ethnic group that doesn’t appreciate his wonderful work.

    Their fault not mine shit… always the hallmark of failure. And there is where the hatred really built from… kinda funny.. wasting your life being mad at others? I don’t get it.

    T-Biscuit.. I was just saying it was a lot of assumptions. Not that any specific assumption made no sense. Although higher rates right after a 20% drop is not the way i would bet.

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  81. Mike in Bucktown on February 6th, 2012 at 4:26 pm

    While many neighbors are of Jewish heritage (guessing 1/2 of East European immigrants & 75% of those raised in North Shore (and 0% former Bears & Bulls) my MD neighbor is from Russia & is not Jewish. He is here for the same reason I am and our other neighbors are

    I am half Russian, Jew (father), half Argentine, Catholic (mother), my wife is Japanese, my son is all of the above….What do I win?

    This thread makes me want to start working, thanks a alot! (heavy sarcasm)

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  82. “Their fault not mine shit… always the hallmark of failure. And there is where the hatred really built from… kinda funny.. wasting your life being mad at others? I don’t get it.”

    Sounds exactly like the history of the diaspora always whining and crying and wailing about “being scapegoated” throughout every period of history, without ceasing, always a sob story about how someone offended or so-called persecuted them, never once looking the long hallmark of failures, expulsions, being the most loathed, etc. without trying to somehow pin the blame on others, yesterday it was Romans, European, Christians, today the du jour is Muslims, “Iran”. It’s always the same, it never ends. The same “their fault not mine shit”. Pathetic.

    btw, who’s dan?

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  83. gringozecarioca on February 6th, 2012 at 5:19 pm

    Helmut.. 2nd time I was speaking about you personally and you made it macro. I got you nailed 100%. You and I both know what you are. Old enough to know your work is fair at best and lifes opportunity passed you by…. always the same mantra.. “they” excluded me for not being one of them, “they” have no understanding of good classical taste (mine) so “they” choose lesser work.

    Yeah.. come give Ogden your professional opinion of his building on CC. He appeared to care about as little as everyone else in your field seems to.

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  84. gringozecarioca on February 6th, 2012 at 5:26 pm

    and helmut… Ze is somewhere in this picture.. clearly contemplating your answers to all these global questions… yep.. between the beers and beach… anguishing over these questions.

    http://guiadecidades.terra.com.br/pe/musica-festa-agenda-dos-blocos-de-rua-do-carnaval-2012-en-rio-de-janeiro–2/fotos/35453

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  85. For the record I like everything about the southside including Oak Lawn (and Bridgeport) except for the higher concentration of assholes like you Dan#1.
    Dan’s you ya tool – who else on CC ever used words like diaspora & troglodyte? I am in awe of your brightness & eruditeness – spent lots of time reading supremacy pamphlets while you were in Statesville recruiting for the Brotherhood huh? The Christian Brothers must be proud of how you turned out after all.

    “btw, who’s dan?” Is that a riff on “btw, which one’s Pink?” also asked by a smug smarmy asshat

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  86. “eruditeness”

    Erudition.

    “The Christian Brothers”

    I didnt realize he was a scion of a jug wine family. Learn something new, every day.

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  87. gringozecarioca on February 6th, 2012 at 5:42 pm

    “spent lots of time reading supremacy pamphlets while you were in Statesville recruiting for the Brotherhood huh?”

    Sorry to correct you. He is to much of a puss to have been in jail. He is simply a guy who thinks much more highly of himself than anyone in his profession has. He is angry about this unfairness. This unjustness.
    Cie la vie!

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  88. gringo and Southbound: Will you kindly stop baiting him and shut up?

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  89. I grew up near Arl Hts road and lake cook and the area has changed dramatically since I left high school. It was mainly white people and a lot of Jewish people in the 1990’s but times have changed and so has the area’s demograpics.

    Im putting a lock on this thread.

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  90. “The couple sold their Lincoln Square condo at a loss in 2010 and began renting in Wilmette while they began watching the residential markets along the North Shore, waiting for the right opportunity.”

    “Michael Sherman said. “But the reality is, the houses that are priced accordingly to their real value and that are in structurally good shape go very fast. ”

    I’m glad someone like the Sherminator has his pulse on the market. I wish I were as adept as the Sherminator at identifying a property’s “real value”.

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  91. I love all of the new media stories of green shoots. Except they’re not using that word because they used that in 2010 in a feeble attempt to influence the election.

    Where is our friend Gary to tell us about the latest greatest reams of economic data?

    Don’t look for a media story to let on that we’re still far from the true pricing bottom in this downturn. Nor that we’ve been in one extended downturn for over four years with no end in sight when you look at year/year data. What is it now 50 months with condos and 55 months with SFHs?

    There’s snakes in the grass,
    there’s wolves in the woods,
    and the garden is full of fools.

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  92. Bob, trust shermanator when he says that structurally sound homes that are reasonably priced sell fast. I’ve seen buyers throw out higher bids on properties *already* under contract, and the sellers find a way to undo there to undo the lower priced deal for the higher bid. It’s hyper competitive put there. It really sucks actually. It really sucks for someone who just wants to buy a reasonably priced home. I actually feel sorry for them.

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  93. “Bob, trust shermanator when he says that structurally sound homes that are reasonably priced sell fast. ”

    Given the price point & the number of bedrooms and suburb, it doesn’t seem like a crazy choice. But I had to paste the part I did find funny from him offering up his opinion given his past history.

    Reminds me of the margin called speculator who swears they learned their lesson and it will never happen again so long as you can float them that immediate loan.

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  94. To be honest Bon, my wife and baby and I are outgrowing the studio in uptown and we’ve been trolling the mls for years and all I have to say is that the law of unintended consequences of underwater homeowners has shrunk inventory and made it hard to close. I feel like an alley cat who spends the entire night hunting trying to catch that single mouse. It takes a dozen or more failed attempts before finally catching that meal. Like I said, I’ve seen buyers making bids on properties already under contract!!!! And realtards those shady bastards will find a way to push the higher priced deal. It’s tough out there. Thank goodness I have cheap rent or else I’d be totally screwed.

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  95. I thought rents in uptown were skyrocketing since Shiller retired?

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  96. They are and now I’m getting priced out. My studio rental price per month at 4640 n Sheridan has skyrocketed and I can’t afford it anymore. And my neighbors from Accra are feeling the pinch too! They almost wish they can go back home! time to move to Deerfield!!!!!

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  97. “I grew up near Arl Hts road and lake cook and the area has changed dramatically since I left high school. It was mainly white people and a lot of Jewish people in the 1990?s but times have changed and so has the area’s demograpics. ”

    does this mean that you went to high school in the 90s or are those two unrelated sentences?

    The Danube: you can swim in it, but the water is too cold!

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  98. “I grew up near Arl Hts road and lake cook ….”

    February 2, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — Police in north suburban Lincolnshire launched a drug investigation at Stevenson High School that was unraveled through text messages.

    So far, one student has been arrested. Others have been suspended.

    Investigators confiscated cellphones that revealed a drug-trafficking operation at the school.

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  99. So? And the point is????

    They used to grow marijuana plants in the western suburban high schools INSIDE THE SCHOOL in the 1970s. They busted a bunch of kids then too. Whoop-de-doo. Happens everywhere. Actually, my take on it is, the more affluent the school- the worse the drug scene is.

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  100. “Michael and Ilana Sherman made an offer on a Highland Park home the day after it came on the market, before Michael had even seen it. The couple sold their Lincoln Square condo at a loss in 2010 and began renting in Wilmette while they began watching the residential markets along the North Shore…”

    So the Sherminator, Michael Sherman, left the city and is moving to “Highland Park”?!! Ha ha, LOL….proven right again. Predictable. The usual. Sorry guys (Ze and South).

    What is unusual is the Sherminator actually admitting he took a loss publicly in a newspaper, because usually with these dudes it’s some kind of bluster about shrewd RE maneuvering/deal-making, an alleged profit, great negotiation, etc. When stories of American distress are covered in the press esp. the WSJ, usually the couple highlighted taking the loss has a some husband named “Bob” and/or a vanilla last name etc. etc.

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  101. gringozecarioca on February 7th, 2012 at 3:48 am

    “So the Sherminator, Michael Sherman, left the city and is moving to “Highland Park”?!! Ha ha, LOL….proven right again. Predictable. The usual. Sorry guys (Ze and South).”

    On that point I have always wholeheartedly agreed with you. I am pretty open about my desire to only live in very specific places, where the real world will not interfere with my carefully constructed re-reality.

    “Actually, my take on it is, the more affluent the school- the worse the drug scene is.”
    I’ve said before, how much all the New Trier kids I knew, loved the yeyo.

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  102. “[heilhofer being dan]”

    So, I suppose that the most famouse American Sherman– william tecumseh–was just a self-hater?

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  103. “who let dan out of his rape cage?”
    Whenever I stand in one of those heated metal shelters on the outdoor el platforms I think of Dan and his rape cage.

    Btw Dan –
    Speaking of Chinatown, do you have any restaurant recommendations?
    They all look touristy and unappealing to me.
    Just like you, I like spicy.
    The hotter, the better.

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  104. “Speaking of Chinatown, do you have any restaurant recommendations?”

    Lao’s Sczechuan no contest!

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  105. lol… this is hilarious as soon as going gets rough the other Moniker, moonhammy comes to rescue the resident hater in chief….oh… and poor Dan has to log in 15 times with all his various IDs to thumb up his dumb comments…lmao

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  106. “Speaking of Chinatown, do you have any restaurant recommendations?”
    “Lao’s Sczechuan no contest!”

    Lao Szechuan is decent, so is Lao Hunan (the latest in the Tony Hu empire). Go4Food is good small mostly cantonese place. Chi Cafe is a good casual “diner” place. And Cai for dim sum is easy call. I would absolutely stay away from Joy Yee’s except for the drinks. Cafe 527 in Evanston is good for Taiwanese food.

    I hate to say this, but if I were mostly based in NYC, I probably wouldn’t spend much of my time in Chicago eating Chinese food. I do want to know Dan’s recs.

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  107. “lol… this is hilarious as soon as going gets rough the other Moniker, moonhammy comes to rescue the resident hater in chief”

    Yes, “Moonhammy” is Dan too.
    Moonhammy and Heilhofer are the only 2 people in the world who read Taki’s blog.
    The blog for princesses and caviar or something.

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  108. Thanks for the recommendations, guys!
    We eat a lot of Malaysian, Vietnamese and Thai, but never Chinese in NY.
    Not only is it terrible, but most of the restaurants are dirty.
    The Dept of Health has a letter grading system here and the Chinese restaurants routinely get Bs and Cs.
    In Chicago I’m on the Southside a lot and I’d love to have somewhere spicy and ethnic to eat.
    Just like how Dan likes his women!

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  109. My view is that whether certain zip codes have “bottomed” is irrelevant.

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  110. “My view is that whether certain zip codes have “bottomed” is irrelevant.”

    Wrong forum, this one is about spicy asian food and racists.

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  111. Milkster: Like you and Dan Heilhofer I am on the southside a lot. Despite his protests that he has never visited his mom’s basement in Oak Lawn I see him liking Chi Tung at 95th & Kedzie which serves Chinese, Thai & Japanese food covering enough bases to satisfy his various personalities appetites.

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  112. “We eat a lot of Malaysian, Vietnamese and Thai, but never Chinese in NY.
    Not only is it terrible, but most of the restaurants are dirty.”

    Re “dirty”, everyone’s got their own thresholds, but I doubt Chicago’s Chinese restaurants as group are appreciably cleaner (go4food seems very clean, haven’t seen the kitchen). As for “terrible”, that’s really just wrong, certainly for the manhattan and flushing chinatowns. I don’t really know about brooklyn though I doubt it’s terrible, unless terrible is the same as dirty.

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  113. He probably takes meds for his various personalities.

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  114. “Re “dirty”, everyone’s got their own thresholds”

    i have found in almost all types of food the “dirty” establishments have the best tasting food. I guess it might be the residual flavors?

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  115. Flava such as roaches or “evidence” of live mice?

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  116. And Milkster if you do go to Lao’s, you HAVE to have the Tony’s Chicken

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  117. I’ve always found the difference between Tensuke Market and any random grocery store in Chinatown to be glaring. Tensuke is like they’re performing surgery on the fish and fileting it just right before serving it to you with a tasty noodle sauce; in China town, the fish has been dried, salted, and is hung on a string behind the counter as he asks how many would you like. different cultures.

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  118. Flava such as “special sauce”?

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  119. One would certainly hope so : )
    “He probably takes meds for his various personalities.”

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  120. gringozecarioca on February 7th, 2012 at 1:07 pm

    “Yes, “Moonhammy” is Dan too.”

    Well then. I might as well admit that Ze and WestLoop are the same person.

    As for the Chinese food being better in Chi Town than NYC… you are smoking fucking crack! And the best Chinese food in NY is out on Long Island.

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  121. ‘Best’ when speaking of chinese firm is all relative, you know.

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  122. “Well then. I might as well admit that Ze and WestLoop are the same person.”

    Groove and Hietman are the same too.

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  123. Miumiu is anon’s female alter ego ; )

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  124. “Miumiu is anon’s female alter ego ; )”

    I thought I was a late-50s female retired chemist or something. No?

    Dammit, Icarus!

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  125. “As for the Chinese food being better in Chi Town than NYC… you are smoking fucking crack! And the best Chinese food in NY is out on Long Island.”:

    I suspect some of the best Chinese food can be found in China…only there they just call it “food”. If we are limiting it to the Americas, I’m gonna vote for Chinatown, in San Francisco

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  126. “Dammit, Icarus!”

    I know, I know. Even if I start the project, Wiki will suspend my account with the number of edits I’d have to make to keep up with it.

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  127. “Actually, my take on it is, the more affluent the school- the worse the drug scene is.”

    Definitely.

    I at one time thought my own high school (top 25 public HS in IL, middle-middle upper class) was bad with the booze and marijuana… until hearing stories from college friends who had grown up in the upper class suburbs of St. Louis and attended either private Jesuit HS or the local public HS (top 5 in MO) about rampant cocaine and acid use. It blew my mind.

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  128. “the best Chinese food in NY is out on Long Island.”

    “Long Island” not including Queens? If so, where?

    “If we are limiting it to the Americas, I’m gonna vote for Chinatown, in San Francisco”

    Wrong (without any question if you are speaking of what people refer to as Chinatown in SF). I don’t have a ranking but up there would be NYC, san gabriel valley area, maybe parts of orange county, vancouver/richmond, toronto, maybe parts of bay area. Anything else? And wherever Ze eats in long island.

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  129. I’ll admit I’m a germaphobe, but I can wilfully suspend disbelief in certain circumstances if the food is really really good, just like Groove.
    A good gauge of the cleanliness of any restaurant is to scope out the bathroom before you order.
    If it’s dirty or there’s no soap, don’t eat there.

    Bringing this back to real estate, my dirt phobia affects me when I look at properties too.
    I can’t get over how a lot of people live.
    I find it hard to overlook hoarding, bad smells and poor ventilation.

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  130. “I thought I was a late-50s female retired chemist or something. No?”

    Thought you were elizabeth warren.

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  131. “I’m gonna vote for Chinatown, in San Francisco”

    sorry going off value per dollar its NY, SF is ridiculously priced for decent Chinese peoples food.

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  132. “I thought I was a late-50s female retired chemist or something. No? ”

    it took you 6 minutes to log out and log back in to type that?

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  133. gringozecarioca on February 7th, 2012 at 1:52 pm

    “Groove and Hietman are the same too.”

    Bob is HD’s significant other. They have a baby, and can often be seen sitting in OZ park and bickering over their perfect price for the perfect Victorian. The gay couple in Modern Family would present a perfect picture.

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  134. gringozecarioca on February 7th, 2012 at 1:53 pm

    “it took you 6 minutes to log out and log back in to type that?”

    I thought watson/cyborgs had autoboot?

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  135. “A good gauge of the cleanliness of any restaurant is to scope out the bathroom before you order.
    If it’s dirty or there’s no soap, don’t eat there”

    Kow Kow on pratt and cicero has award winning egg rolls (i dont agree) and its bathroom would not pass your standards. the pipes are green and always sweaty all times of the year. there is soap a bar, IMO is worse than no soap.

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  136. “A good gauge of the cleanliness of any restaurant is to scope out the bathroom before you order. If it’s dirty or there’s no soap, don’t eat there”

    I never go to the bathroom in chinatown. You should find out where Jon eats (*wiki*).

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  137. “Bob is HD’s significant other.”

    DZ and icarus are cousins
    clio, cLIO, CLIO are really one person (well one at a time)
    Sabrina is Joey Z’s daughter
    JMM is Architects brother-in-law
    Jenny is cLIO’s exgirlfriend
    Juliana is Dan#2’s first wife
    CH is Ze’s “supplier”

    Icarus add above to the wiki

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  138. gringozecarioca on February 7th, 2012 at 2:39 pm

    “And wherever Ze eats in long island.”

    I hate to say it.. I really hate saying it. Any town on LI with a heavy Jew population will have absolutely stellar Chinese food. We love our Chinese food and we are a picky people.

    Ze makes quite a good sweet and sour chicken… pretty easy actually.

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  139. Whoa, chill out on the gay refernces. you might offend somebody here.

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  140. Ze how did you know I hung out in the park? And just because we didn’t invite you to play soccer with our fictional holoax character Ann Frank’s diary doesn’t mean we’re effete. Its fun to kick around that work of fiction is.

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  141. You know what they say, ze: had it been 6MM dogs America would’ve been at war in the 30’s. 😀

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  142. THREAD LOCKED.

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  143. What is your point Bob? Let’s say the diary was heavily edited or even a work of fiction (I never cared enough to research it), it is not like it is the only piece of evidence that horrendous things that happened to people (jews were only one of the groups effected) during world war two. Also let’s say the counting was not perfect and 5MM died instead of 6 or heck lets even say 1MM. Does it make any difference? It is horrific that people had to go through it.

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  144. gringozecarioca on February 7th, 2012 at 5:12 pm

    ” It is horrific that people had to go through it.”

    24 million people died overall. Of all things accomplished by mankind that’s the one you focus on and highlight. You have to be a f’n moron.

    Miu, Bob isn’t hyper racist. Prejudiced yes. But most of his heightened rage came from having been run over by a Jewish chick. Since he is started workin the boiler room again, he has calmed down. But says it to me because he knows I am just like the guy in his class… Shrug shoulders and laugh knowing who Bob will be working for. Bobs got years of puckering up and pressing his lips up against some Jews hairy ass.
    Actions speak louder than words! smooch!!! Bob.. lil bit a tongue action might get ya a VAR increase..LOL

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  145. gringozecarioca on February 7th, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    ..and Ze almost missed the fact Januarys numbers came out. +1.3% down here on the month… +32.9% y/o/y

    http://www.zap.com.br/imoveis/fipe-zap/ (Bri, footnoting now just for you)

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  146. “Miu, Bob isn’t hyper racist. Prejudiced yes. But most of his heightened rage came from having been run over by a Jewish chick. Since he is started workin the boiler room again, he has calmed down. ”

    Never worked in FS actually. Its turned out to be a blessing for me–my bill rate in the industry I cut my teeth in is nice enough with still plenty of upward movement. I work 40hrs/week and get paid to commute too. Overall I live a pretty good life!

    “But says it to me because he knows I am just like the guy in his class… Shrug shoulders and laugh knowing who Bob will be working for. Bobs got years of puckering up and pressing his lips up against some Jews hairy ass.”

    No the guy in my class went to Harvard undergrad and graduated from my class with honors (which is exceptionally hard to do given the forced curve). He was also social, confident, worked out seemingly every day, and didn’t even have the surname. I doubt you have much in common with him. I won’t be working for anyone in financial services though, especially not a J, (maybe govt consulting as they find a way to scurry to hot industries like cockroaches).

    Did you see the headlines regarding UBS’s IB bonus pool today? Down 60%. Wall street as a career option is gone. The money was already made 1992-2000 & 2003-2010 the party’s over now. Big shops like BofA can’t even hand out the pink slips fast enough.

    Oh and the industry I’m in: the brand mgrs (who run the show) aren’t too sympathetic to wall streeters–something about them not being too sociable or charismatic in school.

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  147. MM: thanks for the words of encouragement as well! I was forced to read that book, and watch very graphic videos, only of one particular demographic suffering in WW2. Only 6MM of the 60MM who died in the war, or 10%. We had no such forced “education” regarding the other 54MM, or 90%. You’d better bet there was a -berg or -stein running or advising on the curriculum for that, probably the superintendent himself.

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  148. “heck lets even say 1MM”

    That’s alot less deaths than the Holomodor, which Ze’s people carried out in the Ukraine. The Bolsheviks invented concentration camps (“gulags”), mass arrests, deportations, murders, cleansing, re-education, Holomodor, killing of clergy, burning Churches, two decades before the 1930’s. They just copied the same techniques.

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  149. “I’ll admit I’m a germaphobe”

    Haha…I had to read that one twice, to make sure you weren’t making a racist comment or something.

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  150. gringozecarioca on February 7th, 2012 at 6:59 pm

    “He was also social, confident, worked out seemingly every day, and didn’t even have the surname.”

    Damn, the curse of being named Rosensteinklewitz gets me once again.

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  151. Genocide is an abhorrent act no doubt about it. I wish everyone would focus on the crap their own folks did and taught their kids to be ashamed of it rather than only focusing on what was done to them.

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