Crib Chatter

Crain’s reports on the March existing home sales both for Chicagoland and for the City of Chicago. The Chicagoland area saw sales drop 29% to 5,753 compared with 8,101 in March 2007. In the city, sales weren’t as gloomy. Sales fell 11.5% in March in the city of Chicago, to 2,045 from 2,311. The median […]

In December 2007, I chattered about the one bedroom units for sale in The Belvedere, at 270 E. Pearson, in the Gold Coast. They are among the most expensive one bedroom units for sale in the city (outside of new construction buildings such as Trump and The Spire.) Unit #502, an 1100 square foot one bedroom […]

Some people wouldn’t like living on one of the main arteries like Lincoln, Armitage, Fullerton or Damen. Others would love that they can walk out their door and have a handful of restaurants at their fingertips. You can’t get more in the heart of Bucktown than the lofts at 1855 N. Damen. This is a […]

Last September 2007, a penthouse in River North in Contemporaine, a modern boutique building at 201 W. Grand, was on the market. The unit has a famous Japanese garden terrace that isn’t easily missed from afar. It’s the only terrace with large trees on the roof. The unit was withdrawn from the market last fall but has now […]

The condo price point over $500,000 seems to be a hard sale right now. Two units are for sale in 1887 N. Poe in the Ranch Triangle area of Lincoln Park, more commonly known as the Clybourn Corridor. The building was built in 2005 and appears to have four units. Two first floor duplexes are currently on […]

There are several older condo buildings in the Gold Coast that were built in the 1960s and 1970s on Elm, Cedar and Astor. Some of the units are quite large but they have the shorter ceiling heights and many don’t have in-unit laundry. 40 E. Cedar is one of those buildings. Built in 1968, the […]

Crain’s reports on homesellers who have already moved into a new property and haven’t been able to sell the first. They are paying two mortgage payments- sometimes for months. Ryan and Lynda Hamilton aren’t sweating the five months of construction delays slowing completion of their $690,000, 3,900-square-foot home in Elgin. They have bigger problems. Namely, […]

We’ve chattered about townhouses in Lincoln Park and the South Loop, but what do you get if you go west? 2555 W. Moffat is in West Bucktown or Humboldt Park, depending on what designation you use. It was built in 2001 and is only about 2 blocks from the Western Blue Line stop. You certainly get […]

A reader, K, posted on Apr 19: “Looks like terrapin has told all of its owners that they are converting to rental…so they are giving everyone’s money back. I feel bad for the true long term owners who were going to keep their units for a long time and not flip. I guess it’s nice […]

First quarter 2008 numbers are out for new home sales and they’re not pretty. Is anyone surprised? According to Crain’s: 5,813 sold in the suburbs 1,634 sold in the city Suburban new home sales were down 60% year-over-year. In the city, sales were down 64% from the first-quarter 2007. “It remains to be seen when this […]