Crib Chatter

Crain’s is reporting that William Wrigley Jr. has buyers for both his Lake Forest home and 2 out of the 3 multi-million dollar units he had listed as raw space in 65 E. Goethe in the Gold Coast. He is taking a loss on the Lake Forest home. The 11,000-square-foot Lake Forest home on Lake […]

The market for new downtown condos remains grim. Crain’s reports that sales fell in the third quarter to 229 sales from 251 a year ago. That was, however, slightly better than the 196 sales recorded in the second quarter of 2011. Sales were also boosted by dramatic price cuts at the Parkside of Old Town […]

Crain’s is reporting that Belgravia is under contract on lots in the 1500 block of West Montana in West Lincoln Park. The developer plans to build 14 four bedroom rowhomes on the properties and price them at just under $1 million each. Belgravia Group Ltd. last week signed a contract to buy 14 vacant lots on […]

Zillow is reporting that 46% of single family homes with a mortgage in the Chicago area (not only the city) were underwater in the third quarter. This is up 9% from the second quarter and also up from the third quarter of 2010. From the Chicago Tribune: “I didn’t think this was a particularly bad […]

The September sales data is out. It should be no surprise to anyone that while sales rebounded in Chicago from September last year, rising 6.8%,  they are still well under the Great Recession sales data despite record low mortgage rates. From the Illinois Association of Realtors: In the city of Chicago, September 2011 home sales (single […]

This picture was taken on Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park over the weekend. I was struck by the sheer number of for sale signs all in a row. Will we be seeing scenes like this all winter long? And on a different topic- but in an area we have chattered about before- why DO people […]

We  have chattered previously about the expiration of the higher limits on FHA, Fannie and Freddie backed mortgages that is effective as of October 1. The limits were raised in expensive locations, mainly on the East and West coasts, in the original stimulus bill. In the high cost areas, the cap will fall from $729,750 […]

The August 2011 home sales data is out from the Illinois Association of Realtors. Once again, sales rebounded from August of 2010 but remember, last year’s sales data was especially low due to the expiration of the first time homebuyers tax credit at the end of June which had pulled forward sales by several months. […]

Money Magazine is using the quick sale of a 3-bedroom townhouse at 1712 S. Indiana in July in the Kensington Park II development in the South Loop as an example of a sign of a “turnaround” in the real estate market. It was with some trepidation that Stephanie Kim and her husband, Brendan, 40 and 42, […]

Crain’s must be reading our minds as many of us have recently been wondering, “how many units are still available in those new construction buildings?” As many have reported from the “lights on in the building at night” test, it appears that sales definitely are slow at many of the new high rise condo buildings. Twenty-eight downtown projects […]