11/18/09

Widow of the Director John Hughes Buys Lake Forest Mansion

Sale Price: $5.2 million
List Price: $5.795 million
Nancy L. Hughes, the widow of the director John Hughes, has paid $5.2 million for the Lake Forest mansion owned by the developer Robert Shaw. John Hughes, who died of a heart attack on August 6th, was the director of a number of films...

Posted at 07:58 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/12/09

Scott Turow’s Glencoe House Under Contract

List Price: $5.9 million
Sale Price: Not yet known

The novelist Scott Turow’s Glencoe lakefront home, which has been on the market for $5.9 million, is under contract with a buyer, Turow’s real estate agent confirmed for Deal Estate on Wednesday.

Posted at 01:00 PM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/11/09

Renting Unsold Condos

At the height of the condo boom, many investors snapped up under-construction condos, planning to turn around and sell them upon or shortly after completion. In the crash years, reselling has proved difficult, leaving some investors bleeding money as their condos sit unsold. Justin Elliott, the founder and CEO of Chicago Apartment Finders (which leases about 6,000 apartments each year), suggests that investors consider renting those condo until the market becomes more stable...

Posted at 09:32 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)

11/06/09

Antonio Davis Sells in Burr Ridge

Yesterday, Antonio Davis, who spent two seasons with the Chicago Bulls, closed on the sale of his Burr Ridge home for $2.75 million. That’s $1 million less than the $3.75 million he had been asking for the 13-room house at the beginning of the year. It was the second house Davis had sold in the Chicago area in the past few months...

Posted at 10:36 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/04/09

Upgrades at Two Home Search Sites

Over the past week, two Chicago real-estate companies beefed up their online presence. On October 30th, @Properties went live with its upgraded site, and Dream Town Realty followed suit on November 3rd. Last week, both companies gave me a prelaunch look at their new sites, and I was impressed...

Posted at 03:05 PM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/28/09

The Housing Decline’s Green Lining

Among the many losses resulting from the recent real-estate downturn, John Wasik’s may be unique: he lost the premise of his latest book. Near the tail end of the housing boom, Wasik—a personal finance columnist for Bloomberg News and the author of a dozen books—was working on a book arguing that...

Posted at 09:08 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)

10/21/09

Auctions Bid for Attention

The auctions of a couple of big-ticket properties—the old main post office and a Burr Ridge mansion—have been getting lots of press lately, but there are many other, less pricey properties up for auction in Chicago and the suburbs. By my count, auction houses will...

Posted at 07:55 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)

10/14/09

Brown’s Line on House-Hunting—Plus Bungalow News

Maybe it’s not auspicious to launch a website that lets house-hunters find real estate listings near their preferred transit stops in the same week that the Chicago Transit Authority threatens a new round of service cuts and fare increases. Fortunately, Tom Brown is taking the long-term view...

Posted at 07:16 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)

10/07/09

Olympic Fallout

Last Friday I was part of a panel on WBEZ discussing Chicago’s failed Olympic bid. Asked to anticipate the impact of the decision on the local housing scene, I responded essentially as I would have had Chicago emerged a winner: Not much.

Posted at 07:15 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (0)

09/30/09

Who’s Buying at 1994 Prices?

This is one of the rougher properties we have, but somebody’s going to turn it around,” Kristian Harris said as we stood in the bashed-up bathroom of the house at 6027 South Marshfield in Englewood. The plumbing fixtures were all out of order, the floors and walls were beaten up, and...

Posted at 08:46 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (3)