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Tag: Housing Bulletin
Former Home of R. Kelly Back on the Market at $3.89 Million
By Dennis Rodkin
The converted 19th-century church that was once home to the R&B musician R. Kelly will be put up for sale on June 7th. Extensively renovated in the past 18 months, the place is now a four-bedroom home with a marble-clad fireplace in the living room, a sleek kitchen, a 1,500-square-foot rooftop terrace with an outdoor kitchen, and an elevator. Read more
House-Hunting by Bike in Homewood and Oak Park
By Dennis Rodkin
May and June bring prime bicycling weather to Chicago. This year, the Active Transportation Alliance is peddling a new idea: suburban house-hunting by bike. On Sunday, June 13th, in Oak Park and on Saturday, June 19th, in Homewood the alliance will host free bicycle tours of houses for sale... Read more
Short-Term Condo Rentals—and a Volunteer Rehab in Highland Park
By Dennis Rodkin
Renting out unsold condos for the short term is an idea that is simultaneously gaining and losing popularity. It’s on the upswing among owners of vacant condos who hope to defray their costs while waiting for an improved real-estate market. HomeAway, an online vacation home rental source, reports that in April, it had 120 listings in Chicago, up 53 percent from a year before. More than half of them are condos, according to Denise Frasier, HomeAway’s spokesperson. Read more
CVS's Prescription for Foreclosure Relief
By Dennis Rodkin
In a cluster of south suburbs hard hit by the foreclosure crisis, a coalition of towns is working to clean up and stabilize their devastated neighborhoods. Now the CVS pharmacy chain is lending some vital support to that effort by trying to create a pool of potential buyers for homes reclaimed by banks. In late April, CVS announced that it would bring its employer-assisted housing program to the south suburbs... Read more
A Front Porch Revival in Libertyville
By Dennis Rodkin
The failure of a boom-era townhouse and condo project in the heart of Libertyville may have seemed like bad news at the time. As things turned out, it made way for another developer to step in with a new plan where the houses will be less expensive—and better suited to the neighborhood... Read more
The Year of Living Strategically
By Dennis Rodkin
The lives of young adults can change multiple times in the course of several years. They get married, have children, send the kids off to school. When home values were rising fast, young people could afford to think short-term and buy a place that suited their immediate needs. For most, a rising market would make moving on to the next property a profitable step—or at least not a financially ruinous one. Read more
Jack Ryan Selling Vacant Wilmette Lakefront Property
By Dennis Rodkin
Jack Ryan, who in 2004 dropped out of a contest against Barack Obama for a U.S. Senate seat, is selling a vacant lakefront lot in Wilmette. He and his wife, Amanda, are asking $4.95 million for the property, which is a little over 1.3 acres and has about 120 feet of beach frontage. “We had a beautiful home planned for [the site], but we’re not sure we’ll be spending... Read more
Two Derelict Glencoe Houses Face Different Fates
By Dennis Rodkin
Among the architectural treasures of Glencoe are two small collections of homes designed by eminent 20th-century architects—and each of those neighborhoods has a derelict house, a victim of the recent housing bust.
Ravine Bluffs is a cluster of six homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1910s. The derelict house there now has a savior, a Chicago architect who... Read more