Chicago Illinois Real Estate Blog

Joel and Jacqueline Sestito sold a home at 4241 W. Peterson Ave. in Sauganash to David and Elizabeth Sellke for $430,000 on May 15.

The Sestitos paid $578,500 for the property in June 2006. The 1,994-square-foot house was built in 1991.

Mr. Sestito is an associate and partner at Riemer & Braunstein LLP. He focuses his practice on banking, finance and real estate laws. He has been a staff editor at The John Marshall Law Review.

He earned his B.A. at the University of Richmond, his J.D. at the John Marshall Law School and his LL.M. in taxation at Georgetown University Law Center.

Ms. Sestito is a principal at Mallery & Zimmerman S.C. She focuses her practice on real estate, finance and corporate laws. She served as corporate counsel at Continental Properties Co., Inc., a national real estate development company headquartered in suburban Milwaukee and was an associate with DLA Piper US LLP.

She earned her B.A. in English literature at the University of Cincinnati and her J.D. at the John Marshall Law School.

Mr. Sellke is vice president for Ideation Studio Inc., a company that offers retail planning and design for businesses.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial design and structural emphasis at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Ms. Sellke is a second grade teacher at Newberry Math and Science Academy in Chicago.

There were 72 home sales in Sauganash in 2008, with a median price of $399,500.

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Todd and Andrea Hofmeister have listed for sale a three-bedroom, three-bath condo at 1526 N. Bosworth Ave. in Noble Square for $499,000.

The 2,200-square-foot Unit #3 is one of three condos in the development at 1526 N. Bosworth Ave., which built in 2003.

Mr. Hofmeister is a lawyer at Pollsinelli Shughart PC-Chicago. His areas of practice are patents, science and technology. He worked as a patent agent and intellectual property advisor at Holland & Knight LLP and was a fellow with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health – Genetics Training Grant.

He earned his bachelor’s from Michigan State University. He received his master’s and Ph.D. in molecular biology from Princeton University.

There were 34 sales in Noble Square in 2008, with a median sales price of $380,000.

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Cynthia Rodriguez and Matthew C. LaCourt have listed  for sale a two-bedroom, two-bath condo at 600 N. Fairbanks Court in Gold Coast for $514,999.

Rodriguez and LaCourt acquired Unit #1707 for $528,500 in Nov. 2007. It is one of 192 units at 600 N. Fairbanks Court. Francesca Rose is the listing agent for the condo.

LaCourt has served as an associate at Sargent & Lundy in Chicago.

He graduated in 2004 from Michigan Tech.

Sales at 600 N. Fairbanks Court were up 16.7 percent from 2007-08, while the median sales price jumped 3.5 percent during that time.

There were 517 condo sales in Gold Coast in 2008, with a median price of $374,000.

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Foreclosure suits seeking more than $8.2 million have been filed against two sites controlled by a developer of high-end Lincoln Park homes whose customers have included Eric of the “Eric & Kathy” morning radio show.

State Bank of Countryside is seeking to collect more than $5.7 million on the two parcels at 1701-03 N. Dayton St., where ventures controlled by developer Seth Harris, president of SMH Development LLC, has started construction of two 6,500-square-foot homes.

Separately, Lakeside Bank is seeking to collect just over $2.5 million on a nearly completed 5,100-square-foot home at 2140 N. Clifton St., about seven blocks away.

Joey Waldman, an attorney for Mr. Harris, declined to comment.

The projects are the product of a wave of optimism that developers rode in the Chicago area’s ritziest neighborhoods — until recently.

“These homes were planned when things were still good,” says Ron Benninga, president of Red House Development Inc., another Chicago luxury homebuilder not involved in the three foreclosure cases.

The foreclosures come even though the housing market in the Lincoln Park has held up reasonably well compared to other areas. Prices of single-family homes in zip code 60614, which includes Lincoln Park, dropped just 2.7% last year, the smallest decline of 84 zip codes in the Chicago area, according to Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv Inc.
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Sharon Doherty Sirott sold a two-bath home at 3630 N. Marshfield Ave. in Lake View to Mariasol Espinosa for $459,000 on April 23.

The 1,960-square-foot home was built in 1907.

Sirott is a senior litigation attorney in the legal department of BP America Inc., a Warrenville-based producer of oil and natural gas. She focuses her practice on commercial litigation. She previously served as a partner with the law firm Schiff Hardin LLP.

She received her B.A. from the University of Illinois and her J.D. from the Chicago-Kent College of Law.

There were 1,127 sales in Lake View in 2008, with a median price of $335,000.

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Erik W. Snapp has listed for sale a five-bedroom, four-bath home at 1014 Elmwood Ave. in Evanston for $699,000.

Snapp bought the property for $715,000 in June 2007. The 1,728-square-foot house, which was built in 1898, is in the Central Evanston neighborhood. Michael Thomas of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage is the listing agent for the home.

Snapp serves as partner in the Chicago office of Winston & Strawn, where he practices in the areas of appellate practice, health care fraud, white collar criminal defense and consumer fraud defense. Prior to that, he worked as law clerk for the Hon. Bruce D. Willis of the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

He earned his B.S. from St. John’s University and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota.

There were 601 home sales in Evanston in 2008, with a median sales price of $310,750.

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Law firm moves to 161 N. Clark

Coghlan Kukanos LLC cut its space almost in half in moving to 161 N. Clark St. The small firm has a five-year lease for 7,240 square feet, down from about 13,000 square feet at 55 W. Wacker Drive, says Patrick Caruso, president of L. J. Sheridan & Co., which represented the firm. Coghlan Kukanos originally moved into 55 W. Wacker on a sublease and didn’t need all the space, Mr. Caruso says. The firm was in that building about 10 years, he says. Joseph Gordon of owner Tishman Speyer Properties represented the building.

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Leland Chait has listed for sale his four-bedroom, 3.5-bath home at 1030 Sheridan Road in Glencoe for $607,500.

Chait, along with Susan B. Chait, paid $508,000 for the property in Jan. 2000. The 2,589-square-foot house, which was built in 1964, is in the East Glencoe neighborhood. Susan Maman of Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp., is the listing agent for the home.

Chait is an attorney at Sugar & Felsenthal LLP in Chicago. He practices in the areas of commercial litigation, class action defense, antitrust counseling and litigation, healthcare and life sciences regulatory counseling and litigation.

He earned his bachelor’s degree and his J.D. from the University of Chicago.

There were 89 home sales in Glencoe in 2008, with a median sales price of $945,000.

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Oak Park Home Sold for $443k.

John and Eileen Aylesworth sold a three-bedroom, three-bath home at 422 Pennsylvania Way in Oak Park to James and Mayra McEvoy for $443,000 on April 16.

The Aylesworths paid $520,000 for the property in July 2007. The 2,394-square-foot house, which was built in 2005, is in the Southwest Central Oak Park neighborhood.

Mr. Aylesworth is a lawyer with a private practice in Chicago. His specializes in Chicago real estate law , general litigation and condominium association representation. Prior to that, he served as special assistant attorney general at the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

He attended the Valparaiso University School of Law and Indiana University – Bloomington, where he earned his B.A. in communications.

There were 525 home sales in Oak Park in 2008, with a median sales price of $330,000.

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How does a Chicago Real Estate Auction Work?

In times of many Chicago foreclosures the ceased Chicago properties will in turn go up for auction . Each Chicago property auction has its specific qualities such as pricing accuracy and time required for preparing and conducting the auction. The number of simultaneous bidders is of critical importance. Open bidding during an extended period of time with many bidders will result in a final bid that is very close to the true market value. Where there are few bidders and each bidder is allowed only one bid, time is saved, but the winning bid may not reflect the true market value with any degree of accuracy. If you visit a few Chicago Real Estate Auctions, you can find great Chicago properties to invest in.