Chicago Illinois Real Estate Blog

Bruce and Michele Gelman have listed for sale a four-bedroom, 4.5-bath home at 919 N. La Salle St. in Near North for $1.95 million.
The 2,932-square-foot house was built in 1890.
Mr. Gelman serves as a tax partner at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP. His practice focuses on the organizations and structuring of real estate, infrastructure, [...]

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Despite progress seen in March, first-quarter home sales in the Chicago area dropped 26.4 percent, to 10,306 single-family homes and condos, from 2008’s first quarter, the Illinois Association of Realtors said Friday.
The median sales price of a Chicago-area home was $187,500 in the quarter, a 22.8 percent decline from the period a year ago. The [...]

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More than 20% of American homeowners owe more on their mortgage debt than they can sell their homes for, according to an industry report released Wednesday.
The real estate Web site Zillow.com reported that 21.8% of all U.S. homes, representing more than 20 million residences, were in a "negative equity" or "underwater" position after prices dropped [...]

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Matthew and Jodi Speiser bought a five-bedroom, 4.5-bath home at 1001 S. Madison Ave. in La Grange from Larry Kelliher and Shawn C. Tokugana for $767,500 on March 18.
Mr. Tokugana bought the property for $310,000 in June 2004. The 3,909-square-foot house, which was built in 2005, is in the Southwest La Grange neighborhood.
Mr. Speiser has [...]

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1. Finding one has become easier
You don’t need to show up at courthouse auctions or comb through legal filings. These days many banks sell foreclosed homes through real estate agents.
To find listings, look on sites that specialize in foreclosed properties, such as realtytrac.com and foreclosurepoint.com. The local multiple-listing service often has selections as well. [...]

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