Chicago Illinois Real Estate Blog

Until recently, home builders have focused on crafting incentive packages that made their properties more desirable to buy than the development down the street, and that’s fine for the first-time buyer.
But what about the customer who needs to sell an existing home?
Pulling out some marketing strategies they haven’t had to employ for a decade or [...]

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General Growth Properties Inc.’s chief financial officer sold 1.5 million company shares this week for more than $31 million to fund a margin call, according to a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Longtime company executive Bernard Freibaum sold the shares Thursday and Friday in seven transactions at average weighted share prices ranging from [...]

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You found THE house and are ready to make an offer. Here is where having the right agent becomes very important. Rely on your real estate agent to guide you in the negotiation process.
Your first offer should leave room to negotiate.
Determine upfront where you will start and where you want to end (after any counter [...]

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All loans are not equal.
All lenders are not offering the exact same rates and fees to every prospective buyer. You need to do a little fieldwork to find a good fit with a lender.
Of course, get referrals from friends, family or your real estate agent. Interview several lenders, and be sure to ask about [...]

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De La Costa, whose owners filed for bankruptcy protection, has been sold to a Chicago restaurateur for $1.6 million.
The sale to Dock 465 LLC, headed by Jay Vohra of Flatwater and the former Narcisse, was approved Thursday by a federal Bankruptcy Court judge.
“The debtor is pleased, the buyer is pleased, the creditors are pleased and [...]

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According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 6.5 square miles (16.9 km²), of which, 6.4 square miles (16.5 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (2.45%) is water.
Alsip is bordered to the west by Worth, Illinois. To the south is Crestwood. Oak [...]

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Addison is a western suburb of Chicago, in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 35,914 at the 2000 census. The estimated population was 36,378 as of 2002.
The Village of Addison lies on Salt Creek. The community itself was named after 18th century writer Joseph Addison.
The Addison Industrial District was the proposed location for [...]

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The new owner of the Inland Steel Building plans a $40-million overhaul of the modernist Loop landmark, hoping to finance the project with $16 million in city and federal assistance.
Ten months after paying $57.3 million for the 19-story tower at 30 W. Monroe St., an investment group including New York-based Capital Properties LLC and celebrity [...]

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Developer U.S. Equities Realty LLC has secured a $25-million construction loan for MetraMarket, a long-delayed restaurant and retail emporium within the Ogilvie Transportation Center.
In a sign of the times, with the credit crunch pushing U.S. lenders to the sidelines, German bank Eurohypo A.G. stepped up to provide funding to Chicago-based U.S. Equities for the project’s [...]

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Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates has acquired a 5.2% stake in Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc., the Chicago-based owner of the Fairmont Chicago and InterContinental on Michigan Avenue.
Cascade Investment LLC, Mr. Gates’ investment firm, has bought 3.9 million shares in the real estate investment trust (REIT), according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday. [...]

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