chicagos home weblog: Oh, that Sears... - 06/20/08 10:31 AM
I don't believe I'm all that different from most people who live in Chicago proper (i.e. not the 'burbs) in that I rarely take in the downtown sights except in accidental passing or escorting the occasional out of town visitor. My relocation referrals and I are usually zooming by each landmark, … (8 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Hot Doug's...Chicago Style - 06/03/08 06:42 PM
For months now I've been following with growing interest...no, make that great intrigue, the shaggy chic (if not downright haute) North Side neighbor-hood 'foodie' chatter surrounding a certain hot dog stand at the no-mans-land corner of Roscoe and California Avenues in the Avondale section of town. Location, location, location (the … (9 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: The Low Art of the Graffito - 05/16/08 09:12 PM
I've always looked at it this way; as long as it's not painted across the side of my house, I can live with it, even sort of appreciate it. Sort of.Hey, I reside in a big, grown up city so who am I to judge what is and is not a … (8 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Flip This Garage - 05/01/08 05:35 PM
An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter Scale (the 'It' source when it comes to earthquakes from what everybody says) hit downstate Illinois last Monday with an ensuing aftershock that actually shook the house I live in, 200 miles north in Chicago (not pictured, thank you). This was exactly three days … (7 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Gray Skies and Cheap Shoes... - 04/22/08 02:46 PM
First thing, the sky here is very gray--the weatherman says it may thunderstorm tonight. Secondly, the red and yellow advertisement on the bus stop bench at Clybourn and Ashland avenues indicates shoes can be had for $9.99. Lastly, Premium gas is $4.09 per gallon--and rising. I'm not even going to mention … (19 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: A Sign From God? - 03/29/08 02:45 PM
Personally, I would have thought for an incumbent, He'd have a slicker marketing plan and a little nicer digs. In fact, His headquarters building, shown here at Elston and Kimball on Chicago's Northwest side, looks a little shopworn to me but hey, who am I to judge? I admittedly haven't read … (7 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Taxes Schmaxes - 02/03/08 08:41 AM
I was half-listening to a lady being interviewed on NPR a few Tuesday mornings ago as I drove in a gazy daze out of the city and toward the general direction of Canada. I was running late for an appointment with my tax Wizard, a fourth generation accountant who fled from the tangle of the city 10 … (11 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Conforming Mumbo Jumbo - 01/17/08 08:11 PM
Okay, this is my idea. It came to me the other night as I lie awake mentally tossing around all my deals and wondering how many of them might actually make it to the finish line (i.e. the Closing Table). Thinking as an Investor/Developer, I pondered this: Find a way to … (6 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: I'm not 'Dreaming of a White' anything... - 01/01/08 08:35 PM
I reached for the phone but there was no one to call. The six inches of snow on top of the other six inches of last week's snow has made leaving or entering my house challenging, and access to my garage--(the whole point of having one to begin with being … (24 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Word - 12/18/07 12:44 PM
Apparently, I now work in Alberto's crew. I haven't discussed this with my Managing Broker yet nor have I contacted the Chicago Association of Realtors for licensing specifics but you better believe both of these tasks are on my To Do list. If I have to pay yet another set of … (16 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: The 8th Deadly Sin - 10/08/07 07:27 PM
Fear KnockedWe've all heard tell of certain California and Nevada housing markets in recent years where simply offering 'List Price' on a property didn't cut it on the real estate trading floor. Demand had a strangle hold on Supply and only the earliest of pre-approved birds brought home the juciest worms … (32 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Lessons Never Learned - 09/25/07 01:30 PM
While awaiting my turn in the checkout line (for the fifth time in as many days) at the Home Depot last Sunday it occurred to me that my wife and I alone probably spend as much money in a single weekend as my parents spent in an entire month raising a … (11 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Ol' St. Joe Is Good To Go... - 08/14/07 12:24 PM
When I walked through the big oak doors of the Archdiocese of Chicago's Holy Relic Bookstore a few weeks ago, I knew for sure that I'd be lying to a clergyman within minutes. Like many post-WWII children who hail from the eastern seaboard, I attended Catholic school for the first … (19 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Postscript...R.I.P. - 07/19/07 01:56 PM
Earlier in the year I wrote about the mystique of the American Express Centurion (blacker than black) Card and how once, a few years back I met a Commodities Trader who boasted of having one. For those of you not in the know, Centurion cardholders number in the mere thousands world-wide--10,000 … (12 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: True Story..albeit it a little off the subject - 07/17/07 04:24 PM
True Story. I sat next to a one-armed girl in typing class back in the 8th grade. I know it shouldn't have... but it freaked me out and I couldn't ever really concentrate on the teacher's instructions. I forget the girl's name now although our surnames must have been similar (alphabetical … (39 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Send Lawyers, Guns and Money... - 07/09/07 01:17 PM
When I attended my very first Closing of my very first deal with my very first client I sat at the Title Company table feeling a little like a cat trying to wrap his mind around calculus. Honestly, I never paid much attention to what I was signing for the six … (5 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Hey Jude...Dude. - 06/15/07 11:18 PM
While standing in the Starbucks line with one of my younger clients the other morning I noticed Paul McCartney's latest attempt to puncture the demograhically unforgiving shield of the twenty-something buyer we all seem to be expanding toward with near Einsteinian adequation. Word on the web and beyond is that the … (9 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: The Cobbler's Shoe - 06/14/07 10:52 AM
My wife and I just made an offer on a house and I think I've lost all voice of reason. Of course I, in my unbiased Real Estate opinion, think the place is undervalued while she, with her eye for detail and blessed with superior negotiational instincts, considers it overpriced. I … (5 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Issues, Smissues...(bring out the tissues) - 06/01/07 11:03 AM
Real Estate negotiations have been relentless, if not downright brutal these past several months in my fair city of Chicago. Grown men have been spotted sobbing at Title Company closing tables and the legal mouthpieces are certainly earning their shekels as the bartering continues deep into the final hour, often times … (1 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Needs and Wants, My Love - 04/25/07 02:07 PM
Okay. This is a mouthful but I'm going to try and spit it out. It's a concept my Managing Broker Joe Pinto, refers to on occasion and in recent weeks, has played out more and more in my own daily routine of showing property in Chicago. The crux of the idea … (4 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Allow Me To Retort... - 04/04/07 10:43 AM
This is really not a 'retort' per se but rather, my personal response to some provocative questions posed by a young couple who frequent my primary Blog from time to time. (And the above title sounded a little more intriguing to me than simply, Answers To Real Estate Questions blah, blah, blah. … (6 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Its The New '30s' Baby - 03/23/07 11:42 AM
I try to constantly evolve as a Buyers Representative and thus, continuously explore different 'urban niches' in this Midwestern prairie setting I now call home. In the past few years I have come to work with many 'middle aged' out of town buyers (as I once was myself) as well as … (2 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: 8 New Ways To Kick An Old Dog (habit...I meant habit) - 01/04/07 11:20 AM
First off, I'm a dog lover and would never kick a real one unless it was chewing off a limb. The metaphoric hound I speak of though, is Starbucks---the coffee people. I've mentioned them before and often. They've clearly got me... and as my 'mug shot' (an Ardell DellaLoggia-ism) in the sidebar clearly shows, it … (5 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: The 'Hybrid' Realtor - 12/29/06 06:01 PM
There has been a lot of discussion lately in our Brokerage about the evolution of the Real Estate Agent in Chicago (or across the nation for that matter)..ie...The Hybrid Realtor. Eric Rojas alluded to this in a previous post and I'm pretty sure our Broker/Owner Joe Pinto came up with the monicker during … (4 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Looky, looky what I got! - 12/28/06 08:20 AM
Thank you to my friends at Sellsius for this awesome Christmas gift. Unfortunately, the UPS guy left it outside of my building and the City of Chicago just towed it away. Derek Burress also left me a gift for pick-up but it somehow got lost in the holiday shuffle. In real … (10 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Meme, Swaps, And Other Passing Christmas Thoughts... - 12/18/06 06:06 PM
First I was traded, then I was tagged.(it's all good because I love baseball..."Teamwork! {Al Capone ala Bobby DeNiro in the Untouchables, bat in hand}...) Just click on the links because I'm too tired to type all that again...it's all there in readable print on my CHW website. I'm on a movie … (6 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: DIGG THIS! week of December 16, 2006 - 12/15/06 09:25 PM
The following real estate-centric teasers are newsworthy items that I happen upon during my research and readings for the week and post on Digg.com. The titles and descriptions are mine (thank me very much!) but the actual stories are pulled from a variety of daily and weekly news sources. Click on … (0 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: But Your Honor... - 12/12/06 09:25 AM
{I recently posted this picture and an accompanying story on my primary Blog as well as here and was informed by another site's SEO that my duplicate content might get me banned from Google! Wow, I had no idea. But as I view the photograph above I am reminded that ignorance of the … (11 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Podcast! Ex-Con Mortgage Man Advises Foreclosed Kid - 12/08/06 11:29 PM
{I recently posted a picture and an accompanying story on my primary Blog and was informed by another site's SEO that my duplicate content might get me banned from Google! Wow, I had no idea. But I reminded myself that ignorance of the 'law' is no excuse. The content apparently needs to be 25% … (1 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: YO...K an' A! - 12/06/06 09:43 PM
Lets take a mental road trip away from Chicago for a few moments and travel back thirty years to the intersection of Kensington and Allegheny Avenues in the north Philadelphia neighborhood of Kensington. A guy I knew from college lived there and when we went home for Thanksgiving break the autumn … (15 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Did I Really Say That? - 12/03/06 08:46 PM
As I was writing a comment on Bonnie Erickson's Real Estate Snippets blog out of Minneapolis it reminded me of some of the things that have shot out of my mouth before I could help myself (and quickly grab them back!). So I'm posting a few of those that come to … (26 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Boot This... - 12/02/06 08:45 PM
I realize the majority of 'Rain' community readers live in more 'bucolic' (a Brian Brady term!) settings than here but I thought I'd give my fellow Realtors around the country a little 'slice of life' peek at the 'Windy City'. Click on the links to visit our neighborhoods. If you've never … (4 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: My Digg Stories for the Week of December 2 - 12/02/06 09:41 AM
Each week I submit a handful of newswothy (yeah right!) articles I get from my daily feeds to Digg and post them at my Chicago's Home Weblog on Saturday. Basically, the title and hook are mine (thank me very much) and the rest is linkage, baby. Occasionally I'll also post the most interesting comments and retorts … (0 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Chicago Now and Later - 12/02/06 09:21 AM
graph by moody's economy "In the year 2525, if man is still alive: Those are words from a 'one-hit wonder' musical group from the 1960s whose name escapes me. Hopefully, forgotten too, will be the predictions of this article from AOL Money via Moody's Economy via Forbes.com. Hopefully like the grade school … (2 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Selling a House Then Buying? Read On... - 11/29/06 05:43 PM
This a recent posting of mine from another blog I contribute to, the Chicago Real Estate BlogThe original article is an interesting little yarn from Monday's Boston Globe via NakedRepublic.com The Setting: "You put in a contract on a new house. You can't sell your old house..."The Atmosphere: "The sellers are getting pushy..." … (0 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Chinese Math - 11/27/06 08:28 PM
"Now let me get this straight - the press is supposed to control the market - if they say it's bad it must be so - if they say it's good it must be so - they are the keepers of doom and gloom - the ever ubiquitous "they"!(This was a … (5 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Stay Ahead of the Curve, My Friends... - 11/26/06 10:21 AM
I read (or at least peruse) on a weekly basis most relevant published articles concerning Chicago Real Estate--both the positive and the not so rosy. I subscribe to a dozen or so RSS feeds that are Real Estate centered and pull from the best independant and syndicated articles in the media. … (7 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: What I Read.... - 11/22/06 06:37 PM
Most days I have lunch with my Broker at this small Chinese restaurant in Lincoln Park. Almost always seated toward the back is this one elderly individual, clearly from China and always reading the same old book with Asian characters on yellowed pages. For no other reason than this he reminds … (5 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: The 30 (Or So) Steps to Buying Property In Chicago - 11/21/06 03:47 PM
Give or a take one or two--and depending on the property type and Buyer circumstance--the following examples listed below are 30 typical stages a Buyer in Chicago must go through--from the initial decision to Purchase until the last box is unloaded from the moving truck--before the deal is really done. I make sure my clients have this … (0 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Correct Pricing in the Present Market - 11/20/06 07:23 PM
This is a rewrite of an earlier blog I posted in an earlier sales cycle. I am of the opinion that now is not the time for Chicago Sellers to be "testing" the market. Hovering above correct pricing hoping to "see what happens" only makes for agonizing market time, frustration and … (0 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: The $800,000 House - 11/20/06 07:10 PM
Over the past year or so I discovered an interesting Real Estate wrinkle I call "The $800,000 House Phenomenon." I didn't recognize it at first because I think it used to be called "The $600,000 House Phenomenon" but as the housing market changed, so did the phenomenon. And although I personally … (41 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: He's Facing Foreclosure! (dot.com) - 11/18/06 09:20 AM
You have to appreciate this one. Now I generally prefer writing original material and injecting my own twist on a subject but the west coast 'investor' quoted below takes the proverbial cake in the national real estate weblog arena."I don't get it. I have several accounts with 90 day lates and … (13 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: On The Seventh Day A House Was Sold - 11/17/06 10:49 PM
My Broker is a big proponent of the 'Sunday Open House,' as am I. Tens of thousands of people visit our company website on a monthly basis and rarely a day goes by when a potential client doesn't register as a new user at ChicagoHomeEstates.com. But week in and week out … (2 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Rank Your Income - 11/17/06 10:19 PM
Growing up in a typical middle class neighborhood in the 1960's allows for a host of lifetime psychological imprints. Imagine the 1988 television show 'The Wonder Years' and you have now instantly entered my life as a kid. It was a little disturbing the first time I watched the program because … (0 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: What's It Gonna Take? - 11/17/06 10:13 PM
"I love it but I'm not in love with it. Actually, I don't even love it. Let's just say I'm in like with it and leave it at that." Or, "My client?... My client was underwhelmed." And finally there's my all time favorite, "What does my client think of the place? … (0 comments)
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chicagos home weblog: Google Your Mom - 11/17/06 10:08 PM
I was visiting with my folks last weekend when I casually mentioned that I had recently Googled them on the internet. They had no idea what I was talking about. The more I tried to explain, the more glazed over their eyes became. They were born in the 1920's and although … (8 comments)
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